Community Chat

[chickenbutt]

I have an old-timey name that seems to be having a resurgence.  It's interesting how, even with all kinds of new types of names, there seems to be a constant circulation bringing back names with which many of us are very familiar.

I remember, back when I was in school, it was Debbie and Linda.  Nothing wrong (at all!) with those names, of course, but it was amazing how many people would have those names.  Kathy was always a popular one, too.  Now another layer is that a lot of familiar names have many additional spellings.

[faeriemoon]

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

[JaneMarple]

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@faeriemoon wrote:

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

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Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

[faeriemoon]

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@JaneMarple wrote:

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@faeriemoon wrote:

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

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Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

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To the rest of the world.

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@JaneMarple wrote:

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@faeriemoon wrote:

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

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Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

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To the rest of the world.

I remember when my son had a classmate named, Brandeen.  How would you pronounce that?  Just about everyone who didn't already know him pronounced it 

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@JaneMarple wrote:

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@faeriemoon wrote:

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

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Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

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To the rest of the world.

For example, when my son was a kid he had a classmate named, Brandeen.  How would you pronounce that?  Anyone who didn't already know him pronounced it "bran-DEEN".  Well, his name was what we would spell as, Brandon.  Both the mother and the kid became very indignant when it was mispronounced.

Parents need to get a clue and give their kids a name that is spelled as something recognizable.  And yes, that mother looked like a moron.

[faeriemoon]

@JaneMarple  Sorry for the posting weirdness.  I think my computer needs medication.

[JaneMarple]

@faeriemoon I have a young nephew who is 3 years old and his name is Zakary, his parents pronounce it  Zachary but chose this spelling on purpose. I admit that it's different but not ignorant.

[faeriemoon]

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@JaneMarple wrote:

@faeriemoon I have a young nephew who is 3 years old and his name is Zakary, his parents pronounce it  Zachary but chose this spelling on purpose. I admit that it's different but not ignorant.

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@JaneMarple  No, that's not ignorant at all.  I just think conventional spellings grow with you as you age; even if your name is not particularly conventional.

[Oznell]

SeaMaiden and chickenbutt, to your interesting posts,I think the Baby Name Wizard (who is really Laura Wattenberg) has a theory that it takes a full, hundred year cycle for especially over-used names to come back.

She might have mentioned that the Baby Boomer names, which I think she has a cute title for, like "Surfin' USA" or something--  the names like Susan, Linda, Bob, Debbie, Bruce, Rick, Kathy, Brad, (and their long forms) etc. etc. will cycle back, but not now.  That's because many of the bearers of those names are now mature, solid citizens, and young whippersnapper parents don't think of them as exciting potential children's names.  (The one exception above is the long form of Kathy, Katherine, which remains popular.)

But at some point, the bearers of those names will be gone (not for a LONG time I hope) and the names will seem fresh again.  Look how old time names like Violet, Ruby, Oscar, Roman, Daisy etc. have seen a revival with so-called "hipster" parents.

[Oznell]

That's interesting, JaneMarple, I like your nephew's spelling-- it is similar to the spelling of one of the Lithuanian forms of Zachary, which is something like "Zakaras".  Certain other languages use the 'k" instead of the "ch" form in their versions of Zachary, like Hungarian and I believe Arabic.

Sometimes what seems like unusual spellings to us is what is the name's version is in other languages.  For example, "William' is Gwilym (or is it Gwylim) in Welsh. 

Of couse, even Zachary is a variant of the original Hebrew name "Zechariah"--  it is just the most usual one in our language at this time...

[september]

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@JaneMarple wrote:

My new granddaughter who is due in less than 3 weeks will have a very old fashioned and old english name. 

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That's what I thought about both names that were chosen for my twin granddaughters just over a year ago.  Now I see that one of those names is now very "popular".   The younger generation has never known anyone with these traditional names, so now they're different and getting attention.