Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Giving girls boy names, is this a new SAD trend?
- Thread starter dontwalkhand
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Could be worse:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/strangebuttrue/zopittybopbopbop-has-cops-in-a-knot-20120110-1psrw.html
No comment!
http://www.smh.com.au/world/strangebuttrue/zopittybopbopbop-has-cops-in-a-knot-20120110-1psrw.html
No comment!
I kind of like using so-called male gender specific names for names for women (e.g. Sydney, Michael). And, as has been pointed out in other posts, those "rules" change over time (e.g. Marion, Lesley).
While it is certainly true that kids with "different" names (e.g., Moonbeam, Blue, Seven) can catch grief from other kids, I don't think that it causes lifetime emotional scarring.
I had the opposite problem as a kid - a name so common that there were always 4-5 of us in the class in elementary school. Apparently in my birth year, every third kid was named Richard. When the teacher called on Richard to answer a question, four of us would start speaking!
I like the flexibility to expand naming choices for children - within some undefined limits.
While it is certainly true that kids with "different" names (e.g., Moonbeam, Blue, Seven) can catch grief from other kids, I don't think that it causes lifetime emotional scarring.
I had the opposite problem as a kid - a name so common that there were always 4-5 of us in the class in elementary school. Apparently in my birth year, every third kid was named Richard. When the teacher called on Richard to answer a question, four of us would start speaking!
I like the flexibility to expand naming choices for children - within some undefined limits.
I know a driver from that era, who's name is Dawn.
It suits him well, as he is one of the softest, kindest men I have ever met.
Has anyone grabbed Anthrax yet??
I don't really think it matters.
I'm going to name my son something that's decent, and common enough that it won't be mispronounced.
The only people who can get my name correct in it's pronunciation are those that were born in India (I'm Indian, born there, so my name is Indian, and not THAT common).
Other people call me a...fudged up version of the name, but it's gotten enough that I just don't care anymore. I came to the conclusion in 3rd grade that unless you spoke Hindi, you wouldn't be able to pronounce my name correctly.
And one of my really good friends - her name's Ryan.
I'm going to name my son something that's decent, and common enough that it won't be mispronounced.
The only people who can get my name correct in it's pronunciation are those that were born in India (I'm Indian, born there, so my name is Indian, and not THAT common).
Other people call me a...fudged up version of the name, but it's gotten enough that I just don't care anymore. I came to the conclusion in 3rd grade that unless you spoke Hindi, you wouldn't be able to pronounce my name correctly.
And one of my really good friends - her name's Ryan.
Here's the most recent list of names that parents in NZ tried to name their children. And no, the punctuation is not there by mistake. The numbers in brackets are indicative of the number of times it's been tried.
89
*
.
/
2nd
5th
Anal
Baron
Bishop (7)
C
Chief
Christ
Constable
D
Duke (7)
E (2)
Emperor
G
General
Honour
H-Q
I (2)
II (2)
III (2)
J (6)
Jr (2)
Judge
Justice (49)
Justus (2)
Juztice
King (21)
Knight (2)
Lady (3)
Lord
Lucifer (6)
M
Mafia No Fear
Majesti
Majesty (2)
Major (6)
Master (2)
Messiah (3)
MJ
Mr
President
Prince (20)
Princess (24)
Queen (2)
Queen V
Queen Victoria
Royal (12)
Royale (2)
S P
Saint
Sargent
Sir (2)
T (2)
V (2)
V8
89
*
.
/
2nd
5th
Anal
Baron
Bishop (7)
C
Chief
Christ
Constable
D
Duke (7)
E (2)
Emperor
G
General
Honour
H-Q
I (2)
II (2)
III (2)
J (6)
Jr (2)
Judge
Justice (49)
Justus (2)
Juztice
King (21)
Knight (2)
Lady (3)
Lord
Lucifer (6)
M
Mafia No Fear
Majesti
Majesty (2)
Major (6)
Master (2)
Messiah (3)
MJ
Mr
President
Prince (20)
Princess (24)
Queen (2)
Queen V
Queen Victoria
Royal (12)
Royale (2)
S P
Saint
Sargent
Sir (2)
T (2)
V (2)
V8
I'm really particular about the names I give characters when I write, so it'd probably take me an eternity to name my kids. I fully admit to being anal retentive about this. I don't really give a rat's what other people name their kids, but I would never give my kid any of the following:
1. Boringly common: Sarah, Jennifer, Michael, John, etc. I've always had at least 3 Sarahs/Michaels in my classes growing up. I'd be pissed if that was my name.
2. The fake originality names: As someone mentioned, the ones with a letter or two spelled differently. Jordyn, Kristal, Jazmyn, Jaysen, etc. It's basically giving your kid a regular name with a lifetime of correcting people to follow. Misspellings of names also fits in this category: Dwyane Wade, Jhonny Peralta, etc.
3. Too original/ghetto fabulous: D'Brickashaw Ferguson is just horrible. Equally horrible names I've personally come across: Alize, Lexus, T'Shanae, LaTrikanelle, Uniqua, Starshema, Stylisha. I read a study once that suggested it's something like 25% harder to get a job in this country when you have a name like that. Racist, but true. I remember once we got an email from an assistant at an agency named "LaTisha" which is not nearly as bad, and still everyone commented on it.
The truth is, it's dumb to let anyone else's opinion affect how you decide to name your child, pet, rock, etc. These examples are just my own personal opinion, which I'm unusually rigid on. I had a girlfriend once that always named her pets dumb things and once we had a discussion about naming children. Once she told me a few of her choices, I knew we wouldn't work out. Seriously.
1. Boringly common: Sarah, Jennifer, Michael, John, etc. I've always had at least 3 Sarahs/Michaels in my classes growing up. I'd be pissed if that was my name.
2. The fake originality names: As someone mentioned, the ones with a letter or two spelled differently. Jordyn, Kristal, Jazmyn, Jaysen, etc. It's basically giving your kid a regular name with a lifetime of correcting people to follow. Misspellings of names also fits in this category: Dwyane Wade, Jhonny Peralta, etc.
3. Too original/ghetto fabulous: D'Brickashaw Ferguson is just horrible. Equally horrible names I've personally come across: Alize, Lexus, T'Shanae, LaTrikanelle, Uniqua, Starshema, Stylisha. I read a study once that suggested it's something like 25% harder to get a job in this country when you have a name like that. Racist, but true. I remember once we got an email from an assistant at an agency named "LaTisha" which is not nearly as bad, and still everyone commented on it.
The truth is, it's dumb to let anyone else's opinion affect how you decide to name your child, pet, rock, etc. These examples are just my own personal opinion, which I'm unusually rigid on. I had a girlfriend once that always named her pets dumb things and once we had a discussion about naming children. Once she told me a few of her choices, I knew we wouldn't work out. Seriously.
I'm named Blue and I quite like it. Until Beyoncé and Jay-Z had their daughter I hadn't heard a single disparaging remark about it since I was a kid. Kids like to assert their implied superiority by picking on something about another kid. A name you had no choice in is probably better than other things you have no choice in, such as your appearance or social standing. The snarky remarks were never that big of a deal to me. What's funny is seeing the exact same behaviour from adults who want to feel superior by snarking about some celebrity's choice in whatever.
I agree that there are some really bad ideas for names. "Ghetto" names are trapping your kids into an existence that is probably already difficult to get out of. Over-the-top illogical spellings (or special characters [WTF?]) will only lead to incessant and annoying corrections. And then there are just plain shocking names, like those racists assrags who named their son Adolf Hitler.
Names that are simply a little different or names that don't easily distinguish gender are no big deal. I know, I have both. What is more "SAD" is people getting their judgemental panties in a bunch over it.
This is nothing new. There are plenty of names that started off as male names and have now become unisex, or even largely female, names. Ashley and Jaime both come to mind as examples, but there are plenty of others, I'm sure.
Well, at one time, it was literally "son of". So Jack Johnson would be Jack, John's son. And Jack's son would be Michael Jackson. But over time, two things happened: surnames started being constant, rather than changing with each generation, and "son of" became "descended from". So Allison doesn't mean "son of Al" so much as "descended from Al".
Of course, the other thing that's happened is that the *son suffixes no longer actually refer to anyone in particular. They're just part of the name. So someone with the first name Jackson doesn't necessarily have a father named Jack.
The convention comes from a long time ago when people were identified by who they were related to or what they did... surnames like Thatcher, Miller, Smith, Weaver, etc. all come from occupations. Note that you also occasionally see surnames like Millerson, too.
Well, at one time, it was literally "son of". So Jack Johnson would be Jack, John's son. And Jack's son would be Michael Jackson. But over time, two things happened: surnames started being constant, rather than changing with each generation, and "son of" became "descended from". So Allison doesn't mean "son of Al" so much as "descended from Al".
Of course, the other thing that's happened is that the *son suffixes no longer actually refer to anyone in particular. They're just part of the name. So someone with the first name Jackson doesn't necessarily have a father named Jack.
The convention comes from a long time ago when people were identified by who they were related to or what they did... surnames like Thatcher, Miller, Smith, Weaver, etc. all come from occupations. Note that you also occasionally see surnames like Millerson, too.
I meant no disrespect to you, I think that Celebrities choose to name their kids something unique just to grab attention. I do think parents have to be cautious about what they name their kid for the child's sake later in life. Of course names mean different things in different cultures.
I don't really care, but I used to think that Taylor was a boys name. I have some friends whose names are Taylor, but they're girls.
Or they just like a name and know they can do what they please. I can't imagine attention has much to do with it because they're likely to get plenty of it wether they like it or not anyway.
But I see you've backpedalled it to only intending this towards celebrity parents. Mine are cool then. Whew. I was really on the edge of my seat here.
Last edited:
I'm currently teaching guitar to a pensioner called Sandy, which in his case is actually short for Sandra.
A lot of Catholic kids over here have the middle name Mary.
Worst I ever saw was a poor guy called Ainus. I kid you not.
A lot of Catholic kids over here have the middle name Mary.
Worst I ever saw was a poor guy called Ainus. I kid you not.
Haha, there was a time when Blue was actually a pretty common name for a male, my wife and I have discussed it as a name for our future child.
I would have gotten my name legally changed the second I turned 18 in that case. He should've gotten that taken care of a LONG time ago!
My daughter's name is Devyn...
/shrug
Judge me if you'd like
I knew one of those. Except her name was spelled Devin. The only Devons I've known are guys.
I had no clue that was your real name. I've never heard of that as a first name before. Well, except for Bonnie Blue Butler from Gone With the Wind. Cool.
My name is Claude. It's French and in France it can be for a boy or a girl.
There are a lot of gender free names.
There are a lot of gender free names.
All through elementary school it was weird having a girl with the same name, but different spelling, "Ryanne". Drove us crazy when a teacher would say "Ryan" and not know who they were talking to.
Aliens. It was totally aliens.
Anyway, Johnny Cash knows a thing or two about guys with girl names, anyway.
Do you believe that? I've never considered it before, but what determines one's social standing if it isn't the behaviors they make?