We got in to this topic at work.
One of the ladies I work with her friend wants to set her up with a guy named Claude. She says it’s a dumb name and she’d never date a Claude. I thought it was dumb until I realized I’ve done similar things too.
So would you reject someone sight unseen if they had a dumb name. No offense to anyone name Claude.
Would I reject someone sight unseen and with no other information? No. That’s not fair and their name is probably not their fault.
Would I be wary of someone with a dumb name? Yep. If I think someone’s name is distasteful, that indicates that the tastes and values of their family might be very very different than my own.
So, for example, if someone wanted to set me up with someone named, say, Bob Jones, I would want to ask lots of questions and make sure that he is not Bob Jones, as in the University.
Of course, Bob Jones is not a DUMB name, exactly–but you catch my drift. I don’t want to inadvertently cite someone’s name. I am just a little newbie, after all.
BTW–My cousin named her kitty cat Claude. Claude=Clawed. Get it? You know, I am not sure if she intended to make the pun, but I think it’s a cool name for a cat.
She did the right thing.
Before you date anyone, say their name out loud, as if during sex:
OH -OH claude???
Nah!
would you reject someone for having a name like ‘Gaston’?
I know I hated school, cuz I had no real friends…
(it didn’t help that I was smaller than everyone else, and I was quiet)
I don’t suffer from insanity…
I enjoy every minute of it!
In a kinda similiar train of thought, in high school, Iwent on a couple of dates with a guy named Max just because I thought Max was a really cool name.
I could scream MAX, or GASTON for that matter… They arent bad at all.
Claude, Lloyd, Herman, those are bad.
Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
If it makes you feel any better I wouldn’t date someone named Claude either…
I was watching a Monty Python skit the other day, and the name Elsbeth came into play in a bedroom scene.
Elsbeth.
I’m sorry, I just don’t think I could ever go for that. No offense to all the Elsbeths in the world, but… no.
SanibelMan - My Homepage
“All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault.”
I’d date a Claude. The thing is not to worry about the first name. You’ll never really say Claude unless you get angry. I imagine you can always come up with some cute name to use the rest of the time. The last name is the one you really have to worry about. I mean what if the relationship progresses to marriage. You could be married and be Mrs. Cadiddlehopper. I don’t care what your name is, NOTHING goes with Cadiddlehopper or Whiskerbiscuits, or __________ (insert unusual name here).
“I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”
How about if his last name is ‘Bottom’?
Would you call his name out loud then?
‘Ohhh Claude M’ah Bottom’
Hahahahahaha. Seriously, wipes eyes rejecting people because of first names is outright silly…
I would date a Claude. As long as he looked good and was my type. As for calling out his name during sex… no. I would just have to call out Oh God or something and avoid saying his name at all costs.
I used to date a guy named Tom and that’s not a good name to call out during sex either. It just didn’t sound right.
That John Denver’s full of shit man!
I can kinda relate. Never really dated a guy with a weird name, but I think if it was too harsh on my ears or whatever I would think twice about it. Not saying I wouldn’t go on the date, but the thought of “Can I really say this name for the rest of my life?” would cross my mind. trivial, yes, but we all have our moments.
I’ll buy that for a dollar.
Meet the guy first. Some people are so individual they make their names attractive. The guy’s had a lifetime to get tough and carry it off, or surrender to it. Give him the benefit of the doubt.
Haven’t you met an Emma or someone who is so distinctive any other name would seem bland? Well, give the guy a chance.
BTW, the “yowling name during sex” thing isn’t a guarantee. Had an acquaintance who was cruelly called “Sbob”. His name was Bob and his ex sometimes flashed back to first hubby (Spike) during intense moments. Yep. She yowled, “SPOB!”–and the poor guy told people about this.
So even bland names hold their perils.
(Aren’t you glad I shared this?)
Veb
toecutter cites the name “bottom,” which I find appropriate to this topic, in relation to “A Misummer Night’s Dream:” Cupid’s sadistically aimed arrow can cause any one of us to fall in love with any other one of us, even if that person is afflicted with an ass’s head (literally so in Shakespeare; figuratively so in most everyone’s actual experience). In reverse-Shakespere, what if there is an “Anti-Cupid;” weilding not a bow but rather a shield? What if there is a supernatural force preventing, rather than compelling, romantic involvment? Think of it: there HE or SHE is; that Special Someone, fated for YOU alone, to be THE one who is willing to accept everything about you including your bodily secretions and intestinal exhalations and credit history and employment future, and all the other aspects of love both sacred, profane & mundane, but you have no choice other than to reject that person due to the sound of his or her name, as it bounces off the Anti-cupid’s sheild, as a silly-sounding phoneme. Puck’s last line of the play cited above still applies: “what fools these mortals be.”
As shallow as it seems, I have experience with this very thing. I was once engaged to a man whose name is Willie. Not William, but Willie. He wouldn’t even let people call him Will. We broke up for other reasons but I have to admit that I was plagued by the thought of spending the rest of my life with a man whose name I could not say without cringeing. (It didn’t help that my mother’s family is British and they could never say his name without laughing because of the penis connection.) Now, when I have to refer to him for a story or whatever, I call him “Will.” He would hate it but I don’t care anymore!
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
Beulah, Sarah, Mildred, Margaret, Holly, Dorothy and a plethora of other names which connotate an old, withered crone. I apologize profusely to any female posters bearing these names – I wouldn’t be able to get past 'em.
I’d avoid a “Heather” for obvious reasons…
Voted Best Sport
And narrowly averted the despised moniker Smiley Master
Forward deployed until 18AUG00
That is so interesting! My husband and I have Margaret on the list of “possible future kid names!” People sure do have different perceptions of things.
My grandmother’s name was Mildred, so I have a soft spot for that name, but it is a pretty bad name. As my best friend said, it is a cross between “mildew” and “dreadful.”
What are the “obvious reasons” to avoid a Heather. I don’t like the name either, but I can’t put my finger on why.
Who knows, maybe he’s a french guy that can lick his eyebrows.
From a guy’s perspective, I know what you mean. I don’t think I would never date anyone named Claudia. Or Cynthia. Elle, Tyra, Iman, Paulina…they’re all dumb names of probably horrendously undesirable women.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike someone, though, without taking their name into account.
Not voted most anything
There is actually a guy in New York—the East Village, to be precise—named Fuk Yu. I want desperately to date him, and have considered stalking him. Wouldn’t it be fun to take him to parties and say, “this is my boyfriend—Fuk Yu!”
His life fascinates me. Does he think he hears people calling him on the street? How does he introduce himself? “Hello, Miss—Fuk Yu?” I’d love to do a magazine piece about him, but what the hell magazine would print it?
Forget their legal name, you should be more concerned about their nickname.
I have known a “Boogers”, “Cat Dink”, “Fuzz”, and “Stinky”. I would NEVER consider dating any of them.
You turn me on. But maybe it’s because I just spent 20 years in the jungle, getting it on with anything I could attract with a piece of fruit.