Just like tattoos, when you reach that age, people really don’t care what others’ think of them.
As I’ve grown older myself, most names can have some sort of interesting hook. However, there are certain women’s names from the 60s that sound harsh and dated to me… like Pat, Peg, Linda, Barb, Donna, Mildred and Sue. I know several of those are diminutives, but I’m not overly fond of their long form either.
For my own choices, I had the opportunity to name a girl child, I’d pick a boy’s name or a last name. I have a friend whose granddaughter hits both; she is named Elliot (after T.S.) and I love that.
The hell? As I was opening this thread I remembered how, one day in middle school, I came upon two classmates who were idly discussing how much they hated my name. Then I open this thread, and POOF! Very first post my name is getting dissed. Yeesh! :smack:
My girls have old fashioned names. The first is Serena Jane and the second Charlotte Winifred. Serena is not particularly popular and never has been. She’s named in the Ashkenazic Jewish tradition after my relatives with the S names of Shirley, Sarah and an actual Szerena who was my Hungarian great grandmother. The Jane comes from great grandfather Jacob. Charlotte is both after a great uncle Chaim and because we like the name. Winifred is admittedly an ugly dog of a name but it was the name of my husband’s grandmother, a woman we both knew and adored.
While Serena will probably never be popular, I expect Charlotte to climb the popularity charts as it was chosen both by Chelsea Clinton and the Duchess of Cambridge. I wanted a girl named Elizabeth and a boy named Benjamin when I was growing up but that is not in the cards as neither name works with my husband’s first or last name.
I think certain contemporary names need to be retired for a generation or perhaps much longer. The world has all the Kaitlyn/Caitlyn/Caitlynnes it needs as well as all the Brayden and Caydens it will ever need. I feel the same about Madison, Ava and Mason/Grayson and Logan.
There is a cluster of street names in an older part of Sacramento that has three or four of the oldest, ugliest female names I know of - I can’t bring the really awful one to mind but I think a cross street is Winifred.
One of the sexiest actresses of the 1970s was born Winifred Bissett and decided her middle name was more attractive. That’s one category of reason.
Charlotte was already Top 10 in 2014, but I’m sure it’s going to be in the Top 3 or 5 this year. SSA data. Lots of traditional names for girls are coming back in a big way–Eleanor, Victoria, Grace, Naomi, Hannah/Anna, Claire/Clara, Lucy, Alice, Stella, Amelia, and so on.
I’ve also heard that the typical 50s and 60s names are going to make a comeback in the next generation, as Boomers age into beloved grandparents and namesakes for kids as “family names.” In the next 10-20 years we may see girls starting to be named Linda, Susan, Patricia, Donna, Carol, and Judy. Would it be any weirder than people in the 90s thinking “Edith” and “Hazel” and “Harriet” would never come back, like they are today?
It’s more formally spelled with an umlaut - Zöe. (I believe it’s of German or Scandinavian origin, so that makes sense.) However, California legislator Zoe Lofgren pronounces her name the way you do - as “Zo.”
On the other hand, it shortens to “Neil”, which is a great name.
A feminist scholar could probably find an essay in the reactions to “Judith” and how they tie in to the story of the original Judith. Who was certainly one of the more gender-transgressive characters in the Bible. A.S. Byatt wrote an interesting short story that examined the Judith and Holofernes story.
I had a grandmother called Desi (well actually I called her Nana) which I didn’t know until she died was short for Desdemona. A great-aunt (her sister) who was Aunt Demi, ad I likewise didn’t know her name was Demeter until she died.
I think Desi and Demi are cute, but Desdemona and Demeter?
On the other side I had a grandma whose name was Josie and it was not a nickname, and a great-aunt Bessie, also not a nickname. Again, I didn’t know this until they died; I thought they were short versions of Josephine and Elizabeth.
My granddaughter’s name is Jocelyn. Her brother has nicknamed her Jaws. (But he’s only 5.) Everybody else calls her Joss, which is not all that different, basically.
At some point this summer I played a woman on the tennis ladder whose name was Ethel. I can’t fathom a time when Ethel was considered a pretty name, and I also couldn’t figure out how old Ethel was going to be. I figured either in her 80s or in her 20s. She turned out to be about 50.
The ones that can stay buried IMO are those names ending in ‘een’ or ‘ene’, like Maureen, Doreen, Noreen, Kaylene, Charlene and Darlene.
Acquaintances of mine named their kid Nimrod many years ago (kid would be in his mid-thirties by now) and I have no idea how he coped with such a name, especially during his teenage years. His only saving grace might have been that his mother came from a long line of famous artists, so the circles they mixed in were somewhat bohemian and quirky with odd names being more the norm.
My maternal grandmother was Naomi Elizabeth, my mom was Naomi Edith, my sister is Susan Naomi, her daughter is Amanda Naomi, and her granddaughter is Mollie Naomi. I think Naomi is a beautiful name so I’m glad it’s coming back.
My cousin’s daughter named her daughter Gidget Thursday. I just can’t.
Me too. Second thought is of Ethel Mertz and the third thought is from back in the day when the phrase for putting gas in the car was “fill er up with Ethel” (though I guess that would technically be ethyl)
I’m pretty sure that name conjures up similar reactions from the majority of people, with the exception of those who associate it with a loved one. But do we all think it’s, for lack of a better word, “objectively” ugly sounding? If so, why?
After saying it over and over in my mind, I’m not so sure. Is it the “eth” sound? I know I personally like the sound of “Athena”(though I realize the initial vowel sound it slightly different). Is it the way the name flows (or doesn’t as the case may be)? I think for me, it’s kind of unbalanced(?); it starts off strong with an accented first syllable and then the second part gets kind of swallowed, almost like the speaker is drunk.
[QUOTE=KinkiNipponTourist]
The hell? As I was opening this thread I remembered how, one day in middle school, I came upon two classmates who were idly discussing how much they hated my name. Then I open this thread, and POOF! Very first post my name is getting dissed. Yeesh!
[/QUOTE]
Apologies, Kinki (and anyone else I have offended). I don’t mean that I dislike people with “bad” names or that I’m in any way prejudices against them; just trying to see why we think what we do about names. And, not that it makes *you *feel any better, but I did reveal my own name and my dislike of it. And I forgot to mention that my middle name is near the all time, permanent list of names I dislike. Pamela. Good golly, but that’s bad. Talk about bad flow.
If we’re allowed non-English names in this thread, I’ll nominate the French female name “Lourdes.” I don’t like it because it sounds too much like “lourd,” French for “heavy.”
Also, I think the French female name “Manon” sounds too masculine, but maybe that’s just because I’m and English speaker.
There’s also the usually French/Francophone “Yannick,” which threw me when I had to deal with a British contact of the name. I had no idea whether it was male of female. It turned out she was the older and very distinguished Belgian-born wife of a prominent UK banker… but I still have to sort of raise an eyebrow every time I encounter it.
