First Names Used to Represent Group X

In My Humble Opinion
1

*This is Spinal Tap * is on VH1 Class and I got to thinking that the name Nigel has never once been used to name a child outside of Great Britain.

(Pause to allow for reference to first cousin’s ex-boyfriend from Cleveland with said first name.)

On a related note, what names are used to conjure up a particular sub-group?

Example: Male from the US South, Billy Bob. Often accompanied with his significant other, Bobby Sue.

Johnny is used to represent any school-age male child and he usually happens to be little.

Pierre seems to be the name of choice for the generic Frenchman sometimes hyphenated with Jean in front.

I’m not going to exhaust the list (in fact that’s all from the top of my head) what else is there?

2

I don’t think anybody outside the USA has ever been named “Travis”. However, the generic Australian nickname for an American is “Chuck”. I don’t think anybody outside the USA has ever been called that, either.

3

G’day, Bruce!

4

:smiley: Shit. Left myself wide open for that one…

5

Franz and Hans are stereotypical Germans, married to Heidi and Greta.

6

Names that feature a double consonant and end in “y” are usually used to represent dingy, superficial teenage girls - i.e., Brittany, Tiffany, etc.

Buffy used to be on that list, too, until Joss Whedon came along. :wink:

7

Shlomo, the Orthodox Jew.

8

I felt sorry for my friend Bruce when some comics tried to tie that to being gay.
I think that is no longer a strong connotation.
Less sympathy for the Adolph ( born in the US and named after his dad also born in the US). Yeah, life is unfair, but change your name already and get on with your life.

9

Ivan, of course, is the generic name for a Russian (who may or may not be crazy)

Sven for someone from Scandinavia, and either Mario, Sergio, or Luigi if they’re Italian.

10

Bubba = generic Southern redneck male (yes, there really are some and I grew up with several).

Olga or Helga = big German chick.

11

There is any number of names that scream “American” to the rest of us. Off the top of my head, Brad, Chad, Todd, Chip, Jeff with a J, LaTisha or La-anything, Larry, Chuck, Tiffany, any day of the week like “Tuesday”, Shannon, Tammy, Eric (an old man’s name over here), …

12

LaQwerty?

13

Olga seems more Russian to me. Other names that remind me immediately of Russia: Boris, Vladimir, Tatiana, Natasha, Gregor.

I agree with Nigel as a quintessential English name. Also: Percival, Montgomery, Hermione, Phoebe, Fiona, Colin, Rhys.

Matti = Finnish.

Angus = Scottish. (Although my seasonal neighbour Angus is Canadian.)

Troy, Duke, Lance = Southern Californian.

14

Bridget and Patty, Irish

15

If I want to think of generic Canadian names, slightly-more-fancy-than-usual American names work, ie: Duncan, William, Robert.

16

Back in the 80’s, I remember the “Truly Tasteless Jokes” books frequently used “Leroy” and “Titus” as generic black American names.

Most Japanese names stick out pretty clearly, but I guess the stereotypical ones would be Hiroshi and Toshi, with their wives Keiko and Yumi.

17

Juan or Pedro = Mexican

Biff = fratboy

18

An American would probably associate most of these names with a particular subgroup. Brad, Chad, Chip and Todd are WASP preppie names. The “la” names are African American. Tiffany usually evokes an image of a (white) stripper wannabe that lives in a trailer.

I agree that Jeff, Chuck, Eric and Larry are fairly generic U.S. names. Except for maybe Jeff, I’d picture someone over 35, though. I’ve only known a few Shannons and Tammys. They aren’t that common.

You’ve lost me with the days of the week names. Can’t think of any other than Tuesday Weld and Wednesday Addams (which is meant to be a joke). (I don’t count Heinlein’s Friday.)

19

English-Canadian names: Lorne.

Gay names: Julian, Lance, and of course Mark, Rick, or Steve (think Steel Magnolias)

20

Oh, and for some reason, Hamish tells me that all female environmental activists from British Columbia are named Tzipporah.