I am an older man (74+) and have seen some widely varied given names, even in my own family. I don’t mind the current popular ones, but I wonder where they come from. Odd (to me ) spellings, and unusual constructions are quite common these days.
There’s nothing really new about it. My father was born in 1916, his middle name was Alan. Not to be confused with Alen, Allan, Allen, Allann, Allenn, Allyn. . .
My personal theory about this is that it’s driven by the almost exclusive use of first names in public these days - as opposed to, say, a couple of generations ago, when people outside the family/friend circle used surnames much more often.
It didn’t matter so much being the fifth James in the room when you were actually “Mr Smith”, “Mr Black”, “Mr Thomson”… and so on and so forth. Now it does, and people avoid it.
A couple of possible factors:
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There was a trend years back to spell common names in odd ways to honor one’s ancestry or heritage. It seems to have resurfaced recently.
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I’ve known families that had a sort of naming tradition (e.g. all girls names start with a c) and would use odd spellings to match their preferred name to that tradition. Fortunately, I’ve not encountered a family where these last more than a generation.
I guess I am asking the wrong question.
Without any disrespect to African-Americans, the names I am asking about are the ones that in the last 25 years or so have surfaced with odd to me spellings and unknown origins.
Some examples are-
Jedeveoon, Bonquisha,Tanisha, T’a nay, Deshaun, Tayshaun, Deron, Rau’shee, Raynell, Deontay, Taraje, Jozy, Kerron, Hyleas, Chaunte, Bershawn, Lashawn, Sanya, Trevell, Sheena, Ogonna, Dremiel , and many others.
“it is largely and profoundly the legacy of African-Americans,” writes Eliza Dinwiddie-Boyd in her baby-naming book “Proud Heritage.” Shalondra and Shaday, Jenneta and Jonelle, Michandra and Milika – in some parts of the country today, nearly a third of African-American girls are given a name belonging to no one else in the state (boys’ names tend to be somewhat more conservative).
Why is this so ?
One factor: for centuries, Catholics were expected to give their children the names of saints. When I was a kid, I saw nuns giving classmates the third degree if their names didn’t immediately sound saintly. (“Was there a St. Jennifer???” “Sob! I don’t know, Sister!”)
That was never a rule, just a tradition. Regardless, it FELT like a rule, which is why all the Irish boys in my class were John, James or Patrick while all the Italian boys were Peter, Paul, Vincent or Anthony. And all the girls were Mary, Elizabeth, Catherine, Anne, or some combination of those.
Now, nobody cares about rules or traditions, so Catholic parents name their kids Sierra and Dakota and Skyler or ____ just like everyone else.
It is a fad–people around you are giving their children brand new, made-up names and you decide it would be interesting to give your child a brand new, made-up name. The meme just reached a critical mass. (On the other hand, all names must be made up at some time or another. In a few generations, kids may be back to getting named after their ancestors, and complaining about being given an old-fashoned name like their grandfather, Tequeshauwndre.)
Also, this thread can’t be complete without this clip.
My theory is that due to the exponential development of mass media, people are more often modeling themselves on celebrities, trying to be oh-so unique. (See also “Las Vegas Show As Model For Weddings”).
I think it all started with Petula Clark.
Here’s an interesting series of blog posts about the racial origins of the “weird name” lists and jokes which get spread around, with an interesting example (from the second post in the sequence) of one you won’t hear:
Thank you !
This is probably better suited to IMHO than General Questions.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
One interesting case is Oprah Winfrey. Her birth name was Orpah, but so many people misspelled/mispronounced it that “Oprah” stuck.
Our local newspaper still prints births every week, as released by local hospitals. I read with amusement every week at what people name their babies. Just this week we have… Karsyn, Kinsley, Jayda, Oaklyn, Becca, Paxton, O’rion and the winner… Sereneetee.
I don’t really care what people name their kids, but I do feel bad that these new people will spend their entire lives having to enunciate and spell their names over and over and over. I think it amounts to a mild form of torture.
I did not know that. Interestingly, Ophrah seems to be a Biblical name as well.
The thing is, whites have now jumped on the bandwagon, with nonsense like “Brayden” and “Makenna.” My theory is that it’s due to the rise in single motherhood, with mothers now naming their children as opposed to fathers, because men are more likely to want to name a child after an ancestor or famous person they admire, while women are more likely to pick a name they think is “cute” or “quirky” or “distinctive.”
The youngest children I know are named Midas, Ma’kayla, and Nova.
I knew someone back in the 70s (and named in the 50s) whose name was Roe. She discovered it was supposed to be “Rose,” but they misspelled it on the birth certificate.
Of course, Jewish naming tradition is to name someone for a deceased relative (not a living one!). But even in the 1980s, my cousin middle name was “Dove” instead of “David.”
The issue is that you used to be teased if you had a too-unusual name. Nowadays, there are plenty of names that don’t appear on the top name lists, so people are used to it.
I’d go with this one, for this thread.
And then there is the situation where old-fashioned sounding names are coming back in trend. I personally know little boys named Elliot and Theodore.
People should have GUIDs instead of names. Everything will become easier. My GUID is {524n9982-z20q-12f9-g459-416711223421}, but I hate it when people refer to me as simply {524n9982}, I hate that, please don’t do it.