# How common a name is "JonBenet" anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677 "2006-08-22T00:44:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/1 "2006-08-22T00:44:23Z")
I’ve never heard it before. Is this an American thing? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/2 "2006-08-22T00:48:23Z")
Its not common at all and I have never heard of it before either. Different groups in American society often invent new names that seem to fit in well with their subculture. Jon Benet sounds French and vaguely aristocratic which her parents seemed to want because they were wealthy social climbers that were very into pageants. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/3 "2006-08-22T01:19:43Z")
From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JonBen%C3%A9t_Ramsey) > [@](#): > > Her name is a combination of her father’s first and middle names, John Bennett. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/4 "2006-08-22T02:39:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Her name is a combination of her father’s first and middle names, John Bennett. Then dressed up in a fakeroo Fransh accent – “Zhan benNAY.” Which has always reminded me of “Jacques Penne [PenNAY],” the intentional Euro-snooting of mid-level American retailer J.C. Penney. See also “Kay Marche [MarSHAY]”, a/k/a K-Mart. (Yes, I am aware there should be an accent over the “e” in “Marche,” but I dont’ know how to do it.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/5 "2006-08-22T02:53:51Z")
She’s probably the only person in the world to have that name. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/6 "2006-08-22T02:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Then dressed up in a fakeroo Fransh accent – “Zhan benNAY.” Which has always reminded me of “Jacques Penne [PenNAY],” the intentional Euro-snooting of mid-level American retailer J.C. Penney. See also “Kay Marche [MarSHAY]”, a/k/a K-Mart. (Yes, I am aware there should be an accent over the “e” in “Marche,” but I dont’ know how to do it.) [/QUOTE] You forgot TarJHAY (Target) and VaLOO VaLAGHE (Value Village). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/7 "2006-08-22T03:40:49Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] You forgot TarJHAY (Target) and VaLOO VaLAGHE (Value Village). [/QUOTE] The thing is, I’ve actually heard at least two people say “Tar-JHAY” and mean it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/8 "2006-08-22T07:48:26Z")
How serious can you be when you say, “Tar-jhay?” ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/9 "2006-08-22T13:44:00Z")
My wife and step-daughter refer to “Kohl’s” as KO-LAY. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/10 "2006-08-22T13:56:10Z")
Any man who names his daughter after himself has serious boundary issues. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/11 "2006-08-22T14:03:23Z")
And let’s not forget the French (fry) bistro named “Jacques en le Box” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/12 "2006-08-22T14:24:51Z")
I has no idea her name was intended to be vaguely French. I just thought, “John Bennet”. The French name ending in “et” does not have an accent. If it ended in only “e”, it would have had an accent: “é”. Methinks the who issue needs a visit from the Forget commission, headed by Claude Forget, which studied unemployemnt insurance in Canada for the Mulroney Conservatives in 1986. Claude Forget was French and his name was pronounced “for-ZHAY”, but I could never see the name without thinking pf the English word “forget”. Which seems like a good idea. Way too much media attention on the events. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/13 "2006-08-22T14:48:28Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] Any man who names his daughter after himself has serious boundary issues. [/QUOTE] How is it any different from a man naming a son after himself? Not that I’m a big fan of that either. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/14 "2006-08-22T15:18:20Z")
Revenant Threshold writes: \> Is this an American thing? It’s an American thing in the sense that Americans often make up new names for children, some of which are based on parents’ names. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/15 "2006-08-22T16:01:28Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Revenant Threshold writes: \> Is this an American thing? It’s an American thing in the sense that Americans often make up new names for children, some of which are based on parents’ names. [/QUOTE] You don’t really expect it outside of certain subcultures, though. Is her family Mormon? ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/16 "2006-08-22T16:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] You don’t really expect it outside of certain subcultures, though. Is her family Mormon? [/QUOTE] Not that I’m aware and they’re certainly not black. Are there other subcultures in the US that give their kids foriegn sounding names? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/17 "2006-08-22T16:15:29Z")
[QUOTE=BMax] Not that I’m aware and they’re certainly not black. Are there other subcultures in the US that give their kids foriegn sounding names? [/QUOTE] Well, foreigners sometimes do. But the weird idea of trying to feminize the father’s name seems particularly similar to Utah Mormon naming practices to me; her name is not just invented (as with a lot of African-American names), it’s her father’s name. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/18 "2006-08-22T16:22:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] The French name ending in “et” does not have an accent. [/QUOTE] True, but it is still pronounced the same way (or should I sé the sém wé?). As in cachet, guichet, etc. There’s an area of Cardiff called Splott, and allegedly some of the yuppie incomers a few years ago were trying to get people to pronounce it Sploh with a French accent. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/19 "2006-08-22T16:23:55Z")
I know someone whose first name is DeNeil. She’s named for her father Neil, so her name “means” “of Neil.” I use quotes around “mean” because it’s made up. I suppose you could claim it was based on Spanish ('de" meaning “of”), but her last name is Polish-sounding. She’s a white female American non-Mormon, so I guess the inventing of names is not limited to Mormon or black subcultures. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677/20 "2006-08-22T16:39:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Methinks the who issue needs a visit from the Forget commission, headed by Claude Forget, which studied unemployemnt insurance in Canada for the Mulroney Conservatives in 1986. Claude Forget was French and his name was pronounced “for-ZHAY”, but I could never see the name without thinking pf the English word “forget”. Which seems like a good idea. Way too much media attention on the events. [/QUOTE] That’s not quite how you would pronounce “Forget” in French. The “et” isn’t pronounced “ay”, but closer to how you would say “get”, except without the “t” sound. As well, both syllables are equally accented. > [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Any man who names his daughter after himself has serious boundary issues. [Kahn Souphanousinphone] Kahn Junior, if you don’t come here right now, you are no longer my son! [/Kahn Souphanousinphone] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-a-name-is-jonbenet-anyway/369677.md?page=2)