Is your middle name also Elizabeth? It’s odd, but of the ten or so people I’ve ever met with my first name, probably seven shared my middle name as well. Actually, though, the older I get, the more I like my names. They have an aura of both dignity and grace/feminity. It seems to me that very few names translate well from childhood to adulthood to old age, but I think my parents did well in choosing my names.
As for nicknames, I’m sure I’d mind any nickname that people didn’t have “permission” to use. It’s okay with me that my family and closest friends call me “Rae,” because they’ve called me that as long as I can remember. But it’s not cool when people who don’t know me well label me with some random nickname. (Actually, only one of my closest friends is allowed to call me “Rach.” Everyone else gets the icy glare when they address me by that abomination of a nickname. And only my best girlfriend gets to call me “Red,” because it’s an inside joke. This thread has made me realize how totally neurotic I am about nicknames!)
Actually, I knew that, having looked it up while researching geneaology. What makes the name so odd in my family is that the Aquila in my background is a great x some number grandfather from the totally uneducated Welsh side of the family. (I guess, if there had been a history of higher education in that side of the family, I wouldn’t find an obscure Latin name to be so unusual.) In a long line of Johns and Roberts, Aquila is just very odd!
Hmmm, I am a guy. My first name is not very common, but slightly more common for a woman than a man.
For me, my first name peaked as the 448th most popular in 1934, and hasn’t made the top 1000 in 60+ years. Seemed to have only been in the top 1000 from about 1920 - 1950.
as a woman’s name, it hasn’t been in the top 1000 for 25 years or so, and peaked at 70 in 1941.
My parents were assholes when it came to first names.
No, I don’t guess anyone would have guessed that. However, if ever asked to guess a guys name in a bar, that is my go-to name! (yeah, curiosity killed the cat)
Can’t believe I’m the first one to say: “The continuing stooooooory of a QUACK… who’s gone to the dogs.”
I’m a Jeff; the name held at #11 for '68, '69 (the year I was born), and '70. Don’t think I went to school with any other Jeffs (one Geoff, though). I knew a handful of Michelles, several Cheryls, numerous Jennifers, lots of Mikes, Scotts, and Johns. Oh, and Kellys, too.
It always surprises me when this topic comes up, how many Jennifers there are in the US who were born in the '70s/'80s. It’s definitely not a name which is common among Australian 20-30 year olds. It was right up there with the Christines, Denises and Dianes in the '50s and I don’t think I’ve ever met a Jennifer who isn’t my age (55) or a bit older.
Names are not just fashionable within a certain time, but in a certain region as well. I remember around 1990 I was talking with an Australian guy named Graham and I mentioned that I never met anyone by that name before. He was kind of shocked. That’s an extremely common name in Australia, but not in the U.S.
You didn’t think of Igel. However, that’s only the European hedgehog – the American cousin is Stacheltier. If I ever have to come up with a new screen name, I might go with Tschechenigel – Czech hedgehog!
George. Henry. Herbert. Francis. Walter. Ronald. Herman. Ralph. Kevin. Allen. Ken. Louis. All are fine names, but a bit dated … Nancy. Bea. Audrey. Lois. Lisa. Debby. Frances. Ida. Jill. Linda. Marge. Wendy. Mary/Marie. Patty. Virginia. Edith. Gloria.
All it takes is one celebrity fishing an old-fashioned monicker out of the past, and lo and behold, “Frances/Francis” is on the hot list again. A generation has to go by, though.
My own name conjurs up visions of a 1930’s farm wife, hoeing the sunflowers and feeding the chickens. It’s rare, but not unheard of; and yet, I have NEVER met another female with my name! :mad:
