What’s up widdat?
Do they think that if they name their kid Major or even King, that they will have no choice but to be successful?
If my parents had named me that way, I would probably (IMHO, anyway) be known as Sergeant Modem.
Additionally, what’s a name like Moon Unit gonna do for a young lady’s success?
Name your kid something weird = make 'em rise above it and become successful!
“Well, my daddy left home when I was three…”
Quasi
Well, at least Major is better than Increase.
I always figured if a kid had a real attention-getter for a name, it gets them used to lots of attention, and eventually, more successful in the long-run.
A funny name got Eagle-eye Cherry at least one hit, and if he invests wisely, will never have to work again!
May the mediocrity of several greeting-card salesman inhabit your soul like unmatched buttons in a empty mayonaise jar.
In Heller’s Catch-22, Major Major never got higher than rank of Major (iirc).
I knew a guy when I was stationed in Homestead. His whole family - both sides - had water backgrounds. Navy, Merchant Marines, Coast Guard, oil tankers - just about every male in the family had a career on the water. So, quite naturally, his parents named him Sailor.
Also quite naturally, he joined the Marines
Well he could have named him C-Sharp or Drum but he knew that Major Major Major was the best choice.
A few weeks into boot camp a computer with an even bigger sense of humor than his dad promoted him to Major.
In case you don’t know that is a paraphrase from Joseph Hellers book Catch-22.
I always liked the Garrison Kellior character named Senator.
People may think that naming thier kid something odd or out of the ordinary is going to help them in the long run, but they don’t think of the harm it may do them while they are at school.
Think of all the crap someone will get if they are called something odd. Maybe time have changed since I was in school, but that would most likely have earned someone weekly/daily beatings from the school bullies.
Rick
It’s pretty common here in Schenectady, due to the influence of General Electric. You have:
General Mills
Admiral Television
Corporal Punishment
Sargeant Fleacollar
Major Disaster
Private Driveway
Captain Crunch
I don’t know RickQ I have a perfectly ordinary name and my classmates made fun of it. We basically made fun of everybodys name in turn.
Steve
(stever, stever beaver, stever beaver poopy eater, the really sad thing was that this was in college)
I wonder if Lawyer Milloy’s parents were disappointed that he grew up to be a football player.
Or Major Owens’s parents, that he grew up to become a congressman.
Zev Steinhardt
I read somewhere that black parents sometimes name their children things like Major or Sergeant or King because they feel that white people will be respecting them every time they call them by their first name.
I went to college with a guy named Colonel.
How about “Major Major” in Catch-22?
I went to school with a Captian Tom Smith. His sister’s name was Sister Sarah. Smith. Family tradition of some kind, I don’t wonder.
I remember reading somewhere (not the best source, I know), that people tend to take after there names - a Guido becomes like a Guido, a Quinn like a Quinn, etc.
Maybe they’re hoping for the same sort of thing.
Could have been worse, poor kid could have been named Major Tom.
A friend of mine was in school with a Sergeant Schultz. Ouch.
One of my parents friends had named their kids odd names. At least the girl, they named her Moon. She’s now one of the youngest female receiver of a PhD in physics ever. Although she has since changed her name.
I never noticed this as a kid since all my friends had Chinese or Vietnamese names.
As for this particular trend can’t say as I understand it. When I name my children I will at least give them names.
Many years ago, I worked for a company way down south that employed mostly minimum wage workers, mostly female and poorly educated, at that. A fairly high percentage of the employees were black and names such as “Queen Anne”, “Princess Mary”, “Lady Jane” and the like were not unheard. A black lady who became a good friend to me once explained that these names were used in order to more or less force whites to address the bearer in respectful terms.
While working in Army personnel for 8 years I came across some real beauts:
General Army Butcher (no, really)
Specialist Sergeant (later Sgt. Sergeant, then Staff Sgt. Sergeant)
Private Major
Private Ho (g0d forbid she ever attained the rank of Major)
Captain Dicks (female, first name Sharon)
I worked with a guy who was named after not one, but two famous American generals, Ulysses and Sherman. Highest rank attained = Private.
Probably the most unfortunate soul I heard of was a Navy squid named Stane. That’s right, Seaman Stane…