# Texas Dopers: Given Names of Teenagers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966 "2013-01-12T15:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/41 "2013-01-14T01:40:18Z")
No, the text book writer would not be in any trouble for that any more than they’d be in trouble if someone used the book to beat someone about the head. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/42 "2013-01-14T01:48:13Z")
Are Juan and Maria really popular names in Texas? I just did a storytime for our library in Spanish. All the kids were hispanic. We were doing a name song and I tell you there was not a single familiar name among all the hispanic kids. Half the time I couldn’t even understand what they were saying, and when I finally did get the name, it was something I had never heard before. This really dragged down the flow of the song, naturally, until I finally exclaimed “Aren’t there any Juans or Josés here?” The parents all got a laugh of of it, but it lead me to wonder if modern Spanish names are much more diverse these days. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/43 "2013-01-14T02:07:13Z")
I live adjacent to non-urban West Texas. Girls names seem to follow national trends with perhaps a few extra Whitneys and Mackenzies. Boy’s names are biased a bit toward “cowboy” names: Clint, Levi, Cody, Justin. Oh yeah Shawn is spelled like that usually. Never met a Sean from Texas. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/44 "2013-01-14T02:18:26Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Are Juan and Maria really popular names in Texas? I just did a storytime for our library in Spanish. All the kids were hispanic. We were doing a name song and I tell you there was not a single familiar name among all the hispanic kids. Half the time I couldn’t even understand what they were saying, and when I finally did get the name, it was something I had never heard before. This really dragged down the flow of the song, naturally, until I finally exclaimed “Aren’t there any Juans or Josés here?” The parents all got a laugh of of it, but it lead me to wonder if modern Spanish names are much more diverse these days. There are still Juans and Marias, but it’s not overwhelming. Fewer Joses. By far, the most common Hispanic names for the current generation of teens are forms of Alejandro/Alejandra. In addition to those, I’ve always got an Alexa, an Alexia, and an Alexis. They are usually, but not always, Hispanic. There are also an amazing number of teenage Hispanic Jennifers. I had four in my first period last year. It was THE white girl name of my generation (mid-to-late 70s), so the fact that it connotes “Hispanic” to this generation is a real shift. Hispanic girls’ names are getting generally more ornate, I think: Fewer Marias and Anas, more Mariselas, Sobeidas, Elisias. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/45 "2013-01-14T02:22:59Z")
I’d just go with the more or less the most popular baby names in this country and a few ethnic names, ie names like Kevin, Emily, along with Jose, Tien etc… Personally I might add a few Easter Egg names to get a laugh out of parents or some kids ie something like Davy, Bill, and James together. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/46 "2013-01-14T02:37:51Z")
My experience is that names like Joe Bob do not really exist, as others have mentioned. Most of my 19-20 year old students have typical names. The only exception I can make, and it seems to only be from small town Texas: initials as names. I’ve never had a J.R., but I have had names such as T.J. and J.T. This has always been a guy thing, never girls. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/47 "2013-01-14T03:04:10Z")
> [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > My experience is that names like Joe Bob do not really exist, as others have mentioned. Most of my 19-20 year old students have typical names. The only exception I can make, and it seems to only be from small town Texas: initials as names. I’ve never had a J.R., but I have had names such as T.J. and J.T. This has always been a guy thing, never girls. I knew a guy named Jim Bob when I was in the Navy - pretty sure he was from Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/48 "2013-01-14T03:19:16Z")
The only person I’ve ever met in Texas who had a double name was a guy named Tim Bob. But Tim Bob wasn’t a native Texan - he was from California - and he was trying to be more Texan than everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/49 "2013-01-14T10:38:33Z")
Well, there was the case of Joe Don Looney of Fort Worth, the owner of the most apt name in football history. He was said to run the wrong plays in practice deliberately in order to make things harder for himself. Nevertheless he was an All-American at Oklahoma before being cut from the team. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/50 "2013-01-14T13:30:42Z")
> [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > My experience is that names like Joe Bob do not really exist, as others have mentioned. They may not be prevalent, but they do exist, because, like **Siam Sam** , I know someone in Texas named Joe Bob. (Not Joseph Robert–_Joe Bob_.) In fact, he is my uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/51 "2013-01-14T14:24:06Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I knew a guy named Jim Bob when I was in the Navy - pretty sure he was from Texas. You jogged a memory loose. There’s a judge named [Jim Bob Darnell](http://jimbobdarnell.com/). Or at least, I see he’s a judge now. I think he was a big-name district attorney or some such back in my days in West Texas. ---
**Author:** ![SalGal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@SalGal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SalGal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/52 "2013-01-14T20:02:40Z")
My (Texas-born and raised) kids have friends named (in no particular order): Lonnie, Eric, Jessie (girl), Jana, Jamie (girl), Zach, Tyler, Ethan, Lorenzo, Fernando, Miranda, Miles, Hannah, Camille, Bridget, Abby, Katie, Andrew, Chase, Max, Neil, Jailen, Xavier, Trey. There are more, but you get the idea. . . ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/53 "2013-01-15T01:52:41Z")
> [@SalGal](#): > > My (Texas-born and raised) kids have friends named … Trey. I knew a Trey in high school. I think the name stemmed from his being the third child. Does that sound right? I know “three” in Spanish is _tres_, but is this some variation such as “third”? (Never took Spanish.) But I think he was only part-Hispanic at best. The last I heard, he was an English prof in Oregon. During high school, his father was found dead after being seen in the company of two ladies, neither of them his wife. And his big, expensive diamond ring was missing. The case was never solved nor the ladies in question found. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/54 "2013-01-15T02:31:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I knew a Trey in high school. I think the name stemmed from his being the third child. Does that sound right? I know “three” in Spanish is _tres_, but is this some variation such as “third”? (Never took Spanish.) But I think he was only part-Hispanic at best. > > The last I heard, he was an English prof in Oregon. During high school, his father was found dead after being seen in the company of two ladies, neither of them his wife. And his big, expensive diamond ring was missing. The case was never solved nor the ladies in question found. Actually, his name _was_ Tres, now that I look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/55 "2013-01-15T03:03:53Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > They may not be prevalent, but they do exist, because, like **Siam Sam** , I know someone in Texas named Joe Bob. (Not Joseph Robert–_Joe Bob_.) In fact, he is my uncle. It might be that I grew up in El Paso - it’s not very “Texas”. Could it also be an age thing? Maybe double names were common in older generations? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/56 "2013-01-15T04:27:43Z")
I’ve done substitute teaching in Austin, and pretty much every other girl between the ages of 8 and 16 is named Destiny. And with just about every different spelling of it you can possibly imagine. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/57 "2013-01-15T19:35:31Z")
How about Joe Bob Briggs the drive in movie critic? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/58 "2013-01-16T03:16:20Z")
It’s been more than a whole generation since I’ve lived in Texas, so I don’t know what the trend is nowadays. But it could be that you might still have your Joe Bobs and Jim Bobs except that Joseph Robert Smith and James Robert Jones just don’t use their first and middle names like that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/59 "2013-01-16T16:06:17Z")
I’m not a teacher, but I agree with others that you should just do a normal mix of names like you would do for anywhere in the US. > [@DMark](#): > > Don’t know if it is popular in Texas, but Dallas seems to be a common first name - knew a guy in Illinois and there is an attorney who advertises here in Las Vegas and they both have the first name of Dallas. I’ve known several Austins, one Houston, but I don’t ever remember meeting anyone named Dallas. Maybe it’s more common for Texans who move to other states to name their kids. Or maybe it’s a nickname for Texans who move, instead of the nickname Tex. But I would be distracted by it in a textbook, thinking they were trying too hard to make it sound Texan. > [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I was born and raised in SE Texas 50 yrs ago, and double names were very rare in my experience. I’ve known a few people with double names, but just girls. Sarah Beth and Anna Beth are ones I can think of off the top of my head, but I know there were others. > [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > My experience is that names like Joe Bob do not really exist, as others have mentioned. Most of my 19-20 year old students have typical names. The only exception I can make, and it seems to only be from small town Texas: initials as names. I’ve never had a J.R., but I have had names such as T.J. and J.T. This has always been a guy thing, never girls. That’s true, I have known a few guys who go by their initials. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966/60 "2013-01-16T16:50:06Z")
Notice we’re not saying double names don’t exist. Just that, in our actual Texas living experience, they weren’t very common. The initials, tho… that was a good catch. Now that I think about it, I knew a lot of initials for names. In one family, the dad was L.O. Smith (last name changed) and the two boys who were my friends were R.L. and J.R. So, three initials names in one family. And I can recall more initials names besides just that family. (The “L” in the Dad’s and firstborn’s names stood for the same word. I think it was something like “Leander.”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-dopers-given-names-of-teenagers/646966.md?page=4)