Mmm…Calum Best.
And Bruce Wayne!
It’s Darren here too, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it spelled Darrin.
It was popular name in the sixties and seventies, so there are lots of thirtysomethings called Darren around. But it has since fallen out of fashion. Has a kind of blue collar ring to it, I suppose.
My husband’s name is Ian. I had always thought it was a pretty common name, I know I’ve known other Ian’s before him, yet people are Completely Flummoxed when he gives it, and he always has to repeat it, spell it, and repeat it again. Even then, chances are about 90% that, when he is called, it will be pronounced “Eye-an”.
OTOH, it does make it easy to recognize sales calls when they ring asking for Eye-an. He’s also been called I-ron, I-ran, Jan (obviously. someone needs to work on the difference between their I’s and J’s), Allen…it’s like people just cannot comprehend it. Bizarre.
And don’t even get me started on folks’ reactions when they learn he does not have a middle name. Unacceptable! :rolleyes:
Well, first, shouldn’t you give us some data showing that Nigel, Ian, and Simon are so common in the UK?
Anyway, how’s this for a guess:
The names Nigel, Ian and Simon became popular in England after the biggest wave of immigration from the UK to the USA was finished. If the names became popular in England only during a time when there was little emigration to the USA, then it would make sense that the name wouldn’t be prevalent in the USA.
I notice that there was no one named Nigel, Ian or Simon on the Mayflower, according to this list
I would suggest he make up a middle name for himself in order to avoid this situation in the future. I suggest “Nunya.”
Thanks, more for me to rant to my therapist about, not only did she give me an obscure equivalent of ‘Hank’ as a moniker, she effin’ mispelled it.
But for some reason, I’ve been popular with the Wiccan crowd. 
Although there were people named Love, Desire, and Wrestling.
I’ve been trying to figure out why the name Simon seemed more normal than the other names that have been listed, even though I don’t know anyone named Simon. I think it’s because of Simon Says, Simple Simon, and Simon the Chipmonk. It’s a name that comes up in childhood even if no one is wearing it.
And now I’m thinking of Simon Bar Sinister. I haven’t thought of him in decades. (Underdog flashback.)
What about the names that scream out “American!”?
How many people in the UK are called Wayne, Travis, or Chuck*?
*Yes, I know that’s just Charles, but I can’t imagine an Englishman volunteering to go by “Chuck”.
Shit, if I had the IQ of a slug I might have realised you were enquiring about your own name.
Did I mention Prince Darrin the Great, in whose honour a week-long national holiday is celebrated to this day?
I know people with all three. They are not uncommon names in the U.S.
Yeah, but in the UK only Wayne is common. “Travis” may have had a brief spike of popularity a few years back. “Chuck”, absolutely not. It is stereotypically American, it would be like naming your kid Yosemite Sam. If we want to abbreviate Charles we use “Charlie” or occasionally “Chas”.
Well, I did sort of not mention that, no worries. If was IRL my NVS would’ve made it more clear it was self deprecating humor. I was looking for a non-biased reaction.
No, but it rings vague bells. No Google Fu wait, it doesn’t but it’s a damn fine Idea. So long as the Queen & Parliment see fit and have no objections to my current title of King of Sonoran Lizards, or of enobling an American for real good goddam reason.
Also, by the grace of good Goddess Eris, who’s Episkopos I’ve had the good luck to make myself, Last night There was a ‘Darrin’ (didn’t think to check the credits to see if the character was named, probably not) on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ last night. He was a late 20 something intern assigned to Kramer’s fake corporation Kra-merica.
The other-one I’ve seen was a British show, with a Darrin as a Bumper Car attendant, pretty much an extra, but his name was called out.
CBS (I think) has a football announcer named Ian Eagle. He pronounces it “Eyean”. Sounds strange to my ears, because my son’s name is Ian (Eeyan). We like our way so much better. He’s biracial and adopted. His natural mother originally named him DaShawn Sonata, Sonata being his middle name. Not sure this has to do with anything other than Sonata? Where do the hell do they get these names? Car commercials?
Before I get accused of anything by using the word “they”, I mean stupid kids.
One of my sisters named her first born “Ian.” He is now 19. We have no clue where she got the idea, as she was raised in Florida and that is not a family name.
My redneck neighbors have a set of twins, named Nigel and Nathan. I can only assume that they watched the Drew Carey Show.
Please tell me they don’t pronounce it with the added “eg” syllable at the beginning of it.
Back to the pronunciation of Ian, I knew a couple of Ians who pronounced it with an E sound at the beginning. Is that not the normal pronunciation?
It’s the normal pronunciation in its homeland of Scotland (Iain similarly). The eye-an pronunciation I think is the correct one for the Welsh Ieuan.
In my first few years of elementary school (early 1970s, Wisconsin) I had a classmate named Ian. He had a brother named Rowan. (How British is THAT?) Perfectly lovely names, but they were teased mercilessly. I didn’t know it back then, but the family was of Asian Indian descent. I don’t recall whether the parents had British accents (I played at their house often); and of course I have no idea whether they came here from overseas.
People frequently mispronounced Ian as “eye-ANN.”
Around the same time, I had a friend whose father’s name was Bruce. He was a big, hulking man. So I was surprised to learn of the Bruce = effeminate/homosexual association. I always thought of it as a he-man name.
I know a couple of Ians. I just thought of this thread today because the guy behind the counter where I got my breakfast was an Ian. I know no nigels or Simons.
I’ve known several Ians, have a cousin Colin [pn. Collin] named for a British rocker his mother knew [never became famous], and have known one American Nigel (though he was born when his USAF parents were stationed in England, hence the name); I can’t recall ever knowing a Simon. I’ve known a disproportionate number of English guys, though, whose names were Ivan [3] and Ray [at least 3]- are Ivan and Ray popular names in England?
Ray is originally short for Raymond, although I’m sure there are plenty of people whose name is simply Ray. It’s a middle-aged or older man’s name. I think Ivan is more of a Welsh name, and it’s less common.