Posted on 06/07/2013 4:13:47 PM PDT by workerbee
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The sounds of liberal and conservative names varied, too. For both boys and girls, liberals tended to pick more feminine-sounding choices, such as Liam, Ely and Leila names that include lots of L sounds and soft-A endings, including popular choices Ella and Sophia.
Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to pick names with more masculine-sounding Ks, Bs, Ds and Ts, such as Kurt. A couple of famous national political families demonstrate that pattern, Oliver said: The liberal Obamas named their daughters Sasha and Malia, both names heavy on As and Ls, whereas the conservative Palin family picked more masculine-sounding names for both their boys and girls, particularly Track, Trig, Bristol and Piper (although third daughter Willow got a softer-sounding moniker).
The findings of an ideological split mostly among the well-educated are no surprise, Oliver said, as only about 20 percent of the American public holds strong political principles, and those people tend to be college educated. In that group, he said, the data suggest that liberals are looking to distinguish themselves for their culture and education by choosing esoteric names. Conservatives, on the other hand, seem to pick traditional names that will distinguish their kids as economically successful.
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(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I had a customer named “Aquanetta” once ;)
I’ve always been stunned that Mexicans name their boys Jesus, and that nobody ever explained the impropriety of such to them.
I guess conversion under duress brought that about over the last 400 years.
I don’t like any of those names you mentioned. To each his own.
People tend to think of family names as being a male thing but there are several female given names that go back through the generations. Parthenia is the most unusual one in my bunch.
In the novel “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross (recommended) there is a small character whose name sort of rhymes with “Gloria”, but while the sound is somewhat innocuous, the spelling (”Gonorrhea”) is slightly embarrassing to her.
I guess my little Fortinbras and Farquharson don’t fit any mold...
His first name is Biblical: Matthew. At the time, we didn't know any Matthew babies... but I guess half the parents in America were thinking the exact thing at the same time, because it turned out to be quite common.
It’s definitely more unusual for a mother’s name to be passed along. That just follows our patriarchial society (not saying that as a political matter, just stating a fact.)
However, my mother was named after her mother, though they had different middle names.
You're breaking my heart. You're shaking my confidence, baby.
Ok, Ok, I hear you with Cecelia. LOL
But my young cousin by that name is an accomplished cellist, so my associations have been changed.
I had a customer named “Aquanetta” once ;)
Supposedly a true story, I say that as I got it second hand.
But a friend of my oldest niece told me that when she was in the maternity ward recovering from her C-Section with her first child (Harrisburg PA) there was a very young, hum , “urban” gal in the same room with her. The nurse came to ask this gal what name to put on the birth certificate and she told her “Vagina”. The nurse, who was also black but a much older woman, looked at her in shock and asked her to repeat it and again the young woman said “Vagina”.
The nurse said something to the effect of, “You can’t be serious. You really want to name your daughter “Vagina”? Do you even know what that means?” “No”, the gal said, “But I heard my doctor say it a few times and it just sounds so pretty”.
According to my niece’s friend, the nurse said “Oh Sweet Jesus, please take me home because I’ve had enough of this world, this country is beyond any hope”. Then she told the mother, “No. I’m not letting you name your daughter Vagina or for that matter, Uterus or Gonorrhea or Chlamydia either, God only knows she’s going to have a hard enough time in this life with you as a mother. I’m putting down a good Christian Biblical name for her: She looks like a “Sarah Rebecca” to me” and with that she walked out of the room and that’s what she put on the birth certificate.
Silly me ... “considered”
I stand corrected. Thank you, FRiends.
Of course, you know that when a man names one of his sons after himself, the kid gets the full name, first, middle and last and a “Jr.” is attached.
He lives thereafter in his father’s shadow and strives to make his own identity. Not easy when you’re an “appendage” (strong word but I mean it) of your father, not your own individualist self.
I remember going to a minor league baseball game and there on one team was a player named Mickey Mantle, Jr. He tried and tried but he could not be the player that his father was; the team eventually dropped him off their roster. Despite—and maybe cause of—that name, he failed. Must be tough growing up under those circumstances.
If I had been given the name of my father I would have changed it at 18 or 21, whatever is the legal age requirement.
It doesn't.
Sounds African.
Unless you are Barack Obama and you are named Barack H. Obama II.
People think the II is just a fancy way of indicating Jr. It's not. Maybe Obama's parents (whoever they were) thought II sounded more distinguished than Jr. They obviously were misinformed.
The II is reserved for naming a child after someone who is not the father. It was useful when many of an extended family lived in one house. A child might be named after a grandfather or an uncle and the II was appended to his name to identify the younger person.
They are. : ) I’m just glad my niece and nephew didn’t go with some of the traditional Norwegian family names for their girls. Some I like, I’m rather found of Dagny and Astrid and Kirsten for instance but my grandmother’s name was Bergliot and her sister’s name was Borghild and I can’t imagine any of my great nieces being saddles with either of those names. : )
I’ve never cared for Jr. names. Every kid deserves his “own” name. The middle name is for honoring a parent/grandparent/family connection.
re: so my associations have been changed
That is good! Still, I would put the name in the category of “risky”. Might need a couple more generations to pass.
The other day, when I was substitute teaching class, I was taking roll and came upon a student whose first name was Shauen. So I called his name, pronouncing it Schauen, the German word for "to look." He corrected me, telling me that it's pronounced "shahn," an apparent variant of "Sean"--and he was surprised that I had mispronounced it the first time.
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