Does your son's name end with the letter "n"?
May 14, 2009 10:01 PM   Subscribe

Andrew Gelman recently posted this strange trend in baby naming originally posted on Laura Wattenberg's blog in 2007. Why do so many boys' names now end with the letter "n"?
posted by srs (155 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Right now I don't know anyone named Jayden, but I probably will 30 years from now.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:05 PM on May 14, 2009


That 2006 graph in the first link looks like the data is flipping the bird at us.

Data point: my son (born in 2006) has a first name ending in the letter 'n'. This reminds me of those emails that guide you through questions and predict you're thinking 'red hammer'.
posted by mazola at 10:13 PM on May 14, 2009


According to my projections, by 2043, over 96% of all boys will be named "Jackson" and close to 92% of all girls born will be named "Emily".
posted by Rock Steady at 10:19 PM on May 14, 2009


Has the Utah baby namer gone mainstream already?
posted by crapmatic at 10:21 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]




And while we're at it, uh, what do you think of "Isabel" ?
posted by jcruelty at 10:26 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]


Extra bonus data point: 40 of the top 1000 boys' names this year rhyme with Aidan.

Also: I have a son, born in 2003, & his name ends in N.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:37 PM on May 14, 2009


In part it's all the -den and -don names.

(your 2nd link is the same as the first, I think you meant it to point at http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2007/7/where-all-boys-end-up-nowadays )

On the other hand, people keep giving girls names that were boy names including, somewhat inappropriately, names ending in -son : Addison, Madison, Emerson.

(For what it is worth, my not-quite 2-month old son's first name ends in an "o". Though his middle name ends with an "n".)
posted by fings at 10:40 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]


My age cohort, born around 1970, featured some pretty basic names. For example, in my elementary school grade of sixty kids, there were 5 Michaels, a bunch of Stevens and Johns, 3 Lisas, a couple of Davids, a couple of Marks, some Rebeccas, Lauras, and numerous Matthews. Pretty basic (and for the most part, biblical) names. There were also a bunch of Kevins and Jasons and Amandas and Cynthias, which, I suppose, were the "Jaydens" and "Madisons" of the day.

But some of the names kids have these days. There's one kid (5 years old) at my son's school named "Thompson". "Archer" is a not uncommon, somewhat unsettling name.

It is pretty tough coming up with a name for a child. We settled on Japanese names, because you can choose Chinese characters based on how they sound, which provide meaning. However, middle names were tough.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:41 PM on May 14, 2009


I was so ready to completely disregard this article as bogus, and then I remembered a very frightening, ominous fact: my first name ends with an N.

I am just like everyone else, in yet another way.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:42 PM on May 14, 2009


I blame cretins, morons, simpletons, barbarians, and clowns. But most of all, I blame Ryan, the leader of the Dead Hensons.
posted by pracowity at 10:46 PM on May 14, 2009 [2 favorites]


If current trends continue, we can extrapolate that all male children will simply be called N by the end of 2050.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:02 PM on May 14, 2009 [4 favorites]


One interesting thing I noticed when noodling around on babynamewizard was how there is a very noticeable and consistent mid-20th century dip in names beginning with vowels. A E I O U (words for both sexes, though for U there is a spike around World War 2 of babies named "Unknown").
posted by Rumple at 11:05 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]


My first name ends with an N too. MLIA
posted by tepidmonkey at 11:08 PM on May 14, 2009 [6 favorites]


None of the names I've considered for potential future sons ends in "n". I tend toward names that end in vowels or the letter T. I can't stand these "trendy" names like Jayden and Madison and dislike very common names. So I suppose I do fit on one element that piece pointed out - not wanting to give a kid a popular or overused name. In other words, no Jaydens, but no Johns either.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:12 PM on May 14, 2009


cmgonzalez: we need data! What are these crazy names you're thinking of?
posted by nomis at 11:24 PM on May 14, 2009


cmgonzalez: we need data! What are these crazy names you're thinking of?

Jaydet, Madisot, and Joht?
posted by mazola at 11:29 PM on May 14, 2009 [4 favorites]


My wife and I have been talking over the baby naming affair for the last few months, and, of course, were likely victims of baby name trends ourselves. But, we've noticed the following:
1. Certain 'sounds' become popular (Jessica and Jennifer were the most popular female names of the seventies and eighties, the nineties gave us Amanda, Amy, Amber, etc), hence the Hayden/Jayden/Braden/Caden cluster surrounding the Aidan-meganame (and its misspellings)
2. People tend not to think about what other people are naming their kids, they tend to judge their own kid's name based on the names that were popular when they (the parents) were children. So, while we knew tons of Kevins and Justins and Ryans growing up, we knew absolutely no Aidans. I can't imagine how parents must feel when they get to day one of preschool and find that their kid is one of a dozen Aidans.
3. Names in pop culture for characters (and particularly adult characters) tend to reflect baby name trends of the day. Hence, Aidan was emerging in Harry Potter and Sex and the City at the same time kids in London and New York were starting to pick up that name.
4. Names tend to start at the top of the wealth/income/prestige/education ladder and work their way down. While Madison, Hannah, Emma, and Chloe sounded very WASPy (think Jane Austen novels), and were adopted by (ahem) 'coastal elites' 15 years ago, then by the upper-middle class, then the middle-class, there's a much bigger chance that a Hannah will be seen as a lower-middle-class/working-class name. Think Kool-Aid stained upper lips.
5. This last-names-as-first-names think freaks me out. American Southerners have historically picked family names (and definitely family last names) for use as first names, frequently to 'keep the name alive', you'll see a lot of grandsons born with their maternal father's last name. But the use of surnames as first names that have no family connection seems freakish and regrettable. Having said that, in my own family, among my cousins, they've named their male children 'Hudson', 'Hayden', and 'Jackson' - none of which have any precedent in the family tree.
6. People tend not to have very large sample sizes when thinking about their own kid's names. They know a friend who named their kid 'Conner', so they play on the similar sound, naming their kid 'Cooper', 'Cole', or 'Colby'. Problem is, they don't realize that millions of others are making the exact same decision that they are. I had to explain this to my wife's aunt: 'No, we're not naming the kid Cole, that is unbelievably 'trendy'' - and she had no frame of reference (as in knowing lots of couples at child-having age)

Offtopic: My mother-in-law asked us, if we were going to have a daughter, to name it Angelle Jolie (meaning 'pretty angel' in French). They're very Acadian, and are keen on names of French origin. Unfortunately, I had to explain to my mother-in-law that that is no way in hell would name my daughter after a popular actress, particularly one whose body of work I largely disliked. She, however, saw 'Angelle Jolie' and 'Angelina Jolie' and being completely separate names with no commonality. Ugh.
posted by The Giant Squid at 11:32 PM on May 14, 2009 [17 favorites]


fings- you're right about the link. sorry
posted by srs at 11:44 PM on May 14, 2009


Ooh, Squid. I'm guilty of #5 on your list. Ouch.

On the flip side, I wanted to name my daughter 'Carrageenan' but my level-headed wife would have none of that.

I wanted to name the cat 'Boutros Boutros Whiskers'. I'm not allowed to name anything.
posted by mazola at 11:48 PM on May 14, 2009 [22 favorites]


I blame Brandon Walsh and Dylan Mckay; the kids who've grown up to have all these "ending in N" boys were at their most subconsciously impressionable age when that damned 90210 was on the air....
posted by squasha at 11:51 PM on May 14, 2009


mazola: On the real, 'Boutros Boutros Whiskers' is a fantastic name for a kitty. I used to go to conventions and change my nametag to: 'H. Selassie'. Which, honestly, is an effective way of selecting who's worth talking to.
posted by The Giant Squid at 11:52 PM on May 14, 2009 [5 favorites]


I blame Brandon Walsh and Dylan Mckay. Brandon, not so much, but Dylan? Oh yeah, that name had a ridiculous/obscene spike in the nineties.
posted by The Giant Squid at 11:55 PM on May 14, 2009


cmgonzalez: we need data! What are these crazy names you're thinking of?

Ha, nothing weird. Names I like include Alejandro and Barrett. Alejandro is pretty common among Spanish speakers, but I much prefer it to Alexander, and it's normal without being 'John' or 'Michael' level common. Barrett is my top boy's name though.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:05 AM on May 15, 2009


My cousin-in-law dated three Braydons, one after another. Actually, it may have been Braden, Braedon, and Braydon... but you get the idea. She just had a baby boy, and gave it a made-up name than ends in "n" and almost rhymes with Aiden.
posted by arcticwoman at 12:10 AM on May 15, 2009


(This all comes from being a Christina in the 80s. I love my name, but try growing up with at least two or three classmates with the same name all the freaking time.)
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:11 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


We ought to let kids name themselves when they come of age. I'm hoping for Ahab to come back.

Until then, call them whatever fits at the time. At first, there would be (and are!) lots of kids secretly named things like Little Miss Stinkypants, The Human Milking Machine, Farty McFarterson, and Crap Factory. Then maybe Cat Strangler and Screamer. Eventually, you'd settle on the right name for the kid.
posted by pracowity at 12:13 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


pracowitty: my kid's name, currently, is 'bitchbutt', we've even turned it into a verb: "was bitchbutt good today? Nope - he was bitchbutting"
posted by The Giant Squid at 12:17 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


I blame Brandon Walsh and Dylan Mckay.

Yeah I was going to mention that, also this show
posted by P.o.B. at 12:22 AM on May 15, 2009


I started checking colors: Pink and Orange were real names in the 1890s.

Stranger still, it looks like Meta was a girl's name.
posted by pracowity at 12:27 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


And while we're at it, uh, what do you think of "Isabel"

I knew an Izzy once. She was very cool.
posted by rokusan at 12:43 AM on May 15, 2009


I think "Edith" is a really pretty name, so it's probably for the best that I don't plan on having kids.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:56 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


First Nasa's nose reads like surreal pulp; now people seem to be posting trends. It's like a crazy, mixed-up, verb-object-becoming-meaningless world, I tell ya.
posted by koeselitz at 1:10 AM on May 15, 2009


Huh. The name our daughter would have had were she a boy ended in an 'n'. And sounds a lot like a shortened version of one of the houses from Harry Potter, incidentally. Thank goodness she was a girl so we could give her a beautiful, classical name so that everyone could say "oh, just like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Joneses daughter." Grrr. No, it's spelt differently and has a completely different etymology.

But I would not inflict "Jayden" on any child. That name is like fingernails on a blackboard to me. Not particularly keen on any of the -aden variations either.
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 1:25 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


If I was going to have kids I'd pick an old style name with a good nickname. Reginald to Red, Theodore to Ted, Jebediah to Jed, Harold to Hal, Ronald to Ron.

It's probably a safer bet to have a uniqueish name that people still haven't/can't absolutely butchered and I just like a quick, great sounding nickname.
posted by Talez at 2:16 AM on May 15, 2009 [3 favorites]


Madison: I like how 'Splash' gave that mermaid's name legs.
posted by jfrancis at 2:20 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


N! It's just so rough and masculine sounding. Top boys' names 2015 - Marilyn, Sharon, Joan, Eileen, Carmen, Magdalen, Susan, Ann.
posted by eatyourcellphone at 2:31 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


Both sides of my immediate family have had nontraditional and unique names, several of which were family names. We're also all from the south, almost all of us born and raised in Tennessee. Aside from my maternal grandfather and his eldest son who were both named Nathan Forrest (I mentioned those southern roots), no other male in my family has a name that ends with an 'n'. There is my dad's father, Earl J, my uncles Eric, Rory, Stewart Craig, my father, Steve (no 'n') Eric, my brother Spencer Andrew, and my cousins, Chris, Trent, Timothy, and Cory. We all call my uncle Nathan, Than which I like a hell of a lot better.

I love all of female names in my family. Grandmothers Sue, Barbara Cyrena, aunts Natalie, Sharis who was also called Shasun, Cynthia, Pamela, and my mother Rosalie. My parents gave me my mom's mother's middle name, Cyrena, as my first name and my dad's father's middle initial as my middle name, Jae.

When it comes to my own children, I lean toward family names and other names related to heritage. My favorite girl's name is Abey Rose. Abey is an Indian name which represents my mother's side but I also have several female relatives on my father's side named Abby. Rose is the name I would give in honor of my mother. I also like the extended family name, Jana, which I would change to Jaena if used. Sofie is a name I've liked a lot lately. Not too many boy names stand out for me. I've kind of liked David, Jacob, Christopher, Oliver, Steve, Esteban, Soren, and Andrew, but I'm not drawn toward any name in particular. The Porter surname on my mother's side is kind of nice. If I had children with my current boyfriend who is of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent, his family could be the source of other names that I would find lovely.

My two baby guinea pigs are named Henry and Bernie, our family dogs were named Monster (aka Baba the Dog) and Gretchen, my boyfriend's snake is named Calypso, and once there was a dog around named Brandywine. I would prefer to stay away from the -on and -en names though.
posted by inconsequentialist at 2:37 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


First comment. Data quality error.
posted by sfts2 at 2:41 AM on May 15, 2009




There's a tendency in Latin families to name kids after a grandparent or even an older relative. This may give names a longer life. Names are re-used rather than invented.

Here's some names from my family, used and re-used by my aunts, uncles and grandparents: Florencio, Ofelia, Agapito, Eloisa, Genaro, Aurora, Miterria, Isabel, Zenaida, Josefina...

My own name doesn't match that on my birth certificate because the nurse misunderstood my mother - but thats another story.
posted by vacapinta at 3:07 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


Aurora has been another name I'm fond of. I just recalled another lovely family name, Vera.
posted by inconsequentialist at 3:16 AM on May 15, 2009


Hmmm. My son's first name is a common biblicial name, but its also the name of his father and both grandfathers, so we never use it. His middle name (the one we use) is a name that ends in n ... but not a trendy one, another name found in many generations of the family. (Its an anglicized Gaelic name, but has been in the top 100 for more than 30 years, so I don't know if that makes it trendy or classic.) His second middle name was my husband's mother's maiden name (so, a surname) but also one that is typically used as a first name. I think I've hit a trendiness trifecta by accident.
posted by anastasiav at 4:32 AM on May 15, 2009


Maybe I'll just name my daughter Prunella or Dorcas and be done with it.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:38 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


As my name is Aidan yet I am clearly older than this trend towards my name, I have mixed feelings. I have grown up with no-one knowing of or being able to spell my name right, practically at all, yet now it seems my name is a rising star for inspiration for today's boys. Humph.
posted by tumples at 4:42 AM on May 15, 2009


Our son was born in 2001 and has a name that ends with "N". But it's "John", so we're forgiven.
posted by Lucinda at 5:01 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


By 2081, all boys will be named Harrison.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:04 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


Extra bonus data point: 40 of the top 1000 boys' names this year rhyme with Aidan.

I'll give a hundred bucks to the first one of you to name their son Raiden.

I'll give you two hundred if you name him Sub-Zero.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:08 AM on May 15, 2009 [11 favorites]


And while we're at it, uh, what do you think of "Isabel" ?

I think it's a great name. My mother has Isabel as part of her name, but then she's Latina and for her it's pronounced EEEs-a-bel (as opposed to IZ-a-bel).

Adding to vacapinta's point, my name is 100% pure Anglo, but the family tree features Armando, Desmondo, Zoraida, Elvira, Rogelio, Zoila, Faustino and several others. At one particular generation, that seems to have stopped completely, and all the kids from that point on got Anglo names. Except for my mom, which I always thought was sort of odd.
posted by jquinby at 5:15 AM on May 15, 2009


When my wife and I were naming our daughter we wanted something unique; something that wasn't anywhere near the top 10 most popular and hadn't been for decades. So we went with "Mary".

Actually it was just that we liked the name and had relatives on both sides named Mary or some variation so could legitimately claim it as a family name on both sides.
posted by TedW at 5:31 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


My 6th grade class (in 1986) had 3 Matts, 2 Mikes, and 2 Erins (one boy, one girl).

My wife and I will most likely name our children after grandparents or other relatives. None of this made-up name nonsense.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:42 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


What do the graphs look like for names ending in two N's? Or using "y" as a vowel? Or using "K" instead of "C"? I bet those are through the roof too.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:45 AM on May 15, 2009


Our first son we named Jacob, never possibly imagining it would somehow be the number 1 baby boy name for the last few years. Poor guy. I wanted to name him Rocky.
posted by poppo at 6:06 AM on May 15, 2009


If you ever play Boggle and you can spell the word boggle in the game of boggle you have to name your kid Boggle.
posted by I Foody at 6:06 AM on May 15, 2009 [9 favorites]


(This all comes from being a Christina in the 80s. I love my name, but try growing up with at least two or three classmates with the same name all the freaking time.)

In high school (early- to mid-80s) I knew about 6 Jeffreys and about that many Sara(h)s. Confusing.
posted by rtha at 6:20 AM on May 15, 2009


My 1.6 year old son's middle-name-used-as-first-name ends in "n." So, ordinary. On the other hand, it's "Calvin," which has not, as far as I can tell, come back into fashion.

Yes, he does have a stuffed tiger named Hobbes.
posted by rusty at 6:30 AM on May 15, 2009 [3 favorites]


The only way to guarantee the uniqueness of your child's name is to use a UUID. Welcome to this world, 44175996-f706-4662-a592-fbe2386770e2!
posted by aparrish at 6:32 AM on May 15, 2009 [5 favorites]


Naming babies is hard.

Between our kids, they have nine first or middle names. None of them end with N.

D - 1
E - 3
H - 1
M - 2
R - 1
T - 1

We have three boys. Their first names are all single syllables. They all share a middle name in common. Their initials (excluding the last name) are TLC, SOC and HWC.

Anyone care to guess what they are called?
posted by unSane at 6:40 AM on May 15, 2009


I wanted to name my kid Colm of Feldspar or Zebulon, but we named him Jareth instead. My daughter was almost Lauralie or Willow, but got named Rowan. They are both better off with their present names. Probably not too many other kids will have them.
posted by Balisong at 6:44 AM on May 15, 2009


Our first son we named Jacob, never possibly imagining it would somehow be the number 1 baby boy name for the last few years. Poor guy.

Heh, same here. Our three criteria:

1. It's not easy to make into an rhyming obscenity for the purpose of playground taunting.
2. His initials (JMV) don't form a funny word or resemble a widely-used acronym.
3. Doesn't sound stupid with Vreeland (Leland dropped off the list here, pretty quickly).

We didn't consult a single "popular names" list -- it was sheer willful ignorance.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:51 AM on May 15, 2009


Then maybe Cat Strangler and Screamer. Eventually, you'd settle on the right name for the kid.

My second son's name ends with "n" -- it's Sebastian. But we call him "bash" or "basher". Because we don't have a cat.
posted by The Bellman at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2009


At the recent Seattle Meetup, three of the attendees were named "Sara."
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:13 AM on May 15, 2009


According to How Many of Me, "There are fewer than 1,532 people in the U.S. with the first name Paloma."

I'm not sure if I've done my daughter a service or a disservice, since she's been called "Pamola" more than once and she's only three months old. I mean, Pamola? Really?
posted by Never teh Bride at 7:13 AM on May 15, 2009


My son (name ends in an n) has a playmate named "Jameson". Which, yeah, sounds "rich" and that's probably the point. Unless he rebels and insists on being Jimmy.

My school years were overrun with Michaels, and Chris-es of both genders. And for some reason, every Jason (there were many) I ever met was a little "off"---from just unsettling to completely round the bend. So that was off the table for my kid. Because naming a kid is pretty much an exercise in superstition and irrationality.

/still wishes her husband would have gone along with "Ian."
posted by emjaybee at 7:19 AM on May 15, 2009


If any of you are really interested in this topic, I highly recommend Stanley Lieberson's book, A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change. It's a well-written account of how and why names rise and fall in popularity and how this serves as a window into cultural change in general. Lieberson argues that most changes in names have to do with the cyclical popularity of certain letter sounds and arrangements of syllables, which completely fits in with how "n" is the most popular last letter for boy's names today.

However, it looks like the final "n" trend will finally peak eventually. Part of what makes fashions in naming children so cyclical is that it's very popular to want a name that's not "too popular." For this reason, overpopularized names experience sudden collapses in popularity after a new years. Then, a new generation of parents selects a name they think will not be "too popular," without realizing that 30% of the parents in their kid's nursery school playgroup were thinking the exact same thing.
posted by jonp72 at 7:23 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


Mine ends in an E. My son, born in 2005, has a name that ends in an M. His two best friends have names that end in H and S. I thumb my nose at your foolish data.
posted by davejay at 7:25 AM on May 15, 2009


I cannot bear the current trend of Braydon Braedon Caeden Jayden, etc. I was pregnant in '08 and those names were on every naming website I saw. And on many babies I meet, too.

We gave my son a good hearty unusual (but easy to spell and pronounce) first name that ends in G, and his middle name after my deceased grandfather that ends in a D. I'm happy with it, and everyone who hears his names thinks they sound good together.
posted by pinky at 7:33 AM on May 15, 2009


What do the graphs look like for names ending in two N's? Or using "y" as a vowel? Or using "K" instead of "C"? I bet those are through the roof too.

You probably mean to specify "y" as a non-final vowel. I volunteered for a while in a nursing home in the late '80s, and it seems like at least 1 out of every 10 women there was named "Dorothy." See also: Mary, Nancy, Gary, Jeffrey...
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:39 AM on May 15, 2009


I'll give a hundred bucks to the first one of you to name their son Raiden.

KID THUNDER!

posted by Strange Interlude at 7:39 AM on May 15, 2009


My sister (b. 82) was given the name of 'Kaila' by my parents. Slightly exotic, her middle name covered the standard 'name after a family member'. Great.

Until Kaila was 2 months old or so, mom had her while she was at the bank, and a lady asked if her name was after that lovely Kayla Brady, from the soaps.

"The soaps?" my mom asked? "Yes, you know, Days of our Lives!" replied the woman. Mom realized at this time that it would not go well. And sure enough, for years afterward, people would ask her if my sister was named after the soap star. Kayla actually became a common name among my age group (b. 85).

On the plus side, there is definitive proof that my mother has been ahead of the trend, for once.

And somehow this managed to get my mom watching the soaps. I don't understand it.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:44 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


Funny, all the Jaydens (and all but one of the Aidens) I know are twenty- or thirty-something FTM transfolk. It seems to be the top choice in in name for transmen, as far as I can tell. I do have a cousin who named his son Aiden a few years ago, but most of the kids I know are teens, and there are lots of Brendans, Brandons, Jacobs, Christians, Alexes, and Zacharys (Zacharies?).

It seems about 1 in 5 girls is named Jessica, which is of course my younger daughter's first name. At one point, there were 2 Jessica C's, one Jessica B, one Yassica, and one Yesica in her class at school. Her sister is almost an Aiden, as her name is Adrian -- frequently misspelled Adrain, which just seems bizarre to me -- they think I named my kid after a plumbing part? I guess they should just be thankful I didn't name them after Great-Aunt Prune. Another naming theme popular among their peers seems to be colors and/or semi-precious stones: Amber, Lavender, Jade, et al.
posted by notashroom at 7:44 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


They should do a study of the names of the male children of Cantonese-speakers from the past three decades, I'm pretty sure it'd have the same skew for the letter "n". Except the names would be more like "Elton", "Knowlton" and "Manson".
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 7:46 AM on May 15, 2009


I was contacted in the last year by a girl who had been searching her whole life for the origin of her first name. Her father had named her but he died when she was young. Her mother only recalled that he might have mentioned it was from a comic he used to read. The only other people she found with her first name were a handful of other girls she discovered through Facebook. All about her age. All Hispanic.

Now in the Google age, she stumbled upon some scans I had made of some old comic books I inherited from an aunt in Mexico. Her father was Mexican. It all fit. Her name is Yulma.
posted by vacapinta at 7:47 AM on May 15, 2009 [6 favorites]


If I was going to have kids I'd pick an old style name with a good nickname.

I'm with you on this. I've always liked "Marcus Aurelius" for that reason. Unless you mean Old Style name. In that case, my first son will be Blatz.
posted by joe lisboa at 7:49 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


emjaybee: /still wishes her husband would have gone along with "Ian."

My five-year-old daughter has two Ians in her daycare, and one more at kindergarten.

Devils Rancher: 2. His initials (JMV) don't form a funny word or resemble a widely-used acronym.

My wife and I didn't realize until several months after our daughter was born that her initials were "EZ" -- oops.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 7:50 AM on May 15, 2009


What happened to the names that end in R? A few years ago it seemed like every kid was called Hunter or Tyler or Conor.
posted by bink at 7:59 AM on May 15, 2009


"There are fewer than 1,532 people in the U.S. with the first name Paloma."

Hey, I know one of them! But then, her dad's a Mexican national.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:00 AM on May 15, 2009


My daughter is expecting a baby in 3 weeks. His name is Henry. Solid. American. Un-trendy. It's surprising how many people hate it.
posted by toastedbeagle at 8:07 AM on May 15, 2009


My son has a friend named Caeden, and one named Jayden. And one named Sabur. And one named Lily. And Nico. My point is, he has lots of friends.

Also, Henry is an awesome name, toastedbeagle. You should probably dick-punch anyone who rags on your grandbaby's nameā€“for that is what Jesus would do, if I remember theology class correctly...
posted by Mister_A at 8:11 AM on May 15, 2009


My son (name ends in an n) has a playmate named "Jameson".

That's funny, my son's name (if and when I acquire a son) is probably going to be either Glenfiddich, or possibly Mr. Boston. Unless I take the strong option of the Achewood name chart up there, in which case it will be Sir Kezemiah Burnham Graveglory.

just kidding that's my paladins name
posted by FatherDagon at 8:15 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


""There are fewer than 1,532 people in the U.S. with the first name Paloma."
Hey, I know one of them! But then, her dad's a Mexican national."


Hey, I know one of them. But then, her dad's a French national.
posted by majick at 8:15 AM on May 15, 2009


I don't get the whole two middle names trend. Combine that with the two last names upon marriage trend and you have a recipe for disaster...

Jennifer Maude Chloe Jacobs becomes Jennifer Maude Chloe Jacobs Jackson

Won't anyone think of the children?
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 8:32 AM on May 15, 2009


The only person I know named Jayden is a girl that was born in 2001. My kiddo was born in 2000 and her name is the female version of a Cuban boy who was in the news at the time. Her dad made me spell it differently though and that means she has a trendy (at the time) misspelled name. Sigh.
posted by shmurley at 8:39 AM on May 15, 2009


My kid is named Abraham. He rules. Let me show you him.
posted by sciurus at 8:45 AM on May 15, 2009 [5 favorites]


I figure I'd just give any sons mob names directly.

Jimmy "The Squid" Mysurname, complete with quotes, right there on his birth certificate.
Johnny "Goolies" Mysurname
Odovocar "The Ostrogoth" Mysurname
"Fat Tony" Mysurname
Steven AKA Steve Mysurname
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:46 AM on May 15, 2009 [3 favorites]


In my line of work, I deal with about 200-220 names each year. This year I had two individuals named after presidents (first and last name): Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan. In the same batch. What the hell?
posted by little_c at 8:55 AM on May 15, 2009


My daughter is expecting a baby in 3 weeks. His name is Henry. Solid. American. Un-trendy. It's surprising how many people hate it.

I think it's a great name, especially if you use "Hank" as a nickname.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:04 AM on May 15, 2009


My kid is named Abraham. He rules. Let me show you him.

Oh, absolutely.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:06 AM on May 15, 2009


Naming kids is really difficult. When we were thinking of names for our little snot-monster, we went through the SSA website and threw out any names in the top twenty for the past few years. Then we picked names, and if they were not in the top 500 we threw them out too (didn't want too obscure). We found out the sex, and decided on a name we liked, which happened to be solidly in the 60s for popularity.

Then I fucked things up by wanting the less common spelling of the name. The kiddo is 8 months old and nearly everything she has (except, thank goodness, her new passport) is spelled the more common way. I'm an idiot.

Oh yeah, her class in daycare has a Hayden, an Aidan, a Logan (um, and a Brett). (And she's a Madeleine, and the other girl is Megan, so the girls in her class are following the trend too!)
posted by gaspode at 9:09 AM on May 15, 2009


My daughter is expecting a baby in 3 weeks. His name is Henry. Solid. American. Un-trendy. It's surprising how many people hate it.

I like Henry! And it's actually been creeping back up the charts again, too: number 78 last year.
posted by BundleOfHers at 9:22 AM on May 15, 2009




My daughter is expecting a baby in 3 weeks. His name is Henry. Solid. American. Un-trendy. It's surprising how many people hate it.

Uh huh. I'm an NYC nanny who babysits for three infants named Henry, and one Charles who was almost Henry. Both Henry and Charles used to be two of my favorite names for a boy before I realized they were too angled for mass popularity by 2015 when I start breeding.
posted by zoomorphic at 9:36 AM on May 15, 2009


My own name doesn't match that on my birth certificate because the nurse misunderstood my mother

Due to a similar clerical error, my great-aunt Diane lived for decades as Piano Baruch.
posted by decagon at 9:38 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


I am a girl, yet my first name ends in n. Two of them, as a matter of fact. I often asked my parents why they gave me a name that could be confused with a boy's name as I was growing up and, sounding like many of the posters above, they said they wanted it to be something unusual, unique, you know? So unique that I was given a draft deferment packet when I registered for college. Whoopee.
posted by Lynsey at 9:46 AM on May 15, 2009


I like Paloma for a girl. I also like the name Paz, but my boyfriend insists the kid would get called "spaz", so he's opposed.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:49 AM on May 15, 2009


Andrew Gelman posted another blog entry on this:

http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009/05/the_trend_in_la.html
posted by srs at 9:57 AM on May 15, 2009


Cousin's kid's middle name: Raiden. Many Mortal Kombat jokes were made.

We went to the hospital w/a short list of maybe 5 names. At the hospital, w/the help of a wifi connection, that list grew to maybe 15. We tried out our favorites for maybe 4 hours each over the course of maybe 2.5 days. The one we ultimately chose wasn't one we'd thought we'd choose initially, but it just fit better than the others after meeting the little guy - and it was the most currently popular one by far.

In contrast, names I was absolutely head over heels in love with just didn't work, and revealed themselves to be hella forced in the harsh light of reality. Oh well. Someone else can use Indigo (nicknames: Indy, Digo) and Helio (Brazillian, which we're not, pronounced "el-ee-oh," nicknames would have been: Helo, Eli, Leo, E-I-E-I-O, etc.). This is in the Bay Area, btw - both Indigo and Helio would have been considered pretty boring given some of the names we've seen given to kids 'round here.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 10:05 AM on May 15, 2009


Late to the thread but the baby Emma linked to by jcruelty Why Your Baby's Name Will Sound Like Everyone Else's posted by jcruelty at 10:25 PM on May 14 is MetaFilter's own Lynsey's granddaughter and Lynsey took the picture.
posted by Cranberry at 10:18 AM on May 15, 2009


*Weak grin.* Although it appears in my flickr stream, Mr. Lynsey actually took that shot.
posted by Lynsey at 10:22 AM on May 15, 2009


Five-year-old of my acquaintance named Aidan: check. I know a two-year-old Imogen as well, and a Walker Lee and Adah Rose who maybe have better chances of not knowing a ton of other Walkers and Adahs, but who knows?

I was born in 1980. Recently I've had to make a rule that any new friend of mine named Me(a)g(h)an, Sara(h), Abby, Amanda, Anna, or Kate has to change her name. There are just too damn many! Someone has to take a stand. (It is curious that I now only have one friend named Jenn when back circa high school I was surrounded by the proverbial twenty-seven Jennifers.)
posted by clavicle at 10:38 AM on May 15, 2009


I went to school in the 1970s with a class full of Michaels, Matthews, Johns, Patricks, Roberts and Williams. The common girl names at the time were Deborah, Jennifer, Linda, Lisa, Patricia, Donna, Rhonda, Catherine and Kathleen. I've seen a few baby naming message boards where the trendy mommies cringe at the thought of naming their child "Karen" or "Michelle" - those names are soooo old-lady sounding!!! But these same women think "Cordelia" and "Eleanore" are beautiful, stylish names. (To my ears, Cordelia will always be someone's blue-haired maiden aunt who sits at home tatting doilies.)
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:40 AM on May 15, 2009


Classic Costanza
posted by davebush at 10:51 AM on May 15, 2009


We messed up our daughter's name giving her as her legal name the English version of what we really call her (which is my grandmother's name. Grandma's siblings are: Ray, Roy, Ira, Iva, and Eva. But she was named by the Swedish neighbor and thus her name is something like Frieda (but not really))

My daughter likes her legal name and sometimes insists being called by it. But I never use it and kinda regret giving her that name. (I'm probably not supposed to say that!) But i do sometimes worry about it. I wish there was some easy way to add nicknames to passports and other documents.
posted by vespabelle at 10:53 AM on May 15, 2009


I ran into a guy from high school at Starbucks this morning. He and his wife just had a son a few weeks ago, and named him 'Maximus Leonidas'. As in Gladiator and 300.

I'll take names the end with 'n' or rhyme with Aidan over that.
posted by lullaby at 10:54 AM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


I think it's been trending this way for a while. When my daughter, born in 83, graduated from high school I swear every third or fourth boy who walked across the stage was named Brendan or some variation thereof. It was eerie. But then I also am pretty sure that one out of every three boys born between 1957 and 1968 - the majority of my dating pool - was named Michael, so there you go.

When I named my kids I was looking for something that was unique enough so they'd be the only one in their class but not so weird that no one had ever heard it before. I grew up feeling like the only Felicity in the US - and according to this site (linked above, thanks) I more or less am; somehow, I doubt this - and I hated it. According to some baby book I saw, my children's names were both rated #102 in popularity for their respective years, which I suppose fairly clearly delineates my level of taste. My son's name, though, has been getting more and more and more popular and now there are lots and lots of little Mileses running around, destroying the primacy of the ending N and annoying my son no end.
posted by mygothlaundry at 11:05 AM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'll take names the end with 'n' or rhyme with Aidan over that.

Sweet, sweet cognitive dissonance: I completely agree with you, and yet I still want to name someone Marcus Aurelius Surname. I'm beginning to think I should try it out on a dog first.
posted by joe lisboa at 11:18 AM on May 15, 2009


Classic Costanza

Seven is actually a pretty great name, made somewhat legit-seeming since it's halfway between Steven and Sven.

Hey, it's better than Six.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:24 AM on May 15, 2009


If I have kids with my boyfriend, the deal is that I get to pick the first name if I'll agree to his favourite middle name. Which is "Batman".
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:30 AM on May 15, 2009


My wife and I spent a long time finding a name that was uncommon (not in the top 1000 in the US Census data for the last 100 years or so) but not too weird (we didn't want a kid doomed to spell his name to everyone he met for the rest of his life).

The boy was due Wednesday, he's now two days late, his name is all ready for him - and wouldn't you know it, ends with an N.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:48 AM on May 15, 2009


At one point in my life I was sure I'd name my first child Aldair, after a Brazilian soccer player in the '94 World Cup. Just thought it sounded wonderful. The fascination faded, but I was shocked to find an Aldair in my daughter's school.

My kids both have uncommon (fewer than 1532, whatever that means) first names; neither ends in "n". My son, I was always going to name after my grandfather, who immigrated from southern Europe in the 1920s and had a nice ethnic name. For my daughter, my wife and I debated many options and didn't have one picked when she was born (father-in-law suggested Narda Simone, with a strongly rolled latin "r"). We finally settled on a very nice name from literature that we both love. I later found out it had been the name of my wife's cat when she was a kid.

We know kids named Zeus and Indigo.
posted by stargell at 11:49 AM on May 15, 2009


I ran into a guy from high school at Starbucks this morning. He and his wife just had a son a few weeks ago, and named him 'Maximus Leonidas'. As in Gladiator and 300.

Either we live in the same town or we know two different freaky dads who like Starbucks. That's the most pretentious name ever. Kid doesn't have a chance in hell of becoming anything but a extroverted jock, does he?
posted by toastedbeagle at 12:04 PM on May 15, 2009


But these same women think "Cordelia" and "Eleanore" are beautiful, stylish names.

I've always loved the name Cordelia (pronounced Cor-del-ia not Cor-dee-lia), and planned on using it. Then Buffy the Vampire Slayer became a TV show....
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:07 PM on May 15, 2009


My son, born in 2007 has a name ending in 'N' - who knew we are so trendy. I had wanted to name him 'Digital' after watching Digital Takiwara play in the world cup, but my wife would have none of it.

Also, here's Louis CK talking about baby names
posted by askmehow at 12:16 PM on May 15, 2009


when my partner was pregnant, i had pretty much decided that our kid was going to be named Onomatopoeia Plugre Bluchter (that last is a delightfully euphonius combination of our last names, the middle a delicous European cultured butter product. mmm, plugre.) i considered this an extension of a family tradition; my own dad had advocated for both Desktop and Toefat for my name.

as it turned out, the name on the birth certificate ended up being Amelia Rose Duende. Amelia after Amelia Earhart and also Amelia Bloomer, who invented women wearing pants. (ironically, my daughter loves dresses and skirts.) Rose after a grandmother each on each of our sides, and the last name was taken from a beautiful concept elucidated in some writings of Federico Garcia Lorca's. (did you know that you can give your kid a different last name that either of her parents? you totally can! it's a great way to avoid both sexist patronyming and awkward hyphenating. YMMV, natch.)

for however personal we thought our reasons for baby-naming were, turns out a lot of people recently thought Amelia was pretty cool too -- enter Amelia in NameVoyager (a website i'm amazed hasn't been referenced yet in this thread) and check out the spike in the mid-late 2000's. turns out she's a unique and special flower just like all the rest of them...

later, i found out that one of the Grateful Dead's lyricists also has a daughter named Amelia Rose; i'm kind of glad i didn't know about that beforehand, because we would have had to pick a different name, just so that people wouldn't think her Deadhead dad (me) had, you know, named her after the Other One.

in my heart, though, she'll always be my lil' OPB....hey, you know me!
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 12:19 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


You know, being named Sarah (which is emphatically NOT Sara), I have to say having a common name is not so traumatic. The biggest result is if you call me, I may say "Me?" when I am the only Sarah, assuming there must be another.
posted by dame at 12:21 PM on May 15, 2009


joe lisboa: Sweet, sweet cognitive dissonance: I completely agree with you, and yet I still want to name someone Marcus Aurelius Surname. I'm beginning to think I should try it out on a dog first.

This is a completely awesome idea.

I don't mean the Marcus Aurelius bit—that would be great, too, and personally I'd like having that name—I mean the 'trying it out on a dog first' thing. I do believe that, before we have kids, I'm going to try to convince my wife that we have to try any name we want to consider for children out on a dog first.

This will also have another advantage: we'll be able to keep using the monogrammed water and food dishes.
posted by koeselitz at 12:25 PM on May 15, 2009 [6 favorites]


My name was unusual when I was growing up, but is now a pretty popular girls' name among African-Americans (I'm white). I sometimes wonder if people who know my name before they meet me are surprised when they meet me. I've definitely caught that, "oh, you're not what I expected" look before.

I named my daughter Hermione, which seemed brilliant in the fog of pregancy hormones. But now that she is 6, no one can pronounce or spell it, and her first and last initials are HO.

Epic Parenting Fail.
posted by jeoc at 12:27 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


There was lots of fun in high school when three girls had the same first, middle, and last names. They had to be called by their mothers' maiden names.
posted by lysdexic at 12:29 PM on May 15, 2009


As for our kids, they're named for older relatives, not an 'n' to be found. Our only trouble was finding agreeing on a third name (yes, two middle names) that could be pronounced in English.
posted by lysdexic at 12:35 PM on May 15, 2009


My son's name is Jackson. We'd picked out his name before I was even pregnant and decided to stick with it in spite of its popularity. We picked the name Jackson for personal reasons (hubby's paternal grandfather is Jack so it's a tribute) and for practical reasons (we live in Brazil and Jackson works well in Portuguese). When we visit Oklahoma, every other kid we meet is named Jackson, but lots of people from other regions of the U.S./Canada have commented on the originality of the name (which just makes me laugh!).

Several people here in Brazil have told me how great it is that my kid has a Brazilian name. I do my best to smile graciously.
posted by wallaby at 12:39 PM on May 15, 2009


Ha! my son's name is William. I pity you sheep.
posted by rtimmel at 12:47 PM on May 15, 2009


If the "N" thing scares you, look at how many of the top girls names end in the "ah" sound.
posted by Wong Fei-hung at 12:48 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


Speaking of epic parenting fails,

My mother-in-law named two sons so that their initials work out to:

BJ Cox

(I hope Jeoc doesn'it feel so bad now.)
posted by Wong Fei-hung at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


-n son (born 2003) here. So no exemption from this apparent template for mix&match Europeans? Harrumph...
posted by progosk at 1:29 PM on May 15, 2009


"Between our kids, they have nine first or middle names. None of them end with N.
D - 1
E - 3
H - 1
M - 2
R - 1
T - 1"

Huh. One of my kids is named 'Dehmrt'. Go figure.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:16 PM on May 15, 2009 [5 favorites]


I named my daughter Hermione, which seemed brilliant in the fog of pregancy hormones. But now that she is 6, no one can pronounce or spell it...

i'd have thought with the popularity of harry potter that wouldn't be a problem...

people always think they're being original, but the problem is, most of their generation is being original with them. 10 yrs ago it was names with x's and z's like max, zachary, zoe; then it was grandparent names, old-fashioned sounding & classic but still seemed original to return to - henry/harry, edith, jacob, emma/emily to some extent (more old fashioned sounding than jessica & jason)...

Few people want their kid to have the same name as everyone else, but they want them to have a name everyone else really likes and maybe sort of wishes they had - hardly surprising trends develop.
posted by mdn at 2:25 PM on May 15, 2009


Now that I think about it, whenever this conversation comes up with some woman I'm hanging out with I always go with Fox. I get shot down pretty fast on that one, which makes me think to not ever bring up the name Muad'Dib.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:26 PM on May 15, 2009


Fox, as in Mulder?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:42 PM on May 15, 2009


i'd have thought with the popularity of harry potter that wouldn't be a problem...

We thought the same thing. We actually worried that the Harry Potter craze would make the name enormously popular. It is surprising how many people don't know the reference. It does help us sort the cool people out, though.

BJ Cox (I hope Jeoc doesn'it feel so bad now.)

The kids with BJ initials are the only things that keep me going somedays...
posted by jeoc at 2:44 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


I think Tequila or Felony would be a pretty name for a girl.
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 2:55 PM on May 15, 2009 [6 favorites]


Baby names for 2010:

Barak Tiberius {lastname}
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:56 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


The aging hipster crowd has co-opted the old-fashioned names like Henry, Mabel, Edith, Rosamund, etc. Just go to any Brooklyn playground and you'll hear them. I'm going to chose Astronomical names just like I did for my felines, Orion and Merope.
posted by nikitabot at 2:57 PM on May 15, 2009


Barak Tiberius {lastname}

The middle name would indicate that the firstie may be of Vulcan or Cardassian origin, in which case: neat!, but if it was a reference to the current Terrestrial nation-running-type-person, you'll probably want to go ahead and put a C in there.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:02 PM on May 15, 2009


I think Tequila or Felony would be a pretty name for a girl.

She would automatically get her own show on VH1.
posted by arianell at 3:58 PM on May 15, 2009


...and a boyfriend named Bud with a skullgun.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:03 PM on May 15, 2009 [1 favorite]


Speaking of hipsters.
And, how to avoid naming your baby a hipster name.
posted by hazel at 4:30 PM on May 15, 2009


The kids with BJ initials are the only things that keep me going somedays...

My initials are BJ.

my mother is woefully naive
posted by gaspode at 4:42 PM on May 15, 2009


Girls' names ending in "a" is a very old tradition, I think having to do with the fact that ending in "a" feminizes words in several languages. I've always liked them, though I probably would, given that my name is Maia.

However, I am annoyed that my once extremely uncommon name is now popular and if anyone yells "Maia" these days, they are likely to be addressing a 3 or 4 year old.
posted by Maias at 4:59 PM on May 15, 2009


But then, her dad's a Mexican national.

I remember once some years ago, my girlfriend was telling me about something that happened to her and kept saying "Mexican nationals". Having never heard this term before, I thought she was talking about, like, diplomats or something, until I eventually realized she just meant "Mexicans". Really, it's OK to say "Mexican". I never understood why people think that's some kind of slur. It's no different than "Italian" or "Romanian".
posted by DecemberBoy at 5:39 PM on May 15, 2009


Fox, as in Mulder?

Of course. Then again I usually have to resort to saying it would be better as a middle name or nickname.
posted by P.o.B. at 6:18 PM on May 15, 2009


There's an exit off of Rt. 89 in New Hampshire near the Vermont border that is labeled with two town names: Enfield and Canaan. When my wife was pregnant with our daughter we were living in Vermont and traveling frequently to Massachusetts, so we saw the signs often, and I eventually became obsessed with naming our baby Enfield (for a boy) or Canaan (for a girl). I relented in the end, but I still think they'd be great choices, especially for a set of mixed-gender twins.

My other name choice was Fenway (girl or boy, Fenny or Fen for short), but no one in the family would even take me seriously on that one.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:09 PM on May 15, 2009


I never understood why people think that's some kind of slur. It's no different than "Italian" or "Romanian".

You're right -- I actually typed that both ways, then went with "national" out of an overabundance of caution. I'm slipping in my oldage.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:16 PM on May 15, 2009


Boy named Griff and a girl named Clementine. I know, I know.. Clementine is popular again for some damn reason. But we let me 7 year-old son name her, and he picked the name of his favorite fruit.

So we went ahead and did it, because it was just so sweet of him.
posted by bradth27 at 8:11 PM on May 15, 2009


I eventually became obsessed with naming our baby Enfield (for a boy) or Canaan (for a girl).

Canaan is a boy's name. The son of Ham!
posted by Sys Rq at 8:33 PM on May 15, 2009


Canaan is a boy's name. The son of Ham!

It's a beautiful name for a boy... or a girl. Madison, Ashley, Jamie and Tyler were once exclusively boy's names too.


Huh. The name our daughter would have had were she a boy ended in an 'n'. And sounds a lot like a shortened version of one of the houses from Harry Potter, incidentally.

Lytherin?
posted by Rock Steady at 8:57 PM on May 15, 2009 [2 favorites]


*hi-fives battleshipkropotkin*

I said it the last time this thread happened, and I'll say it again next time: Felony.
posted by rifflesby at 9:14 PM on May 15, 2009


Hah, my name ends in "son"! Take THAT.
posted by rubah at 10:37 PM on May 15, 2009


I complained about this "rhymes with aidan" trend last week. It drives me nuts. At least people have stopped naming their sons "Colby" so much. Yuck.
posted by autodidact at 2:57 AM on May 16, 2009


I once had an organic chemistry professor who wanted to name his daughter Polly Esther but was overruled by his wife.
posted by TedW at 3:48 AM on May 16, 2009 [1 favorite]


I have three sons, and none of them have a name ending in "N".
posted by Neale at 9:25 AM on May 16, 2009


Huh. The name our daughter would have had were she a boy ended in an 'n'. And sounds a lot like a shortened version of one of the houses from Harry Potter, incidentally.

Lytherin?


My guess is Griffin. Either that or Hufflin. :)
posted by arcticwoman at 9:44 AM on May 16, 2009


My son's name is Stellan. And we thought we were being so original.

(And totally failed to predict that everyone would hear it as "Dylan".)
posted by ook at 5:12 PM on May 17, 2009


My name starts with an N. Fucking punters.

My girlfriend has a total plainjane name. She likes the "classics". Dull as dishwater names. Me, my name is relatively rare. I'd like something unique but unpronounceable.
posted by Eideteker at 8:48 PM on May 18, 2009


pronounceable, not un-. Damn you, background Louis CK!
posted by Eideteker at 8:49 PM on May 18, 2009




« Older Literal lunacy.   |   Contemporary Painting from Tibet Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments