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I wish more people named Richard would go back to telling people to call him Dick.
My son's name is Richard (after his uncle), and it offends me if people call him Dick. I've also had a cousin call him Little Dick before. I wouldn't have all THAT much problem with it, except that the name is/was also shared by my paternal grandfather, who used that nickname.
Adolphus was a recurring name in my mother's side of the family... obviously, WW2 put an end to that one. Which is too bad, I hate that one moron ruined the use of a perfectly good men's name.
One revived trend that I like, is the use of a last name as a boy's first name, like Jackson, Hunter, Miller, Harrison, etc.
My parents named all of us with an R first name and an L middle name. My wife and I who both happen to have R names have named all of our kids with R first names. The middle names are differant. Our daughters middle name is the same as my wifes moms name who passed away when my wife was a child. My oldest brother is named after my dad. My youngest son is named after me. With the older boys we were trying to use lesser known R names. Interestingly enough two of my boys have names that a lot of girls have now. Some people think they are girl names when they hear them. I have to show them that both boys and girls have used the name and it wasn't till recently that girls started having the name.
My son's name is Richard (after his uncle), and it offends me if people call him Dick. I've also had a cousin call him Little Dick before. I wouldn't have all THAT much problem with it, except that the name is/was also shared by my paternal grandfather, who used that nickname.
...and it fit.
I have a brother named Richard. People have tried to call him Rick, Ricky, and what ever else people call you when your name is Richard. For him it is Richard and he won't answer to anything but Richard. Never understood how they get Dick out of Richard anyway.
In some of my southern lines (mostly Tennessee area) I've found examples from generations ago of sons having their first or middle name the same as their mother's maiden name. To me that kind of makes it unique.
I did just this with my youngest son. His name is Julian Wolfgang. Wolfgang is my Dad's mother's maiden name. My other son's name is Tristan Kiernan I had to change it up a little...just cos for several generations most of the people (on my dad's side at least had Biblical names)...except my dad whose name was Alvin
Last edited by faeryedark; 07-09-2011 at 11:31 AM..
Gabriel is one from my tree which I love, especially the nickname Gabe, but it has actually become suddenly popular. In 2009 and 2010, it ranked the 21st most popular baby name in the US according to Social Security: Behind the Name: Most Popular Names for Births in the United States 2010
Another one from my tree I like is Josiah - but the nickname would probably be "Joe" which is too common for me. Another one was Jeremias/Jeremiah but again, the nickname seemed to be "Jerry", which I don't like.
For girls, Karina is one from my Norwegian side - it's not popular in the US and I think even in Norway it's not hugely popular today. From looking through Norway's Digital Archives, it didn't seem like an uncommon name back then (the early to mid 1800s).
Another girl name from my tree is Octavia - but this was usually a name given to the 8th child of a family (and she was) so it might be a bit strange to give it to just any girl.
I don't know that any of these names were particularly popular in the past though, they're just unique ones from my tree.
It's interesting to see the trending of names though - if you look at the top 10 or 25 most popular names from 2010 (that's of babies born in that year) on Behind the Name: The Most Popular Names many of the names are ones which have shot up in popularity in the last 10 years. And many of the names I grew up with - names which were common for my generation (which is the generation having babies right now) have plummeted in popularity. For example - the name "Amanda" ranked in the top 10 from 1976 to 1995 (particularly in the 80s when I was born it was either the 3rd or 4th most popular name) but from then to now, it's popularity has steadily declined to position 188. It's like everyone from my generation grew up and thought "There's too many Amanda's, I'll name my daughter Isabella because I don't remember any Isabella's when I was growing up" - sure enough, Isabella did not even register in the top 1000 names during the 80s but unfortunately, it's like everyone had the same idea because Isabella is now the most popular baby name. So if you're looking for a unique name, don't assume that just because it's not popular for your own generation, it won't be popular for your child's.
LOL my step-daughter's name is Amanda... I never liked the name because if called it, several heads would turn...but her mom chose it.
I named my oldest son Tristan because I loved the name from All Creatures Great and Small...had him in 1995...turned out alot of other people picked up the nmae from Legends of the Fall
I have a brother named Richard. People have tried to call him Rick, Ricky, and what ever else people call you when your name is Richard. For him it is Richard and he won't answer to anything but Richard. Never understood how they get Dick out of Richard anyway.
Dick is a rhyming name for Rick.
Hundreds of years ago in England most men had one of 5 names. About 2/3rds of men had one of these names and a last name. Middle names were not yet used by ordinary people.
The five most common male names in England were:
Richard
Robert
William
John
Henry
Because so many men bore these names, rhyming nicknames were created for some of the names, in order to avoid confusion. Hence the nicknames:
Richard - once pronounced Rickard by many - Rick, Dick, Hick - yes Srsly Hick
Robert - Bob, Dob, Hob, Rob
William - Bill, Will
Naturally, this phenomenon wasn't limited to those five names:
Edward - Ed, Ned, Ted
Non-rhyming nicknames for the other names that don't seem obvious today:
John - Jack, Jock
Henry - Harry, Hank, Hal - also a nickname for Harold
We can see the vestiges of some of these names in surnames:
Richard - Dixon, Hickman
Robert - Dobbins, Hopkins - say Hobkins 3x fast and you'll see why this one got changed
William - Billings
John - Jackson
Henry - Harrison, Hankins, Hanks
I read that a six-year-old girl named Reagan hit a hole in one. Of course that is amazing, but I noted that maybe the tradition of presidential names isn't dead.
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History lesson from a word nerd
