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Old 07-14-2011, 09:58 AM
 
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Or they could have named her after the girl in The Exorcist.
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Old 07-14-2011, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Union County, NC
2,115 posts, read 7,061,213 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam View Post
Or they could have named her after the girl in The Exorcist.


I have a 13-year-old boy named Malachi. I've always thought it was a beautiful name. Had no idea how many would have difficulty with its pronounciation (sp?) or even question its origin since I made a very poor assumption, that it would be widely recognized as the last book in the Old Testament. He was born in Biloxi, MS, and it especially surprised me that Southerners by a large would wrinkle their nose and question, "You named him after that kid who killed all the adults from Children of the Corn?" Why, of course! To this day I've never seen the dang movie.
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Old 07-17-2011, 09:59 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 25 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,878 posts, read 32,156,993 times
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Baby name trends that I wish would return? Naming children names that they might actually like.
Not being a slave to tradition or trend.
Finding a name that is not too common or not too wierd.

I think that's a good baby naming trend. Some names should go out to pasture.
And if you are naming your child an ugly name just because you found It in an obscure part of your family ask a handy teen age person what they think of that old name. Dorcas and gertrude to not sound like attractive girls.

On the flip side, naming your child a name that you made up, that is unpronounceable, spelled in an annoying way, or a name that you just made up, can also marginalize your child.

You are naming a PERSON not a PET.
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Old 07-19-2011, 07:24 AM
 
Location: Eastern time zone
4,469 posts, read 7,170,629 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55 View Post
The use of "last names" as first names, especially those of former Presidents. Except for Madison and Taylor it seems to have disappeared. What about the once popular Franklin, Washington, Jackson, Roosevelt, Tyler, Harrison, and Wilson?
In some areas it's still seen-- not just presidents, but names from the family's background. I wish it would become common again for sons to have mom's maiden name as a first name. It would sure make it easier for future genealogists.
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Old 07-19-2011, 07:27 AM
 
Location: Eastern time zone
4,469 posts, read 7,170,629 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam View Post

Most of the ancestors on my Mom's father's side had very repetitive Irish Catholic names. I really got sick of trying to figure out all the Daniel Patricks, Michael Patricks and Mary Margarets.
No kidding. When you start having to give the George Smiths parenthetical numbers (George1 Smith, George2 Smith) on your Ancestry.com account-- and when you're up to five of them-- you know it's annoying.
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Old 07-19-2011, 10:06 AM
 
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My best friend growing up carried her mother's maiden name as her middle name. Her mother had her grandmother's maiden name as her middle name. When Liz had her first daughter, the babies middle name was Liz's maiden name. This evidently had gone on for many generations.

Another friend had five brothers and sisters. They were a military family and each child was born in a different location depending on where the dad was stationed. Each child had something about the area they lived at in their name. My friend (a female) had the middle name "Kyle" I think for Kyle, Alaska. I always thought that was a neat tradition.

In my grandmothers family every generation including mine has a female carrying the name "Jane". So far, I have found seven generations of this name previous to me. I have a new grandaughter, my d-i-l would not consider the name Jane, as it was just "too plain". I guess the tradition stops with me as I only had sons.
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Old 07-19-2011, 10:49 AM
bjh
 
59,746 posts, read 30,187,814 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12 View Post
Baby name trends that I wish would return? Naming children names that they might actually like.
Not being a slave to tradition or trend.
Finding a name that is not too common or not too wierd.

I think that's a good baby naming trend. Some names should go out to pasture.
And if you are naming your child an ugly name just because you found It in an obscure part of your family ask a handy teen age person what they think of that old name. Dorcas and gertrude to not sound like attractive girls.

On the flip side, naming your child a name that you made up, that is unpronounceable, spelled in an annoying way, or a name that you just made up, can also marginalize your child.

You are naming a PERSON not a PET.
Good post.
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Old 07-19-2011, 10:52 AM
bjh
 
59,746 posts, read 30,187,814 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aconite View Post
No kidding. When you start having to give the George Smiths parenthetical numbers (George1 Smith, George2 Smith) on your Ancestry.com account-- and when you're up to five of them-- you know it's annoying.
I don't understand the egomaniacal need to name a son after one's self. That's a tradition that I'm happy to see diminish. There are a lot less Jr.s these days.

Yet, it seems appropriate to honor a grandfather or other more distant relative, especially if he is deceased. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking that way, but it seems more appropriate.

I also like the use of surnames for first names IF they work well as a first name. Yes, Lewandowski Smith can go by Lew, but
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Old 07-19-2011, 11:10 AM
 
2,319 posts, read 4,782,169 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjh View Post

Yet, it seems appropriate to honor a grandfather or other more distant relative, especially if he is deceased. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking that way, but it seems more appropriate.
My husband and I are currently child free, but should that change, we like Frank for a boy. My paternal grandfather was Robert Frank, and his paternal grandfather was J Frank (he had no middle name so when he was an adult he stuck a "J" in front, but it stands for nothing). Both went by Frank, so I think we'll do the same if we have a boy - Frank as the middle name, but we'll call him Frank.

Jane is a popular middle name on my side of the family so I think we'd do that for a little girl. The first name is difficult because both my husband's side and mine have some frightful and/or "old" first names - Edwardine, Ethel, Dovie, Belva, Mildred, etc.
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Old 07-19-2011, 03:03 PM
 
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
14,129 posts, read 31,128,110 times
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I'd like to see good ol' American nicknames return like Bill, Tom, or Jim. Why does every kid nowdays have to have a name that sounds like a peer of the realm?
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