What’s in a name?
My niece recently had her 4th daughter.
She named the lovely new baby Serafina Therese: pronounced “Sera Feena Ter Ees” Her older sisters also have creative names with lots of syllables.
My, how names have changed. What ever happened to names like Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally and Susan?
I am a baby boomer. Names were simple in my generation. Here are the names of my closest family members and a few of my best friends. Patty, Adam, Justin, Janet, Carol, Sarah, Margie, Cherlyn, Jeanine, Shirley, Gale, Albert, Keith, Ruth, Beverly, Roy, Ivan, Ed, George, Lee, Mariruth, Michelle, Scott, Tracy, Genise, Brett, Bruce. Carl, Michael, Randy, Denise, Phyllis, Jodi. My spell checker only highlighted one name from that group.
I suppose young parents of today would say all of those names are boring, and I guess they are, but why do names need to be creative anyway? When I whisper sweet nothin’s in my baby’s ear, I would at least like to be able to remember her name.
“Wow, Patty you sure smell nice. Have you been eating tuna fish? “
Not “I love you too, ah...er...ah.. Whoeveryouare” See what a mood breaker that is!
And. what happens when all of these young people meet each other for the first time? If you are like me you forget easy name just a few minutes after somebody is introduced to you. All the memory tricks in the book won’t help you if you go to a party and meet people with names like Zzyzx or Donellabet or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. Here is a site with a bunch of goofy names, like Clavicle or Colin (body parts).
My niece is not alone in the endless quest to out-imagine other parents in the name game. I hear new names all of the time, made up names: I feel sorry for teachers and coaches. Here are a couple things you might hear them say today: “Hey there, Shabaderos, sit over here.” Or ‘Tobalukus’ is it? Go out for a pass”
In my day kids were more likely to hear something like this “No David, I don’t want to smell your finger” Or, “David Alan, if you keep doing that your eyes will stick together.” See how much easier that is!? The adults were free to concentrate on the misdeed rather than trying to remember a creative name.
People tell me that names go in cycles. I sure hope so, but by the time we all go back to the simple names that I should be able to remember, I will probably be too old and senile to remember them anyway. I guess this is how things will get.
Some future youngster: “You remember me, grandpa David. I am Adam. I have the same name as your son”
Grouchy old me: “Who the hell is Yorsun?”
In the mean time, I have got to practice my great niece’s new name while I still have a few of my marbles left. All together, now.
“Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees”
I hope they will just let me call her “Sarah”
Comments Welcomed
My niece recently had her 4th daughter.
She named the lovely new baby Serafina Therese: pronounced “Sera Feena Ter Ees” Her older sisters also have creative names with lots of syllables.
My, how names have changed. What ever happened to names like Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally and Susan?
I am a baby boomer. Names were simple in my generation. Here are the names of my closest family members and a few of my best friends. Patty, Adam, Justin, Janet, Carol, Sarah, Margie, Cherlyn, Jeanine, Shirley, Gale, Albert, Keith, Ruth, Beverly, Roy, Ivan, Ed, George, Lee, Mariruth, Michelle, Scott, Tracy, Genise, Brett, Bruce. Carl, Michael, Randy, Denise, Phyllis, Jodi. My spell checker only highlighted one name from that group.
I suppose young parents of today would say all of those names are boring, and I guess they are, but why do names need to be creative anyway? When I whisper sweet nothin’s in my baby’s ear, I would at least like to be able to remember her name.
“Wow, Patty you sure smell nice. Have you been eating tuna fish? “
Not “I love you too, ah...er...ah.. Whoeveryouare” See what a mood breaker that is!
And. what happens when all of these young people meet each other for the first time? If you are like me you forget easy name just a few minutes after somebody is introduced to you. All the memory tricks in the book won’t help you if you go to a party and meet people with names like Zzyzx or Donellabet or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. Here is a site with a bunch of goofy names, like Clavicle or Colin (body parts).
My niece is not alone in the endless quest to out-imagine other parents in the name game. I hear new names all of the time, made up names: I feel sorry for teachers and coaches. Here are a couple things you might hear them say today: “Hey there, Shabaderos, sit over here.” Or ‘Tobalukus’ is it? Go out for a pass”
In my day kids were more likely to hear something like this “No David, I don’t want to smell your finger” Or, “David Alan, if you keep doing that your eyes will stick together.” See how much easier that is!? The adults were free to concentrate on the misdeed rather than trying to remember a creative name.
People tell me that names go in cycles. I sure hope so, but by the time we all go back to the simple names that I should be able to remember, I will probably be too old and senile to remember them anyway. I guess this is how things will get.
Some future youngster: “You remember me, grandpa David. I am Adam. I have the same name as your son”
Grouchy old me: “Who the hell is Yorsun?”
In the mean time, I have got to practice my great niece’s new name while I still have a few of my marbles left. All together, now.
“Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees”
I hope they will just let me call her “Sarah”
Comments Welcomed
3 comments:
Way to throw stones when living in a glass house. I've never heard of a boy named "D" before.
Matt, get real. If you don't see the difference, you r dumber than the fish who dropped out of school.
I personally love the name, it's really pretty. I know that wasn't your point...I'm sure you think it's a beautiful name too - just different.
My kids have pretty "boring" common names. I like the old fashioned names though. I do spell Abigail's nickname a bit differently though. Her school papers often come back with "Abby" which is the common spelling. I spell it "Abbie" though. Just trying to be cute...I thought she might like to dot the "i" with a heart or something someday ;)
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