Picking the Name~The Great Middle Name Dilemma~Top Two Picks

[OldGuy43]

Naming a child is of course a personal thing and the business of the parents. This thread does however prompt me to ask a question that has puzzled me for a very long time. I have noticed that many American first names sound like surnames, and don't necessarily give a clue as to whether the person is male or female. Some are just plain strange like Newt. Has anyone out there an explanation?

Newt is usually a shortened form of Newton. Other examples would be Mel for Melvin, Bob for Robert, Bobbie for Roberta etc. As for your second question, I have no explanation, any more than I can explain why people name their child Sunshine, Vestal, Moonfall and so forth. Think about it. When they get older it's Grandma Moonfall. Acceptable if you're a native American I suppose, but...

Sidebars:
I once worked with a fellow whose first name was Abdul, while his last name did not indicate an Arab heritage. When I asked him if he came from the Middle East he responded matter of factly with, "No, hippy parents."

My parents did not want my younger brother to have a nickname so they named him Gregg. This worked fine until some know-it-all grade school teacher kept insisting that his true name was Gregory. When he came home crying because of this my parents went to the school and explained that their child did, in fact know his own name.

 

[oldrooster]

Quote: Vestal is a VERY OLD first name it's not some "hippy" or crazy name or some Native American first name, there was a gospel singer named Vestal Goodman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_Goodman . I have worked with a woman named Fleeta, which is a very old name (popular apparantly in the late 1800's and early 1900's) and was named after a older relative.... Just because you have never heard of a name does not mean it's made up or a strange thinking parent......

 

[Bunnylady]

My parents did not want my younger brother to have a nickname so they named him Gregg. This worked fine until some know-it-all grade school teacher kept insisting that his true name was Gregory. When he came home crying because of this my parents went to the school and explained that their child did, in fact know his own name.

My maiden name is a bit unusual and rather long, and my father had gotten pretty tired of trying to squeeze it and two other names into small blanks on forms by the time he became a father. Consequently, none of us have middle names; my older brother is simply named "Don." 3 letters, that's it. He, too, had a teacher who insisted that that couldn't be all of it, and called him "Donald." She became infuriated when he finally resorted to simply not answering her, since she wouldn't listen when he told her, "that's not my name." My parents had to go to school to tell her, "that's right, it isn't." They also got him transferred into a different class.

As to the tendency toward first names that sound like surnames, some of them are actually family names, gifted to a child in memory or honor of some relative or family friend. Others, like "Madison" may have a different origin . . . .

But mentioning old names, DD came across a character named "Lettuce" a few days ago. Yes, DD, that really is a girl's name.

 

[oldrooster]

Quote:
I saw a name of a woman who was arrested who's first name was Felony yes Felony. I am not kidding, I have a friend at the clerks office and told him I saw what I thought her name was a misprint or joke he said no he's handled her paperwork before and she was a frequent customer to the court system and that was her real name. And also there is the last name Outlaw in our community and I saw a man a few months prior to the woman's arrest was arrested and I asked the same question and he knew the guy's name as a repeat customer also.

 

[newfoundland]

Many moons ago when i attended ante-natal clinic in London, there were many mums to be of Indian origin. A lovely young Afro-Caribbean nurse came out into the waiting room to call the next patient:

"Pritti Shah", she called, but no reply. "Is Pritti Shah here?" she asked again. Still no reply. We all shuffled around in embarrassed silence, wondering who had the nerve to be late, or miss their appointment. The nurse went back into the consulting room and a moment later another nurse appeared with what was obviously the same set of notes in her hand.

"Patricia." she called in a rather bored south London drawl. A lady sprang to her feet, "Oh that's me, sorry, I'm so sorry." We laughed at the mix up. Names are surely down to interpretation.