Posted on 11/10/2010 6:06:04 PM PST by ransomnote
Rejecting the top names of the past century, more and more parents are choosing gender-neutral boys' names. SNIP
When sportswriter Peter Richmond, author of Badasses, was expecting his first son 25 years ago, he didn’t want to name him Tom, after his father, or Burgess, after his grandfather, and he certainly didn’t want to name the poor kid after himself.
Instead, Richmond and his wife wanted to give their son a name that was unmistakably male yet broke rank with all the masculine names that came before it. Robert, William, and John have dominated boy-baby naming since statisticians began keeping track. SNIP
“Naming your kid Hunter or Breaker is like saying *expletive* you to the world that invented feminism,” said Richmond. “It’s a desperate cry to hold onto an archaic and useless form of masculinity, whereas naming your kid Robert III after your grandfather who invented the flyswatter and bought the house in Newport is a very different kind of holding onto an outmoded form of masculinity.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Okay, that made me snort.
“At a guess, I bet a lot of single moms are behind these. Take ‘Cullen’ for example. Is anyone who names their kid ‘Cullen’ even out of their teens yet?”
Unfortunately, women in their late 30’s have been photographed screaming alongside the teenagers waiting in fan lines to catch a glimpse of a Twilight actor.
My son is named after my father and other men in my family going back over 150 years. Now his name, first and middle, are predominately given to girls. I asked him if it bothered him when he was younger he says nope. He knew who he was named for and is proud of the family history. He and his wife are expecting their first child. They recently found out their baby is a boy and the family name, first anyway, will carry on.
Maxfield, wasn’t that a cassette tape maker in the 80s?
I always liked Singent after St. John.
I wasn’t too happy when my brother named my nephews Cameron and Peyton. I think he let his wife pic the names.
I wonder if there isn’t an analogous boy version of the “President or stripper?” test for girls. That test, if you’ve never heard of it, has you taking your preferred Girl Name and inserting it into the following formulae:
“...the president of the United States, _____ _____!”
“...and now on the center pole, _____ ______!”
Thus naming your girl Champagne Brandy Lexxxus fails miserably, unless you have really warped ideals.
We haven’t, as a society, had a habit of giving some boys “stripper names” (whatever those would be for a boy), but if there’s something similarly frivolous in the air for boys—and this article suggests a possibility or two—I wonder what a good specific test would be.
Also, I also consider many baby names overthought. It’s an important decision, to be sure, but I wonder just how much Communication of Your Values occurs thereby.
In any case, if he uses his own birth first name from here on out, poor gentle-chief Calum (from the linked article) will have to endure “can you spell that again?” for the rest of his life. If I were Calum, my main lesson would probably be that Mommy didn’t really think ahead to that part.
What a lunatic.
My great grandmother’s name was Zella.
I also knew a guy named Tandy.
It’s not too late, America! Give your kids a respectable cowboy or cowgirl name!
http://www.cowboycrew.com/cowboy_club_072.htm
I have known two Lances in my life, both gay.
My first boy will be named Rush. Ronald will probably be next.
That’s cool. All of my boys have one of their names after someone in the family, and then one of their names that is not. I opted not to do a junior mostly because my husband wasn’t a junior so one of my sons has his first name as first name and another has his middle name as a middle name. The youngest has my father’s name as his middle name. I think it’s nice when people pass down family names but I also understand when people don’t want to, naming kids is a very personal and somewhat difficult thing.
On the other hand I totally don’t understand people who give their kids really odd names like Apple, and don’t understand people who just make up names like they are naming a pet. I went thru that stage when I was in Jr High. Glad I didn’t have kids when I was 13! LOL
Forgot to add that I think family names are more customary here in the South.
Good point. I think there are male stripper names - they appear in soap operas. I remember a movie with Sallie Field in it portraying a soap actress and she was forever exasperated with her male model co-star, who’s soap opera name was ‘Bolt’. I think Fabio used to fall into that category. As for Calum, well kids generally hate being different from the others for awhile so he’ll shorten his name to Cal or use a middle name or do SOMETHING to try to pass for normal.
I dated a girl named Johnene. Her father’s name was John, one brother was Keith John, and the other was John Raymond.
John Raymond went by Ray but Keith John went by John. Since my name was John it was a real treat around that house.
I named my son Curtiss after the famous P-40 manufacturer.It didnt take long for the teachers to spell him name correctly either.
When I was teaching, I had kids (usually girls) who would get irritated with me because I could not immediately pronounce oddly spelled first names. I know their Moms wanted their names to be unique, by adding vowels etc, or using a y instead of an i or whatever, but it really just made them more difficult to decipher at times. I always bit my tongue and didn’t say, “Look if you’re Mom could spell, I could pronounce you’re name.” Something most parents probably don’t think of, but their kids will live with the consequences of their cuteness.
LMAO
I am, more or less, a southern girl myself, altho I have lived all over. It probably is more of a southern thing.
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