Baby Names? Vintage?

[dhermann1]

There are really two simultanous topics intermingling themselves in this thread, "vintage" names, and names passed down in the family.
On my father's side, the German side, my grandfather was named Paul, which I believe was, and still is, a very popular German name, and my cousin (first grandson in the family) was named after him. I, being the first grandson on my mother's side got named after my mom's dad. That's Daniel Benjamin Hotaling in my avatar.
On my mother's Anglo Saxon side there were a lot of traditional English names, like William and Edward. Lotsa Williams and Edwards. But among my grandmother's older sisters there was a Louisa Mary (or as she later styled herself, Mary Louise), which I think went way far back in the family. I think Louisa Mary has a lovely lilt to it.
I've always suspected that the use of the male-ish sounding names for girls (Ashley, Sidney, Whitney, etc.) is because people think that these names are somehow high class. The idea is that blueblood types name their daughters this way. Actually, I think they do sound classy.
What makes me nuts are the trendy names, like Dakota.
Speaking of animal names, I found out a long time ago that in the early and mid 19th century instead of naming pets a name that ends with Y (Bippy or Buppy or whatever) they gave them names ending in O, like Rollo or Goofo. Well, maybe not Goofo. But O.
Who was it said "What's in a name?"

 

[Real Swell Gal]

My name is Julie and although it's not really a vintage name there were not many kids in my class named Julie.
I can only think of one other and I graduated with 509 kids.
There were alot of Amy,Heather,Jennifer and Lisa's though.

 

[Dr Doran]

My parents are very old and gave us slightly but not very unusual names. Timothy, Charles, Matthias, Marianne, and Edmund. There was no self-conscious deliberate intent in the naming -- they were not saying to themselves "let us give slightly but not overly unusual names."

I knew no Tims growing up but then at one job there were suddenly three of us. One was a gay artist named Timothy Snow who spelled it Tym Tschneaux (I am not kidding). The other a straight artist (this is San Francisco -- lots of artists) named Timothy Jaeger who changed his name legally to Tim Jag. They both called themselves Tim so at that moment I started calling myself Timothy.

My brother Matthias was named after my father, a horrible idea. Phone calls all our lives, callers asking for "Matt" necessitating an annoying exchange. "Which one? The younger or the older?" We started calling my brother "Little Matt" but then he grew to be 6'4", taller than my father, so that didn't work anymore. I tried to get him to call himself Matthias instead of Matt but he didn't see the nobility in that name.

My daughter is Dominika. Vintage Polish. My son, if we have one, will be Hektor, about as vintage as it gets -- it's my favorite person in the Iliad of Homer, the oldest book in Western literature.

My sister in law is Agnieszka or Agnes. My aunt is Agnes, but she became a nun and is now Sister Paulita. I think the name Agnes is nicely vintage and should be used (except when shortened to Aggy which is ugly and horrible) but if we have a second daughter we will not name her Agnes because then there will be similar problems of having two Matts in the house.

"I love how Agnes dances."

"Which one?"

 

[jamespowers]

My parents are very old and gave us slightly but not very unusual names. Timothy, Charles, Matthias, Marianne, and Edmund. There was no self-conscious deliberate intent in the naming -- they were not saying to themselves "let us give slightly but not overly unusual names."

I knew no Tims growing up but then at one job there were suddenly three of us. One was a gay artist named Timothy Snow who spelled it Tym Tschneaux (I am not kidding). The other a straight artist (this is San Francisco -- lots of artists) named Timothy Jaeger who changed his name legally to Tim Jag. They both called themselves Tim so at that moment I started calling myself Timothy.

My brother Matthias was named after my father, a horrible idea. Phone calls all our lives, callers asking for "Matt" necessitating an annoying exchange. "Which one? The younger or the older?" We started calling my brother "Little Matt" but then he grew to be 6'4", taller than my father, so that didn't work anymore. I tried to get him to call himself Matthias instead of Matt but he didn't see the nobility in that name.

My daughter is Dominika. Vintage Polish. My son, if we have one, will be Hektor, about as vintage as it gets -- it's my favorite person in the Iliad of Homer, the oldest book in Western literature.

My sister in law is Agnieszka or Agnes. My aunt is Agnes, but she became a nun and is now Sister Paulita. I think the name Agnes is nicely vintage and should be used (except when shortened to Aggy which is ugly and horrible) but if we have a second daughter we will not name her Agnes because then there will be similar problems of having two Matts in the house.

"I love how Agnes dances."

"Which one?"

You just found out why some cultures consider it taboo to name children after living relatives.

 

[rogaleo]

My son (4) is Casimir Leopold both, I think, extremely vintage and world away from my banal Michael

 

[Miss Caroline]

my chosen names are: Ivy (after my great aunt who died recently) and Agnes.

I'm half iranian, so i would give my children iranian middle names.

 

[Dr Doran]

my chosen names are: Ivy (after my great aunt who died recently) and Agnes.

I'm half iranian, so i would give my children iranian middle names.

That could be a nice combination if done carefully, in my (ignorant) opinion. What are some vintage Iranian names?

 

[Chas]

Girls: Fiona. I love the Irish names.

Boys: Duncan, "Dunc" for short. My dad had a friend named Dunc. A real stand-up cat.

 

[Miss Caroline]

My middle name is Shabnam which i've never really liked too much.
Maheen is a name i like, its my aunt's name. And Aryana, also Farrin.
My sister's middle is Shekoufeh.
Boys names,I like Cyrus, which is pronounced Si-roosh and Zartosht.

 

[Edward]

JamesP, I'd love to meet a kid called TC... lol

Hmmmm a good observation but i have only pets so what does that say about me...

I'm the same - don't have and don't want kids, though I've been accused more than once of babying my kittens....

The cats are called Marlene and Greta, names of which any child should be brought up to be proud!

 

[Lillemor]

I named a male dog Ginger and for a few years, Ginger had to share home with a female cat named Stanley. I wouldn't name a girl Ginger and I wouldn't name a son Stanley. Nothing wrong with the names, it's just not what I'd name my kids. See some previous page of this debate for what I actually named my boys. Stanley wasn't my choice but I take the full blame for Ginger who's still alive at 15 y.o.

 

[jamespowers]

JamesP, I'd love to meet a kid called TC... lol





I'm the same - don't have and don't want kids, though I've been accused more than once of babying my kittens....

The cats are called Marlene and Greta, names of which any child should be brought up to be proud!

Well there is always a Thomas Calvin or a Travis Charles that could conceivably be called TC. A child named TopCat might get his parents declared legally incompetent to name a child.
Then again, Indy is named after the dog.

 

[Lincsong]

Who is Samantha named after?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Some vintage boys' names I haven't seen here yet (I think):


-- Clesson

-- Chester

-- Cuthbert

-- Emerick

-- Vaughn

-- Newell

-- Vernon

-- Zane

--Ammon

-- Reed (or Reid)

-- Asa

-- Efrem

-- Constantine

-- Ferrell

-- Millard

-- Lester

--Delmar

--Bentley

--Marion

-- Virgil

-- Amos

-- Grover

-- Christ


(One of my 19th century ancestors was named Christ Chevalier.)

.

 

[bobalooba]

My name is maxwell and I personally love it, it's a name that's unique enough to be remembered but not weird or stupid IMO. What bothers me is people naming their children last names, I once knew someone named Tobin, we asked him where it came from and it was his mother's maiden name. Weird stuff

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My daughter's name is Isabel. People seem to want to call her Isabella, and to spell her name as "Isabelle".

.

 

[Lincsong]

Marc, some people you just can't reach.

 

[lazydaisyltd]

James is a huge name in my dad's family. His name is James but he goes by Bruce (his middle name) because I also have an Uncle Jim, Uncle Jimmy, cousins James, Jamie, Jimmy and Jim. Plus all the ones who are dead.

My Grandmother is Barbara Jane, my mum is Jane and I'm Alexandra Jane so if I have a daughter, her middle name will be Jane.

My daughter is Emory-Jane. I think Jane is such a pretty, classic name...(Emory was my grandfather's middle name.)

 

[Emer]

I wish I had a vintage name (though I guess my nickname is actually an old Irish name)! I worked for a bank on the east coast and we had little old ladies come in with adorable names like Esther-Lou.

My best friend wants to name her son (non-existent as of now) James Dean, and with their last name it sounds so good!

I'm trying to talk my husband into vintage names for our future baby, but so far we've only settled on vintage Irish names like Seamus.

 

[jamespowers]

Who is Samantha named after?

Ask my mother, I have no idea.