Author Topic: Baby names  (Read 10914 times)

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Baby names
« on: 21 September, 2018, 10:20:26 am »
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #1 on: 21 September, 2018, 10:28:38 am »
A teacher friend of mine points out that she says 'Jack' to her class, virtually every boy looks up. And 'Olivia' makes the other half look up.

Boys names are a bit shit, so if we had kids and one of them was a boy, we'd probably have to drown it in the canal. That has to be a better fate than calling him Nigel. Friends of ours called their kid Edith, which seemed an odd choice at the time.

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Baby names
« Reply #2 on: 21 September, 2018, 11:24:35 am »
Gammons keeping Nigel alive?

That's a new one for me. I must use it :thumbsup:.

(definitely not XTC fans)

Boys names are a bit shit

Agreed. I don't particularly like mine (and none of my close friends use it anyway). We gave peep #2 a traditional family name, the short version of which unfortunately became very popular soon after he was born (after a TV character). Never mind.
Pen Pusher

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #3 on: 21 September, 2018, 11:37:22 am »
Actually, I don't mind my name, but I'm biased. Olivers are just annoyingly middle-class. Best ignored. They're the sort of people who join the Young Conservatives.

The rest seem to be either Jack or Alfie, which as names go, seem to be a passport to a Young Offenders' Institution.

I think I've mentioned before that somewhere in South London there's a kid called Awesome. I'm not sure when that seemed like a good idea.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Baby names
« Reply #4 on: 21 September, 2018, 11:42:19 am »
Friends of ours called their kid Edith, which seemed an odd choice at the time.

Edith was on the shortlist if ours had been a girl. Also Florence and Grace. Probably would have had Maud on the list as well, but the cat had already bagged that one.

It's a middle class thing to give your kids names that were popular among the Edwardian working classes - hence the current preponderance of Jacks, Alfies, Stans etc. When we called our boy Wilfred, he was the only one we knew of, but we've met quite a few more since - usually a few years younger. 6music DJ Shaun Keaveny called his boy Wilfred too, but we were the original trend setters.

When I was at school, I was usually one of five or more Davids in the class. Now, David seems barely any more popular than Nigel. Give it 100 years and both David and Nigel will be back at the top of the list.

My nephew is an Oliver. Nice kid but I wouldn't be too surprised if he turned out to be a Tory.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Baby names
« Reply #5 on: 21 September, 2018, 12:13:29 pm »
We considered Eleanor for Miss W as it was my nan's name. Although relatively unheard of at the time it's non uncommon now. Sign of the times I guess.

Personally I like traditional names, I think there's less chance of regretting the choice as they grow up (unlike some modern variants which just seem like an open doorway to piss-taking).
Pen Pusher

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #6 on: 21 September, 2018, 12:20:20 pm »
Actually, I quite like Edith as a name, I just hadn't realised it had become currency again. Florence is OK, I suppose, though it's one of them newfangled pop stars innit, and Florence Amelia was my gran's name, though of course, she was Flo to everyone. I wouldn't, in some fictional alt-verse where I have kids, call a kid that. Sorry, I don't like Grace. It's a name that smells like lavender. I think I'd go for Audrey for my daughter. I quite like Jess too, but not Jessica so much, Jessicas in my experience are always a bit bossy. I've obviously given this a lot of thought. Also Emmaline (or should that be Emmeline) and is it 'leen or 'line. I do know Emmaline with the 'a' and the 'line as in Caroline, but I know the pronunciation of Emmeline Pankhurst favours the 'leen. (Same for Ottoline, this used to come up a lot as our after-work pub was the Lady Ottoline).

Despite all that thought, I can't really think of any boy's names I like, which is why I'd have to drown them. It sounds harsh, but surely better than having to put up with a kid whose name you hate for forever. Plus boys are, tbh, horrid. I was one, so I know.

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #7 on: 21 September, 2018, 01:43:02 pm »
Yes, I've decided to call my second daughter (in the alt-verse where I'm a responsible adult) Emmaline* to rhyme with Caroline both to satisfy the thoroughly modern tenets of both non-standard spelling and pronunciation. Plus she can go through life correcting people as to these facts which I think she'll appreciate.

I think October would be a good name for a girl too.

*Emmaline is actually the super-space captain in my giant sci-fi opus that you should buy, well, when it gets published, of course. She flies around in a big spaceship and blows things up. It has an Audrey too, though she's a robot. Jess, on the other hand, is both a sarcastic dead and a dead sarcastic librarian who frequently saves an unappreciative world.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Baby names
« Reply #8 on: 21 September, 2018, 03:01:08 pm »
In other news, Chris Evans has called his twins Boo and Wait  ::-)
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Baby names
« Reply #9 on: 21 September, 2018, 03:18:18 pm »
They were Ping and Pong yesterday. What will they be tomorrow, Here and Now?

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Baby names
« Reply #10 on: 21 September, 2018, 03:19:53 pm »
Here's hoping for Beavis and Butt-Head.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #11 on: 21 September, 2018, 04:59:53 pm »
I'd vote for Dick and Wad.

Re: Baby names
« Reply #12 on: 21 September, 2018, 05:15:55 pm »
I downloaded the full lists; I am regretting my decision to have a vasectomy because now I really want to have a son called Willoughby.  ;D

Re: Baby names
« Reply #13 on: 21 September, 2018, 05:25:34 pm »
The strongest argument for being careful in choosing your child's name is that they get to choose your nursing home.  ;)
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

ian

Re: Baby names
« Reply #14 on: 21 September, 2018, 05:38:21 pm »
Awesome's parents are fucked then.

Then again, so are we, our kids only exist in an alt-verse.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Baby names
« Reply #15 on: 21 September, 2018, 09:48:33 pm »
There are more fricking Achilles than Rogers.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Baby names
« Reply #16 on: 21 September, 2018, 10:05:41 pm »
There's a chap in my place of work called Tragedy.  I've never dared ask the reason, his parents could just be BeeGee's fans, or there could be some truly horrible explanation  :(
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Baby names
« Reply #17 on: 21 September, 2018, 10:18:50 pm »
Gammons keeping Nigel alive?

That's a new one for me. I must use it :thumbsup:.

(definitely not XTC fans)

Boys names are a bit shit

Agreed. I don't particularly like mine (and none of my close friends use it anyway). We gave peep #2 a traditional family name, the short version of which unfortunately became very popular soon after he was born (after a TV character). Never mind.

A lass at work's lad is called Corbin. I did ask if he was named after Jeremy, even though I didn't think it was likely.  No - it'seems spelled differently, and apparently there are a few other Corbins out there.

Re: Baby names
« Reply #18 on: 21 September, 2018, 10:26:44 pm »
There's a chap in my place of work called Tragedy.  I've never dared ask the reason, his parents could just be BeeGee's fans, or there could be some truly horrible explanation  :(

ObliPTerry: https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Bestiality_Carter
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Baby names
« Reply #19 on: 21 September, 2018, 11:23:56 pm »
There's a chap in my place of work called Tragedy.  I've never dared ask the reason, his parents could just be BeeGee's fans, or there could be some truly horrible explanation  :(

ObliPTerry: https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Bestiality_Carter


No, he's not from Ankh-Morpork, sadly somewhere far less peaceful. Perhaps not BeeGees fans after all  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CME5BP5fZg4   :-D


Whatever, a nice bloke & a philosopher.....(OU degree I think....)
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Baby names
« Reply #20 on: 22 September, 2018, 07:47:38 am »
I used to work with someone called James Riddel.  What were his parents thinking???

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Baby names
« Reply #21 on: 22 September, 2018, 08:53:19 am »
Yes, I've decided to call my second daughter (in the alt-verse where I'm a responsible adult) Emmaline* to rhyme with Caroline both to satisfy the thoroughly modern tenets of both non-standard spelling and pronunciation. Plus she can go through life correcting people as to these facts which I think she'll appreciate.

I think October would be a good name for a girl too.

*Emmaline is actually the super-space captain in my giant sci-fi opus that you should buy, well, when it gets published, of course. She flies around in a big spaceship and blows things up. It has an Audrey too, though she's a robot. Jess, on the other hand, is both a sarcastic dead and a dead sarcastic librarian who frequently saves an unappreciative world.
Emma, Emmaline, going to write your name up on that silver scrine...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Baby names
« Reply #22 on: 22 September, 2018, 01:34:47 pm »
More than twenty posts in and no-one has mentioned this:

Quote from: Half Man Half Biscuit
A woman who described herself as “A little bit Bridget, a little bit Ally, a little bit Sex And The City” and chose to call her baby boy Fred as a childishly rebellious attempt at a clever reaction to those who might have expected her to call him Julian or Rupert. Bit of advice: call him Rupert, it fits, and besides it’s a good name. Don’t be calling him Fred or Archie, with all its cheeky but lovable working class scamp connotations, unless you really do have plans for him to spend his life in William Hill’s waiting for them to weigh in at Newton Abbot.

Standirds r sliping.
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Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Baby names
« Reply #23 on: 22 September, 2018, 03:18:58 pm »
We’ve got a Freddie, a Martha and an Alice. Non were particularly popular at the time of choosing, but all have become more so since.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
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Re: Baby names
« Reply #24 on: 22 September, 2018, 08:43:12 pm »
The two top names again this year ....  I have a daughter Olivia and her husband is Oliver (both 34) ... and their surname starts with "O" as well.

Rob