Monday, November 01, 2010

Reclaiming names, cont.




There are some names you just can't reclaim.

Chanel
Jaylo
Lexus
Chardonnay
Diesel
Dior
Mercedes
Dolce


These all appear on the list of forenames given in Scotland last year. Some of them more than once.

Although.... I'm thinking there are some great twin pairings there - Chanel & Chardonnay has a certain ring to it. And Mercedes & Lexus would make quite the duo.

There are some amazing names on there too, Iteoluwakishi for one. And Oluwafioyonsolami. Maybe I'll suggest them to N.

And then there's my personal favourite, Heavenleigh. You know, like Heavenly, but with LEIGH on the end! Genius.

I really feel for Laiba though. Actually, I feel for all ten Laibas. They're going to have a world of fun when they reach high school Biology class.

A friend of my uncle's worked in Glasgow circa 1995. She was a GP. There were five Pocahontas' (Pocahonti?) on her books.
I heart Scotland.


33 comments:

  1. I know a lady called Happiness. She is anything but happy unfortunately....

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  2. I went to a nursery in the east end as part of my nurse training and there were twins there called Dolce and Gabbana. One of my classmates swears that he built lego with a Diesel Rainbow too. Ahhh Glasgow eh?

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  3. Reminds me of the story of the schools inspector who was talking to one of the pupils in a primary class he was observing. She said she was called Portia. He began to tell her that she had the same name as a beautiful lady who was a character in a play by a very famous man called Shakespeare. Then the class teacher whispered in his ear "Her dad named her after the makers of his car".

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  4. No Sparkle, or Precious, or Emerald, or Beauty, or, or, or? I went to school with a ton of those. Ah, Trinidad. Seems we're not that different from Scotland in some ways. :)

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  5. Since we are sharing names here are some:

    Madison is pretty common here, and I have heard more than a few by the name Allegra.
    I have twin friends by the names of Holly and Heidi.
    I also have a great Aunt Zena.

    Personally I've always been a fan of Octavius and Octavia. (Of course that would be a boy and girl.)

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  6. Mercedes is a popular Mexican name. But then again, so is Jesus.

    My friend's cousin in Hong Kong, last name Lee, named their kid Elvis. Middle name? Press.

    Elvis Press Lee

    Good god...

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  7. Mercedes is quite popular in SPain

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  8. Another one I don't think can ever be fully reclaimed is Anais (although it is beautiful...)

    to add to your list of horrible names that can't be reclaimed:

    Elemenope. as in, L-M-N-O-P. I once met a little girl named that, and you really can't make this stuff up. Unless you are her parents, who did.

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  9. oh, I have also met children named:

    Asher Thrasher
    and
    Mercy Danger.

    They were brother and sister. Asher Thrasher turned out to suit his name rather well by developing autism.

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  10. I have L&D nurse friends and WOW, some of the names they hear. There was one little boy in the NICU for a long time named Soulja. And then there's always Female (pronounced fem-AH-lee) and Abcde (AB-sid-ee).

    You may be onto something with Chanel & Chardonnay, though. ;)

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  11. I love that someone called their baby Jaylo. That's just so classy. It may not be able to be reclaimed, but it also never should be able to be reclaimed.

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  12. I do enjoy anything with "leigh" in it.

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  13. I went to university with sisters called Mona and Lisa - they weren't twins although they did look incredibly alike. Apparently their parents didn't realise until it was too late.

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  14. when i worked at child services we used to keep a diary of funny names. my favorite was latrine. her explaination: "my boyfriend always talked about being on latrine duty and i thought it was a pretty sounding name" (latrine duty is cleaning the bathroom)

    the other faves were twins called "brooke" and "rainbow" - last name: trout.

    the personal fave was someone named "merry" - last name christmas. yeah...

    of course i hated my name - everyone think i mispell it (charlane instead of charlene)

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  15. I know two little girls names Serenity and Destiny. Serenity is anything but serene though, she's an active little thing. I wonder what they'd name a third?

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  16. Naming is a really funny thing. We liked Arthur, then Bran but then we thought "flakes" and decided against. Maybe for the dog. We actually got some naming books out of the library and man, were they bad. Someone must've written a decent one surely, with actual, as opposed to made up, names with their meanings (if any) and history? When we tell older Scottish ladies our little man's name is William they tend to go all misty-eyed, and say "Oh! A normal name!"... because that's no longer the norm.

    I think like weddings naming is best situated within your own cultural context. So Mercedes and Lolita are beautiful names in Spain but they mean something entirely different here. And American names like Sonny and Summer and Chad are hugely popular but sort of play a little oddly for me in a Scottish context.

    Ah. I am a name snob.

    Persephone is hamazing. The woman obv, but also the name.

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  17. My mum once taught twins that were called Robson and Jerome. Bet you're sorry that you're having girls and can't call them this!

    Just stumbled across your blog and really like it. Look forward to reading the names you decide on :)

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  18. Ooh, that reminds me. I have frined who's in OB-GYN. Last year she had to talk parents out of calling their daughter Tyranny. They thought it sounded pretyy.

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  19. Heavenleigh!

    I thought Nevaeh was bad. (Made up name, heaven backwards.)

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  20. I once worked with someone whose wife taught a Pocahontas in Stirling. I saw the list of first names a few years ago and was delighted by all the variations onTJ, Tee Jay, T-Jay...

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  21. There are some pretty fabulous names at use in south africa which work so well on the subjects... but they'd never work on any child of mine. Mercedes is one of my female favourites. Lambert is my all-time best male name.

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  22. My OH has a friend called Chanel (she's from Glasgow) and her friend used to get called Donatella so I just assumed that was her real name too!

    Mercades just makes me think of the polar bear! ;)

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  23. I went to school with a Hazel Squirrel Brown... yep. And yes, I did sit next to a Ben Dover. I knew a girl called Scout, from To Kill a Mockingbird. But sometimes you come across some awesome names - a friend of a friend is called Allegra Bell. Amazing! No-one ever just calls her Allegra, it's always Allegra Bell as if it was one word. I love it!

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  24. http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/table-for-two-131504
    Saw this. Thought of you!

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  25. Scotland is pretty hilarious when it comes to names. Although I think poor 'Talula does the Hula from Hawaii' living in New Zealand takes the biscuit.

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  26. HAVE YOU HAD THE BABIES?! If a few days go by without a blog from you I start getting excited!

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  27. Hilarious. I once met a "Th'Brian". As in THE Brian, one and only.

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  28. Some ideas!
    -Mathilda (that spelling is sooo much nicer!)

    -Isbel (not Isabel. Which is very Scottish. Too Scottish. Also the name of my old highland dancing teacher. Yeah.)

    -Ada

    -Ella

    -Evie

    -Tabitha (though it sounds pretty cat-like. But in a nice way)

    -Alba (Currently the name of my guitar, but only because I don't have anything better to name)

    Also, I know a couple of twins who had were named normal names and then their family started calling them Alpha and Beta - and the names stuck! To the extent that that's what they call themselves now, always. In fact you can look up Alpha Munroe, she's a quite well-known fiddle player from the highlands. (Actually, I think Alpha is a lovely name)

    So watch out, widdle and puke might just stick...especially when it becomes more relevant...haha

    Jxx

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  29. I've been following your blog for quite a while now and I just realised that your due date must be very soon. so I'm sending you my very best wishes. (I'm not very good at writing as you can tell, but anyways).

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  30. I know a girl names Chanda....LEER. NO. LIE.

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  31. Laiba? That is so cruel!

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  32. hey :) i'm not really sure the rules for this situation, but i wanted to let you know i've written a post about blogs that i love and i linked yours to it. i'm pretty sure only like 2 people read it, but i thought you might like to know :) and i wanted to tell you that you inspire me. happy tuesday!

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  33. I went to school with a boy named Buck Hunter, we lived in Maine (in the states) where hunting deer is very popular. I always thought it sounded like a porn name.

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play nice.