<p>There was a judge in Texas named Barefoot Sanders. His real name. </p>
<p>The choice of a first name often tells the person’s parents’ socio-economic status. </p>
<p>And the choice to keep it?</p>
<p>I laughed at this article. Another version of my name is vastly more common than my own, and it only takes a one-letter change.</p>
<p>*
The choice of a first name often tells the person’s parents’ socio-economic status.
*
Or at least the socio economic status to which they aspire.
I had a great uncle who was a submariner in WWll.
His name was Holly Berry Ivey.
( I also had a 2nd cousin named Mortici Oliver, he went by M.O.)
I havent met anyone with really weird names.
Ethnic names, that are hard for me to remember, but I have a hard time with names anyway & I eventually get it.
I do repeat them several times so I get the pronounciation right. ( but I may still need spelling help)
Sorry if thats annoying.</p>
<p>It’s not so much “weirdness” that makes a name an impediment to success, it’s a weird spelling that makes the parents seem illiterate. Names have cultural values attached to them, rightly or wrongly, and this is one of the factors by which people judge another. A woman named Michaela is probably going to be thought of as more educated than one whose parents spelled it “Makayla.” And names that a culture associates with strippers (Desiree) or thugs (Guido) aren’t going to be taken as seriously as names without that cultural baggage.</p>
<p>I don’t want to take away anyone’s freedom to pick the names they like for their children, but it’s important to realize that in every culture, most names come with cultural baggage, good and bad.</p>
<p>Well, I like my unusual Finnish last name, and often receive compliments on it after I correct the pronunciation or spell it (I have a routine down pat, along the lines of N as in Nancy, T as in Tom ) When I married I could have taken H’s very nice and very simple last name, but I chose not to. I offered to let him hyphenate, but oddly enough he declined. :)</p>
<p>Interestingly, it was H’s father’s side of the family that changed the spelling of their name from the original German version to an English version. I’ve thought it might have been a WW1-related thing, but my late FIL, a card-carrying anti-semite, said that they didn’t want people to think they were Jewish. 8-> </p>
<p>My name isn’t “Poor” or “Black” sounding but it’s not very common. I looked it up on the Umich Directory thing and there were 16 people (only 7 are still involved with the university) with my first name with a umich.edu email address, and 35 with my last name (and 3 of them are related to me - only 7 still involved with the university). That “How many of me site” lists about 1500 people in the US for each of my first and last names. So… It’s pretty uncommon. </p>
<p>It’s never been an issue and I have a hard time imagining it ever being one. </p>
<p>I think it’s interesting how the cultural baggage of a name can change, sometimes just because of celebrities with that name. II recall that in my youth, the name “Bruce” was often used as the name for a stereotypical effeminate gay man. After Bruce Lee, Bruce Willis, and Bruce Springsteen, I don’t think anybody would understand that today. Perhaps we will also get so used to “weird” names–like those given by celebrities to their own children–that no names will seem all that weird.</p>
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<p>Exactly.</p>
<p>
@snarlatron and @sally305
Never said they were “upper middle class”. I said “middle class”. We can all agree that there is a large divide within the middle class. The families that I see with name like that are middle class. Believe it or not. I’m not here to declare what the middle class is or is not naming their children. Just speaking on what I’ve seen. :shrug:</p>
<p>Using the How Many of Me website, 80,000 or so people have my first name. This was expected. It’s not an unheard of name, but it is not common. Only 100 people have my last name. This was expected, as well. You’re in the family if you have the last name! And there is only 1 of me. Cool! :)</p>
<p>I think “Bruce” was (or is) the Australian term or label. There was a time here, eg, when people associated “Lance” with gay men. </p>
<p>I wonder what the name of a stereotypical gay man would be of today…I can only think of white names - Chris, Jonathan, David.</p>
<p>White names? LOLOL. Wow… I know plenty of AA men with those names…</p>
<p>LOLOL I know plenty of black men with those names, too!</p>
<p>Okay…then they aren’t white names. </p>
<p>They are “white” names. </p>
<p>Lol okay. You win! LOLOL </p>
<p>2,500 people have my last name, 38,000 have my first name</p>
<p>Gave much thought to bestowing the name ‘Eamon’ to the newborn Lake Jr. With that name the kid would never have a problem getting a job…in Ireland or Scotland!!! Of course here at home in the U.S.A. he would have to take 5 minutes to explain and spell it every time he met someone new.</p>
<p>When I once met the Grand Marshall of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, based upon my name she insisted that I had some Irish ancestry. But most the people that I have met with the same first name are Jews. Go figure.</p>
<p>So Sally, you are calling my sister and fiance liars?</p>
<p>I confirmed with sis and fiance that, yes, both had students named Sh1thead and La-a, respectively. So it is a fact. I think I’ll make my way over to Snopes and set the record straight.</p>
<p>Edit by FC - removed foul language and abusive conduct towards another member.</p>