It’s a biblical name with the th and a Spanish name by origin with a t only.
Even with only the t, it is Biblical in origin as in Spanish it is both written as the book of “Esther” and the book of “Ester”. The Bible comes in many languages, and the lack of h comes from it not being used in pronunciation, like Marta (used in Spanish) and Martha (used in English).
Speaking of Latino/a names, re post #179, Milton isn’t an unusual name in Latin America and Brazil, and german names like Henrik are often found as many South Americans have german ancestry.
I know so many Leo’s.
But also even more Mikes.
Also Jeffs. Mostly musicians in their 40’s.
But mostly Mikes/Michaels.
When I hear the name Randy- it brings to mind the Big Unit.
How’s that for a double entendre?
^^ that’s interesting. My neighbor Milton was from central America but if the Bolivian man named Henrik had any German ancestry at all you couldn’t see it! He probably just liked the name.
I knew an Esther in college. One teacher was amazed and said he hadn’t had an Esther as a student in many years.
I went to a Rockabilly party once and we were all given new names. What happened to Betty, Dot, Verne, Viv, etc? The 50’s weren’t that long ago.
In my experience, names come in generations. A friend named her two daughters Violet and Grace. To my ear, they sound so old-fashioned!
DH’s name is more common among boys now than it was when he was young. He cringes when he hears a child with his name because he remembers how he felt as a child with a name nobody else had (not something today’s child would experience). So for our 2 sons, they got popular names. S1 always seemed to have other boys in his class with the same name. S2’s name wasn’t quite as popular, but there’d usually be someone else in the same grade with the name.
I know a kid named Pheonix, Calub, Quenthan (pronounced Quentin) and Sydnthy (Sydney). These poor kids (all basic anglo kids) are always having their names misspelled. Madison89 (I think that’s the right year)- we also have a Maximus and his last name is slang for a male private part! I also once met a big farm kid with the name of Cherub. I imagine his mom thought he was an angel as a baby.
Okay - what name rhymes with vagina? It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where he couldn’t remember her name, but he knew it was a female body part - they decided to call her mulva…lol
At my nail salon they are primarily from Vietnam - they all give themselves ‘american’ names for customers. I get why they do it but think people could benefit from hearing other names and learning to pronounce them. Who wants to give up their name? One thing I found interesting is they said there are no multi-syllabic words in vietnam so all words have one syllable, including names. The problem is americans aren’t used to pronouncing some letter combinations - like ng in the beginning of a word. I’m trying to learn some words each time I go. I’m sure they think I’m an idiot. The one nail tech who isn’t vietnamese has learned quite a bit - she swears they aren’t talking about us.
“There’s a certain privacy advantage to having a common first and last name.” Yes, we have family members who used a common first name for their child but the last name is hyphenated. This child is in their twenties and it’s doubtful the parents thought ahead about the internet and privacy. This person is probably the only one in the world with their name and it is very easy to find lots of info with simple googling.
Regina? If so, I’m sure she was called Reggie.
Ima Hogg was a real person.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ima_Hogg
mathmom has never seen Jeffery before - but I see from googling that it does apparently exist. Up to now I’ve only seen Geoffrey and Jeffrey - pronounced identically. I assume Jeffery is pronounced with three syllables, so not the same name. Anyway - I just like reasonably normal spellings of names if they are common names.
“they all give themselves ‘american’ names for customers.”
H went to grad school with several people from Thailand. They all had english words as nicknames like “apple,” "peach,:“fish,” “orange,” etc.
Now I’ve learned something new re Micheal. Can’t say CC isn’t educational! I did think it was a misspelling!
Emilybee - I have a client from the Philippines who has a first name that would pass muster in any English-speaking country, but goes by Orange. I’ve never inquired why!
Interesting conversation. The Asian kids my kids are friends with from high school and college have had Asian names and that’s what their friends call them-Quang, Binh, Soomin, etc. Only Asian friend I can think of that doesn’t have an Asian first name is a friend named David but don’t know if that is his original name or a nickname.
I have a friend whose name is Regina, as were her mother’s and her grandmother’s. Her grandmother was known as Gina, her mother as Reggie, and my friend as Gigi. But it’s pronounced Re - gee - nah.
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I'll say again. ALL NAMES are made up. There was no definitive book of baby names at the dawn of humanity.<<<
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That does not mean that many times are not made up … with utter stupidity. Most fabricated ethnic names reflect subpar education and a desire to stand out for all the wrong reasons. Plenty of youngsters are saddled with names that DO handicap them.