<p>Let us not forget the ever-popular Ivy. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks, marite, for your comment about Wilberforce, back on p. 1 of this thread. William Wilberforce was a British Member of Parliament, who contributed significantly to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Wilberforce pushed for over twenty years for the elimination of the slave trade, leading to the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. He continued to push for the complete abolition of slavery, through the time of his resignation from Parliament (due to ill health) in 1826. Wilberforce lived to hear that the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act through Parliament was assured, in 1833. Michael Apted, the director who is also responsible for the brilliant sociological and historical investigation in the series 7 Up, 7 + 7, 21 Up, 28 Up . . . through 49 Up (so far), directed a rather moving film about Wilberforce, which came out a few years ago, for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.</p>
<p>Wilberforce University, in Wilberforce, Ohio, was established in 1856, making it the oldest of the private HBCU’s (historically black colleges and universities).</p>
<p>So Wilberforce is a distinguished name, even if unusual. (I do appreciate the humor of the rest of the thread, though.)</p>
<p>Forgot to add: William Wilberforce is buried in Westminster Abbey, near William Pitt.</p>
<p>Taking a detour from the Wilberfarce for a moment we were driving back from the Eastern Shore Sunday and saw this town slogan for Centreville, MD:</p>
<p>“A Town With A Past and A Future”</p>
<p>Wilberforce was the name of the kid in the “Born Loser” comic strip.</p>
<p>How about Rensselaer as a first name?</p>
<p>Thanks, Quantmech, for your amplifying. I think it is great to name one’s kids after someone as worthy of being remembered as Wilberforce. In Britain, the Anti-Slavery Society that he founded, is still active. Was the movie the one on Amazing Grace?</p>
<p>EDIT: I know an Ivy who teaches at an Ivy.:)</p>
<p>Representing Northfield, MN:</p>
<p>“Carleton St. Olaf”</p>
<p>I met a guy the other day whose first name is “Yale.” No, he didn’t go to Yale.</p>
<p>Wesleyan, pronounced like Wesley Anne, would make a decent girl’s name.</p>
<p>And don’t forget Michigan J. Frog!</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_J._Frog[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_J._Frog</a></p>
<p>Hey, folks! We’re mixing apples and oranges a bit. One wuestion is, what names arise from college names? Another question is, what names arise from college town names? Here are my suggestions:</p>
<p>Plausible male first names, taken from school name:
Yale
Stanford
Duke (a bit informal)
Cornell
Emory
Rochester (a bit pretentious-sounding)
Davis
Austin
Lincoln
Hamilton
Colby
Kenyon
Richmond
Lafayette
Franklin
Marshall (Franklin & Marshall would make great twins’ names)
Dickinson
Olaf
Rhodes
Reed
Lawrence
Hobart
Drew
Lewis
Clark (more twin names: Lewis & Clark)
Knox
Luther</p>
<p>Some plausible male names, taken from place names:
Stanford
Houston
Washington
Winston (as in Winston-Salem)
Rochester
Cleveland
Davis
Austin
Dallas
Raleigh
Lawrence
Lincoln
Hamilton
Clinton
Carlisle</p>
<p>Some plausible female first names, taken from school name:
Madison
Carleton
Richmond
Hope
Wellesley
Agnes (Scott)</p>
<p>Some plausible female first names, taken from place name:
Madison
Geneva
Wellesley
Raleigh</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just me, but I find a lot more male names here than female names.</p>
<p>I have a theory that you can create a good cowboy/cowgirl name by simply combining the name of a state with an alliterative nickname, viz:</p>
<p>Massachusetts Mick
New York Nellie
Texas Tim
Minnesota Mike
Florida Fran
Georgia Jeff
Arizona Zeke</p>
<p>I imagine the same would work for colleges:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt Vance
Rice Remington
Princeton Patty
Stanford Steph</p>
<p>Eh? Eh?</p>
<p>If we’re going by college towns i think that there are some great names in the bunch</p>
<p>Hadley (MoHo girl)
Mills(Pitzer boy or Scripps girl)
Troy(RPI or Union boy)</p>
<p>or just colleges themselves we have
Reed
Emory
Hollins
Hiram</p>
<p>Wouldn’t Union boy (or girl) need to be named Schnectady? That’s a mouthful!</p>
<p>I’ve got a friend named Boston, there are plenty of colleges there, but he was actually named for UT Austin! His parents went there and wanted to name him Austin, but everyone in their family had B names, so Boston it is.</p>
<p>You don’t mean Bostin? That would fit better. Here it’s pronounced Bosstown. ;)</p>
<p>No way would I use “Mount Holyoke”…turn mount into a verb and well, yeah…not so pretty. And yes, the current nickname for Northampton, home to Smith, is NoHo and not a nickname I’d like on my daughter!!! Woudln’t go for MoHo, the Mt Holyoke nickname, either…</p>
<p>How about Sweet Briar for a girl??? There is also Meredith in Raleigh…</p>
<p>And Randolph Macon which I think might be coed now…</p>
<p>And, for you Michiganders (and Michigeese) out there, how about Lansing Albion. I guess that’s more male than female.</p>
<p>How about Bryn Mawr for a girl’s name? Sounds rather melodic IMO:)</p>
<p>There was a girl at my preschool in California named Providence. She went by her middle name (but I don’t remember what it was).</p>
<p>randomcoolzip, I could ALMOST see Albion as a name. What about Kalamazoo? A guy could go by Kal or a girl could go by Kala. Or they could be named Hope.</p>
<p>teenage_cliche - I completely agree with you - Pomona would be a wonderful name for a girl. After all, in Roman mythology, Pomona was the goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards. So, actually Pomona was a ‘girl’s’ name long before it became the name of a town or college.</p>