<p>Has anyone else read the chapter on names in the Freakonomics book?</p>
<p>It has name lists like “The twenty white girl names that best signify high-education parents” (#1 - Lucienne – Oona is #12) and “Ten ‘Jasmines’ in order of ascending order of maternal education” (#1 - Jazmine – #8 - Jasmine and #10 - Jasmyn).</p>
<p>The most popular girl’s name in 1960 was Susan (that is my birth year and this is no surprise to me), and in 2000 it was Emily.</p>
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<p>My guess is neither did Marion Morrison, a/k/a John Wayne.</p>
<p>My middle name was my grandmother’s last name and is my Dad’s first name. I’ve always liked that. That was our (extended) family’s favorite chapter of Freakomics. We were all reading it last December and it was the subject of endless conversations. My sil used to work for a paper and also had to write up birth announcements. She was there for the start of the craze of misspelling common names. It used to really bug her.</p>
<p>Friend’s D has a college roommate named Princess. She is living up to the name in every way.</p>
<p>At my D’s graduation party, groups of kids continued to drop by later in the evening. I was just a wee bit exhausted when she introduced me to a group of kids that I only slightly knew. During the introductions, she introduced a quiet boy in the back of the group whom I had never seen before. So when she said “Mom, Dad, this is Fez”, we burst out laughing, automatically thinking he was a foreign exchange student, so nicknamed after Fes (foreign exchange student) on ‘That 70’s Show.’ Um, his name really was Fez. Oops. Chalk it up to over 100 people coming thru the door that day, but I still cringe with embarassment when I think of it!</p>
<p>“I have the most trouble when parents re-spell classic names and change the gender. I was the confused one, looking at a “Mykah” in a pink dress, trying to figure out why Micah was being cross-dressed at age 2.”</p>
<p>There are sometimes when I really wonder if the person doing the naming just can’t spell. Like Anfernee Hardaway.</p>
<p>My full name is pretty unambiguous, but the shortening of it that I have gone by all my life is gender-neutral.</p>
<p>When I was 10 or 11, I wrote a letter to the editor of the paper, countering a previous letter that had dismissed people’s concerns about conditions in the state prison system. My age was included after the letter. Apparently the combination of topic and young age caused the state Chairman of the Department of Corrections to decide that he should send me a personal letter reassuring me that the problems with the system were all media hype, and saying how excellent it was that I was interested in social issues at my age. He addressed it to “Mr. Jessie [lastname]”. I was very amused.</p>
<p>there once was a Congressman from NH by the name of Dick Sweat</p>
<p>I think there are also a lot of military mix-ups, like my Dad’s army drill sergeant,
“Sergeant Major.”</p>
<p>ZM – I read that Oprah’s mother wanted to name her Orpah (after a good hearted character in Biblical story of “Ruth”). Someone put the birth certificate form under the new mother’s hand and she filled it out that way.</p>
<p>Tommybill, have you heard of the racecar driver named Dick Trickle?</p>
<p>I know a Princhelle. And a Emmillee. I always like to say her name really slow.</p>
<p>I have the same name as my brother in law (I’m a girl).
Christmases are fun. They get double the "Huh?"s around the dinner table.</p>
<p>My H always thought of my name as a boy’s name (his brother’s). Whenever I hear the name, of course, I think “girl name”.</p>
<p>I went to school with twins Beth and Betty.</p>
<p>And I knew a married couple Les and Les (Lester and Leslie.)</p>
<p>Oh, how about famous personalities whom got into a sticky wicket when they fathered children by women with whom, ahem, they were not betrothed to, since they already had wives. The men ended up with sons with the same name. For example, Adam Clayton Powell III and IV. And NBA player’s sons Gary Payton Jr. and Gary Payton II.</p>
<p>LakeWashington: Well that’s just poor taste, haha.</p>