<p>Hm. The aunt/ant/awhnt debate. </p>
<p>Per dictionary.com, </p>
<p>
[quote]
The usual vowel of aunt in the United States is the /</p>
<p>My given name is a shortened version of a “real” name. My parents disliked all of the possible other versions/nicknames for the name, so they used the only version they liked. Consequently, there’s nothing else one can really do to my name.</p>
<p>Brief comments on past threads:</p>
<p>When I head “Addison!” I think of Bruce Willis And Cybill Sheppard. Many kids age 20 to 25 or so with that name, the era of Moonlighting at their birth.
When I hear Madison I think of the famous avenue, and Dolly Madison.
I know of 2 F cutesy spellings that are merely a result of an accidental misspelling on an official birth certificate.
Cutesy spellings of names are great for a stage/cinema name. I think of Jayne Meadows.
Back when I was college age, Ashley, Tiffany, and states or cities as female first names were thought of as stage names too- but a different kind of stage if you get my drift.
Some Americans of African ancestry give their offspring a made up name such as LaTuwanda. While sounding unusual to the mostly European members of the U.S.now, that is an old African tradition- just putting sounds together that sound pleasant to the mother’s ear and calling that the child’s name. Debate goes on whether such a traditional African name helps or hurts the child as they mature, but that’s a whole different issue.
My S now a post-grad had no Jims or Toms, Carol, Brenda or Lindas in his younger classes. More Jessicas, Chelsea(many spellings) and Tiffanys than I could count.
When I was in high school no one was Calvin, Jarod, Caleb, or Jeremy. Those were thought of then as really really backwoods hillbilly names- as in the comic strip “Lil’ Abner”. Picture the hillbilly character of Mountain Dew ads if any can remember that.
Of course the tv show “Here come the Brides” was popular a while back then, and I think that put those names in the memory for those who became parents shortly after.
I love the names Elisabeth(Brit. spelling) and Gwendolyn. Don’t know why, just always loved the sound.
I know a T.J(boy) and a girl, C.J. But always felt forry for a ladyfriend of mine named Billie Jo. That one you can figure out. Tough nickname for a young woman.
Briefly knew a girl in L.A. whose last name was Wonderleigh. Yes, pronounced Wonder-lay. Teased without mercy.
Another name that got merciless teasing- Robin. “Where’s Batman?”</p>
<p>I always liked Gwendolyn too!! But, I like names ending in ‘lyn.’</p>
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<p>Years ago, a friend and I concluded that all girls’ names should contain at least one “l”.</p>
<p>I work in a school, and some of the naming decisions people make… ya gotta wonder what they were thinking.</p>
<p>A dad named Brian has 3 kids: Brian, Brianna, and Brendan.</p>
<p>Emmillee (makes me wanna say it verryyy sslloowwllyy). Also Alexxuss. C’mon people, more letters doesn’t make it better or fancier!</p>
<p>Mersadies (if you’re gonna give a kid a foreign name, or the name of a car, at least spell it right!) We’ve also got a kid named Lexus.</p>
<p>Someone loves the 30’s - 3 kids: Sadie, Sylvie & Roxie.</p>
<p>Family with 2 kids: Mitchell and Michelle.</p>
<p>Twins: Doris and Delores.</p>
<p>I could go on…</p>
<p>My friend from HS whose husband was named Stephen named her kids Stephen and Stephanie. Jeez.</p>
<p>I’m on a committee where 3 of the 4 of us have the same name. And two of the same name have daughters with the same name (a different name than their moms). </p>
<p>My S’s kindergarten teacher told me she had a class with 7 Caitlins, and every one of them spelled it differently.</p>
<p>“What a non-sequitor. I couldn’t care less if a Richard wants to be called Dick. I’ll honor his preferences and call him by the name he desires. My own H goes by a nickname except for legal documents. I’m describing MY OWN feelings about MY name being shortened to a nickname. Where you extrapolated that to my having feelings about what other people want to call themselves – I don’t quite get the connection.”</p>
<p>PG, your vanity is exceeded only by your persnicketyness. In my mind you will forever be P.</p>
<p>My school has sets of twins: Daniel and Danielle, Sondra and Zondra, and Kevon and Kavon.</p>
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<p>Yes, I think it put the J names on the map for boys. I was about 14, and those guys were SO dreamy.</p>
<p>I grew up knowing twins - Kathy and Katy. And many of the trendy girl names for my children’s generation were the old-school Southern Grandpa names:
Brooke, Ashley (think Gone with the Wind), Jordan, Sidney, Whitney, Lindsay… I knew boys my age named all of these. They were considered sort of dorky but not too odd of names.
Unfortunately there’s now a crowd of male names that labels one as a child of the 50’s or thereabouts;
Gary Larry Craig Chad</p>
<p>Another “Here come the brides” fan here. And I always thought that Jason and Jeremy and Joshua became popular because of that show.</p>
<p>i think you guys are right about Jason, Jeremy and Joshua being inspired by HCTB! How funny.</p>
<p>I love this thread; it’s been very entertaining reading!</p>
<p>I have a name to add, and I’ll bet no one here has ever heard of it: Numps, or Numpsie. It is (supposedly, IIRC) Welsh; my mother found it in a baby book when she was pregnant with her first child (not me, thank goodness!), and laughed her head off. Three guesses what everyone called my older bro when he was growing up? :D</p>
<p>This got shortened a bit to Numpie by some folks – probably by (<em>cough</em>) his younger siblings – and that resulted in certain neighbors who didn’t hear so well calling my bro “Lumpie” for … well, for as long as they knew him. Nothing like hearing an old neighbor refer to my 30- or 40-year-old brother as “Lumpie” when I was back in the old neighborhood!</p>
<p>But whaddya want out of a woman who was called “Boots” by her family until the older generation died off? (My mother’s nickname came from, so my grandmother told me, a woman who was babysitting her one day, and couldn’t remember her name :eek: so just referred to her as Boots, like the cat. And it stuck!)</p>
<p>My DH coached a third-grade basketball team once. Among the players were Evan, Devon, Kevin, Zarin and Darrin.</p>
<p>Wha . . . . ?</p>
<p>I grew up in Texas and never heard “ahnt” until I moved to Maine. Ack! If my kids slip and say, “Ahnt Leah,” I scream at them. 
D*&@ Yankees.</p>
<p>There’s a Southern “Ahnt” enclave in New Orleans…</p>
<p>I have a friend Vianna who was named for the family’s laundress.</p>
<p>A big thank you to those who liked my HCTBrides reference. Somebody 14 then, might have had a child a few yrs later, and may have kept that name in their mind. That child might be 20-25 now.</p>
<p>Anybody remember the hillbilly from “Ya-hoo, Mountain Dew!” ? The old commercial can be found on youtu*e if you want to see it.
Another couple overused names in my S age group- Chelsea(many spellings) and Brittany(many spellings).</p>
<p>One that I think unusual is when apostrophes are used for no apparent reason. A woman might be named Michel’le(pronounced Michelle, a singer in the early 90’s). Knowing in English an ’ is used to replace missing letters, then what is that name really supposed to be? What letters are missing?</p>
<p>Tired cliche’s too
Stan the man
Dan the man
Fast Eddie
And, I knew 2 guys William Williams, and 2 guys Tommy Thompson. How did they get names like that? Parents can’t spell any other name? Or did they lose a bet, or what?</p>