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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

American names = bad?

303 replies

thecaroline · 22/09/2014 22:55

Hello, everyone,

I'm not a mom or pregnant, just very interested in names. I've been reading here for a while and am a regular on another name website, and I've noticed that lots of posters here seem to feel a certain disdain for "American" sounding names. I'm curious about this, partly because I'm American, and partly because I don't understand the categorization.

So, what are these American names you speak of? And I'm wondering if all "American-sounding names" are inherently tacky to the British/Irish ear, or... what do you think? Where do "Australian sounding names" fit into this equation?

I have a feeling that this category of names is what a good number of Americans would label "tacky" or "trendy"... or at least I hope so.

Thanks, y'all (I might as well play up my Americanness, right?)

:)

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Pico2 · 22/09/2014 23:14

I think that the use of surnames as first names was previously more common in America than the UK, but is now increasing here.

The names I find particularly odd that seem to have started in the US are girls names ending in "son" as they seem fairly obviously to be boys names e.g. Madison as the name implies someone's son.

Other names don't translate well due to UK specific connotations. I'm not sure that anyone who has visited the UK town Harlow has ever named their chd Harlow.

Carrie5608 · 22/09/2014 23:03

I don't think all American names are bad but when I lived in Seattle I knew a chap called Cash. I just can't see that working out to well in an English playground. Other American names like Chad or Brad are fine.

Rivercam · 22/09/2014 23:00

Some names don't 'translate' well into English (even though we share a common language!), such as Randy. Probably a perfectly acceptable name in America, but has different connotations in English.