American names?

[bubbleblower85]

I was genuinely wondering about (white) American's naming tradition.
I mean where does Gage, Storm, Thurgood, Steel, Pistol, Chad, etc come from?

I think I read somewhere that 'stereotypical' African American names (Latoya, Laquisha, etc) comes from distant memories of the slaves homeland/language culture etc.

White Americans of European descend, where do their 'modern' name come from? Like Gage (10000lb) sisters, I don't think belongs to a European culture.

Any Americans that can enlighten me I would really appreciate it.
Thank you

I'm not American but I would venture that Storm and Thurgood sound Scandinavian.

Aaahhh I suppose these could be pre xtian viking names. Thank you for your response.😁

I think there's a huge impulse to give children "unique" names over there. Weird spellings.

@EishetChayil

I think there's a huge impulse to give children "unique" names over there. Weird spellings.

That's probably very true especially for those that are social media obsessed.

Aww c'mon, what's wrong with Pilot Inspektor?! 👨‍✈️

🙄

This shit again.

@Aquamarine1029

🙄

This shit again.

Well aren't you are bushel of sunshine!

I didn't know there had been a thread like this before. But feel free to walk on by when you find something 'shit'.

Thurgood Marshall would probably disagree and very effectively too

Thurgood Marshall with Black, descended from enslaved people on both sides of his family. His parents named him Thoroughgood after a relative. He himself changed it to Thurgood. It's definitely not a name associated with white Americans.

@DropYourSword

Thurgood Marshall would probably disagree and very effectively too

Good one!

and very effectively too

Indeed. He argued the case that resulted in the desegregation of schools in the US. And then later was appointed to the Supreme Court.

Check out the movie Marshall starring Chadwick Boseman.

But we aren't talking about Thurgood Marshall. We're talking about Kynzleigh-Rae and Mykynzhi Blake.

@EishetChayil

But we aren't talking about Thurgood Marshall. We're talking about Kynzleigh-Rae and Mykynzhi Blake.

OP was the one to mention Thurgood as a white American name

Americans have been relatively linguistically isolated until recently, and as such the language remained fairly static.
Hence the use of "old" terms and names in their language.
For example, they use trash and pants, which we used to use, until our language evolved, as the UK isn't as isolated. The US English is somewhat archaic as they didn't have the external influences as much.

I can only presume it's similar with their names, they use older fashion names more commonly than perhaps we do.

Whilst we both speak English, they are similar,yes, but also quite different.

The use of surnames as first or middle names is a Scottish custom that remains popular with many Americans of Scottish descent. Many Scottish surnames work well as first names: Cameron, Fraser, Duncan, Graham, Grant, etc. My son's first name is a family surname.

@bubbleblower85

I don't think there's a "naming tradition" at all in the US.

I'm American but my heritage is Hispanic/Latino and I've come to know that people cross cultures with their names, I.e., Scarlet Martinez, Alan Arthur Chen, Trent Singh, etc...

People name their children with names that simply appeal to them. I knew a "Cougar" and a "Krayyon" (yup, pronounced like "crayon") and "Jsuitroya", as well as a "Precious" and "Justice". They were all different races/ethnicities.

I enjoy that people can be less conventional about their names and no one cares if it's different.

As a PP mentioned, the US is quite unique in that, for a large country, it is linguistically quite isolated.

A lot of American names will, at some point, have been popular European names that feel out of fashion many years ago, hence sounding a bit odd or unusual to UK / Europeans.

My company has a large NA presence, and I work with a lot of Chads, Ezras etc.

Chad was a saint

Lots of American names seem to want to infer the parents values or lifestyle. There are two Hunters in my family. Both dads love hunting!

What about Lamar and Corey (old London slang for cock!)?

That's really interesting @00100001. I work in the legal function of a company with a large presence in the US and I always think the contracts and agreements from there use old-fashioned legal language where the UK and European stuff is much more plainly written. I wonder if that's for similar reasons?

@SenecaFallsRedux

Thurgood Marshall with Black, descended from enslaved people on both sides of his family. His parents named him Thoroughgood after a relative. He himself changed it to Thurgood. It's definitely not a name associated with white Americans.

Aaahhh thank you for enlightening me, he sounds amazing!

@SenecaFallsRedux

The use of surnames as first or middle names is a Scottish custom that remains popular with many Americans of Scottish descent. Many Scottish surnames work well as first names: Cameron, Fraser, Duncan, Graham, Grant, etc. My son's first name is a family surname.

Oooh thank yo, I didn't know about this Scottish tradition.

I generally find naming culture fascinating.