To think that Americans have weird first name preferences!

[Lycidas]

Why do so of their popular first names sound like surnames?

Chace
Trace
Brock
Blake
Penn
Tucker
McKenna

Etc

Of course there are the usual standard names too, but it’s odd that you just don’t see the above kinds of names in the UK.

@ bluerussian:

"Remember Sarah Palin's children were called, Trig, Track and Willow. Weird."

Is "Weird" your comment or just another one of Sarah Palin's kids?

I watched a program years ago where there was an american presenter who was having a baby and her and her partner loved everything BRitish. They decided to call the baby Carrington as "its a lovely British name and gender non specific."

Also, she had to hide her pregnancy when on screen as it is (or was) unacceptable for it to be obvious she was knocked up.

I thought Trey started as a nickname like Junior? So Henry Jones fathered Henry Jones Junior who then fathered Henry Jones the third, who was nicknamed Trey.

I don’t have a problem with surname-names per se, but I really hate the trend for giving girls really butch sounding surname-names. There was an American celeb who named her baby daughter Banks FFS, which is beyond the pale bizarre to me.

@ponoka7 We had to hide being Irish also. Especially with the KKK. They really hated Catholics. So many immigrants who went through Ellis Island were renamed because the officals couldn't pronounce or spell their names. They left thier countey with one name and arrived to a new nation with a different name

I'm an American and I've only heard about half of OP's list used as first names, and even those would be considered quite uncommon. Family surname are most commonly given as middle names. Otherwise you might wind up with Smith Jones instead of Andrew Smith Jones.

@SlightlyBonkersQFA
Also, names sounding Italian, Spanish, French sound very glamorous to us, but they sound like staff to the Americans who prefer names that sound north european, not hispanic

Erm, a lot of Americans are Hispanic. I think you should have said 'white americans'.

I love American naming conventions from African Americans and white Americans. They have a much larger range of 'normal' and though some names do have class associations, I think there's a much larger pool of 'acceptable'.

Some African American names I think are wonderful. Yes, they are made up, but that's the whole point. They were wrenched from their cultures by slavery so created new names to represent their new culture.

Caribbean names are AWESOME, especially people aged about 40-60. They often have obscure names from religion and ancient societies, mythology and literature.

Titus
Bibiana
Zenaida
Scholastica
Erasmus
Alpha

Also in the Caribbean, it can be seen as a sign of love from your parents to have a totally unique name.

Went off on a tangent there, but I love names.

I think a lot of this thread is just silly British snobbery tbh.

I live in the US and the only one of the OPs list I’ve come across is McKenna and she’s a woman in her 40s. The children we all know have mostly classic names or weirdly names that were popular in the U.K. a while ago- Emma, Claire, Brian, Martin, John, Alison, Dorothy, Hugo, Grace, Chloe, Sam... that sort of thing.

and for what it is worth, I have lived in the US for 25 years, have had 3 children in 5 different schools - public and private - and have never met a child with any of the names in the OP's first post.

I know a Randy, he is a police officer in Texas and you wouldnt take the piss out of his name, I promise you!

My mother in law is Jamaican and has the most amazing name, I darent post it as Ive never heard it anywhere else, but it is incredible, her sisters have fantastic and seemingly unique names too.

By the way, considering anything about American English "weird" is both simplistic and a bit condescending. There have been many linguistic influences here. In New York for example, Dutch names are fairly common, which isn't surprising since we were originally New Amsterdam. In the American south French names are fairly common since many of those areas had French settlers.

I like American names.

The girls names are so much less frilly.

Max
Sam
Jo
Lou
Riley

@Verily1

As an American, these sound more English to me, with the exception of Riley

I'm American and I always am amused about these threads. Are Chardonnay and Princess Tiaamii "English" names? C. is always mentioned on MN, and Katie Price is English, so they must be! People refer to "American names" like we've all voted on them.

Someone always mentions that, in our classless (!) American society, no one worries about judgment regarding names. Just because a foreigner doesn't understand the rules doesn't mean they aren't there.

So many immigrants who went through Ellis Island were renamed because the officals couldn't pronounce or spell their names.

A friend of mine has the surname Polsky because his grandfather came through Ellis Island and they mixed up the name and the nationality when they questioned him.

And Woody Allen and Mia Farrow called their son Satchel. He was once asked if he was embarrassed by having famous parents and he said it wasn't as bad as being called Satchel. He goes by Ronan now.

Oh and an American friend of mine wrote a novel with an English guy called Chuck and we just laughed. It made the whole book seem bad.

Hudson, I thought weird, so random, why's that so popular, but of course, it's a river in new york. I'm embarrassed of course. I should be I know.

Hudson is not a "new" first name. There are many Hudson's in history, one of whom was a Canadian who died in the Titanic along with his wife and children .

This whole "American name" thing is fucking ridiculous.

There are two boys named Carter in my DS's class. They are both total arseholes.

So many immigrants who went through Ellis Island were renamed because the officals couldn't pronounce or spell their names

True. I went to uni with a guy whose last name was "Braus". His great grandparents immigrated from somewhere in eastern Europe. That was not their last name. When they came through Ellis Island the immigration officer asked their name and they didn't understand the question, so they said the equivalent of "say what?" in their language, the wrote it down on their papers as "Braus" and waved them through.

My kids are growing up in US schools and their friends names are most often J names; Jackson, Jayden, John, Jason etc etc. The Afrocan american students often have names with a De or Ma or Ja beginning or an unusual spelling of a name. So Dejanay, JaKylar, MaKinley. I find the spellings very annoying when it comes to xmas cards for the classes. One of the girls is called Wednesday. Another is called Muhlissa, not sure if that is a cultural name. Oh, and another girl is called Atari. Yes, after the console.

At least there aren't 5 Joshuas in every class. :)

@SlightlyBonkersQFA you are so ignorant. Many Americans are non-white themselves and to suggest that using a name that sounds Latin makes your children seem like "the staff" is hilarious. How many Americans have "staff" - you are delusional!

Having lived in both countries, British names like Nigel, Alistair, Jemima etc sound absolutely absurd to Americans. So rather than call other cultures "weird" just accept that differences are what makes the world interesting and don't expect other countries to do things the same way you do!

I went to a talk by an American bloke called Brick once.

What's that about?

A quick google shows that...

The name Brick is a boy's name of German, Irish Gaelic, Yiddish origin.

This is an Anglicized form of various names; the Irish Gaelic O Bruic; German, Bruck or Breck, meaning "swamp" or "wood"; Yiddish, Brik, "bridge"; and Slovenian, Bric, "dweller from a hilly place."

Gosh, and we thought it was just a macho word name invented by Tennessee Williams for the hero of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

HTH.

And Woody Allen and Mia Farrow called their son Satchel. He was once asked if he was embarrassed by having famous parents and he said it wasn't as bad as being called Satchel. He goes by Ronan now.

He was called Satchel after a really famous black baseball player who was one of the early breakers of the race barrier - not after a bloody bag. And your description of his changing his name is trite in the extreme. Ronan Farrell changed his name after his father shacked up with his sister.

The English in the face of any other culture can be excrutiatingly awful.