American names = bad?

[thecaroline]

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?)

:)

thecaroline - yes, of course and I hope I didn't cause offence. My US friends are Rebecca, Jennifer and Abigail - I realise that there will be a lot of overlap in names from the countries that sought to colonise, and all others that people came to the US from. When speaking of 'US names' I meant really 'names used freely in the US that aren't so common here'.

It depends what the name rhymes with and the potential for the child to be picked on because of it. That's why Hank isn't too popular here.

As a Canadian ex-pat living in the Uk, I can share TeWi's frustration that the class register is different between countries makes it difficult. There can be quite a lot of prejudice against American style names in Canada too. For example, my British husband has a Welsh name that has crossed over into frequent usage in both England and the US (MIL is Welsh). My Canadian mother wrinkled her nose and exclaimed "That's not a very British Name!" when I first told her about my then new boyfriend, meaning it sounded American (she didn't know it was originally Welsh). My register is all over the place and if left to my own devices, I would probably choose a name that mixes and matches i.e. "Logan Rupert", "Emmett Miles" or "Hugo Liam" (DH is however very clear on expressing his opinion otherwise!).

It is really all context though. There are a lot of UK names that didn't exist in Australia growing up - it's only over here I've come across Eleanors, Elizabeths, Olivias etc. Certain names baffle me especially the twee flower names (Poppy etc) whereas Erin is extremely common. I went to a very middle class school and there was a surfeit of Emma, Sara/h, Lauren, Jacqueline, Belinda, Claire, Courtney, Melissa/Larissa, Alana/Alannah.

Certain names are very Australian - I find if I come across a Belinda, Lauren or Hayley in London, she is probably Kiwi or Aussie. Especially Belindas!

It's rather snobbish/colonial to think that Tara/Erin/Kelly and other Location names are weak names clutching to tenuous Irish roots. Erin is a pretty name, it's widely used, so in the Australian (& American) context, it's as acceptable as Elizabeth would be here. Conversely, if you were called Poppy or Daisy or similar in 1990's Australia, people would assume your parents were bogan and/or a bit simple or wanting a "uneek" name whereas here it's a preferred name for the middle classes.

Math anxiety - your "Madison Wojciechowski" example is snobbish. Surnames carry for generations, so why would it be sad for an American child to given a normal, easily understood name that makes sense in their relative cultural environment, instead of Agnieska, if they have no ties to Poland?

I agree Mathanxiety, it's a little sad that people who believe they are honouring their ancestry have unwittingly bought in to a hollywood notion of their ancestry instead.

Ireland didn't start to use names like Tara, Shannon or Erin until they were known to be (Irish) -American though films and TV shows. Then they came back to Ireland with an American vibe.

The type of Irish people who never needed to contemplate emigration wouldn't have found those names appealing.

Irish People who did use names like Shannon, Tara, Erin or Paige, perhaps they were chasing something out of their reach too. I can see how O'American or McAmerican names could to some Irish people conjure up 1970s memories of family reunions, mummy getting excited to see her sister, airports - like a portal to another universe when you're a child, cousins you don't know who seem much more grown up and glamorous than you do...........some thing bigger than this village.... It doesn't have that effect on me though but I can see how it might suggest that to some people, unwittingly.

Belinda is a very pretty name. My Australian friend has a sister called Belinda. I've never met one in Ireland. I love it. Strange how it's so popular there but not used at all here.

They aren't just Irish though - I see the use of a name like Shannon as a deliberate reference to location whilst trying to avoid political connotations of picking a name that was too obviously on one side or the other of political debates. After a while that meaning drifts away and they just become popular Irish-American names.

I think this is a reason why surname and place name names are popular amongst expats, they say something about who you were and who you are whilst not being particularly offensive (to most!)

I mean pre-aer lingus jumpinng on a flight. When I say the people who never needed to contemplate emigration I'm going back decades before the 70s ehre. I mean emigrated by boat. Their children returned with their children on a plane, for the summer.

My daughter is called one of these 'American/ Irish' names.

I am English, with an Irish father and an English mother with Irish parents.

I named my child a name that I like, I didn't think that my parents or my very large extended family in Ireland would be upset at my picking a faux Irish name.

On numerous visits no one has ever commented negatively on her name being based on my misunderstanding of traditional Irish names.

I find all this cultural snobbishness very sad.

I think you're taking it personally.

There's always a zeitgeist out there. That's why a lot of people all believed that their number one baby name choice was their decision and were then shocked that their best friend from school/sister/cousin had the same idea.

A lot of people just choose a name that they like the sound of. I believe that. But then, why do names ending in -en all sound so appealing for a decade? why did frilly names sound so appealing for a decade? are stronger names beginning to sound more appealing now?

I just liked the sound of my children's names too but now a decade+ on I can see that I chose names that were quite typical of their decade. Not the actual names, but the sound. Soft, with Ls in them ending in 'a'. I can see now that will be a typical sound of their decade.

Yes of course you are quite right, I am taking it personally

My dds name though seems to be quite out of step with the names chosen where I live.

No others at school, large 3 form entry primary, or the numerous after school clubs she attends.

I think that I may be sensitive on this matter due to having a very derided name myself.

Think white stilettos/Essex

Irish-American is a rather distinct culture from Irish, and in that context it would make sense that there are Irish-American names that are distinct from Irish names.

But having said that, I've been running through the names of all the Irish-Americans I know, and other than one Brianna, they're all either 'traditional' Irish names (Grace, Patrick, Micheal, etc.) or not connected to one culture in particular.

I have a Megan, who's American born and 1/4 Irish, but I didn't name her thinking it was Irish. The intent was to have Megan on her birth certificate and to call her Peggy, but she turned out to be more of a Megan than a Peggy and her mitochondrial DNA is Welsh, so it works.
I've had a few people, some of them quite smug, 'inform' me that Megan is not an Irish name, and I generally just laugh at their judgy pants.

On the other hand, I grew up with a name that's considered fairly traditional in the UK, Ireland and the US, although it's originally Greek, with a Polish/Jewish last name and nobody has ever suggested to me that this is in any way 'sad' or wrong. Because that would be really weird.

Going back to the original post, and thinking why it could be that a lot of 'American' names are disliked here. I'm a Brit btw.

I generally dislike them, and I'm sure some of it simply IS cultural bias of some sort that I'm not even aware of, to do with what I maybe subconsciously see as 'nice and old-fashioned' or associate with famous figures, etc.

But if I think of the kind of American names I would automatically dislike - I'd say that my immediate feeling is that a lot of them simply sound very impersonal. I think to British ears a lot of the surname names, especially the girl ones, just don't sound very namey - they sound like companies perhaps, or products - which isn't the sort of warm, personal association you want for a name. I think we like our names to be NAMES and nothing else. If I heard of an American female teen names Tetley, for example, I wouldn't bat an eyelid, and I'd think it was awful.

Then there are the short, mainly male ones - Cody, Trey etc. Again, my immediate feeling is that they are cold. And I do think that that must simply be down to unfamiliarity - a single syllable needs context, perhaps, to make it a name instead of just a single sound. Because of course, Max sounds fine to me :)

All very interesting.

An American friend called her son Randy, I can't see that going down too well here

BotoxedFossil, when my DD said she liked Erin as a name allI could think of was seeing packets of soup in Liptons with that name.

I only discovered recently that Trey is a nick name for the third generation with the same name, from the latin for third maybe??

PLEASE Americans correct me if I've got that wrong!

Tetley!

Aye chuck, that's uh grett nemm.

I do like a cup of tea.

Trey is just Trey in some parts of the country, but I think in the south it is often used for a third.

Will Smith's son Trey is actually Willard Smith III.

Mathanxiety why do you have Ailbhe in with boy's names?!!! just curious as i'm irish and have never ever heard of a boy called Ailbhe, it's definitely a girl's name is it not?

Saint Ailbhe was definitely male. Admittedly he's not precisely contemporary...

This has been a very interesting thread to have a read-through. As someone with very mixed heritage the naming of our child is going to take quite a bit of discussion. And I suspect closed ears to almost everyone else, whichever side / extreme of the oceans they live!

On numerous visits no one has ever commented negatively on her name being based on my misunderstanding of traditional Irish names.

Ah the beauty of anonymous internet forums where honesty prevails above good manners.

On an aside, when I was growing up and playing with dolls, we always chose 'fashionable' names for them such as Mandy, Nicole, Summer etc.(I don't mean to pinpoint certain names, they are the ones I remember when recalling over thirty years ago). When naming my own children these names wouldn't have entered my mind as I wanted names that couldn't be dated or pigeon holed. Perhaps this is the real issue with 'Americanised' names, they are often 'fashionable' and 'new'. That alone turns many off them? I can't say a double barrell first name without saying it in a Southern accent in my mind and it makes me smile. However, there are plenty of threads on this forum asking for opinions on Lexi Rose and Hannah May etc so culture intertwines, while some people (like myself) tend to find themselves hanging on to their own culture and identity when naming children. I don't think that is a particularly bad thing to do for any culture.

The double name thing in the US South is not fashionable at present. But the surname for first name, for boys and girls, still is.

I never knew that about Trey!

Trey Parker (South Park) is Randolph Severn Parker III

(& his current partner is called - um - Boogie )

Bill and Hillary's first grandchild is:

Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky