Hatred of American names

[FluffyMunchkin]

Why do so many people on here hate American names? They really take a beating here, being called chavvy and horrible. I'm Canadian, so see them as normal, which could explain why I don't mind them as much. But the reactions here are so intense!

Are you still raging?

Haha

For me, accents come into it too. There are some very American names that just sound "right" spoken in an American accent. Especially names ending in "r" like Harper, Piper, Hunter. Those names can sound a bit harsh and odd in some British accents. When I first heard of a girl called Harper where I'm from (SE England), it just sounded a bit stacatto: "Hah-Pah". But when I heard an American saying it, it sounded nice, with a lovely "purr" type sound.

Similarly, I used to know a guy from the US who just didn't "get" the name Dawn. He was like "What, she's called Daaaahnn? " Maybe it's not a known name there!?

I went to school with a Dawn Hecht, she was American. It was the 70s though.

Just checked my Passport not that I don’t know what Nationality I am. YIP -says British Citizen. Born in Scotland

Your so wrong Tatiana 🤭

Opps wrong thread

why, is Tatiana whanging on about Scotland not being part of Britian on another thread?!

Dawn is a normal name in America. It may be less common in some parts.

👀

I agree Montana, some names roll off the tongue with a US accent - but don’t sound so good in a variety of U.K. accents.

Eden comes out Eydern in a London accent. Cody or Colt sound cool in the Midwest, but with a London accent it’s more like Cowdy and Cowlt. Mason comes out Myson.

There is that.

It’s not that people don’t like Americans names so much as a lot of them seem jarring when used by non-Americans.

Tatiana you really do need some help with your geography. Not everyone in Britain, the UK or even just dear old England, speaks with a London accent.

And people think Americans are insular.

I was looking at the cast list for Grey's Anotomy, wanting to put a name to a face and noticed names I had never seen before. These are just a few:

Chyler, Jerrika, Gaius, Tymberlee, Diahann, Shenita, LaTanya, Taye, Darnell, Aniela, Jela and many more.

I'm wondering if the fact that the US is a melting pot of nationalities results in them having names unknown to us in the UK? I had never heard any of the above.

As far as class in the US, I read somewhere that those who could trace their family back to the founding fathers were considered to be the upper class, trailer trash were at the other end and pretty much everyone else was in the middle.

"It is correct - Britain does not consist of Scotland."

I better hand in my British passport. Idiot!

Are you still going Tam? ‘variety of U.K. accents’...

Britain does not consist of just Scotland. HTH

ah, the old PA 'HTH'.

Silverysurfer I'm sure many of those cast members you mention are of African American heritage or mixed nationalities, as those names are very common in their communities.

And Gaius is an Italian and Greek classical name. Was on my list years ago but I had a girl.

Yes Shenita and LaTanya could be typically African American. Aniela I think is Scandinavian/Polish.

Shenita is the name of my dog :/

I think it's because North American names come across the pond in the form of low-brow pop culture, and emulating pop culture (vs sticking with classic/traditional styles) tends to be a working class trait.

I'm half Canadian and my daughter is Ramona. I always get told it's super American but I love it and throws-back to my mum Reading the books she read as a girl.

I dislike them but I acknowledge that a part of that is different cultural references. eg, I have heard what I thought were inexplicably weird names like ''Hoyt'' and then I read a while later that one of the founding fathers or whatever they call them who came over on the May Flower was a Hoyt. So to me it sounded trashy and made up but over there it conveys some long history. I missed that.

Hudson was another that I missed the reference. I didn't realise that that was a river in fuck me I should know but I don't an America city.

A lot of people dismiss names they don't get as chavy. I have read on here that Aidan and Conor are chav names. Names from legends. Or the names of High Kings!

Names that pre-date the British royals labelled 'chav' by people who don't get the reference.

It was Hillary Duff who called her daughter Banks. That one confuses me as well. I don't like it, but I also feel there's something I'm missing. Like you say @calloway, it is intended to be preppy, anglo-saxon, unisex?

Those references aren't what people aspire to in my neck of the woods. Where i live it's the privileged, educated people who give their children Irish names and no doubt to the British ear they would all be lumped in to one big 'chav' category.

Names like Bruno, Victor, Lucia, Julia, Louisa etc sound beautiful to me but I think to some Americans they sound like second or third generation Italian Americans or Mexicans so they want to distance themselves from sounding second or third generation anything and they choose a name that sounds so Anglo saxon, so Germanic, so Dutch that it has eau de Mayflower about it, whether the parents bestowing the harsh-sounding names are aware of that or not.

I find it all fascinating as well tbh