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!

I also think the fear that the British middle classes have of getting it wrong is immense. In Ireland, the middle classes would just shrug if they got it wrong. They'd still feel oh well he/she is our child and it's rare to be that snobby about names/nobody knows what names are 'right' or 'wrong'/this is not a Subject in The Leaving Cert.

I know some middle class people and their children's names have surprised me given their lifestyles, level of education and privilege and, otherwise, taste.

cheesenpickles my first child was very very very nearly called Ramona, I love the Ramones but I think it went a little too well with our last name (Monroe) 😀

Ramona Monroe would be epic.

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.

Nah, nobody gives a hoot about the Mayflower or the founding fathers except people who are descended from them.
WASP culture in general otoh has a lot of cachet but this is a fashion and will probably pass like others.

The use of occupational surnames as given names particularly annoys me for some reason - Mason, Cooper, Taylor, Hunter, etc - and notice that it's always an English name, you never meet a child with the first name Kowalski, Patel, Goldberg, Garcia, etc!
Not quite...
Irish surnames are extremely popular, and Irish names are historically the opposite of WASP.

Agree with you Pomella wrt the Irish MC and relaxed approach to right/wrong names. Maybe there isn't as much riding on 'getting it right' in Ireland though. I have some relatives with real doozies (imo) of names as well as relatives who have chosen straight up 'family' names for their children (on my dad's side there are names that recur over umpteen generations).

I'm neither American or British, but have travelled in both countries names I found 'American':

Girls: Shauna, Shayla, Shanna, Sharla, Stacey, Brandi, Mallory

Boys: A lot of 'surnames' seems traditional to name boys after their father? eg John jr. Also names that I'm not sure are nicknames or real names: Chad, Chuck, Skip, Chip, Buddy, Tad etc seem to be a very popular US names for boys. Maybe they're the 'junior' and are just given the nicknames as to not to confuse them from their fathers and other male family members who may have the same name?

Also noticed both males and females often have their mothers maiden name as their middle name eg if mum was Miss Jones now Mrs Smith, her daughter is Amy Jones Smith. Not common where i live but i could be completely wrong !

British - only names I can think of that are 'British' is 'jemima'
Anyway, thats just my experience . . . No doubt i will be corrected by British and American posters!

I've been to the US enough that you could day I've lived there at some point. Hispanics tend to stick to Spanish names, the nickname form is usually anglicised, Gerardo becomes Gerry for example. Asians (as in East Asia) tend to have WASPy named. There are several studies saying Asians are the ones who assimilate the most. African Americans tend to have unique names out of tradition: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_names . American middle classes (very different to the British one) have variations on traditional names or biblical ones, especially around the Bible belt. The real upper classes will have more traditional names (similar to British ones). Jewish families on the other hand my originally have given "American" names like Patricia, but more recent generations will go back to more traditional ones like Shoshanna.

Don't know what the tick cross list is about but I have to disagree. My kids go to a school full of masons and jackson's and Layla's.

Also never heard of a Jemima being named that since the 70s. It's not in the top 100 list I'm looking at anyway.

I think this is a bit of a non question really. Why would British people have the same trends as Americans? The East Coast of America is as far away as Egypt or Dubai. Greece, France, Spain all much closer. Yet we have completely different tastes and trends.

Scotland is in Britain. Hth

Scotland
Is
Part
Of
Britain
Both
Politically (for the moment)
And
Geographically (permanently)

Technically it’s actually not.

Britain derives from the Roman ‘Britannia’ which only refers to England and Wales.

Great Britain includes Scotland; Britain does not.

The term ‘Great Britain’ was first used when King James of Scotland became the King of England and Wales too, and united the countries.

The term ‘Great Britain’ was used to distinguish it from the Roman Britannia of which Scotland had not been a part.

Hispanics in my neck of the woods tend to go with fashionable Anglo names. They speak Spanish so not altogether assimilated. There are names like Brandon Garcia, Ashley Hernandez, etc.

Shauna is a name popular in Ireland for decades - I would say it's more Irish than American. Shayla is definitely hokey Irish American. See also Shealagh (pr. Shayla). Use of Irish boy names as girl names is a big American thing. See Shaun, Ryan...

I find it kind of amusing that MN seems to be ignoring the massive attraction of both genuine Irish and faux Irish names in the US. It's almost as if there are many posters completely unaware of how huge Irishness is as a cultural identity in America.

Assimilate is an interesting word when you consider Spanish was first spoken on the continent long before English 😀

Why only by a bit more than 100 years.. 1492 Vs 1607

I was baffled when I came to UK, to discover "no one" celebrated St. Patrick's day. (I live in Eastern England).

My most recent Irish ancestor was born about 1845; but all Americans seem to celebrate 17 March.

Just like everybody celebrates cinco de Mayo.. it's a melting pot after all.

St Patrick's Day is an excuse for everyone under the age of 30 and anyone with Irish heritage to get absolutely wasted and vomit all over the streets in the US. In fact, in the large apartment building where I lived, you would have to dodge puddles of vomit in the entrance hall and corridors on that cursed day - it was disgusting! I'm utterly delighted that no one celebrates it here in the UK.

I remember being in America for St Patrick’s Day and being truly amused at the “Saint Patty’s Day” signs. Patty? I appreciate now that in a lot of American accents t sounds the same as d, wadder rather than water etc. At the time I thought it most odd.

I think in the UK, St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by the Irish (obviously) and then university students who like any excuse for a piss up.

St Patrick's Day is pretty huge in Canada too but we tend to spell it Paddy's.

I lived in USA until I was 24yo & never drank at all; still managed to celebrate St. Patrick's every year. I think of vomiting in streets as a British specialty, tbh!!

Ah yes, "St Patty's Day" - as no Irish person ever called it

I've been in Belfast and in Dublin on March 17th and neither can hold a candle to the big US cities for celebrating the day. It's very odd. And green beer is grim.

See also Shealagh (pr. Shayla)

The Irish Shealaghs I know pronounce it Shee-la but I have met Americans who introduced themselves as "Shayla" and now I'm wondering how they spelled their names!

The addition of a random GH makes virtually any name Irish in the US.

I have nothing against Americans! (well, apart from Trump). But most of the Americans I know have names which are totally acceptable and normal here too - Tom, John, Michael, Elizabeth, Caitlin, Lara, Susie.

The American names I object to are the "made-up" ones - Brayson, Cashley, Everley, Landon, Paxley, Addison, Emerson, Camryn... Just awful.

As for the "surnames as first names" thing, yes it's very common in some parts of Scotland and NE England. Like the actor Robson Green. My kids (Scottish) have surnames as a middle name. BUT - and it's a massive but - McKenzie, McKenna and butcherings like Makenzy or Makynna do not fall into that category. McKenzie means "son of Kenneth".

And don't get me started on people who name their children after British places they've never been - Paisley, Camden, London, Harlow, Bristol - looking at you, Sarah Palin. Even more awful.

As a fairly crap amateur genealogist I’m immensely thankful to all those ancestors with “made up” names, when I’m looking up records of gt grandma Pinkie Monroe or cousin Nice Monroe I can feel more confident I’m on the trail of the right person. For the same reason I’m glad there are not many other Ulysses Buzzards in history. I do think people should have their own names as far as possible (although cousin whatever x removed Ulysses was named for the president of course). When I’m trying to trace some of the lines back to the British isles (Scotland) and Ireland it does get a bit boring with lots of repetition of first names.

Most Americans find George and Jemima awful. In part it’s an aesthetic, what you’re used to hearing.

Yes! I was really taken aback reading a US book recently where some of the characters were bitching about how someone had called their baby George.

Different cultures, different tastes. That's okay.

And don't get me started on people who name their children after British places they've never been - Paisley, Camden, London, Harlow, Bristol - looking at you, Sarah Palin. Even more awful.

If I said those names to a new englander and asked have you been there they might well answer that they have been to:

Camden, Maine (lovely place btw)
London, New Hampshire
Bristol, Rhode Island (lovely town too)

:)

There is a Bristol Bay in the Bering Sea in Alaska and apparently that is what the Palin daughter is named after.