Posts you had second thought about and decided not to post - put them here

I've got a single Y10 class (15yr olds, 24 of them) with 3 Sophies and a Sophia. Also an Emily, a Phoebe and a Lily.

I'm sure there are studies of this, but I always wonder what % of names (nicknames included) finish in a soft 'eeee' sound.

Dave's not here.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux)

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Chinaski, thanks for that. Add Ivy, Ruby, etc.

Nowadays as young people increasingly adopt nonbinary and/or trans names, I am hearing more -x. I personally know a Lynx, a Jinx, and a Sphinx. Also multiple people named Ash. Plus people who just go by a first initial: we know a V and a B.

Bobbi Hill (they/them)

Chinaski, thanks for that. Add Ivy, Ruby, etc.

Nowadays as young people increasingly adopt nonbinary and/or trans names, I am hearing more -x. I personally know a Lynx, a Jinx, and a Sphinx.

Sarahell, I hope to give you an update in (yikes) five years.

I have a couple of kids experimenting with Ash. I had a Mordecai last year, which is an awesome name. No 'X's as yet. So many trans and trans-curious kids navigating the 'parent thing' and suddenly appearing at the door on parents' evening, panicking, asking me not to use their chosen name. Resisting the urge to glance at the kid and wink a 'sorry' as I use their deadname is tough.

Lots of folks navigating that, Chinaski.

We adapted (with a few occasional slipups). Others, not so much. We know some kids who are still not as out as they would possibly like to be.

It's a learning process, and for some families and schools it is a tougher process. Even in liberal areas, I know of situations where teachers and administrators just couldn't quite deal with it. My fervent hope is that people continue to learn and grow, with empathy as their guide.

I've only got experience from the teacher side. I'm conscious of painting myself as some pioneer or brave soldier; that's absolutely not the intention. Honestly, there's no guidance to speak of, so empathy and compassion are the only recourse.

Daaaave!

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux)

"If Phil's dick fell off, he'd still show up to work."

well by those standards i ought to be a fucking partner!

Nevertheless I knew a Thelma who recently died, and she is probably the last Thelma, Gertrude, Agatha, or Mildred I will ever know.

― ; Powell (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, December 8, 2023 12:25 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

don't count on it! i know a 22 year old named mildred. she also dresses like vicki lawrence from "mama's family". it's a whole thing, trans women going with names from their great-great grandmothers' generation.

I've got a single Y10 class (15yr olds, 24 of them) with 3 Sophies and a Sophia. Also an Emily, a Phoebe and a Lily.

I'm sure there are studies of this, but I always wonder what % of names (nicknames included) finish in a soft 'eeee' sound.

― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski)

most women's names end in either vowel sounds or soft consonant sounds. that's why i went with "kate". long vowel sound and both consonants are plosives. according to japanese morning television*, this makes me the COVID-19 version of typhoid mary. although in japan i guess they'd just call me "typhoid newhalf". that's it. that's my new discord username. anyway yeah. i wanted the most phonetically "masculine"-coded name i could come up with that was still unambiguously a woman's name. now i can sneer at men with beta names like "dave". excuse me, a _velar_? you expect to make partner with a _velar_ consonant in your name? also, those consonants? both voiced. if you don't sound like an engine backfiring when you tell people your name, you're obviously not man enough.

the main thing i associate with non-binary names is complete badassery. more punk than punk. sure, you could call yourself "sid vicious". or you could just change your name legally to "vicious" or "arson" or something.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnVU4BU39E

Bobbi Hill (they/them)

― Left

they/them for the next three months maybe, i know a pipeliner when i see one and she's sure as hell a pipeliner

the main thing i associate with non-binary names is complete badassery. more punk than punk. sure, you could call yourself "sid vicious". or you could just change your name legally to "vicious" or "arson" or something.

or "typhoid". "typhoid newhalf".

definitely knew a trans-masc person named Machete at one point . he has since changed his name to Carlos, I believe

machete is a pretty good name, although it'd be like walking into a pool hall with your own cue -- you'd constantly have to live up to it. and i suppose it might look awkward on a cv

i know several eleanors and one gretchen, which i might previously have put in the mildred/gertrude category? idk, i just want us collectively to get past the chasens/jaydens/davens/mikens or whatever

names go through weird cylces. for example oliver recently made a huge leap into massive popularity, where for most of my life it was egregiously uncool.

My 13 year old has a close friend named Oliver. Of course, his dad's name is Byron.

It's been the most popular boy's name in the UK for like 20 years in a row - slight exaggeration.

Naming children is hard and we should cut people some slack except that cunt Musk

I know three Olivers (teen, tween, and feline).

Gretchen is interesting - I know one my age. But I think it started as a nickname for Margarethe, as did Greta and Gretel.

griselda - c/d?

(very classic round these parts. instant cool afaic)

classic, great witch name

my family is full of margarethes but they all go for rita instead of gretchen or greta which I didn't even realise were derivations

wow peggy is also from margaret - how deep does this rabbit hole go?

I still don’t really understand how you get Peggy from Margaret

I thought Molly might be from Margaret but apparently it's from Mary... which I didn't know, so I'm in the right place.

Peggy is iirc one of the names that comes from a vogue for rhyming shortened versions of names, so you get Richard -> Rick -> Dick and Margaret -> Meg -> Peg

... and Bill?

... and Boab! Sorry, Bob.

Yeah that’s the other one I was trying to think of xp

There’s a kid named Oliver next door!

I have a friend who is 40-ish and her mom briefly wanted to name her Dorchas, until saner minds talked her out of it

Dorcha means ‘dark’ in Irish, but I’m guessing “Dorchas” is pronounced “dorkiss” which dorcha is not, and which would be butchered by other people anyway.

note that in the 80s calling someone a “dork” and other formulations like “dorkus” were common

it’d be like naming your kid nerd

I’m misspelling, it was probably Dorcas

I knew someone who had to be talked out of naming their daughter lolita- it's not the name's fault that people are disgusting but why on earth would you do that to your child

turns out margaret is like the brassica oleracea of names. maybe mary/maria has more variants but so many of them are similar it feels like cheating

yeah, Lolita isn’t great

I’m on the fence about names that are derivatives but then become their own names. Sometimes goes well, sometimes terrible. Lolita is just the diminutive of Dolores!

this is my new obsession I'm drawing string between all the names and their variants and diminutives (did you know *this* name comes from this other name that sounds nothing like it but is unrelated to this other name that sounds similar?)

Naming children is hard and we should cut people some slack except that cunt Musk

― Honnest Brish Face (Noodle Vague)

"cunt Musk" makes him sound far more alluring than he is in reality

i used to know a "gretchen". i can't remember if she changed her name to something else or if we just fell out of touch.

names i'm most familiar with are transfemme names... lotta roses, lotta madeleines. "oliver" is a reasonably popular transmasc name. if you're not gonna name yourself "machete" at least. of all the things people complain about re: trans people's names, that's the thing i understand the least. that we have weird names. like i can pick anything in the world as a name, why would i pick a dull, boring-ass name like kate?

... i mean no such thing as bad names, i guess. same goes for "chasen/jayden"... if the people who have those names don't like them, they can always change them. you don't actually have to start hormones to change your name.

one of the women in "book of the new sun" is named "dorcas". honestly it scans given how fucking massively misogynist that book is. (funnily enough i didn't pick up on how deeply misogynist it was until i reread it after transition. go figure.)

funny thing i just realized recently about names... my mom wanted to give me an irish name but my dad was dead-set against it... he fought hard until their last child, at which point he relented. my youngest sibling doesn't go by that name now, of course. then when i changed my name is... it's just "kate", which can be derived from any number of names. some of them are irish!

I’m on the fence about names that are derivatives but then become their own names.

― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh)

i'm ok with it, personally

Lolita is just the diminutive of Dolores

Actually, Lolita is a satire on the American Dream

she was like "it's a pretty name and social context didn't exist". she was also a nabakov fan which makes it weirder

Dorcas is a good biblical name and i don't think kids say dorkus any more so I think it should be safe

most of my favourite names are diminutives. also they tend to be easier to masculinise or feminise or androgynise. they feel more fun somehow. I might feel different if I'd been born with one

kate - are you ever katie? or is that a totally different person's name? I've known a few kates and have heard some wildly divergent opinions on this matter

xxp someone doesn’t have any relatives with the legal first name Ricky

I found a website recently where thousands of people have rated names based off of how they associate them with false binaries and personality traits. However, the best part of the website is the comments section for each name. “Zach” is a very hated name!!

https://www.behindthename.com/

https://i.imgur.com/h57bgYn.png

shadowdranix49 yr wrong because it doesn't even sound great

When we named our children we went thru long discussions about potential nicknames and abuse associated with each possible choice

My name is really boring and common and I am fine with that. It’s basically the equivalent of a neutral piece of furniture that no one really complains about or praises.

It’s like the stove in my apartment that has been there for many decades and continues to be functional.

Guys called Tom are always so funny and just good vibes in general.
― Anonymous User 3/17/2023

Absolutely.

It’s annoying names end up with this sort of baggage, I had my heart set on Karen-Chad for my first

A friend of mine, whose surname is Harris, always insisted he'd name his sons Tyrannis or Brontos if he had any. He didn't have any though. Well, not yet.

Margaret and its derivatives are pretty interesting to me. My wife is an Elizabeth, for which there may be almost as many variants (Liz, Liza, Eliza, Beth, Betsy, Betty, etc.). See also Anne to Nancy.

In the preindustrial olden days there just weren't enough names to go round (the few factories couldn't keep up with the demand) so pretty much everyone in England was named John or Mary.

Or that's my personal crackpot theory.

Every man in England in the Tudor era was called Thomas, unless you were a king, then you were called Henry.

And if you were a dick, you could be called John Thomas.