The Name Game
Nov. 26th, 2006 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatSomething ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje and I were looking at last night was this list of 1000 most popular names from last year. Beth was saying something about the name "Braiden," and I couldn't recall having heard it before. Not only does it appear on this list several times, though (as "Braiden," "Bradyn," "Braeden," and "Braedon"), but so do Jayden (for both genders), Jaden, Jaeden, Jaiden, Haden, Hayden, Caden, Caiden, Cayden, Kaeden, Kaiden, Kayden, Kaden, Aiden, Ayden, and Aden. I'm kind of surprised "Maiden" isn't there. It expresses the same basic sentiment as "Chastity," but doesn't sound quite as stupid.
And speaking of the name Chastity, number 811 for girls is "Chasity." Also appearing are "Gavyn" and "Madisyn." What, it's not bad enough that you named your kid one of these annoying yuppie names, but you can't even bother to use the correct spelling? Other names on there include "Jazmyn," "Zackery," "Alexzander," "Xzavier," and "Jaxson." Now, I could see a few people wanting to get creative with their spellings, but, well, these are the top 1000 names in the country! A Google search reveals that there were about 4.1 million babies born in the country last year. Combine that with the percentages given, and you'll come up with 615 babies born last year who were stuck with the name "Xzavier." Does that not seem crazy to you? Oh, and one other more personal note when it comes to crazy spellings is that I've occasionally seen people spell my own name "Nathen." I'd always think something like, "It's a really common name, and nobody spells it with an E!" So imagine my annoyance when I saw boys' name number 780.
Another irritating trend that I didn't really know about before looking at this is giving shortened versions of names as substitutes for the real thing. Now, there are some names (like, say, "Harry" or "Mark" or "Luke") that can be both real names and nicknames. But unless I missed a memo, this does not apply to "Jack," "Andy," "Steve," or (perhaps worst of all) "Billy." Come on, if you name your kid Billy, everyone is going to assume their name is William anyway. So why not just use the full version? Is this part of a general trend toward informality, or just plain stupidity?
And this has nothing to do with names, but I'd been meaning to write about it, and I don't have enough to say to merit an entire post, so I'll say that I've listened to The Soft Bulletin a few times now. This is only the third Flaming Lips album I've heard all the way through, and I think I like it better than At War with the Mystics, but not as much as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Songs on the album that I particularly like include "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton," "The Spiderbite Song," and "Waitin' For A Superman."
Okay, that's all for now. Stay tuned for reviews of the Fox Sunday night animated lineup, probably either later tonight or tomorrow. And my special pity goes out to any Braidens or Xzaviers who happen to be reading this.
bethje and I were looking at last night was this list of 1000 most popular names from last year. Beth was saying something about the name "Braiden," and I couldn't recall having heard it before. Not only does it appear on this list several times, though (as "Braiden," "Bradyn," "Braeden," and "Braedon"), but so do Jayden (for both genders), Jaden, Jaeden, Jaiden, Haden, Hayden, Caden, Caiden, Cayden, Kaeden, Kaiden, Kayden, Kaden, Aiden, Ayden, and Aden. I'm kind of surprised "Maiden" isn't there. It expresses the same basic sentiment as "Chastity," but doesn't sound quite as stupid.And speaking of the name Chastity, number 811 for girls is "Chasity." Also appearing are "Gavyn" and "Madisyn." What, it's not bad enough that you named your kid one of these annoying yuppie names, but you can't even bother to use the correct spelling? Other names on there include "Jazmyn," "Zackery," "Alexzander," "Xzavier," and "Jaxson." Now, I could see a few people wanting to get creative with their spellings, but, well, these are the top 1000 names in the country! A Google search reveals that there were about 4.1 million babies born in the country last year. Combine that with the percentages given, and you'll come up with 615 babies born last year who were stuck with the name "Xzavier." Does that not seem crazy to you? Oh, and one other more personal note when it comes to crazy spellings is that I've occasionally seen people spell my own name "Nathen." I'd always think something like, "It's a really common name, and nobody spells it with an E!" So imagine my annoyance when I saw boys' name number 780.
Another irritating trend that I didn't really know about before looking at this is giving shortened versions of names as substitutes for the real thing. Now, there are some names (like, say, "Harry" or "Mark" or "Luke") that can be both real names and nicknames. But unless I missed a memo, this does not apply to "Jack," "Andy," "Steve," or (perhaps worst of all) "Billy." Come on, if you name your kid Billy, everyone is going to assume their name is William anyway. So why not just use the full version? Is this part of a general trend toward informality, or just plain stupidity?
And this has nothing to do with names, but I'd been meaning to write about it, and I don't have enough to say to merit an entire post, so I'll say that I've listened to The Soft Bulletin a few times now. This is only the third Flaming Lips album I've heard all the way through, and I think I like it better than At War with the Mystics, but not as much as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Songs on the album that I particularly like include "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton," "The Spiderbite Song," and "Waitin' For A Superman."
Okay, that's all for now. Stay tuned for reviews of the Fox Sunday night animated lineup, probably either later tonight or tomorrow. And my special pity goes out to any Braidens or Xzaviers who happen to be reading this.
