Any fundie names you actually like?

[OnceUponATime]

12 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I think Jana is Jan (as in "sure, Jan")-a. I've heard it as Yah-na, but that was a lady from Croatia.

oh crap. that's another duggar name I say wrong.

 

My favorite name is Yacov. It is reserved for my 2nd son (my other half has vetoed the name) but I'm not planning on having kids.

[19 cats and counting]

And FJ ate my post (if it appears, mods have at it).

I'm just going to pick out my beef with the Duggar names.  In that family, the older kids (sans Jinger) tend to have better names than the younger kids.  From a naming point of view, compare Joshua James to Josie Brooklyn.  One name is classic and will stand the test of time and the other sounds like a Teen Mom star named her.  (Where the fuck did they get Brooklyn as they have zero ties to the NYC boro).  It seems that JB&M ran out of naming ideas and let the J-slaves name the kids (although I like Jordyn-Grace and Josie better than Israel and Spurgeon).

Similar names-- Jana/Joy-Anna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie.  All the names are fine on their own but too similar (especially Joseph and Josiah who are back to back).  I'd also personally prefer they used Josephine and just called her Josie.  I'd rather see a kid given a formal name and the choice to shorten it (ie Bradley Bates, who could go by Brad later in life).

[Anonymousguest]

8 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

And FJ ate my post (if it appears, mods have at it).

I'm just going to pick out my beef with the Duggar names.  In that family, the older kids (sans Jinger) tend to have better names than the younger kids.  From a naming point of view, compare Joshua James to Josie Brooklyn.  One name is classic and will stand the test of time and the other sounds like a Teen Mom star named her.  (Where the fuck did they get Brooklyn as they have zero ties to the NYC boro).  It seems that JB&M ran out of naming ideas and let the J-slaves name the kids (although I like Jordyn-Grace and Josie better than Israel and Spurgeon).

Similar names-- Jana/Joy-Anna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie.  All the names are fine on their own but too similar (especially Joseph and Josiah who are back to back).  I'd also personally prefer they used Josephine and just called her Josie.  I'd rather see a kid given a formal name and the choice to shorten it (ie Bradley Bates, who could go by Brad later in life).

But then they would have a Joseph and a Josephine. I don't like the whole naming pattern, especially giving everyone the same first initial. The only one that has any longevity is the abc thing. I've known other big families who started out with a pattern, and either abandoned it or really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for names after the 5th or 6th baby. 

[JoyfulSel]

39 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I think Jana is Jan (as in "sure, Jan")-a. I've heard it as Yah-na, but that was a lady from Croatia.

Also, I'm trying out Russian on Duolingo and I think it's kind of funny that in Cyrillic writing, Anna looks like "AH HA".

Yes, in Croatian (or many other Slavic, ex-Yugo languages), we pronounce all J's as a Y sound. There is no official Y in our language, but we call it "ipsilon," so that we can accommodate other languages that have a Y in their alphabet. My mom and sister both have names with J in them and people always mispronounce it.

 

I also really like the name Carlin for some reason. I have always been a fan of the name Daniel for a boy, and it is a name that my family would be able to pronounce, so that's good, though the Croatian spelling tends to be Danijel.

[smittykins]

23 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

And FJ ate my post (if it appears, mods have at it).

I'm just going to pick out my beef with the Duggar names.  In that family, the older kids (sans Jinger) tend to have better names than the younger kids.  From a naming point of view, compare Joshua James to Josie Brooklyn.  One name is classic and will stand the test of time and the other sounds like a Teen Mom star named her. (Where the fuck did they get Brooklyn as they have zero ties to the NYC boro). It seems that JB&M ran out of naming ideas and let the J-slaves name the kids (although I like Jordyn-Grace and Josie better than Israel and Spurgeon).

Similar names-- Jana/Joy-Anna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie.  All the names are fine on their own but too similar (especially Joseph and Josiah who are back to back).  I'd also personally prefer they used Josephine and just called her Josie.  I'd rather see a kid given a formal name and the choice to shorten it (ie Bradley Bates, who could go by Brad later in life).

(Bolding mine)

ISTR that the older Duggar girls came up with that name, but I could be wrong.

[closetcagebaby]

15 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

Females going by First name -Maiden name-Married name after marriage was pretty much the status quo until a few years ago 'round these parts. (NC,SC,GA, TN.) Every single married female on both sides of my family has done this, as well as every woman I knew growing up. When I entered into a hasty marriage at the ripe old age of 18 in 1999, I was the first woman on either side of the family to retain my middle name and drop the maiden name entirely. 

Secret fundy name crushes:

* Maranatha (it's just fun to say, and pretty in an old-world way)

* Alexandria (I enjoy mocking the last-name-as-first-name trend immensely, but this is one name that I like for its own sake)

* Zsuzsanna (Horrid twisted creature of a woman, but undeniably cool spelling of an otherwise common name)

* Xavier (I'm a fan of a lot of Saint names, but this one isn't super common among my pet Catholic mommy blogs)

* Adeline (Again with the old-world charm, plus this is a legit family name for me)

Actually, several Mortons and Morton-spawn have names that I love. In addition to Alexandria and Addie, there's Edwin, Ariana, and Isabella.

Plus I like several of the Rodriguii names: Tessie, Victor (Gabriel's middle name) and Julianne (one of Sofia's middle names).

Links please? This is a road I need to go down.

[anjulibai]

16 hours ago, Rubaiyat said:

My mom did it.  Her parents gave her a middle name, but about 15 years into her marriage, she dropped her middle name and replaced it with her maiden name.  Having said that, I'm not sure I know anyone else that's done that.  

One of my aunts did it, too. But that's because she had been going by her middle name as a first name since she was a baby. She was known professionally as MiddleName MaidenLastName. 

So, what she did when she got married was to make her middle name her first name, used her maiden last name as her middle name and took her husband's last name as her last name. 

I've never known anyone besides her who changed her middle name to her last name. And she only did it because being known professionaly by her middle name and legally by a different first name had been a pain for her. 

[Coy Koi]

I like Israel pretty well. I'm a little surprised at how much hate it gets here sometimes.

[mango_fandango]

I like Meredith. If I have a girl I'd like to call her that. I was a little disappointed when M4 was named that, but hey ho it's their choice and we're never going to bump into each other. 

I don't really have a problem with the fundie names, apart from the dumb ones like Heistheway etc etc. And Spurgeon is just godawful.

[SolomonFundy]

46 minutes ago, closetcagebaby said:

Links please? This is a road I need to go down.

What are you in the mood for? 

 

Light-hearted banter, relatable parents, can occasionally overlook the fact they are still seemingly working on the 10 kid goal:

http://www.camppatton.com/  Simon is a newly minted doctor, Grace is a fashionable blonde who has had 5 kids since 2010.

http://www.houseunseen.com/ Dwija is awesomely funny, has had a truly weird life, and is refreshingly honest.

http://www.thefikelife.com/ Intermittent blogging lately, but she's got a lot of kids to chace. Blythe and Grace (from CP) are friends.

http://timeflieswhenyourehavingbabies.blogspot.com/ Really young, and pregnant with #5. Good sense of humor, and she keeps up with posting pretty well.

 

Slightly preachy, semi-famous due to media exposure, but just a little unsettling for various reasons:

http://www.aknottedlife.com/ Bonnie had a seemingly stillborn child that was resuscitated over an hour after birth a few years ago. After it happened, she and her family were big news in the Catholic Land as the result. Unlike a lot of popular bloggers in the Catholic world, they aren't doing well financially. She's honest about it, but she also keeps having kids because they refuse to use any form of birth control. A little WTF with your NFP.

http://jenniferfulwiler.com/ "Conversion Diaries". Lapsed atheist becomes hard-core Catholic mommy blogger, becomes lazy mommy blogger because talking on the radio is cooler than writing for the plebs. She was a really great humorous/invigorating blogging voice a few years ago, and freely discussed the fact that she felt that being a SAHM wasn't this fantastic, rewarding thing that everyone made it out to be. Her blog has spiraled down the drain thanks to the combination of a book release and Catholic radio show that she's been hosting for a year. Archives are well worth a look; recent stuff is self-aggrandizing trash.

 

Quirky, popular, and riddled with challenges:

http://thisaintthelyceum.org/ Kelly and her husband have two profoundly disabled children in their family of 7. She's witty and fun, but posts some pretty "real" stuff at least once a month. 

 

An honorable mention to Jamie at http://www.theartofmakingahome.com/. She was really inconsistent last year, and has seemingly abandoned the blog. But, it was good while it lasted.

[closetcagebaby]

1 minute ago, SolomonFundy said:

What are you in the mood for? 

 

Light-hearted banter, relatable parents, can occasionally overlook the fact they are still seemingly working on the 10 kid goal:

http://www.camppatton.com/  Simon is a newly minted doctor, Grace is a fashionable blonde who has had 5 kids since 2010.

http://www.houseunseen.com/ Dwija is awesomely funny, has had a truly weird life, and is refreshingly honest.

http://www.thefikelife.com/ Intermittent blogging lately, but she's got a lot of kids to chace. Blythe and Grace (from CP) are friends.

http://timeflieswhenyourehavingbabies.blogspot.com/ Really young, and pregnant with #5. Good sense of humor, and she keeps up with posting pretty well.

 

Slightly preachy, semi-famous due to media exposure, but just a little unsettling for various reasons:

http://www.aknottedlife.com/ Bonnie had a seemingly stillborn child that was resuscitated over an hour after birth a few years ago. After it happened, she and her family were big news in the Catholic Land as the result. Unlike a lot of popular bloggers in the Catholic world, they aren't doing well financially. She's honest about it, but she also keeps having kids because they refuse to use any form of birth control. A little WTF with your NFP.

http://jenniferfulwiler.com/ "Conversion Diaries". Lapsed atheist becomes hard-core Catholic mommy blogger, becomes lazy mommy blogger because talking on the radio is cooler than writing for the plebs. She was a really great humorous/invigorating blogging voice a few years ago, and freely discussed the fact that she felt that being a SAHM wasn't this fantastic, rewarding thing that everyone made it out to be. Her blog has spiraled down the drain thanks to the combination of a book release and Catholic radio show that she's been hosting for a year. Archives are well worth a look; recent stuff is self-aggrandizing trash.

 

Quirky, popular, and riddled with challenges:

http://thisaintthelyceum.org/ Kelly and her husband have two profoundly disabled children in their family of 7. She's witty and fun, but posts some pretty "real" stuff at least once a month. 

 

An honorable mention to Jamie at http://www.theartofmakingahome.com/. She was really inconsistent last year, and has seemingly abandoned the blog. But, it was good while it lasted.

Oh man...this is quite a list. Thanks so much! I can't wait.

[Melissa1977]

2 hours ago, 19 cats and counting said:

And FJ ate my post (if it appears, mods have at it).

I'm just going to pick out my beef with the Duggar names.  In that family, the older kids (sans Jinger) tend to have better names than the younger kids.  From a naming point of view, compare Joshua James to Josie Brooklyn.  One name is classic and will stand the test of time and the other sounds like a Teen Mom star named her.  (Where the fuck did they get Brooklyn as they have zero ties to the NYC boro).  It seems that JB&M ran out of naming ideas and let the J-slaves name the kids (although I like Jordyn-Grace and Josie better than Israel and Spurgeon).

Similar names-- Jana/Joy-Anna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie.  All the names are fine on their own but too similar (especially Joseph and Josiah who are back to back).  I'd also personally prefer they used Josephine and just called her Josie.  I'd rather see a kid given a formal name and the choice to shorten it (ie Bradley Bates, who could go by Brad later in life).

Not only it's weird to name 19 kids with J-names, they also repeat the names! Josh and Josiah??? It's so similar! Joseph and Josie, Jana-Joy Anna-Johanna-John.

I'm not American but I know J names they could use to not repeat. Forma example, Jesse instead of Josiah, or Jock, Jude, Julian... For the girls, Jasmine, Julie, Judith, June...

[HerNameIsBuffy]

18 hours ago, Rubaiyat said:

You just can't get all hopped up (not you, personally; the general "you") when you have to spell and pronounce it for people.  THAT bidness drives me bugnuts.  People who matter will figure it out, and no one else matters!!!

This!  Same thing with last names.  I have a maiden name that 90% of the people would get wrong, a married name that about 40% of the people choke on and ...I don't care.  If you're going to be a part of my life and we're going to have a relationship you'll get it right...and if you're the cashier who is required to thank me by full name because I used a rewards card I'm not going to demand you pronounce it correctly.  I can see the fear when it's flashed on their screen.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

17 hours ago, singsingsing said:

I have a fairly common name which has multiple spellings. My parents chose the traditional spelling, but the traditional spelling has become less common, so people have been spelling my name wrong since I was born. People spell it wrong when it's right in front of them. People who have known me for years spell it wrong. How does this impact my life? Honestly - it doesn't, at all.

I've heard of women making their maiden name their middle name after marriage, but I've never actually met a woman or even known of a specific woman who actually did that. 

If you consider posting on FJ meeting...now you have.

When I got married I took his name, but just tacked it on to the end of mine so on my social it's FirstName MiddleName MaidenName MarriedName.

I don't hyphenate because...it would be a cruel joke to everyone who had to pronounce it and my driver's license would have to be continued on page 2.  

In practice through I don't use it (except when initialing stuff - it gives me better initials) and  just go by his name.  (did the same both marriages.)

If I had a do-over I'd have just kept mine.  Not sure why I didn't...he did prefer that I take his, but it wasn't a bone of contention or anything and he'd have been fine if I hadn't.  

22 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

YES. You can still name your child something unique and meaningful, but think about how that name's going to sound when your baby is 50 years old. Condoleezza Rice has a unique and creative name with an interesting meaning (it comes from the musical direction con dolceza, or "with sweetness"), but it's a name that ages well. It's not cutesy; it's strong and distinctive.

To be fair I think if we'd never heard of Condoleezza Rice and one of the fundies picked that name for their little girl there would be plenty of wtf along the lines of Spurgeon.  One person's strong and distinctive is another's 'what were they thinking?'

[HerNameIsBuffy]

20 hours ago, anjulibai said:

I've heard Callie as a nickname for for Callista, Caroline and Colleen. 

Also, fictional character is fictional. There really is a lot of research about how names inpact success in life. 

I absolutely agree that it's proven names have an impact in life.

Some names are so typically derivatives for more formal names that it sounds strange when they aren't.  Tommy, Mike, Debbie, Kate, Chris...you just expect them to be nicknames.  But Callie isn't one of them for me.

And when it comes to girl's/women's names there isn't as clear a line as there seems to be with the guys.  A lot of our typical names end in ie or y without being short for something and people have different lines where it's considered too cutesy.  

Lori, Mary, Julie, Molly, Holly, Jamie, Stacy, Tracey, Marcy, Mallory, Melanie, Emily, Marie, Cecily, Natalie, Melody, Sophie, Bonnie, Carly, Valarie, Wendy...it's really endless when it comes to our names.

I gave my kids formal names and nicknames.  And one hated their name so much they legally changed it and I supported that fully...why go through life with something so important not being a good fit?  

I think people find it odd when you have a Debbie that isn't a Debra (or Deborah) or a Lizzie who isn't an Elizabeth (and not only because of the infamous Lizzie Borden who also wasn't an Elizabeth) - but there are so many girl names which are complete even with the ie/y etc that I don't think Callie stands out at all.  

 

 

[singsingsing]

58 minutes ago, closetcagebaby said:

Oh man...this is quite a list. Thanks so much! I can't wait.

And don't forget Abigail of http://www.abigailbenjamin.net/abigailsblog/

I'm not even sure where to begin with her. I'd suggest reading through her archive on FJ, starting from the oldest post on page 2. She's a special brand of special. http://www.freejinger.org/forum/303-abigail-benjamin-abigails-alcove/

[19 cats and counting]

16 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I absolutely agree that it's proven names have an impact in life.

Some names are so typically derivatives for more formal names that it sounds strange when they aren't.  Tommy, Mike, Debbie, Kate, Chris...you just expect them to be nicknames.  But Callie isn't one of them for me.

And when it comes to girl's/women's names there isn't as clear a line as there seems to be with the guys.  A lot of our typical names end in ie or y without being short for something and people have different lines where it's considered too cutesy.  

Lori, Mary, Julie, Molly, Holly, Jamie, Stacy, Tracey, Marcy, Mallory, Melanie, Emily, Marie, Cecily, Natalie, Melody, Sophie, Bonnie, Carly, Valarie, Wendy...it's really endless when it comes to our names.

I gave my kids formal names and nicknames.  And one hated their name so much they legally changed it and I supported that fully...why go through life with something so important not being a good fit?  

I think people find it odd when you have a Debbie that isn't a Debra (or Deborah) or a Lizzie who isn't an Elizabeth (and not only because of the infamous Lizzie Borden who also wasn't an Elizabeth) - but there are so many girl names which are complete even with the ie/y etc that I don't think Callie stands out at all.  

I've known a Katie who's legal name is that.  Not Katherine, Kathleen, etc.  Just Katie.  (I think one of the Bates girls is this too).

On the flip side, so many names are shortened by default it is strange when people use the full name as a given name.  I worked with a Matthew who despised being called Matt.  He added a "Please don't call me Matt" after every time he introduced himself.

My dad and uncle go by a nickname of their middle name and I don't think twice about it.  My mom hates the calling people by their middle name thing, but she married someone like that.  My middle name's my mom's maiden name (which sounds like a boy's name) so I'm glad I have an acceptable first name.

[LeftCoastLurker]

18 hours ago, singsingsing said:

I have a fairly common name which has multiple spellings. My parents chose the traditional spelling, but the traditional spelling has become less common, so people have been spelling my name wrong since I was born. People spell it wrong when it's right in front of them. People who have known me for years spell it wrong. How does this impact my life? Honestly - it doesn't, at all.

I've heard of women making their maiden name their middle name after marriage, but I've never actually met a woman or even known of a specific woman who actually did that. 

I kept my maiden name in addition to my married name but it helps that in total my first and middle names are a total of five letters!

[nastyhobbitses]

49 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

I've known a Katie who's legal name is that.  Not Katherine, Kathleen, etc.  Just Katie.  (I think one of the Bates girls is this too).

On the flip side, so many names are shortened by default it is strange when people use the full name as a given name.  I worked with a Matthew who despised being called Matt.  He added a "Please don't call me Matt" after every time he introduced himself.

My dad and uncle go by a nickname of their middle name and I don't think twice about it.  My mom hates the calling people by their middle name thing, but she married someone like that.  My middle name's my mom's maiden name (which sounds like a boy's name) so I'm glad I have an acceptable first name.

I knew an Andrew who said that he hated both Andy and Drew, so he was, and always will be, Andrew.

I'm kind of on the fence about using nicknames as official given names. Some shortened or diminutive names are fine to my ears or have become common given names to the point where people don't even realize they were once short for something else (Carrie, Greta/Gretchen, Lisa, Anya, Stacey, Julie, Sasha, Misha, Nell, Liam, Maggie, Marjorie, Jake, Annika, et cetera), but I think that a lot of them might sound too cutesy on an adult or can limit "customization" of the name later in life. It's much better to be able to choose Chuck, Charlie, Chip, Chad, Chaz, Chet, Chuckie, Carson, or Charlemagne from Charles than to be stuck with Chuck to work with.

My middle name (and this is the most I will reveal of my real name) is Hope. My mom wanted an attribute name and thought Grace or Faith sounded too Christian (we're Jewish), and didn't think Verity would flow right with the rest of my name.

[mango_fandango]

56 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

I've known a Katie who's legal name is that.  Not Katherine, Kathleen, etc.  Just Katie.  (I think one of the Bates girls is this too).

On the flip side, so many names are shortened by default it is strange when people use the full name as a given name.  I worked with a Matthew who despised being called Matt.  He added a "Please don't call me Matt" after every time he introduced himself.

My dad and uncle go by a nickname of their middle name and I don't think twice about it.  My mom hates the calling people by their middle name thing, but she married someone like that.  My middle name's my mom's maiden name (which sounds like a boy's name) so I'm glad I have an acceptable first name.

I knew a girl at school who was like that. Her first name was fine, but slightly old-fashioned, and to be honest now I don't even think of her as being called her first name, only her middle name. 

I saw somewhere on another forum a post by someone saying how they didn't like the idea of giving someone a name eg Katherine, Daniel, Matthew etc purely for the nickname (ie Katie, Dan/Danny, Andy). I think it was in response to someone saying they didn't want to give their kid the nickname as the full legal name, so went with (eg) Katherine over Katie, but would only ever call the kid Katie. 

Personally, I don't have a problem. I also think some traditional nicknames given as full names are just really common now, e.g. Katie. I also don't think the names @HerNameIsBuffy listed are too cutesy-sounding. Names like Bunny/Bunnie are, though. Why people give their kids those sorts of names is anyone's guess. As a baby/toddler it seems cute, but on a grown adult it'd just be ridiculous. I wouldn't really be able to take someone seriously if they introduced themselves as Bunny Jones. 

[motelmum]

My favourite would be Malachai, I don't know if any fundi family uses it, but I fell in love with it watching Children of the Corn when I was a kid.

My sisters name is Faith, I have no idea why my mum chose that as we are as non religious as they come. Mind you we had fun when we were younger, we convinced people that my name was Hope and we had a sister Charity at home. All we had to do was show Faiths; licence. She did have a devil of a time when the song Faith (by George Michael) came out 

44 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I knew an Andrew who said that he hated both Andy and Drew, so he was, and always will be, Andrew.

My husband is the same. I would have loved if he liked Drew, I was an adult before I realised that Drew was short for Andrew. 
 

[warriorblade8857]

On February 25, 2016 at 6:13 PM, 19 cats and counting said:

I know everyone says that Callie is a nickname, but I am not sure what it's a nickname for.  THere's a TV character from one of the CSI shows that's named Callie and she's a forensic scientist, so definitely a (fictional) woman who was successful in life.

That said, Callie Bates' full name is Callie Anna Rose, and I LOVE that combination (the initials spell out 'carb' but that will change at marriage).  

Calliope? Like the muse in Greek mythology?

[Cleopatra7]

I actually like the name Israel David. I'm sure the Dullards chose Israel because of their weird Jewish appropriation thing they have going on, but it's a legitimate Biblical name, and not nearly as strange as naming their baby after some obscure well or mountain in the Bible that no non-fundie would recognize. Israel seems to be a more common name in Latin America, for whatever reason.

[SolomonFundy]

5 hours ago, motelmum said:

My favourite would be Malachai, I don't know if any fundi family uses it, but I fell in love with it watching Children of the Corn when I was a kid.

My sisters name is Faith, I have no idea why my mum chose that as we are as non religious as they come. Mind you we had fun when we were younger, we convinced people that my name was Hope and we had a sister Charity at home. All we had to do was show Faiths; licence. She did have a devil of a time when the song Faith (by George Michael) came out 

My husband is the same. I would have loved if he liked Drew, I was an adult before I realised that Drew was short for Andrew. 
 

The only Malachai I know of specifically is the third of Sarah Jane's kids from the Romantic History blog. Calling her "fundy" at this point is stretching the word to the limit, but she was definitely still on the dark side of the frumper when he was born and named.

[Sylvan]

I've liked Joy-Anna's name ever since I heard it. It's got a spunky Southern belle charm to it, and she gets two lovely names to choose from if she doesn't like the full version.