Any fundie names you actually like?

[salex]

23 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 used my maiden name as my middle name  with no hyphen for the first 18 to 20 years of my marriage.  Signed evey paper in grad school, every c9ntract etc.  When i started working full time with my husband  i more or less dropped using my married name for work or career.  Now just for legal stuff. My checks and credit cards all have "first name  maiden name married name"

[feministxtian]

When i got married, I dropped my maiden name like a hot potato. It's long, German and for some reason people find it hideously hard to pronounce. My kids all have traditional names. The only "odd" thing I did was spell my daughter's middle name with one "L" instead of two. My boys have biblical names...just mostly because I liked them. They're not named after anybody. My grandson has a wonderful biblical name...Ezra Daniel. My granddaughters have nice but "interesting" names. My youngest granddaughter's first name is actually a boy's name but it works on her. 

[Yes, TOTALLY]

I really like the name Jessa...before I had heard of the Duggars I heard it on the TV show Girls and planned to name my next pet Jessa. I still probably would, I think it's pretty and less common than Jessica but easy to spell and pronounce. I also really like the name Lydia. Other fundie names that I think are pretty are Johannah, Katie and Carlin.

 

[Paperplate]

Like many of you (@nastyhobbitses, @GenerationCedarchip, @HermioneSparrow) I like traditional names. Not a fan of nicknames as full names (like @meee).

Like the Bates: Why not call Tori Victoria? Or Josie Josephine? Or Katie Katherine? Or Ellie Elizabeth? I mean Nathan's real name is Kenneth Nathaniel. They could have given more of girls non-nickname first names too.

Also, to a lesser extent, with the Duggars: Why not Jillian or Josephine?

Other than that, I like many of the names, even some of the untraditional ones like Israel, Tessie, Nurie and some others I don't remember now.

[Pretzel]

I don't think fundies are worse than the average namegiver parent, FWIW. Their special snowflakey-ness just catches our eyes faster. 

In highly patriarchal circles I suppose it's standard to give manly, strong, and meaningful names to boys and cutesy abbreviated names to wee lil girly girls, who will become cutesy, submissive little wives and give birth to many arrows for God, anyway. 

The Bateses are the prime example for the double standard when it comes to naming: 

Zachary Gilvin -legit name, 1st born Bates

Micha(e)l Christian- 2nd born Bates, 1st girl - like wtf? Not only were they too cheap to change Mikey's initial name Michal (which is fairly pretty but the biblical Michal was too much of a hussy for the Bateses to name their first-born daughter after and because 9 months was too short to check the biblical history of their future daughter's name, they had to change it) to something like Michaela or Michala, the poor girl also got stuck with a terrible second name. They could have called her Michael Christina, and everyone would have known she's a girl (like Whitney Houston's late daughter Bobbi Kristina), Or Michala Christine, or whatever. 

Then follows Erin Elise (very pretty and almost indicative of her musical talent), William Lawson (perfectly acceptable name in the professional world), Kenneth Nathaniel (same goes for him), Alyssa Joy (nice) and then 

Tori Layne- again, why couldn't they just name her Victoria Elaine?

Trace Whitfield- 8th Bates, I'm not a big fan of last names as given names but still alright with me

Carlin Brianne- 9th Bates, 5th girl, why not call her Caroline Brianne and shorten it to Carlin?

From Carlin down the names really start to get super special and oh-so-meaningful. Not that they aren't pretty in and of themselves but the combination and the use of nicknames as given names is just so indicative of the fundies becoming more fundy. 

Josie Kellyn (why not Josephine Kelly with a full name and a name that honors her mother)

Katie Grace (why not Katherine Grace or Caitlin Grace?)

Jackson Ezekiel, Warden Justice  and Isaiah Courage  all have nice first names, but speshul seconds

Addallee Hope -nice if it weren't for all the double letters. It must be painful for the kid to spell her name

Ellie Bridget - would be acceptable if her mother's name wasn't Kelly, her sister's second name Elise, her other sister's name Alyssa and Josie's second name Kellyn)

Callie-Anna Rose- let me repeat this: Kelly, Elise, Alyssa, Kellyn, Carlin, Ellie and Callie...

Judson Wyatt, Jeb Colton - a little too Duggarish for me, but alright if compared to Spurgeon...

[nastyhobbitses]

In defense of Addallee, they did mention that they chose to use the double letters as a symbol of her "second chance", since, IIRC, she was born premature and had to be resuscitated after her heart stopped.

[Johanna25]

I enjoy creative naming, except for creative misspellings of conventional names like we used to see on toddlers and tiaras. That's just child abuse as far as I'm concerned. I actually like (gag!) Sarah Palin's names for her kids, using Alaskan themes. I enjoy cruising the baby name voyager, seeing how names become fashionable, decline, only to make comebacks when the current owners are dead. Along those lines, I never had kids, but I often thought I'd name a child of mine Aline, after an aunt who died young. 

Looking at the names in our family, they follow the current trends very closely. It used to be those trends applied only to female names, Tom, Dick & Harry stayed pretty consistently at the top. Boys names are now subject to fashion as well.

One thing, if you get ahead of the trend on a name for your daughter, as she gets older people will assume she's younger than she is. 

Edited to add that I have a friend, Rick, who's given name is Ricky. Our boss addressed him as Ricky once and he had to explain to us that that was his legal name, on the employment papers. What was his mother thinking? 

[habert]

What is the problem with Michael's name?? It's been a pretty common go to "unisex" name for ages. I honestly don't understand the hate for her name on this site. 

[singsingsing]

7 minutes ago, habert said:

What is the problem with Michael's name?? It's been a pretty common go to "unisex" name for ages. I honestly don't understand the hate for her name on this site. 

I think the hate is more that her parents named her Michal, and despite being Christian enough to have decided it was God's will for them to forgo birth control, they had apparently skipped all the parts in the Bible involving Michal. Then they discovered to their horror that Michal wasn't sweet & submissive enough for them, so they had to change the name. They were too cheap to pay for an actual name change, so they just changed one letter, and for some reason chose Michael - probably because they felt 'Michala' would still be too close to the evil Michal. 

[19 cats and counting]

5 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Micha(e)l Christian- 2nd born Bates, 1st girl - like wtf? Not only were they too cheap to change Mikey's initial name Michal (which is fairly pretty but the biblical Michal was too much of a hussy for the Bateses to name their first-born daughter after and because 9 months was too short to check the biblical history of their future daughter's name, they had to change it) to something like Michaela or Michala, the poor girl also got stuck with a terrible second name. They could have called her Michael Christina, and everyone would have known she's a girl (like Whitney Houston's late daughter Bobbi Kristina), Or Michala Christine, or whatever. 

The spelling of her middle name is Christan (according to Kelly's blog--- Wiki got it wrong), (without the second i), which I'm guessing is a euneek spelling of Kristen (which was a popular name around the time she was born).  (I went to camp with a Kristan, pronounced Kristen).   

But if they liked the male name Michael so much, why not save it for a son, or use Michelle or the like?

[Pretzel]

35 minutes ago, 19 cats and counting said:

The spelling of her middle name is Christan (according to Kelly's blog--- Wiki got it wrong), (without the second i), which I'm guessing is a euneek spelling of Kristen (which was a popular name around the time she was born).  (I went to camp with a Kristan, pronounced Kristen).   

But if they liked the male name Michael so much, why not save it for a son, or use Michelle or the like?

Because they could only change one letter for free, otherwise they would've had to pay for a name change. I wasn't exaggerating when I said they were too cheap...

[Seren Ann]

I am really difficult with names, so here are my namenerd opinions on a whole bunch of names from families I follow.

 

Favourites : Anna is a favourite of mine, and Solomon is a guilty pleasure.

- For the Bates family, Erin Elise (almost too repetitive but somehow works), Callie-Anna Rose (over the top but somehow endearing).

- I think the Duggars are a huge missed opportunity for some great names. As it is, Jessa Lauren isn't too bad, as well as James Andrew, Joy-Anna and Johannah Faith (but those two shouldn't be siblings with names so similar). Meredith Grace was a lovely surprise, I was actually impressed.

- Shraders : unsurprisingly I love the Greek names of the daughters : Aletheia Joy (with an e), Agape Faith, Charis Elizabeth, Sophia Joy (but why repeat that middle ? do I have wrong info here ?).

- Maxwells : I actually like Sarah Rae, don't ask me why. Nathan James and John Steven are classics, hard to dislike despite being unoriginal, as is Anna Elizabeth. Susannah Joy, Abigail Hope, Andrew James, Lydia Joy (but please don't call her Liddy !!!), Calia Grace. A lot of virtue names there !

- Conner Malachi and Savannah Rose from the Muellers.

- The Mussers have a surprising amount of names I like : Joseph, Laura, Susannah Jane, Katerina Hope, Peter and James, Stephen, Verity Joy, Benjamin and Nathaniel.

- Rodrigueses : Nurie Katelin (if Nurie is pronounced Noo-RIE as I thought it was), Hannah Faith, Olivia Mercy

- Wallers : Serena Grace Niaree... A bit over the top but surprisingly good considering.

Goodness I had no idea there were that many girls with the middle name Joy !!! Obviously something fundies aspire their daughters to project.

 

Dislikes :

- Zachary, Michael Christian (or is it Christan ? both are bad, especially paired with Michael) on a girl, Tori (I dislike the girl's names ending with an i trend. It looks unfinished to me), Trace, Allie (the name itself is ok, but when her mother is called Alyssa it's just too much), Carson (just makes me think of the son of a car, and of the Downton Abbey character. Also sounds too harsh), Kaci.

- All of the names Sierra picked for her kids, except maybe Asher Benjamin.

- Jill Michelle and Jinger Nicole, Jedidiah Robert, Jordyn-Grace Makiya (too much), Josie Brooklyn, Mackynzie Renée. The name Israel David is actually ok to me but I loathe the nicknames Izzy on a boy and Dilly. Spurgeon is eye-popping, why not call him Charles Spurgeon Seewald and be done with it ? That would have been worlds better. I also dislike Quincy so there's not much to go with there XD

- Kellers : Enoch, Nehemiah and Stephen Lushomo. OTT. Davia... Too obvious and clunky in this situation. Davina would have been a lot better.

- Maxwells : Jesse Paul. Just.. does not fit with the rest of his sibling's names. Christina, nn Tina I don't like for some reason.

- Muellers : HollyBeth. That is a strange smooch name. Derrick Richard for a baby.

- Rodriguii : Kaylee Arlissa and Renée Crystine.

- Of the Shupes, Riley, Tyler, Spencer and Lacey. Such surprising names coming from a super straight-laced fundie family.

- Wallers : Nehemiah Andrew Veh. Too much of a mouthful.

 

Well that was fun to do !

[Coy Koi]

19 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.
 

I think Malachai is a very nice name. You know what's not a nice name though? Maliqki, which I'm guessing is pronounced like Malachi, although I've only seen it in writing. There's a real kid I know of with that name. Not fundy, but I just had to share. Following a Q with a K just hurts my brain.

[19 cats and counting]

Other than Spurgeon (the most WTF name ever), I think Warden Justice is another WTF name.  Each name on their own is okay (not my style) but together it's a little out there. 

[Kak]

Malachy is a common Irish (Catholic) name, pronounced Mala- key

[Anonymousguest]

1 hour ago, Coy Koi said:

I think Malachai is a very nice name. You know what's not a nice name though? Maliqki, which I'm guessing is pronounced like Malachi, although I've only seen it in writing. There's a real kid I know of with that name. Not fundy, but I just had to share. Following a Q with a K just hurts my brain.

Oh, that is painful. I wouldn't have gotten Malachi out of that. Maliq is a name, the person I know with it says Mah-leek. I'd probably say Maliqki as Mah-leek-kee

[JordynDarby5]

I like the names the Muncks chose for their kids and how their named after the relatives Elizabeth, Amanda, Rebekah, Madison, Jonathan, James, Stephen, William, Wesley, Ruth Ella, Mary Ann, Susannah, Olivia and Emma.

[CryCheeble]

Lydia, Rachel, Davia, Olivia, Emily, Calia, Zoe, and Nurie

Though Nurie would be with the emphasis on the first syllable, and the U more clearly enunciated. It doesn't seem like it should rhyme with "Marie" as spelled.

For boys I like Thomas, Andrew, and Luke.

I dropped my middle name in favor of my maiden name when I got married.  My middle name was hyphenated, awkward, and unfortunately is uniquely identifying so you'll have to take my word on it My maiden name/current middle name is not at all an unusual name for a woman (and seems especially common as a middle name), though the particular spelling is much more commonly used for males.

I am the only person I know personally who has done this.  My husband briefly considered changing his middle name to my maiden name as well, but then realized he was more attached to his middle name (which is common in his family) than he'd thought. 

Oregon allows for a fairly wide variety of changes with the same options for each spouse, included in a $50 marriage license.  Completely hassle free.  No first name changes or arbitrary middle name changes, but still just about every base covered as far as what couples tend to do with their names upon marriage including creating a new shared last name.

On 2/26/2016 at 4:30 PM, 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 cat is named Malachai, as my husband is a big fan of Children of the Corn. She's female, but it's a pretty name, and kitty will never know the difference

[anjulibai]

On 2/25/2016 at 5:30 PM, 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.  

 

 

About half the names you quoted are nicknames of something else, so I can't agree with your point that there isn't as clear of a line. You just have to know the origins of those nicknames. 

A bunch of the names, too, are last names that became first names, first for boys and then later for girls. Again, origin of names. 

Also, Melody and Bonnie are both words that someone decided would make good names. Heck, even as a word, bonnie can be used to describe both boys and girls (Bonnie Prince Charlie, for example). They are not inately feminine. 

The rest are French, and certainly in French the ie is usually feminine, but generally a way of rendering ia names from other languages. And while ia is usually feminine, it isn't always, depending on the language. 

I think it's important to really research and look into the meanings of names and their origins, and not just rely on word of mouth or inaccurate websites like Nameberry (seriously hate that website).

Fundies, it seems to me, are pretty egregious with not really looking anything up about names, including making up their own meanings. The Gil and Kelly Bates, for example, are pretty major offenders. 

[meee]

I forgot about Addallee Bates.  What the heck does that name mean, and how is it supposed to be spelled?  I remember the double letters, but I've never heard of anything like Adalee either...?

[patsymae]

On February 25, 2016 at 1:42 PM, 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).

Yes, sans JInger. Who is actually Jinger Nicole. Stripper name if I ever heard one.

[season of life]

How do you guys feel about hyphenated first names? John-David sounds nice to my ears, but whenever I see Joy or Jordyn, I don't remember their second names (Anna and Grace). I like Callie-Anna Rose, but if I gave that name to my child, I'd probably end up calling her by Callie and forgetting she had two other names.

[THERetroGamerNY]

Hyphenated or not, and I know it's a Southern thing: But the dual first name thing irritates me.

Like Jim Bob. Two first names. Pick a name!

[mango_fandango]

@Seren Ann The Shupe names are interesting, I think Karen's named after her grandmother (spelled Kaaren as the family have Scandinavian origins) and that and Melanie seem very 70s-y names, names like Riley and Tyler are more modern. She chose the spellings Lacey and Lilly as they're the most "feminine", but to me Lilly isn't that feminine-seeming, not like Lily is. The extra L just seems clunky to me. Even more feminine is the French way of spelling it, Lilie, but that'd just seem incongruous as they're not French. I know Marie and Fleur etc have become absorbed into American/British culture but not Lilie. Although I've seen Lillie. Extra letters like that just seem a little clunky to me. 

I don't mind most of the Duggar names. Makiya though just seems totally weird. 

[JordynDarby5]

4 hours ago, season of life said:

How do you guys feel about hyphenated first names? John-David sounds nice to my ears, but whenever I see Joy or Jordyn, I don't remember their second names (Anna and Grace). I like Callie-Anna Rose, but if I gave that name to my child, I'd probably end up calling her by Callie and forgetting she had two other names.

It depends on the name some of them I really like Callie-Anna and Jordyn-Grace but others like John-David or Mary-Kate I don't.