Baby Vuolo Is a Girl

[Rachel333]

47 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

But it IS rude! And tacky. 

I was raised such that one never discusses money/politics/religion and one never asks personal questions, especially of recent acquaintances. I would assume if one has a close friend that the friendship would span a long period of time during which one would have seen/heard said friend’s full name or it might have come up in conversation. But to ask specifically is just weird. 

I think it's good you err on the side of privacy!

I would never have considered asking about someone's name to be anywhere near the same level as asking about money or politics, though. I don't like intrusive questions but I've never once been offended about someone asking about my name. This is literally the first time I have ever heard someone say that it's wrong to simply ask about someone's name.

[Taylurker]

On 4/10/2018 at 8:30 AM, Nomorethanfour said:

We named one of our girls Francesca (after my Italian great grandma) and call her Frankie. That would never go over with these guys because Frankie is a boys name.

I highly doubt that, considering that the Duggars have a daughter named Jordyn.

ETA - Although Jordan is a unisex name suitable for girls (as is Mackenzie), so maybe Frankie would be different.

[кошка]

I have been named in the traditional French way.  I have three names, and I can choose what people call me.  No one uses my third name.  The people closest to me can use my second name.  Everyone else either uses my fill first name, if we're in America, or a nickname version of it if we're in France, but nicknames of names aren't usual there.  I will always give my full name, then tell a person what to call me.  Call me that name.  There's a reason I tell you that name to call me, and I only tell you my entire name in case we end up in a situation where a very close friend in my innermost circle calls me a name other than what you get to use.  

Names are very personal, and are a part of identity.  Ignoring what you're told to call a person disrespects a person's identity.

[subsaharanafrica]

20 hours ago, Screamapillar said:

...I freaked out. So I try to call her by her real name as much as possible...But she is now 19 months and only refers to herself as Missy. Constantly. 

My 2.5 year old has a classic name that doesn’t have any nicknames. Yeah, he calls himself “Baby”. 

[subsaharanafrica]

FWIW, my name has come up in this thread multiple times. My first name is the long formal version, but I go by the -ee nickname that has been specifically called out as childish in more than one post. 

I’m a female lawyer. It has never been an issue. 

[Glasgowghirl]

9 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

I don't think people are saying that women with diminutive names can't be successful (a lot of the comments are something along the lines of "what if she becomes president?" which can be problematic in its own way but isn't "she will never be able to be president"), just that there are negative associations with such names.

I do hope we can all agree that it's wrong to be biased against someone just because of their name. Don't be like Katie Hopkins! 

 

I watched that episode, her argument didn’t hold up after she said she hated geographical names and floral names but has daughters called India and Poppy.

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

9 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

For those who dislike (hate, even) the "infantilized versions" of names... If someone introduces herself to you, saying "Hi, I'm Annie!" Do you immediately respond, "Hello, Annette?" Because that's rude. Just as rude as shortening someone's name to Annie if she introduces herself to you as Annette.

 

Sorry but both Annette and Annie are diminutive derivatives of Anna/Hannah, a Hebrew name. Reading through the thread it seems many think that the longer version of a name must be the formal version and the shorter must be an infantilized version, but often this isn't true. For example Jeannette is a French diminutive of Jehanne a French derivative of the Latin Johannes, derivated from Greek Ioannes that comes from Hebrew Yehochanan. Someone upthread already mentioned the Latin name Lucia and its diminutive Lucilla that literally means "little Lucia", same for Prisca/Priscilla and others. These names were nicknames at the beginning, but it was so long ago that they have been full names for centuries now.

[Mama Mia]

36 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Sorry but both Annette and Annie are diminutive derivatives of Anna/Hannah, a Hebrew name. Reading through the thread it seems many think that the longer version of a name must be the formal version and the shorter must be an infantilized version, but often this isn't true. For example Jeannette is a French diminutive of Jehanne a French derivative of the Latin Johannes, derivated from Greek Ioannes that comes from Hebrew Yehochanan. Someone upthread already mentioned the Latin name Lucia and its diminutive Lucilla that literally means "little Lucia", same for Prisca/Priscilla and others. These names were nicknames at the beginning, but it was so long ago that they have been full names for centuries now.

What I find fascinating are common nicknames that derive from a name that is very similar . Henry becomes Harry? Mary becomes Molly? John becomes Jack? 

I understand why they might each be stand alone names. But how does something become a nickname with the same general sound and length? Really interesting ( to me at least). 

Anecdotedly - I realized most of the women I known have multi syllable first names ending in a. Only 2 or 3 have nicknames that are the “e” sounding shorterned version. Same number of men have the “e” shortened nickname

[Gillyweed]

I feel like John --> Jack, Mary --> Molly, Margaret--> Peggy, and Henry --> Harry came about because centuries ago a majority of people had the same name. They needed some way to differentiate themselves. 

In my grandfather's family, everyone was named Cosmo. Still, only one person was acually called Cosmo. My grandpa was called Buddy his entire life. How would you derive Buddy for Cosmo? Who knows, but everyone knew who they were talking about when they said "Buddy" as opposed to "Cosmo". 

As for my name. I prefer the nickname. The nickname isn't actually a name on its own, but my name is common enough that it isn't weird. A lot of people actually argue over how my name is pronounced. I honestly don't care (my parents use one way, my grandma the other), so it's just easier to say "Hey I'm Sally" instead of "Hey I'm Sallyanna". I still put my full name on papers and job apps, though. 

[albanuadh_1]

Explain why it's OK to name a female child a considered male name , such as Bailey, but most of us would cringe at naming a boy Beverly or Shirley. Have my own theory on it but would like to hear others.

[SapphireSlytherin]

1 hour ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Sorry but both Annette and Annie are diminutive derivatives of Anna/Hannah, a Hebrew name.

Yes - but there's often an assumption that Annie couldn't possibly be someone's "real name," while Annette (which is my brain's first go-to "more formal" name assumption) seems to be. Further:  I know an Annie whose "real name" is Annette - probably the reason for my Annette assumption.

 

 

[karen77]

20 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

The owner of a local dance studio, that my daughter went to, has a daughter named Teddy. she's the youngest of 3 and has 2 older brothers, but she is the one named after her father his name is Ted, and they named her Theodora, but she goes by Teddy she's 21/22 now so I'm not sure if she will always go by that as she gets older, but she at least has the option of going by Theodora or Thea if she doesn't want to be known professionally as Teddy. 

A kid in my son's daycare was Teddy too  (my son isn't a Ted or Teddy, that was just an easy example based off his name, his name is more unusual).

[Mavis]

51 minutes ago, albanuadh_1 said:

Explain why it's OK to name a female child a considered male name , such as Bailey, but most of us would cringe at naming a boy Beverly or Shirley. Have my own theory on it but would like to hear others.

My theory is that it's been OK for quite a while for girls to wear pants, do some traditionally male sports, and experiment a bit more with gender (at least up until puberty).

But, while being a girl's become less restrictive in many ways, the same kinds of changes haven't happened as much for boys. While many people would think it would be cute for a little girl to wear a shirt with a truck on it, hardly any parents are brave enough to dress their boys in a dress (and there's nothing inherently feminine about dresses or masculine about pants). While some parents are calling their girls James without too much pushback, not to mention all the other boys' names that have become acceptable for girls, hardly any parents are calling their sons April or Brittany. 

Masculinity is still positioned as the antithesis of femininity, and in order to seem masculine, boys are expected to expel all traces of femininity, to avoid crying and liking flowers and pretty things. 

(That's not to say I think it's easier to be a girl; it's not). 

[Alisamer]

11 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

...

I would never have considered asking about someone's name to be anywhere near the same level as asking about money or politics, though. I don't like intrusive questions but I've never once been offended about someone asking about my name. This is literally the first time I have ever heard someone say that it's wrong to simply ask about someone's name.

I agree! Names are cool, and it's obviously interesting to discuss them and the stories behind them  (as this thread and the multiple other baby name threads show) so I don't think it's rude at all to ask about someone's name. It's a common part of getting to know someone, in my experience. Although I did once have a boss who refused to ever tell anyone her middle name. She said it was for privacy reasons. (And she was highly paranoid about a lot of things, so it was just one more odd thing about her.) Even she didn't consider it rude for people to ask, she just wouldn't share it. Why would it be rude to say "Oh, I grew up with a friend named Beth. It was short for Bethany. Is yours short for anything?"

It is obviously rude to call people a nickname without their permission.

And I still personally prefer giving children options when naming them, rather than locking them in to a nickname-ish (or creatively spelled) name they may or may not like and that may or may not benefit them in the future. Is it bias? Sure. That doesn't make it not true. I wouldn't choose to add that speed bump to a child's life without a very good reason, when it's so simple not to. If other people choose to, that's fine. Not my circus. I get to say so here, and others get to disagree, and that's cool. I'm just sharing my opinion (everyone has one...).

I will say the creatively spelled name thing does have another issue... true or not, it says something about the parents. I'm not talking about the obvious racial prejudice issue, which is a very big deal and involves bias against "ethnic" names, I mean the "I love the name Elizabeth but I want my daughter's name to be *unique* so I'm spelling it Eighlyzabythe!" thing. Right or wrong, people are going to wonder what the parents were thinking. Naming a kid "Jinger" and pronouncing it "Ginger" is going to raise eyebrows. Especially when the parents who chose that are homeschooling their kids. (I personally think it says "JimBob is a self-important prick". I cannot read that name without pronouncing it with a hard G.)

I've always loved the names Ashley and Alexis for boys, and wouldn't hesitate to use them. They can always go by Ash or Alex if they choose to, just like a girl using those names could. Options are good. I do think it's uncool that "boys" names are considered fine to use for girls, while the other way gets some side-eye. If I was naming a child myself, I would very carefully consider all the possible nicknames, how they might feel about the name, and I'd prefer a name that has nicknames that work for either gender or are considered neutral since some people's gender doesn't match their bodies. 

And y'all. Amy isn't a nickname the vast majority of the time in the US. 737,235 of us say so! 

[Peaches1981]

2 hours ago, albanuadh_1 said:

Explain why it's OK to name a female child a considered male name , such as Bailey, but most of us would cringe at naming a boy Beverly or Shirley. Have my own theory on it but would like to hear others.

My dad’s name is Beverly. He goes by Bev.... Could be that in his day and age (he is 75now) that wasn’t considered a “girl” name, but more likely it was cuz Nanny was nuts

[pandora]

51 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I will say the creatively spelled name thing does have another issue... true or not, it says something about the parents. I'm not talking about the obvious racial prejudice issue, which is a very big deal and involves bias against "ethnic" names, I mean the "I love the name Elizabeth but I want my daughter's name to be *unique* so I'm spelling it Eighlyzabythe!" thing. Right or wrong, people are going to wonder what the parents were thinking. Naming a kid "Jinger" and pronouncing it "Ginger" is going to raise eyebrows. Especially when the parents who chose that are homeschooling their kids. (I personally think it says "JimBob is a self-important prick". I cannot read that name without pronouncing it with a hard G.)

Really? I think however someone spells their kid's name generally just tells you... how they want that name to be spelled. I think it's too bad if someone makes life harder for a kid by giving them tons of unnecessary letters or confusing swaps, but how many Elizabyyytheees do you know? I've met plenty of kids with creative spellings, and most of them are something like Dontay, or Juliauna. Not the most common version of a name but picked to help people pronounce it the way the parents intended or liked the look of. And the thing is, little Juliauna was gonna have to spell out her name for people no matter how traditionally it was spelled- it could be Juliana or Julianna or Giulianna. What names/ spellings are considered normal change over time, and some names we consider standard now are actually bastardizations of past names. I feel like people get their backs up about creative names by looking at a few really altered examples, but most non-standard spellings are pretty self-explanatory. Naming your kid something relatively unique or spelling a name a new way is as old a tradition as written language.

I get it, we all make snap judgements, but sometimes ya gotta talk back to yourself about them. I try to presume people give their kids names they like and thought about. As with a lot of things, taste can vary so much!

[Alisamer]

4 minutes ago, pandora said:

I get it, we all make snap judgements, but sometimes ya gotta talk back to yourself about them. I try to presume people give their kids names they like and thought about. As with a lot of things, taste can vary so much!

And to show you I make snap judgements about names too, and am working on improving- dear god- SAINT West? What sort of narcissist names their kid Saint? How the hell are you supposed to discipline that kid? Deep breaths, Pandora.

Oh, I agree, and I do try to talk back to myself about them (I have a friend named Precious, for example, who is awesome, successful and professional despite having a name I'd consider cutesy). Still giving JB and Michelle the side-eye for Jinger. Sometimes it is just taste, which can vary a lot! Sometimes taste seems to be lacking entirely, though... and then I snark about it. Where the parents can't hear or find out, because that would be rude.

I think most people agree about Saint. I can't decide if his name is worse than North or not. Or if Kimye are worse at naming kids than Michael Jackson was (MJs sons, anyway). But those names somewhat prove my point that they say more about the parents than the kid! Sure we should all work on not making snap judgements, but a lot of people won't bother to work on that, so why set a kid up for that? Or give people who already think you are a narcissist more proof of that fact? I mean, Kanye Jr. would be just as self-important, but less eye-roll-inducing than Saint. Unless he gave another son the exact same name... ahem *georgeforman*

[Gillyweed]

49 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I think most people agree about Saint. I can't decide if his name is worse than North or not. Or if Kimye are worse at naming kids than Michael Jackson was (MJs sons, anyway). But those names somewhat prove my point that they say more about the parents than the kid! Sure we should all work on not making snap judgements, but a lot of people won't bother to work on that, so why set a kid up for that? Or give people who already think you are a narcissist more proof of that fact? I mean, Kanye Jr. would be just as self-important, but less eye-roll-inducing than Saint. Unless he gave another son the exact same name... ahem *georgeforman*

Imo North itself isn't a bad name. It's just *strange* when you put it with the last name West. Chicago also isn't the worst name I've ever heard (It's wayyy better than Apple), but again with the surname West her name sounds like a neighborhood. Saint, I have no words.

Celebrities pick the weirdest names. RDJ named his sons Indio and Exton. His daughter is Avri, which isn't strange but is still spelled *uniquely*. I hope Khloe picks a normal name for her baby

[Ivycoveredtower]

27 minutes ago, Gillyweed said:

Imo North itself isn't a bad name. It's just *strange* when you put it with the last name West. Chicago also isn't the worst name I've ever heard (It's wayyy better than Apple), but again with the surname West her name sounds like a neighborhood. Saint, I have no words.

Celebrities pick the weirdest names. RDJ named his sons Indio and Exton. His daughter is Avri, which isn't strange but is still spelled *uniquely*. I hope Khloe picks a normal name for her baby

Mason and Penelope will probably thank their lucky stars that they were born at the beginning of the crazy and were not stuck with the name their little brother has or their cousin's were stuck with. 

[feministxtian]

One of my best friends is Amy. It didn't stop her from earning a PhD and being Professor Amy. 

[FJismyheadship]

I know a lady named Peggy. I asked her if it was short for Margaret one day and she said no, that's just the name her mom gave her. She hates it lol.

[Ivycoveredtower]

so much pink. Pink is fine but I don't think these people realize there are other colors. 

[Daisy0322]

I don't think it's right but the truth is that some people will judge you on your name or how it's spelled. It's up to the parents if they want to take that into consideration.

 My name for example people always think sounds like younger generation "white trash" plus it's not spelled how it sounds and I totally wish my name was something that could pass the "president test". My son has a non-traditional name but it's still very "heard of" and has a common spelling but there probably won't be 4 of his name in his class.

[SapphireSlytherin]

I see 100% nothing wrong with having a plethora of pink for a baby shower (or a plethora of blue).

When the baby is old enough to express a preference (and not simply a fetus in attendance via uterus-owner at a party!!!), then the parents should dial it back if the child doesn't want pink.

[FJismyheadship]

My daughter was named after my great grandmother. Her name is unusual. It's mispronounced a lot lol. Her middle name is Marie, after her aunt and her dad's aunt. I gave her a normal middle name in case she hated her first name. She so far loves her first name. My great aunt called her CiCi and sometimes she'd answer and sometimes she'd say "That's not my name!"