Jinjer 55: Picking Names Just to Sound Grand

[finnlassie]

1 hour ago, Johannah said:

I think it’s just hard to imagine a name like polar bear or Berlin being controversial when we have American celebrity kids named things like Audio Science and Sage Moonblood and Moon Unit and Moxie Crimefighter and Speck Wildhorse and Pilot Inspektor. And there are literally thousands of kids named Brooklyn who live in Brooklyn. 

Brooklyn is an ok name over here, but only if you have the cultural background. They do take into consideration if the name is a standard, acceptable and non-offensive in the place the other/both parents come from.

An acquaintance of mine was often approached with romantic intentions by a guy named X. She told me that he was named after Malcolm X, so I was like oh so He's Malcolm X, or he's Malcolm but nicknamed X? Nope. Just X. This is in the States, ofc. I think the shortest names here are two letters, one being Ea and another Li.

52 minutes ago, Bobology said:

From @finnlassie's list of govt-rejected names. It probably is a mistype, but it reminded me of some young baseball players from Curaçao* who played in the 2019 Little League World Series:

Pe.son (I have forgotten how this was pronounced, but maybe Pay Sawn. The period seemed to add a literal stop between syllables)

Fran-J

Í-Zion

The youngsters would have been named about 13-14 years ago. Although definitely odd to my eye, my old ears rather like the names.

* And before any of you guys think I'm acting all fancy with my markings, I had to google how to do it and practice them for a while just so I could post here. I've never bothered before now because I've never had to.
 

I always try to make sure that I get the right letters in place names that are from places with non-Finnish and non-English alphabets! So I never see it as going fancy, it's just respectful. Though, I do tend to skip them while I'm on mobile.

It's honestly interesting how different the "normal" is in different cultures and countries.

[SeekingAdventure]

Yeah, I think a lot also depends on the possibility of people being able to pronounce a name, and the names fitting together.

I'm actually a huge fan of the name Dominique for a girl, but there's just way too many possibilities for mispronounciation and shortening it in a very weird way, or mobbing. Also, it absolutely does not flow with my name.. so it's a name I love to use in stories I guess..

 

@AprilQuiltElsa is a very pretty name in my opinion.

 

edit: forgot to mention. Yeah, Elon Musks child.. that poor kid. I don't even remember if it is a boy or a girl, but that kid already has a strike against it just due to the name, in my opinion..

Edited January 4, 2021 by SeekingAdventure
forgot to mention

[medimus]

That Californian law of only having letters in the English alphabet is actually much more restrictive than it seems at first. There are very few other languages in the world that don't use diacritics at all, so you can't have any name that is normally spelt with a diacritic spelt correctly. 

I'm all for the no name that is likely to cause harm to the child rule, with weighing up whether it is a name in the parents culture.

Here is a podcast story about an Irish-French couple living in Belgium (Brussels is very multicultural) trying to register their daughter's name with correct spelling: https://www.headstuff.org/motherfocloir/129-quarantine-sessions-7-una-vs-the-kingdom-of-belgium/ Story starts aroun 20:16 minute mark.

[OrchidBlossom]

I have a somewhat long French name (despite being an American with absolutely no French heritage). I didn't like it much as a kid, but now I love it. I went by a nickname most of my life, but because I also shortened it in the French fashion rather than Anglicized, lots of people got that wrong as well. So I'm very used to correcting the spelling/pronunciation of my name. The nickname is also very close to a commonly male name, so I'm used to that as well. I don't mind though. The name suits me. 

[HeartsAFundie]

A former co-worker of mine had the name Logan Hunter picked out and was going to use it for either boy or girl.  This was back in 1994.  And Logan Hunter ended up being a girl! 

Edited January 4, 2021 by HeartsAFundie

[Kelsey]

Jingle and Jerm's book listing is on Amazon and the picture for the cover is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. 

It's called The Hope We Hold.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/154601585X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_Y968FbX2RHPCN

Edited January 5, 2021 by Kelsey
Add book title and link

[Johannah]

41 minutes ago, Kelsey said:

Jingle and Jerm's book listing is on Amazon and the picture for the cover is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. 

It's called The Hope We Hold.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/154601585X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_Y968FbX2RHPCN

Wow. That is quite the photo. Jinger actually looks gorgeous, in a fundie trophy pastor’s wife kind of way, but it doesn’t look like her at all. Just lots of editing and airbrushing?

[AussieKrissy]

18 minutes ago, Johannah said:

Wow. That is quite the photo. Jinger actually looks gorgeous, in a fundie trophy pastor’s wife kind of way, but it doesn’t look like her at all. Just lots of editing and airbrushing?

lol looks as much like her as that painting jeremy had commissioned 

edit to add 

I wonder if jeremy is pissed it doesnt say "breakout stars" on the cover lol 

Edited January 5, 2021 by AussieKrissy

[Coconut Flan]

Fundies will buy that.  It has "the look."  

[marmalade]

His hairline has been photoshopped. And Jinger is barely recognizable. Among other things, she grew about 3 cup sizes. ?

[Knight of Ni]

When we were discussing names for my son one of the ones that we considered was Francis. I like the name but we ultimately decided against it because we thought he would get picked on in school since some consider it a “girl’s name” now. 
There seems to be a lot of male names that are considered female now. I know someone who said he was picked on in school for the name Morgan. Apparently that’s a “girl’s name” now also.

[sansan]

1 hour ago, marmalade said:

His hairline has been photoshopped. And Jinger is barely recognizable. Among other things, she grew about 3 cup sizes. ?

She would have to be a concave chest if you were correct. That is a small chest.

[crancraz]

Please tell me this drivel is self-published. 

[marmalade]

1 hour ago, crancraz said:

Please tell me this drivel is self-published. 

Nope. They found a reputable Christian publisher to print their drivel. 

[Nothing if not critical]

8 hours ago, Knight of Ni said:

When we were discussing names for my son one of the ones that we considered was Francis. I like the name but we ultimately decided against it because we thought he would get picked on in school since some consider it a “girl’s name” now. 

My husband has a male coworker called Francis who goes by Fran. Is that common in the States? Because Fran sounds very "female" to me.

[Topaz]

My name is a pretty bland one. Not so common there were three in every class but common enough that most people here (UK) would probably have known someone with it at some point in their life. I don’t hate it but I don’t like it either. It’s just meh.

However my (non-confrontational, left-wing, kind) sister is called Karen. So I got off very lightly.

[OHFL2009]

1 hour ago, Nothing if not critical said:

My husband has a male coworker called Francis who goes by Fran. Is that common in the States? Because Fran sounds very "female" to me.

Most males named Francis that I know in the US go by Frank or Frankie. I've only ever heard Fran for a female Frances/Francine/Francesca. But none of those have been higher than about 450th most popular name in the US in decades so I don't know a whole lot of them. 

[HereticHick]

7 hours ago, marmalade said:

Nope. They found a reputable Christian publisher to print their drivel. 

Yup. Owned by Hachette (one of the "big five" book publishers)  

https://www.worthypublishing.com/

[bal maiden]

On 1/4/2021 at 4:18 PM, AprilQuilt said:

This is what put me off my partner's first choice name for our daughter - Ilsa. Like Ingrid Bergman's character in Casablanca. The name Isla is crazy popular in the UK and I could just imagine she'd have a lifetime of correcting people who had read it wrong. I wondered about spelling it Ilse instead but again that would be problematic as it doesn't look how it's pronounced to English readers.

I think if we had a second daughter I'd be tempted to go with Elsa instead. Partner says Elspeth is a no-go as he has an estuary accent and will pronounce it Elspeff. Sigh.

Your point is corroborated by me reading it the first time, and assuming you'd misspelt Isla ?

[AprilQuilt]

@bal maiden vindicated!

[Casserole]

On 1/3/2021 at 7:40 PM, HideousGreenShirt said:

 It's stressing me out so much lately because I think my family will be so angry if/when I change it. They can still call me whatever. 

Does your family really have to know you've legally changed it? If you're okay with them calling you whatever as you've said, nothing would change for them and I really don't think they'd need to be made aware of your individual, adult legal ongoings. 

I could see that maybe being a slight issue if you live with them or maybe travel with them and produce your passport/legal documents. But as a 30 year old lady, I can tell you my parents have not ever seen my driver's license (beyond when I first got it as a minor), they've never read my resume, and outside of sharing my college diploma to look at, they've never seen any other official documentation of mine, either. My mom did do my taxes for me one year, but that's also easily avoidable. 

Unless you wanted to officially announce your new legal name to the world, then ignore me Do what feels right. I just don't find legal, official names come up too often. When people introduce themselves to me I don't ask for ID, I just call them what they ask to be called. Good luck!

[Satan'sFortress]

10 hours ago, Nothing if not critical said:

My husband has a male coworker called Francis who goes by Fran. Is that common in the States? Because Fran sounds very "female" to me.

Francis used to be common boy name in the Catholic circles I knew.  My FIL was Francis and went by Frannie. I guess that sounds feminine, but  was normal to those who knew him. 

[Audrey2]

We can't forget the most famous male Fran- Francis "Fran" Tarkenton, former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Tarkenton

This has been an example I've been wanting to bring up whenever we have the name discussion about giving a child a nickname for a given name. I have a family member who was Frank- not Francis. Had I had a son, I liked the name Frank and liked it more when I had two students named Frank- Frankie when they were younger and Frank, like their Dad, as they got older. I wouldn't have named my son Francis.

[IsmeWeatherwax]

My Grampa was Francis, known as Frank. My ex-brother in law is Francis and goes by Frank, my youngest son has a friend called Francis and he goes by Francis. My Mother worked for a lady called Frances, and she goes by Frances. 

So my Grampa Frank would be 123 years old, right down to friend Francis at 14 years old and everyone in between, its quite a popular name!

[finnlassie]

to continue the name topic, as someone mentioned (my eyes are a bit muddy right now so it's hard to browse back who wrote it!), here in Finland we do also take into consideration how it will be pronounced in Finnish OR Swedish (300k minority, official second language). So, I feel like the rejected names Kyliex and Willaz might've been in that category. It also makes me think about the girl named Jewel - they must have made a case on how it doesn't sound *that* foreign (even though it does quite a bit) when pronounced "ye-vel"... ugh.

Names are such a hassle.

 

Also, the JinJer book cover is just... oh my God no. Who chose that font?! My eyes are bleeding!