What's up with people's names in the younger generation?

Visual Novel Community Off Topic
#1

Here’s an off-topic one for ya bugging me lately… younger generation names (ie. roughly 16 years of age or earlier). They’re too complex. I’m starting to see more and more people with weird names and more parents name their babies all in an attempt to make their babies “unique.” I’ve seen Xander, Tatiana, Taja, the list goes on. My uncle had a baby boy recently with his wife and named their son Noah. Wow, Noah, yea good luck explaining to your son why he has an “h” in his name when it’s silent :roll:.

Whatever happened to the good old days when people named their sons and daughters with simple names, like Chris, Ashley, or Bob? Hell, my full name is David James Scott - doesn’t get better than that! What has our society become when we can’t even spell anyones name anymore despite knowing English?

Tell me I’m not the only one noticing this trend. If any of you ever have a child, please name them something simple. Don’t give your child a hard time spelling their own name - it might traumatize them.

#2

While I agree somewhat with your sentiment regarding names of late, I don’t find Noah to be one that should be included in this trend. Noah is a classic biblical name, much like John and Paul, though used less often.

#3

Well, Xander is usually short for Alexander, and Tatiana is a traditional Russian girl’s name, so I don’t find those to be too strange. The ones that bug me are when people use last names as first names, like Madison, or tweak the spellings of traditional names to make them ‘different,’ ie, wrong, like Ashlee.

#4

My name is quite unique as well, at least in modern times. It’s Old English origin. People think it’s a wrong spelling, but it’s not.

#5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_un … onal_names

You have no idea. There was actually a guy named Seymour Cocks, and you’re complaining about someone being named Noah? :slight_smile: And that isn’t even the worst of it, this is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brfxxccxxm … sqlbb11116

Look at this. These nitwits wanted to protest the law requiring them to name their child. At first, they tried to give him no name. Courts said ‘no’. So they tried to give him a flagrantly absurd name – but they needed something to call him so they “pronounced” their child’s “name” as “Albin” (which I suppose must be a common Danish name). In doing so, they completely missed the point of the naming law: people need names so they, and others, can refer to them as a unique individual. They themselves admitted this when they named him Albin. I mean, what’s the government supposed to do? Refer to him as “unspecified citizen #1”? What happens when hundreds of people have no name?

It wasn’t enough for them to simply stage a hypocritical “protest”, but they had to drag their son into it.

#6

I agree with KM about Noah and while Im not sure where it came from the end 'h is standard romanization. now my list

  1. as already stated no wierd alternate spellings ie , Ashleigh.
  2. names are endemic of their cultures, its generally a bad idea to randomly use words you dont understand .
    2.5. If you wish to reconnect with your cultural roots ( ie your welsh) there are many ways to do so besides naming your kid Bronwyn . unless you plan on moving to rural Wales this will make them stick out.
#7
  1. and please no pop culture tributes!!! Kal-El, Goku, Naruto, and all of a similar infamy should be shunned.
#8

Goku isn’t a pop-idol name anymore than Peter is…for Japanese children. For non-Japanese it can seem a bit off, but I doubt it will in several years.

#9

Yeah. I know a couple of people who named their daughter Arwen and another who named his son Aragorn. All of this after the LotR movies came out. Blech.

#10

Lol I remember two funny stories about strange names in Belgium :

  1. Some stupid parents wanted to call their son “Anakin” (star wars geeks…).
    Fortunately for the baby, they were refused the right to call him like that (yeah here you don’t have the right to call your baby how you want… if it’s a stupid name).

  2. Same thing but for a girl. their parents wanted to call her “Megane”.
    It’s not a strange name for a girl here but the problem was that her family name was “Renault”.
    The french here will understand the obvious reason why they couldn’t call her Megane.
    (for those who don’t understand, the “Renault Megane” is a car :D)

#11

There was a case in New Zealand on this issue, regarding the name Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

#12

Yeah, I saw that. Some people … It’s like they don’t fully realize this is their CHILD, not a good opportunity to make a political statement, or worse, some kind of crack.

#13

I dont know what Peter you mean-Pan or family Guy- But I dont know if Goku is common in Japan but in America? People are instantly going to make the DBZ connection. It will cause them to endure countless Kame-ha-me-ha! jokes and they will likely end up resenting said show. :expressionless:

#14

I want to call my child “Seven” (cfr Seinfeld, ep “The seven”).

#15

It just reveals the immaturity of certain people, and makes you wonder if they’re ready to actually raise a child.

Now some of the unusual names these days, are simply because the US is become more culturally aware. For example in the Black community, there’s been a massive surge in authentic African names. Though unusual, these are perfectly fine, and a child can take pride in that. However naming a kid Velveeta because you like cheese, is really stupid: it’s a parent only thinking of amusing themselves and their friends, and not considering how the child might react to the name.

Naming a child should be a very profound event: because you want them to take pride in it… not be ashamed or want a legal rename.

On the same token however, sometimes parents have the best intentions, but still cause trouble. For example I knew a pair of twin sisters named Elisabeth and Elizabeth, taken after their grandmother Alisabeth (or something like that). The difference was in the pronunciation ¬ñ one would emphasize the “sah” and the other would put focus on the “zah” - but they grew up having issues with that. Friends would tease them about it… and some would knowingly confuse them on purpose. They eventually had people just call them Lisa and Beth.

When you name a child, think of what they’ll go through with such a name, and remember how cruel your own childhood was, when kids wanted to be nasty. Also consider that when they grow-up, will they change it to something more mainstream, simply to avoid issues.

I’ve never met anyone named Goku in Japan. :stuck_out_tongue: I would think naming a kid Goku in Japan, is even worst than it would be in America. It instantly brings up thoughts of Dragonball for one. Even if that wasn’t an issue, the Japanese know the origin of that name - Journey to the West - far more than Western people do. The kanji meaning has issues, plus Sun Wukong is a double edged sword of a personality to be named after. He has many redeemable traits, but just as many (if not more) negative attributes. Plus mean spirited people would have a ball with someone who is the “Money King” - bad name to use.

#16

I only recently( last half year to be exact) learned of Dragonball being a loose reinterpretation of Saiyuki , you were able to bring up more negatives than me . :wink: but yes seriously people need to consider their child first when naming them. If you like anime/eroge/scifi/comics so much change your own name. :roll: :roll:

#17

Perhaps, we need to go back to naming our children after biblical characters.
I know of two couples that named their twins, Cain and Abel, and Adam and Eve.
Also, another couple that named their children, Samson and Dehlila, with a third on the way to be named Lazarus.

Then again, we could do like George Foreman, who named all his boys after himself! :lol:

#18