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PaperclipPerfector  24d ago (text post)   2271 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 22, 2024

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We went with a moderately common girl's name from my ethnic background, a variant of a common girl's name that is itself uncommon in the US from my husband's background that we like the sound of, and a fairly common boy's name associated with a historical figure we like. Middle child will have to tell everyone how to say her name, because it isn't obvious from the spelling, but it's only two syllables so I don't expect a problem. There are names we ruled out because we don't like the sound, for instance Olga. Their last name is Polish, but short and easy enough to not sound notably foreign.

We did not consider any names that the same as immediate relatives for first names (though we do have some middles). We're both very high in personality trait openness, and generally don't like anything to be the same; we like visiting new places, moving, making things we haven't before, new foods we've never tried, and are more attracted to names that are new to our respective families. We didn't consider anything like John, George, or Mary because they were overused in our parents' generation. I think there's some kind of cycle there, and maybe someday we'll have a grandchild named Mary and it will seem right again. Baby boy has a common enough name he could conceivably end up in a class with another boy of the same name, but apparently that's a risk we're willing to take.

The departure from traditionally common names like Mary/John/Peter in my lifetime obviously has a lot to do with falling religiosity

I'm not sure they're related. The very religious people I know are naming their kids things like Euphrosynos or Xenia or something.

Xenia

Warrior princess, or Onatopp?

Of St Petersburg.

Wikipedia indicates that "Xenia" is Greek for "hospitality".

Yeah, the opposite of xenophobic.

I'm not sure they're related. The very religious people I know are naming their kids things like Euphrosynos or Xenia or something.

I see lots of David, John, Mary, Sam, etc from the children of very religious people I know, although I live in the south where very religious normies are still a thing.

That makes sense. American Orthodoxy selects heavily for people with Byzantine preferences. When I was Evangelical, some that stood out are Peter, Christian, Bethany -- the Johns that spring to mind are from my parents' generation

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