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Names: My newspaper column -- last three links restored


Ormond

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Ormond, can your naming wisdom explain why "jordan" is such a popular password for me, please? :)

All I can do is speculate that since Michael and Jennifer are also among the top 25 passwords that it has something to do with the popularity of Jordan as a given name for BOTH boys and girls during the 1990s. Jordan was the first name in modern times to make BOTH the top 50 on the SSA list for girls and boys at the same time; as a matter of fact, the top ranking year for Jordan for both boys and girls was 1997, when it ranked #26 for boys and #40 for girls. If you add the boys and girls together in 1997, there were 21,924 babies named Jordan born in the USA that year. That compares with 25,729 girls named Emily and 37,543 boys named Michael born that year. Emily was the only girls' name with more than Jordan's combined total, though there were 12 boys' names that year with higher numbers that the combined total of Jordans.

Maybe people in their late teens and early 20s named Jordan or who have a significant other named Jordan are likely to use it as a password because it doesn't "feel" that common since it's divided in use between the sexes so evenly? That's all I can think of on short notice, but it's just a wild guess.

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Or that there are 10 families using Aodhan.

WTF?

That one is an example of people getting too enamored of history when they name kids. This is actually one of the early Gaelic spellings which Aidan is the modern English descendant of. (I have no idea if Aodhan was pronounced anything like Aidan in the Gaelic of a thousand years ago, but I'd bet the modern parents using it are pronouncing it like Aidan normally is today.)

http://www.behindthename.com/name/aodha10n

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My S-I-L is a paramedic and last week she delivered a Baby Girl. The mother allededly really liked the name Chlamydia we don't know how she was planning on spelling it though. That child owes my S-I-L a hugh debt, the mother took a lot of convincing to think of something else.

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My S-I-L is a paramedic and last week she delivered a Baby Girl. The mother allededly really liked the name Chlamydia we don't know how she was planning on spelling it though. That child owes my S-I-L a hugh debt, the mother took a lot of convincing to think of something else.

This is a common urban legend. I'd bet either your sister-in-law is pulling your leg or when you question her further you'll find out she didn't personally deal with this supposed mother but a "friend of a friend" who was another paramedic did, which is how most urban legends end up being. (In previous generations this legend claimed there were twins named Syphilis and Gonorrhea, called Phylis and Rhea for short.)

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All I can do is speculate that since Michael and Jennifer are also among the top 25 passwords that it has something to do with the popularity of Jordan as a given name for BOTH boys and girls during the 1990s. Jordan was the first name in modern times to make BOTH the top 50 on the SSA list for girls and boys at the same time; as a matter of fact, the top ranking year for Jordan for both boys and girls was 1997, when it ranked #26 for boys and #40 for girls.

Thanks for the explanation. :) Whatever happened to Jordana for girls, then?

My aunt did actually teach a child named S'kartissha.

... pronounced "scar tisha" (tissue)? Oh dear.

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This is a common urban legend. I'd bet either your sister-in-law is pulling your leg or when you question her further you'll find out she didn't personally deal with this supposed mother but a "friend of a friend" who was another paramedic did, which is how most urban legends end up being. (In previous generations this legend claimed there were twins named Syphilis and Gonorrhea, called Phylis and Rhea for short.)

It genuinely does happen sometimes, in that (incoming anecdote) I once met a young woman who was, honest-to-God, called Candida.

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Here's today's column, on one of the most fashionable names of the moment:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120612/LIVING/706129964

I had a request in to Chloe Dao to inteview her about her name for this column. She didn't get back to me soon enough for this one, but I am to talk with her at noon today. I will probably write a column on how immigrants choose new names for themselves later this summer where I will use her interview. happy.gif If there is anyone reading this who is an immigrant who has changed their name to fit in with their new culture, I'd love to interview you, too, for that column.

Eloisa: Naming a child Candida is a very different thing than naming one Chlamydia. Candida exists as a girl's name independently of its medical meaning. Remember that George Bernard Shaw wrote a play where the title character was Candida, and there was a popular song called Candida (with the pronunciation can-DEE-duh) a while back:

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That one is an example of people getting too enamored of history when they name kids. This is actually one of the early Gaelic spellings which Aidan is the modern English descendant of. (I have no idea if Aodhan was pronounced anything like Aidan in the Gaelic of a thousand years ago, but I'd bet the modern parents using it are pronouncing it like Aidan normally is today.)

http://www.behindthe...m/name/aodha10n

Having a look in the Gaelic Baby Name book I can see that Aodhán is the Gaelic spelling and one I would assume you would see in Ireland.

N

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Eloisa: Naming a child Candida is a very different thing than naming one Chlamydia. Candida exists as a girl's name independently of its medical meaning. Remember that George Bernard Shaw wrote a play where the title character was Candida, and there was a popular song called Candida (with the pronunciation can-DEE-duh) a while back:

But at the same time, how many people wouldn't - nowadays - stop to think?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not hear Pearl in top 100 names and around internet,

Probably because most people here would think of it as an old-lady name. The only gem name I can think of that is popular here is Ruby.

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That's surprising, I had always assumed the name Margaret/Marguerite came from that flower. I wonder if the name of the flower came from the same greek word, even if I fail to see the link with a pearl...

I always thought the French word for "daisy" was an eponym from the name, but the online etymology dictionary says that French scholars say it came directly from the Greek word. So you may night see a connection between daisies and pearls, but evidently some centuries ago people in France did.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Marguerite

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