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Names: My newspaper column: now featuring The Old Man and the most famous spouse of witch


Ormond
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Here's the link to today's column:

https://www.omaha.com/lifestyles/evans-a-famed-french-saint-aided-the-name-lorraine-s/article_a961f6cc-3e98-5014-8283-c47cca5cae7f.html

Unfortunately I didn't have room to mention the actress Laraine Day (1920-2007). Her career coincided with the years that spelling was also among the top thousand names for girls in the USA.

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2 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said:

@Ormond

I saw your quote in the Vox article from yesterday!

Thanks for noticing. :)

For anyone else who might be interested the article is on the use of the name "Karen" as an insult and here is the link:

https://www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21079162/karen-name-insult-meme-manager

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the link to today's column. Many people in Omaha think of Conor Oberst as a "favorite son" so I knew I had to write on the name when it turned out today was his 40th birthday.  I am alas not much of a rock music fan and had never really paid attention to him myself -- I read through the lyrics of about 30 of his songs to find the quote at the end of the column, and it seems to me Oberst has a seriously depressive view of the world. But it was still an interesting name to write on:

https://www.omaha.com/lifestyles/cleveland-evans-rooted-in-irish-mythology-conor-has-a-bright/article_bd0a53de-3ce4-5483-bd71-c8d8b88cef91.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's today's column. It was interesting to find a few male Wendys in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Thomas Wendy mentioned in the column had a nephew, also named Thomas after his uncle, who also served in Parliament. 

https://www.omaha.com/lifestyles/evans-peter-pan-gave-wendy-wings-but-the-name-has/article_fa5a897b-dbd9-5ad3-922a-b31e0f00dfa3.html

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Here is today's column:

https://www.omaha.com/entertainment/evans-a-tribute-to-a-mother-who-set-a-good-example-by-always-helping-others/article_24439276-ade2-5350-b7bd-173687ed1964.html

I actually wrote an entire column that was a tribute to my mother -- it was the editor's idea to just use excerpts from that and then reprint the column I wrote on the name Leona which was printed on Mother's birthday back in 2009.

Just to give a further bit about my mother -- it wasn't just taking care of her own mother and my father's stepmother that gave us examples of caring for the elderly. Mother maintained a friendship with Mrs. Elizabeth Dean, who had been her landlady when she first lived on her own. She became a sort of surrogate grandmother to my sister and me; we called her "Nean".  Nean had one daughter herself, Thelma, and Thelma and her husband never had children.  Thelma's husband, Joe, died suddenly at age 61, and my parents gave a lot of care to Nean, and after she died, to Thelma, though Thelma was only nine years older than my mother and a very difficult person.  

Mother also helped Mr. Kirby, an elderly handyman who lived in a shack in the woods near her home in Lynchburg, Virginia. (Everyone in the neighborhood just called him Kirby and I've forgotten his first name.) She discovered how destitute he was, and she was able to get him food stamps and supplemental social security income. During the last couple of years of his life, she bought most of his food and brought it to him. Today instead of "stamps" food assistance is on a plastic card like a credit card and so less obvious. I often wonder if many of the stories of "welfare cheats" are actually situations where a well-off person like my mother was buying food for someone they were helping and people who didn't know that the person getting food assistance did not have to actually use the stamps in person made wrong assumptions about what was going on. 

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11 minutes ago, Ormond said:

Here is today's column:

https://www.omaha.com/entertainment/evans-a-tribute-to-a-mother-who-set-a-good-example-by-always-helping-others/article_24439276-ade2-5350-b7bd-173687ed1964.html

I actually wrote an entire column that was a tribute to my mother -- it was the editor's idea to just use excerpts from that and then reprint the column I wrote on the name Leona which was printed on Mother's birthday back in 2009.

Just to give a further bit about my mother -- it wasn't just taking care of her own mother and my father's stepmother that gave us examples of caring for the elderly. Mother maintained a friendship with Mrs. Elizabeth Dean, who had been her landlady when she first lived on her own. She became a sort of surrogate grandmother to my sister and me; we called her "Nean".  Nean had one daughter herself, Thelma, and Thelma and her husband never had children.  Thelma's husband, Joe, died suddenly at age 61, and my parents gave a lot of care to Nean, and after she died, to Thelma, though Thelma was only nine years older than my mother and a very difficult person.  

Mother also helped Mr. Kirby, an elderly handyman who lived in a shack in the woods near her home in Lynchburg, Virginia. (Everyone in the neighborhood just called him Kirby and I've forgotten his first name.) She discovered how destitute he was, and she was able to get him food stamps and supplemental social security income. During the last couple of years of his life, she bought most of his food and brought it to him. Today instead of "stamps" food assistance is on a plastic card like a credit card and so less obvious. I often wonder if many of the stories of "welfare cheats" are actually situations where a well-off person like my mother was buying food for someone they were helping and people who didn't know that the person getting food assistance did not have to actually use the stamps in person made wrong assumptions about what was going on. 

Incan’t read the article (the GDPR stuff) but your mother sounds like a wonderful woman, and even this little insight into her life show your love and admiration for her. She seems so caring and selfless and the world would be a much bette4 place with more people like her.

Again, very sorry for your loss. 

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On 3/28/2020 at 5:36 PM, Ormond said:

What name is in this article (I'm European)?

 

Also, do you think we will get top USA baby names this year?

What are your predictions on top names in short points? Any name you think can make a jump? I sadly can't read any of your columns and it's missed activity of mine.

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4 minutes ago, Lady Winter Rose said:

What name is in this article (I'm European)?

 

Also, do you think we will get top USA baby names this year?

What are your predictions on top names in short points? Any name you think can make a jump? I sadly can't read any of your columns and it's missed activity of mine.

Leona.

I don't see why they wouldn't be able to post 2019's top names in May as usual since that would all be done by computer.

I don't have any special predictions at this time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's today's column. I didn't have space to mention that Renee is one of those names that because of its sound is more popular as a middle name than a first name in the USA. 

https://www.omaha.com/entertainment/evans-hollywood-stars-helped-deliver-a-rebirth-for-the-french-name-ren-e/article_8fc2e8d4-796b-54b5-a3fb-f7b295ab8832.html#1

Edited by Ormond
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1 hour ago, Lady Winter Rose said:

Hey, could you guys answer one of my question?

I have been thinking about name Aliena -> which is another name Shakespeare used for Celia. Do you see that one word in the name and should I nix it from my list? Or is it Charlotte/harlot Aliena/alien case?

I think you should ask other Croatians about this as words and names have different connotations in different languages and cultures.

I think in an English speaking culture it would depend on how the name was pronounced. If you pronounce it in three syllables, as if it were spelled Alina or Aleena, I don't think it would cause any major problems. If your pronounce it in four syllables so it sounds more like the English pronunciaton of the word "alien", it might have some negative impact. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's today's column.

https://www.omaha.com/entertainment/evans-clark-counts-superman-and-gable-among-its-famous-names/article_b9928a69-0899-5ea1-b0e8-217e200c4958.html

I watch so little commercial TV that I had no idea "The 100" was so popular until I wrote this column. 

Also I'm sorry I didn't have room to discuss the British pronunciation of "clerk" being the same as their pronunciation of "Clark". However in most of England with its non-rhotic accent both of them wouldn't be far off the American pronunciation of "clock". :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today's column is on one of the least common names I've written about. The paper version of the World Herald doesn't always use the same headlines as the online version. I like the paper version headline for this column , "Eustace a name for spoiled brats, courageous heroes", better than the online one. :)

https://www.omaha.com/lifestyles/evans-eustace-wasnt-rare-in-britain-but-it-never-caught-on-in-america/article_8a02c135-695f-5ce8-b13d-f4be68b36614.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

A guy named Steve Winzenburg who used to have a radio show in Iowa recently created podcasts and YouTube videos out of a lot of his old interviews. including one with me from 1999 about the year 1998's popular names in the USA. So for anyone who would like to listen to that, here is the link to the YouTube version:

 

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