I've heard that countries including Germany, Denmark and Iceland have official rules about what a child can be named. There was an article in the paper about a 15-year-old Icelandic girl who was granted the right to legally use the name Blaer that her mother had given her.
The Reykjavik District Court ruled that she could use it even though the Icelandic authorities said it was not a proper girl's name. Up until now, the girl was listed as just "Girl".
Apparently names in Iceland have to conform to grammar and pronunciation rules. You can't be named Carol or Carla because there's no "C" in the Icelandic alphabet. Iceland is spelled Ísland by the Icelandic people.
After naming our daughter, Tiffany, it was fun to see all the different ways people had chosen to spell it. Among many variations, I've seen Tifany, Tiffani, Tifani. You'd think my son, Jonathan's name would be standard until I had a student named Johnathon.
After moving back to Hawaii, I've seen long, long, long names for babies in the newspapers. I understand the most popular names in the U.S. for 2012 was Aiden for a boy and Sophia for a girl. I have no idea what I'd name the kids if I had them today. I remember wishing I'd used the name Jessica in 1977. Do you have a favorite name you'd choose now if you could do it over?
The Reykjavik District Court ruled that she could use it even though the Icelandic authorities said it was not a proper girl's name. Up until now, the girl was listed as just "Girl".
Apparently names in Iceland have to conform to grammar and pronunciation rules. You can't be named Carol or Carla because there's no "C" in the Icelandic alphabet. Iceland is spelled Ísland by the Icelandic people.
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| Jonathan and Tiffany |
After moving back to Hawaii, I've seen long, long, long names for babies in the newspapers. I understand the most popular names in the U.S. for 2012 was Aiden for a boy and Sophia for a girl. I have no idea what I'd name the kids if I had them today. I remember wishing I'd used the name Jessica in 1977. Do you have a favorite name you'd choose now if you could do it over?
I have read the story about the girl in Iceland. Gregg has trouble with his name. People always want to leave off that extra 'g' at the end of his name. The even spelt his name wrong on his retirement plaque when he left the navy.
ReplyDeleteCute photos of the kids!
ReplyDeleteKay, not that our names here have anything in common with yours ,but 63 years ago, my father named me Suranga after a flower (Surangi) ,native to our ancestral village on our Western coast.
ReplyDeleteTo this day , I havent met anyone with my name ..... :-)
I also read about that girl in Iceland. There are so many different ways to spell Tiffany, but you chose the most reliable one, I think! I never heard of Jonathan spelled any way except like yours. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't know what names I would choose if I could have a do over. My youngest daughter, Joanna, was born in 1977....if she had been a boy she would have been Jonathan. I still really like that name.
ReplyDeletechoosing names does not come easily to me...require a lot of thought!
ReplyDeleteI thought Laura was straightforward until I enrolled my grandaughter in school. Without asking they wrote Lora. I guess folks have been messing with common names for longer than I am aware.
ReplyDeleteMy boys would have been names Lisa, Julia, April Spring and Anna Christina but they are instead Frank, Daniel, Brook and Jeffrey. Never got to use any girls names....lol!
ReplyDeleteRegardless of whether we picked the right names or not, I would do the same again because my children fit their name perfectly and I cannot think of them any other way.
ReplyDeleteOh but I must share my son's most hated story that I have to tell when names do come up. He was in kindergarten and came home wanting to change his name. "Why?" I inquired. "Because no one can understand it and they tease me" he said. "Well, I said you need a nickname" and after I explained what that was we started thinking and thinking of a good nickname. I listed many and he finally exclaimed that he knew just the right name. "What?" I wanted to know, and he yelled "LISA!!" "But that's a girls name. Why do you want to be called Lisa?" and he said. "Because girls are sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are snips and snails and puppy dog tails." Carefully I moved him toward a more appropriate name and today he is quite proud of his name,plus he gave his oldest son that same name. Once in a while I will call him Lisa though. LOL
This is so hilarious!!!
Deleteno, I'm happy with the names I chose for my three, I do know names come in fads though, it shows in the schools,there will be lots of children of the same age with the same name, I didn't choose a name from popularity I chose a name I liked, that was all.Your children are beautiful,
ReplyDeleteThat is bizarre about the Icelandic girl. Oi.
ReplyDeleteJonathan and Tiffany fit Jonathan and Tiffany perfectly.
I got to name Naomi (against some objection) and I wouldn't change it for the world. I wanted a Biblical name but not the usual female Hebrew names that end in -it or -a. I wanted a name with no harsh or gutteral consonants and no rolled R's. With lots of soft vowels. A name that sounded like music.
Rules about names? Talk about government intrusion.
ReplyDeleteI think I wouldn't have named my daughter after my mother. Now there are three generations with the same name, and two more grandkids with variations. Perhaps I'd use Elizabeth. :)
ReplyDeleteI love this post because it is very very interesting.Thanks you very much for shearing this article
ReplyDeleteI like Vincent, because "Beauty and the Beast" was a TV show for awhile, around '86. But, we didn't use that when my son was born.
ReplyDeleteA funny story: When my daughter-in-law was a little girl, her teacher was getting married. After confirming that the teacher was, in fact, going to take the husband's last name, Rachel's Dad tried to explain why her teacher's name was going to be changed after the wedding. Rachel asked, "So when you get married, you can change your name?"
Her Dad replied, "Yes."
Rachel exclaimed, "Good, When I get married, I'm going to change my name to Sarah!"
Cheers, DrumMajor
If I have a daughter I'm going to name her Robyn. My dad's name was Robert, but he went by Robin. He died long ago so I'm going to do it in a somewhat clever ode to him. My uncle did that with his daughter as her father's name was Blair, and his daughter also received the name. But oddly enough she wasn't named Blaire which is the more apparent female version of the name.
ReplyDelete*correction my uncle's father (my grandpa) was named Blair.
DeleteThank goodness we don't have laws restricting names. I'm happy with our children's names. Our children seem to like their names too. My husband named our son and I picked our daughter's name.
ReplyDeleteL...w
A new nickname finds me every 20 years or so, Kay :-)
ReplyDeleteAloha
I wouldn't change my kids names. A different name and they would not be themselves. I had all kinds of ideas for girl's names, but settled for family names for my boys.
ReplyDeleteIn my grandfather's family (Zeeland in the Netherlands) for generations, the boys names alternated between Cornelius and Isaac. My grandfather was a Cornelius, but I think the naming convention stopped at him as none of his sons is named Isaac. Grandpa had red hair which is prevalent in our family. I often wondered if the name Cornelius came from the red hair (as in the semi-prescious stone Carnelian).
Names are so intersting. I loved working with them when I was a Census Bureau employee. For years, last names were used to edit race and ethnicity answers. The practice had it problems, however.
For example, 'Lee' caused many problems, as it can be almost any ethnicity or race.
On the other hand, 'Schultz' is Swiss, German and Austrian, etc. but almost always "White."
Although most Spanish names = 'White' race, Spanish names can = any race. Spanish names with Philipine birthplace, for example, = 'Asian'.
Many folks in the US do not ID with a nationality. For example, immigrants from Africa name a tribal affiliation.
All very confusing and why we who work with the information know race is a myth and ethnicity is generally cultural.
Dianne
You always have the most interesting comments and know so much, Dianne.
DeleteI've always been really happy with my own name, never wished to change it. On both occasions when I was expecting, the baby was going to be Edward if it was a boy, but both times we changed our minds when we saw the baby, why I don't know.
ReplyDeleteA very cute photo. I like Sara for a girl and of course Kate and Alice which are the names we gave our girls.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Annalise or Marcia for a girl. I like Jonathan and Derek...but there are just too many names to think about.
ReplyDeleteYou kids were adorable. Cheek pinching cute. As for names, I have always been amused at how kids often wish they could have chosen their own names.
ReplyDeleteJacob was not the most popular boys name when we named our son that 38 years ago, but it has been the most popular for the last 12 years. I think we all like the nickname Jake. Jill is still a fairly uncommon name.
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