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[Facts] Re: Fruity names
In French, fruity names plus spices names are a trend, small, but a trend. They are known and used since the French Revolution and in some cases they coincide with saints' names (as Pomme very close to the saint's name Pome), but lately this names are appearing more and more in naming boards (I noticed Cerise, Prune and Cannelle in a lot of discussions by mothers-to-be).Here you have an article about the most used:http://www.notrefamille.com/v2/editorial-dossiers/les-prenoms-de-fruits.aspIn Catalan, Mirtil ("bilberry") and Gerd ("raspberry") are used, but they are little-known fruits and they coincide with a mythological name and a German name, which means that they are more acceptable to most of the people. But it is clear its intention as fruit names because often the siblings have also names coming from words: Gavina ("gull"), Isard ("chamois"), Mel ("honey"), Brot ("shoot"), Acant ("Bear's Breeches")...In Spanish, the use of fruity names is unknown (to my knowledge) unlike other names coming from nature words (Lluvia, Luna, Arena...).
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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Very interesting! Can you please clarify, what do you mean by "Bear's Breeches" - a word for nthe backside of a bear? This is a name used in Catalonia?On the original subject, I thought of the author Banana Yoshimoto (Japanese), although that is a pen name.
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I copied "Bear's Breeches" from the Wikipedia as the English name for the plant scientifically known as Acanthus mollis:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthus_mollisObviously, I don't know the story or the etymology behind the English expression. Perhaps an English philologist or an English speaker can help with that.Acant is a name used in Catalonia. It is unusual, as most of the nature names, but it is not unheard. For instance, there is an actor named Acant, Acant Canet (and I met another one in person).Before the new Spanish naming law (and in some small towns, even after it), many people had a hard time trying to register nature words as a names, so they usually registered a non-related name for the child, who went always and exclusively by another name (a nature word); that is the case, for instance, of a girl named Nit ("night"), registered as Maria. This situation disguises the real use of nature names.

This message was edited 4/5/2010, 5:21 AM

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