[Opinions] Re: Names on my mind + potential BA + question!
in reply to a message by Millie
Rita - one of those quasi-exotic names from the mid 20th century which is now relatively pedestrian seeming, like Donna and Lorraine. Rita seems smart and maybe sporty. Happy and competent. It's a good name, just doesn't have a particular appeal to me.
Margaret "Meg" - Margaret is conservative and very feminine. Meg is probably the weakest, cutest, most diminutive nick for it. It's ok
Mary - conservative and feminine but somehow less domesticated than Margaret. Mary is sort of heroic. Also generic, though. I like it, but my impression that it's generic makes it seem not usable.
Emma - there's something smug about the name Emma. it's nms. It's very dignified though
Stanley - square.
Kian (or Kean / Cian?) - has a weird clipped quality that makes it butch despite having a whiny sound. I dunno, it's ok, just that on paper I tend to see it in the context of the trend for Irish and C/K___n names for boys and that makes it seem faddish/mediocre
Keenan - I could never fail to notice how it sounds like keening. Also, seems very surnamey and impersonal, which is nms
Caleb - conservative ugly clunker I wish had never been revived in the 80s/90s.
Is Zelda that bad? No, not in itself. It's just so much of the moment that it's annoying. Like, very few people ought to really LOVE the name Zelda so much that they'd want to BE Zelda and give it as a name to their own kid. But if you shine it up by ascribing it an image based on it not conforming to popular aesthetic standards yet still being a familiar traditional name ... they might use it. It's hipster. I dunno that it's "bad" to name kids that way. It might be good, for the kids, in some ways.
I'd use Alexandra, it's one of my faves ... but not Allie. If it's Allie versus Rose, I'd go with Rose. Allie is blah. I like Rose.
- mirfak
Margaret "Meg" - Margaret is conservative and very feminine. Meg is probably the weakest, cutest, most diminutive nick for it. It's ok
Mary - conservative and feminine but somehow less domesticated than Margaret. Mary is sort of heroic. Also generic, though. I like it, but my impression that it's generic makes it seem not usable.
Emma - there's something smug about the name Emma. it's nms. It's very dignified though
Stanley - square.
Kian (or Kean / Cian?) - has a weird clipped quality that makes it butch despite having a whiny sound. I dunno, it's ok, just that on paper I tend to see it in the context of the trend for Irish and C/K___n names for boys and that makes it seem faddish/mediocre
Keenan - I could never fail to notice how it sounds like keening. Also, seems very surnamey and impersonal, which is nms
Caleb - conservative ugly clunker I wish had never been revived in the 80s/90s.
Is Zelda that bad? No, not in itself. It's just so much of the moment that it's annoying. Like, very few people ought to really LOVE the name Zelda so much that they'd want to BE Zelda and give it as a name to their own kid. But if you shine it up by ascribing it an image based on it not conforming to popular aesthetic standards yet still being a familiar traditional name ... they might use it. It's hipster. I dunno that it's "bad" to name kids that way. It might be good, for the kids, in some ways.
I'd use Alexandra, it's one of my faves ... but not Allie. If it's Allie versus Rose, I'd go with Rose. Allie is blah. I like Rose.
- mirfak
This message was edited 2/6/2014, 9:41 AM