American Names

[bohemianvegan.livejournal.com]

I have realized that some names that American parents give their kids (I am American, BTW) don't do well in other English-speaking countries. With the world being so small as it is now, these names can become a big deal.

Here are some I found out about:

Tucker. Tucker is slang for "food" in Australia.
Randy. This name means "horny" in British English. It is also used in other English-speaking countries. It reminds me of Austin Powers.
"Mc" names like McKenna, McKayla, etc. In Scotland "Mc" and "Mac" mean "son of". That's why many Scottish surnames begin with those syllables. Names like McDonald and MacArthur came about because people took their father's names to become their last names. Americans started using "Mc" in front of girl's names because of names like Michaela. They wanted spelling variations.

I did find all this interesting. :) I am not here to criticize anyone, but I am just making some points.

Yet there are some nice names that are unique to the USA that are nice. Some place names like Austin, Cheyenne, Brooklyn, etc. are nice. Also, some names like Kendra are sweet.

Comments

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

One of the funniest conversations I had in my early says as an adult in youth theatre was the teenager from London rushing up to me all a-twitter:

"I just realized! Randy's name is Randy!"

I assured her it was.

"And RANDY means HORNY! And his last name is P eck! And that sounds like "pecker!"

At this point, all I can do is nod and wait for her to get it all out of her system.

"Randy's name is HORNY PECKER!!"

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I totally just realized that when Spike said "Randy Giles? You named me Randy Giles?" in the Tabula Rasa episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, he totally meant randy as in horny.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I love that episode "Why didn't you just name me "Desperate For A Shag" Giles??"

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I feel like I truly just had an epiphany hahahha

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Sure, there are lots of these. It gets even worse when you're crossing languages. "Prune" is not an uncommon girl's name in France. Then there are surname issues--take a Chinese surname like "Poon" or "Ho".

My own daughter's name, Pippa, is an Italian slang term for masturbation, sort of like "jack off" or "wank". These things are impossible to avoid altogether. You can only hope that decent people will be understanding of cultural differences, in a mature and tolerant manner.

[bohemianvegan.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I didn't know that about Pippa. There's Pippa Middleton who is famous now. I wonder what the Italians think of that. :D

[blueorange94.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I once took a call from a woman named Poon Tang. It took everything I had not to burst out laughing in the middle of the call centre.

[jeweledvixen.livejournal.com]

I do not get upset about names from other countries/cultures. That is part of their heritage. I think this extends to U.S. names. Even if it means something humorous/unusual in another language/culture, if it's a legitimate name in the country in which it is being used, it is fine.

[madeyemads.livejournal.com]

I think that might be bullshit I know someone here in Melbourne with a son called Duke.

[chucklincanuck.livejournal.com]

Have a French friend named Fanny. She went by Stephanie when she lived in the US (where fanny means bum) and Ireland (where fanny means female genitalia).

[sweetest-asylum.livejournal.com]

people don't realize that the "mc" "mac" names are actually masculine.