Southern given names

[kms]

Another thread mentioned that southern kids are saying "you guys" instead of "y'all" because of tv influence. How long do you think it will take for classic southern/Appalachian given names lose their color/creativity?

I lived in Hurricane, WV, in the 60's. It is along I-64, and doesn't have the terrain associated with West Virginia. My friends had modern names - Debbie, Cathy, Robin, Todd.. There was a set of twins named Omer and Homer.

I just took a quick look at Obits in Hurricane on-line paper. Here's a sample:
Males - Ival, Dorsel Lee, Lawnie, Otho, Londell
Females - Ardith, Uneeda, Little Brittany, Ramelda, Iva Lee, Luoma.
The names come from deceased and survivors.

I like the colorful names that sound "made-up", but I wouldn't name my daughter Ramelda! I guess TV and technology brings the world closer to what was once isolated and clannish. What do you think?

 

[Mastiff]

I had two dogs once named "Clem" and "Beuford".

 

[Zoning Goddess]

My favorite was the uncle of a high-school friend: Ansel Dekle

 

[donk]

A neighbour up the road from my parent's name is Delbert McNutt. Other local names her einclude Bliss (male), Allison (male), Huxley and then a whole lot of odd french ones that take a while to undersatnd (Isaie)

 

[Downtown]

I always liked how in the South, if you had a boy that was Bob Smith IIII, he'd be a Tripp. I like it, but it horrifies Rob, who would like to call our future son "Little Bobby". Um... no.

 

[Jeff]

Funny...

I was looking through the baby name book this weekend and decided i was going to name my first-born son "Skeeter" or "Cletus"

 

[Downtown]

Funny...

I was looking through the baby name book this weekend and decided i was going to name my first-born son "Skeeter" or "Cletus"

Hee. It would be absolutely criminal to name a kid "Cletus" nowadays, after Cletus, the Slackjawed Yokel.

 

[plannerkat]

My grandmothers are Lois and Iva Lee, my grandfathers are Roy and Van Cleo. I have (and had) great-uncles named Umphries, Homer, and Cecil, great-aunts named Sudie Lee, Flossie, Irene and Hazel, and countless cousins with names like Earl and Eunice. Happily, my generation largely has names that don't evoke images of rusted pickup trucks, Deliverance and a hundred ways to cook squirrel.

 

[kms]

I don't have the Deliverance image at all - I think of hard-working Baptists. The names make us think about a way of life, don't they, and maybe that is what will disappear. The hollers may some day be home to Chip and Buffy (another way of life). Maybe the satellite dishes are getting these people closer to the outside world.

My neighbor's female cousin was named Neola.

 

[Downtown]

I've noticed that both my and my husband's Western New York grandfathers and great uncles all are called by their nicknames: Grandpa Sie, Grandpa Brownie, Uncle Creamy, Uncle Slats and Uncle Pete (who's real name is Clayton - which I never knew until I was 22).

 

[Seabishop]

The trend will not stop until everyone in this country is named either Madison or Justin regardless of cultural background.

 

[plannerkat]

The trend will not stop until everyone in this country is named either Madison or Justin regardless of cultural background.

Let's not forget Lindsey, Morgan, or Jake.

Does it seem like 90% of kids these days are named after soap opera characters?

 

[Mastiff]

Let's not forget Lindsey, Morgan, or Jake.

Does it seem like 90% of kids these days are named after soap opera characters?

Hey now! I have a son named Jake!

Well, Jacob anyway... But *I* have a good reason. His great grandfather was Caton Jacobs... and after him, we named him Jacob Caton.

 

[Jeff]

The whole name thing is killing me. I guess it will be a little easier when we know if we are having a boy or girl.

I'm very set on giving the baby a traditional Italian name, since my wife had to go and ruin the heritage thing with her "muttness."

Boys: Fabrizio, Vincenzo, Dante, Bruno or Victor

Girl: Isabella

Speaking of Morgan, that's what my wife wants to name the baby if its a girl. I refuse too, it sounds like a fat girl name to me.

 

[donk]

I'm very set on giving the baby a traditional Italian name

I would have expected either Ernesto or Ugo, with maybe a Dario or Marco or Fausto...

 

[plannerkat]

Speaking of Morgan, that's what my wife wants to name the baby if its a girl. I refuse too, it sounds like a fat girl name to me.

In my run-ins with yuppie kids, I've found that Morgans & Madisons tend to be whiny prissy little brats. Now Claire's a fat girl's name.

 

[Jeff]

I would have expected either Ernesto or Ugo, with maybe a Dario or Marco or Fausto...

My wife would never let me name the baby after a bike racer. Paolo got shot down by her because of Paolo Bettini.

 

[Chet]

A friend of mine just named his new born son "Archer".

Pretty cool.

 

[NHPlanner]

My wife and I haven't come up with a girl's name yet, but have decided that when we have a boy it wil be Elijah.

 

[Downtown]

I'd always loved "Emma" and "Grace" for girls name and now they are just too damn popular. Rob really wants a little girl "Samantha", nicknamed Sam, a result of his lifelong crush on Alyssa Milano and a hold over from her Who's the Boss days.

For boys, we've agreed on Ethan and I'm grudgingly considering having a Robert Stephen III, if we have a second boy, or twins. Ugh. Sorry to all the Roberts out there, but I hate Bob (Rob's dad's name), and Rob's already a Rob, so we'd have to call him "Robert". Too damn confusing.

 

[nerudite]

I seem to like the French spellings for girls' names, like Avril (for April) or Aimee. Meghan for a back up as a girl name.

Boys' names? Aidan is nice (I must like the A names). I secretly like the name Wystan (W.H. Auden), but I wouldn't dare name a boy that for fear of him getting the crap beat out of him or his lunch money stolen.

 

[Seabishop]

Speaking of Morgan, that's what my wife wants to name the baby if its a girl. I refuse too, it sounds like a fat girl name to me.

Keep fighting her. Morgan is a fat guys name.

I don't get the trend of giving girls masculine names like Madison. I've even heard of Gordon as a girls name.

We should be naming our kids after Planning celebrities like Krumholtz or Plater-Zybec.

 

[Chet]

Keep fighting her. Morgan is a fat guys name.

I don't get the trend of giving girls masculine names like Madison. I've even heard of Gordon as a girls name.

We should be naming our kids after Planning celebrities like Krumholtz or Plater-Zybec.

KUNTSLER!!! Oh wait, the high school knick-names would be hellacious!

 

[Mastiff]

Now Claire's a fat girl's name.

Fat chick names:

Gertrude
Helga
Martha
Gail
Carla

I mean, name your girl those, you might as well start feeding them lard at birth.

 

[Downtown]

Keep fighting her. Morgan is a fat guys name.

I don't get the trend of giving girls masculine names like Madison. I've even heard of Gordon as a girls name.

We should be naming our kids after Planning celebrities like Krumholtz or Plater-Zybec.

I've always thought of Madison as a girls name. However, the whole "James" for a girl? what are people thinking?

For yuppie kids, we mustn't forget: Brittney, Hailey, Kayla, Ashley (and any derivitive: Ashlyn, Ashleigh, Ashton) and Caitlyn

 

[Seabishop]

There is a certain political correctness that is part of naming your girl something like James. Its a statement of the parents' free-spirited enlightenment. I still give my Mom a hard time about "Seabishop" but what can you do?

 

[Dan]

For some reason, at my last job, I met a disproportionately large number of Southern builder-types that were named "Randy."

 

[Dan]

Fat chick names:

Gertrude
Helga
Martha
Gail
Carla

Actually, in New Mexico, they're Hispanic hottie girl names. For some reason, many Gen-X aged Mexican-American women had what mainstream American culture would consider old lady named ... Gladys, Gertrude, Ethel, and so on. Two of the most attractive women I've ever had dates with were named ... Ester and Hortence. Both Hispanics, both southern New Mexico natives.

I knew a very attractive, ultimate girl-next-door-looking woman named Gail when I lived in Colorado; she was in the Gen-X group at the Unitarian church. I had a massive crush on her, but unfortunately she couldn't stand me; she liked goateed Joe Colorado fourteener-chasing types.

 

[Jeff]

OK, my wife and I came to a sort-of agreement on the girls name...Isabelle or Isabella...still got some decisions to make if it turns out to be a boy.

When we know the sex I'll have to post a poll and we can have the first ever Cyurbia "Name That Baby Contest."

 

[Mastiff]

Actually, in New Mexico, they're Hispanic hottie girl names. For some reason, many Gen-X aged Mexican-American women had what mainstream American culture would consider old lady named ...

*** Mastiff makes a mental note for trips to the southwest ***