I have been watching the Tele Vision Feature “American Idol” recently. I have a few Questions about Names.
1) Why are modern people named things like Ace, but never Eight or King?
2) Why Bucky, but never Poundy or Dollary?
3) Why Paris, but never Dusseldorf or Liverpool?
If anyone can satisfy my curiosity, I will be much beholden to you.
Exquisite (as ever),
Bertie the Beau
I don’t know, Bertie.
Diane
Bertie – there is a Trey Wingo out there on television, but since ESPN doesn’t stand for Equestrian Sports Programming Network, it’s unlikely you’ve run into him.
With regard to Paris, don’t you think it would be easier to convince a city to change its name, say to Ace? Or Bertie?
Finally I think we should all compare the similarities of Simon, and Simony.
Rob
Ah, because people in this century are crazy. Best answer I can come up with for you. LOL 🙂
Lois
I’m clueless, too. It’s one reason I prefer to luxuriate in the follies of an earlier time. (Besides the fact that men dressed so much better.)
Trey Wingo? All right! (A “Trey Devall” or something sounds like a bad romance hero name!)
Hmm… So, Rob, if Simon = simony, does Cowell = cowardice? (And we know what Randy means!) The judges can be the seven deadly sins or something!
I agree with Lois, that people in this century are crazy. But perhaps Regency people were crazy too! Bertie? What do you think?
Cara
Oh, and to actually answer your questions, Bertie:
1) In most modern card games, the Ace is the high card. So if you want your kid to be a winner, you name him Ace. (Okay, Rob has pointed out that someone named his kid Trey. But maybe that fellow was a really bad card player. Or couldn’t count. Or something.) (Or perhaps Trey was the third son, following Uno and Duo?)
2) “Bucky” is probably not a money reference, but might mean that the person is a bucking bronco. Or can ride a bucking bronco? Or the buck stops with him? Or perhaps he was born a chicken, and his first words were “buck buck”?
3) If you named your kid Dusseldorf, the other kids would call him Dusseldork, so that’s out. And as for Liverpool — well, liver’s not very popular nowadays. Not that anyone would exactly want to be without one…
Cara
Oh, and who could forget Deuce Bigelow, or Deuce McAllister. Or Jack Nicholson.
Oh, and Queen Latifah! 🙂
Maybe Deuce is used as a name because it once was a euphemism for Devil??? Or perhaps the Deuces are all second sons. 🙂
Actually, place names are increasingly common. I know people named Dallas, Austin, etc.
Also, names that once were occupations are awfully common. I personally know kids named Tanner, Hunter, Cooper, and Chandler. And there’s SF writer Cordwainer Smith — that’s two occupations right there! I’m still waiting for a Vintner or a Milliner.
Cara
I think that in recent years, people have felt the need to be creative with names. What I don’t quite understand is why so many of them decide to be creative in exactly the same way. How many Brittanys, Tiffanys, and Brianas does the world need?
BTW, re the name Ace: if you are allowed to branch out into other languages, I think we can cover most of the pack: there’s Otto (8 in Italian), Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, and Decimus (all Latin). We’ve already had Deuce, Trey, Jack, and Queen. And what about Rex? Now all we need is for someone to name their kids Tetris and Nonnie and we’ll be set.
Todd-who-can-sometimes-count