Sometimes when American parents are given the task of naming their children, they decide that a "normal" name would be boring, so they come up with some sort of weird combination of letters which no one can pronounce or they name the child after a common object or feeling (i.e. Sunshine, Passion, Apple, etc.). I can understand how parents can feel that there are no original names left out there without resorting to one of these two options.
But, just a short jump across the pond and Europe provides a whole slew of new names up for grabs. Here's some "new" names to try:
Sabastian, Basti
Christoph
Ingo (male)
Inga (female)
Inken (female, heard it in a movie)
Rike
Mirko
Josephine, Josi
Francine, Francie
Axl
Felix
Brigitte
Magdelena, Lena
Julianna, Juli, Anna
Katherina, Kathe
Ferdinand, Ferdi
Ulrike
Ronny
Niesel (I find this name funny because "nieseln" means "to drizzle")
Steffen
Marcel
Carolla
These are only German names. When Poles were here at BTU for our frisbee tournament in December, they brought along a whole new name vocabulary.
Ola (I'm told a very common name)
Marek
Mikolaj
Matan
Sylwia (the w is pronounced like a v, also a very common name)
Karola
Lucjan
Ulle
Nynek
Rafal
Kamil
In the United States it is common to see "Baby Names" books in bookstores. I can't claim to have flipped through many, but from the couple I ever did flip through at the library (remember, I worked at libraries for a few years), they all contained pretty normal "American" names.
I think an international baby name book needs to be created. You know, travel the world collecting names from various countries. Of course, many names are mispronounced when out of the context of the original language. So, the spelling of names would need to be tweaked in order for American speakers to get the pronunciation correct while still trying to maintain the original beauty in how the name looks.
I think such a baby name book would be really helpful to a lot of American parents who are on the brink of committing a horrible mistake in naming their child/pet.
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I completely agree. I was planning on being one of those people who picked random letter and had a child/pet named "Sfshgfla" because I don't like the prospect of having my poor thing (child/pet) with the same name as dozens of others. International names may be the answer I've been searching for.
ReplyDeleteSomeone: That's not a real name!
Me: Yes, it is! In Iceland!!
BTW, I'm composing an email for you because I've been incredibly laze lately. Soon! I need to catch up on the world of Lali.
I disagree. It's easier for the kid to be named a "normal" or common name. As a nurse, I meet a lot of people with unusual names and can't imagine going their whole lives always having to spell it out for people. You know, Laurie, how inconvenient it is. I thought Cathy was easy until she ended up having to always say, Cathy with a C. I thought, OK, I won't do that to you. I never dreamed or knew that Laurie is most uncommon now days and the more common way is Lori. Now you have to always spell your whole name. How frustrating for you. I would think since Lauren, Laural, and Laura are all spelled with the "au", that people would assume Laurie first, but they don't.
ReplyDelete"Normal, common" names are nice, and easy. People in Germany probably wouldn't think of naming their kids with an American name or even Polish, etc. They name them names common to Germany, b/c it's comfortable and traditional.
This of course is just my opinion, but I prefer common names and think they are definitely easier for the kid growing up and perfectly fine. Name your dog or cat an unusual name if you'd like, to be different, but not your offspring. It's cruel.