Gulliver wrote:zompist wrote:Whites do this too. I recall reading an article about this (I forget where, I'm afraid), where the reporter talked to a bunch of people who said they wanted their kid to have a unique name or at least a unique spelling. Perhaps ironically, it was Asians who still just use traditional English names.
My name is Gulliver, I have a brother called Orlando and another called Hamish and a nephew called Luca. My best friend when I was little was a girl called Friday. While none of these names are quite Phónrixxia and Sharpaigne, none are exactly top-ten names. White people do indeed do it too.
One of my ex-neighbours once named their child 'Jaydon', specifically to have a name no other child would have. Needless to say, they didn't last long around here.
In my experience, uniqueing names is a very lower-class phenomenon - though exotic names (Orlando, et al) are a phenomenon more of the middle and upper classes.
[Actually, I'd say the upper classes are the ones most likely to adopt weird names. Just look at the line of succession: the immediate lot are pretty sensible (although William's middle name is 'Louis'), but even there there's a Theo (as a middle name, not an abbreviation) and a Eugenie, not to mention that Savannah is 12th in line to the thrown, with Isla one place down, followed by Zara. [Though Savannah and Isla are probably the result of their father, I'd guess]. #17 is Margarita, and one of her middle names is Alleyne. At #24, Lord Culloden's personal name is "Xan Richard Anders Windsor" - his daughter is Cosima, and his sister is Davina Benedikte. Davina's son is Tane Mahuta, and her daughter is Senna. Her sister Rose named her daughter a relatively traditional 'Lyla'. Currently excluded from place number #30 due to her religion is Lady Marina, which sounds a female Marina (like those old 'lady novelists' and 'lady policemen' that you used to get) (don't worry, 'Lady' is her title, not her name'). Although some say she's Marina-Charlotte with a hyphen, which sounds like a radio code.
34 is a Helen Marina, but her children are the real prizes - Columbus, Cassius, Eloise, and Estella. A little later it's Gabriella Marina, followed by an Alexandra who has an "Olga Christobel" tucked into her middle names. James Ogilvy has a 'Bruce' in his names, his daughter is Flora, his sister is another Marina, and her daughter, at #47 in line for the throne, is Zenouska. Then there are the Lascelle family. While little Leo Cyrus is illegitimate (and frankly, with a mother called Laleh, it's surprising he's as traditionally named as he is), Rowan and Sophie Amber are in line. Strikingly, while Jeremy names his children in the eighties things like "ellen" and "amy rose", he's lived up to the fashion of the age, meaning that #58 is Tallulah Grace. ]
[[Large parts of the upper class are chavs]]
