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#78278 08/15/02 03:15 PM
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In the US, the custom of using traditional names has abated. Beginning with the black subculture in the 1960s, which revived a tradition of inventing names, the of nontraditional names has spread throughout the culture, to the point at which less than half of babies are now given traditional names. And girls are at least ten percent more likely than boys to be given unusual names.

According to a survey of social security data of the past ten years, fashionable girl names now include:

Cameron
Drew
Taylor
Alexis
Dakota
Venice
Sicily
Rio
Troy

What are the popular names now where you live?


#78279 08/15/02 03:57 PM
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Re:to the point at which less than half of babies are now given traditional names.

This is something like "standard tranmissions" in cars... nowdays most cars come with automatic transmission as a "standard option," but "standard transmission" has become a syn. for Manual transmission.

Traditonal names used to mean names associated with the Bible, Christian saints, an few name from Classical greek and roman literture; i.e., Ann/Anne, Sara, Rebecca, (B), Helen, Jocalyn, Livia,(C), Theresa, Margaret, and Christina (CHR).

At the time of the US revolution, Old testiment names were very popular, at other times, Christian (saints) names have been more popular-- I don't know anything about the history of made up names, except, Wendy was a name made up by Barre for Peter Pan, and Heidi was a made up name too, by the author.. so made up names have been around for a while.

-- i think if i were have a kid today, i would like Wyoming as name, for a girl. maybe because, of all the places i have been on this earth, Wyoming struck me as the most beautiful place.




#78280 08/15/02 09:28 PM
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-- i think if i were to have a kid today, i would like Wyoming as name, for a girl. maybe because, of all the places i have been on this earth, Wyoming struck me as the most beautiful place.

Robert Heinlein beat you to it ! In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" the important woman character is named Wyoming Knott, known at times as Wy or Wyo.




#78281 08/16/02 08:08 PM
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My older son, who will be 5 in a couple of weeks, is named Aidan. When we chose the name, we thought we were picking an unusual name, but one that some people would have heard of. To my amazement, it's unusual for a week to go by without my meeting or hearing of a young boy named Aidan. It's the weirdest thing. I wonder if others here have come across this name more commonly than in the past?

That said, my one-year-old is named Simon - and I have yet to run across a single kid named Simon since his birth, and only one adult, I think. So this doesn't seem to be a matter of my noticing the name of my child more simply because it's more significant to me than before - I honestly had never met an Aidan in my life before my son was born, and now I have met dozens.


#78282 08/16/02 08:20 PM
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My brother claims to have made up the name MaKenna, by changing a name he saw on a resume, when his daughter was born. He now knows more than one MaKenna. In fact it seems to be more and more common as time goes by.


#78283 08/16/02 08:24 PM
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My boss' daughter is named Makena (pronounced as MaKenna probably is), from a Hawaiian word, so your brother can add another to his list.


#78284 08/16/02 08:27 PM
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What does it mean?(Makena)yaknow?


#78285 08/16/02 08:45 PM
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green]What does it mean?(Makena)

I feared you might ask this, and I've been trying to recall. It's got something to do with water and waves (big surprise there, eh?).

I'll send him an e-mail and ask, but I'll be away for a couple of weeks, so you won't get an answer right away.

Query: Why, oh why, did this come out in Times rather than the traditional Arial? I din't do nuffin' to it.

#78286 08/17/02 03:02 PM
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I know so many Simons they all have prefixes to distinguish them from each other: orange Simon, bitter Simon, neighbour Simon, Nome Simon, Si, Sim, and countless more. In my neck of the woods and in my age group it is only surpassed in number by Ben, Dave and Karl. My sister had four girls with the same name as her in her class at school, despite my mother having decided on her name some thirty years previously when she was a little girl herself. I have only ever met one other person with the same name as me, though it sounds like a common name, Sally seems to have dropped out of use.


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makena - short "a" = 1. mourning, wailing, lamentation 2. calm, of the sea, atmosphere.

makena - with a long "a" = many, numerous, often, much.

makena wai = place where a stream disappears in the ground.


Source : "Hawaiian Dictionary" by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert considered the definitive work.


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