Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with names

Can you two just please introduce yourselves because I have no idea!

iamkimiam — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:21:37 -0800

I've had this silly and embarrassing little problem for years and I'm noticing that it's getting worse. Sometimes, when I run into somebody I know or if I'm introducing somebody I know to somebody they don't know, I truly blank out on the name of the person I know. This most always happens with people I know really well (close friends, family, etc.) and I really, really forget. It's like there's this big hole that appears in my head where their name used to be. I panic and try to grab onto anything in my head to lead me to knowing their name. It rarely if ever works. It's now happening about once-a-week, always with someone whose name I should know really well, always during social interaction, and doesn't ever seem to be related to stress or social anxiety situations. I usually need them to say their name (Atreyuuuuu...) or I need to go look them up to break the memory jam. At any rate, it's rather embarrassing and I never know what to do, e.g., my insta-panic and stuttering ramble that kicks in when I find myself in this situation. I'm wondering why this is happening, what I can do about it (especially classy ways to fess up when their name doesn't come to me), and if I should be concerned about it (symptom of a bigger problem)?

Who named Ghost Ditch? And when?

carsonb — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:14:41 -0800

This past weekend I drove from Los Angeles to Tucson via Interstate-10, and took to noticing the names of the various ditches and washes that are spanned by the highway out in the middle of the high lonesome desert. There are a lot of them. Ghost Ditch, Taro Ditch, Larry Ditch, Stubby Wash, Fornat Wash, Itta Wash, Edom, Mccoy, Rollie, Bula, Sutro, Calotus, Esso, Arco, Teed, Turala, maybe a hundred between the ditches and the washes. The names don't seem to refer to nearby municipalities (there aren't any) or other geographical features, and are clearly part of the National Bridge Inventory. How were these 'waterways' named? Who named them? Were they named before the freeway required infrastructure to pass over them, or during the construction process, or when the NBI was implemented, or after the fact altogether? I have submitted a question at UglyBridges.com, which looks like a public-facing handmade front for the NBI. There doesn't seem to be much interest in 'bridges' over washes and ditches in the middle of nowhere, big surprise, and I haven't heard anything back from them. The NBI has a library but their services are mainly reserved for governmental employees doing important things that aren't based in idle curiosity. I imagine I'll hear back from them sometime next year. FHA has a boatload of documents and policy to wade through, and I'm sort of picking through it haphazardly. So, here I am, asking you. Any idea how that sort of thing works?

Looking for pronunciations of US city names

zorm — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:32:05 -0800

I'm looking for a source - either paid or free - that can provide pronunciations of US city names. By that I mean all/most cities within the US or least those covered by USPS. I realize this might not be feasible so even a source with partial coverage would be welcome. I'm primarily looking for US English pronunciations, although would be interested in investigating any pronunciations with accents, particularly US Spanish.

Spoken pronunciations would be great but textual/written pronunciations (either "phonetic"or with a specific phoneme set) would suffice. Both audio and textual would be ideal (although I'm guessing unlikely).

Help with coming up with a titular character for my book

philosophistry — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:51:39 -0800

I need help coming up with a titular character of my book, someone who is sympathetic and sounds like a reasonable person to ask for advice. My book was called Dear Charlotte: A Geek's Life in Self-Improvement. It comprises 80 or so letters to my friend Charlotte about my adventures in self-improvement. Initially she was fine with me using her name, but now that I want to add some pseudo-fictional details about her, I need to do so without implying that they're about her.

Right now, my working alternative in Dear Samantha, but I like it only 85% as much as I like Charlotte. Charlotte is a nice recipient because of its connection to Charlotte's web. It's an older name. It sort of calls to some refined, but compassionate sensibility. Samantha shares some of those features, but the ring of it isn't as great as Dear Charlotte.

Dear Katie, for example, wouldn't sound as good. It sounds like you're writing letters to your grand-daughter.

Further details if it helps: Charlotte/Samantha, in the book, is my age, and ages with me, as I write these letters. She likes to read books, wants to be a fantasy novelist, but also is ambitious. (She goes to Stanford, working for Google, etc.). She's half-Chinese, half-white, and potentially a lesbian.

The name Samantha came to mind quickly, because Charlotte and Samantha are characters on Sex and the City.

Thanks!

name my kid for a hero of cosmopolitanism

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:39:29 -0800

So my wife is pregnant. Hooray! (Still early enough that we don't know the gender). We're starting to think about names. It seems to me that the world's great hope and story of progress is the expansion of rights and consideration of the views & interests of an ever-widening swath of humanity. Which historical figures stand for pluralism, for rejecting provincialism, in word or deed? I've picked up, but haven't yet read Kwame Anthony Appiah's Cosmopolitanism; I'd be grateful for suggestions of books or other resources that might be useful. I can be reached at MefiNamesMyKid@gmail.com. My wife & I are white people in the United States, if that affects people's frame of reference (but wouldn't that be uncosmopolitan if it did). The last name will be two syllables, accent on the first one, long E sound in the second one, sorta like "Colby".

I suppose Henry IV of France could work-- "Paris is worth a mass", he supposedly said as he converted to Catholicism in order to become king. But I'm hoping for more well-considered examples.

Name my shell companies

dry white toast — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:56:34 -0800

MetaFilter, I'm creating two corporate entities for small side ventures, and I get to name them whatever I want! Suggestions/inspirations? (some parameters inside) Aside from the odd cheque made out to them, the company names won't be all that visible. Names can be anything PG (including random made up words), but here are some themes if helpful:

-Company names from TV and Movies
-place names
-pop culture references - sci-fi, sitcoms (Simpsons references welcome), alternative and classic rock.
-general satire and irony

I'm hoping to have a little, semi-silly, fun. Sorta like naming pets. Consider this a right-brain warm-up for your weekend.

Obvious disclaimer: by posting a suggestion, you're agreeing that it's okay for me to use your idea for free. I won't be making any money off the name itself.

I'm curious about how this works in other families

Slarty Bartfast — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:58:38 -0800

What is the name of your child's favorite stuffed animal? I just wanted to know what kind of names kids come up with for the little characters that inhabit their bedrooms. Curiosity is all.

Why are wine bottles named after old, dead, semitic men?

scrim — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:13:22 -0800

Why are large-format wine bottles predominantly named after biblical figures (e.g. this reasonably comprehensive Wikipedia page)? The answer is not easily forthcoming on either the internet (although Google has been asked "why do wine bottles have biblical names?" before) or in my collection of food-studies books. Any ideas?

Help me pick a name that doesn't rhyme!

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:04:24 -0800

I am expecting a baby boy, and we have a slight problem when it comes to giving this kid a name. Our last name, Hadley, rhymes or sounds sing-songy with the only names we like. Help! I have three favorite boy names:

1) Leo (my husband hates this one, so it's out...just want to give you an idea of naming style)
2) Henry - so our kid would be named Henry Hadley. Is this preposterous or kinda cute? I definitely don't want our kid to have a "funny" name.
3) Charles (nickname Charlie). Is Charlie Hadley too many -lee sounds?

I'm looking for your gut reaction as to how these names sound with our last name, as well as any suggestions of similar (classic, old man) boy names.

Help with a trendy Asian restaurant name?

emeyer5269 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:27:14 -0800

I'd like to get some help for a new trendy, southeast Asian restaurant name. The restaurant will be limited service (fast-casual), similar to a Chipotle. Some names that I like: 1) Papaya 2) Spice 3) Samosa Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you have questions, and I can try to answer them. Thanks! Eric

Help us name our cats.

baby beluga — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:32:34 -0800

We just acquired two new kittens from the shelter. Problem: we are stumped as to what to name them. Obligatory cat photo provided by the shelter. I haven't taken any yet because they're both still hiding inside the carry case we brought them home in.

They're four months old, both female. Names we have batted around, with varying degrees of seriousness: Lucy, Wallace (after Alfred Russel Wallace), Marie Curie, Lorenz (after Ed Lorenz -- this one was not my idea), Harriet. We like scientists and "human" names. I have been informed that I am under no circumstances allowed to name them something "stupid" like Bagel and Cream Cheese. But please provide these anyway and I will sweet-talk my partner into going along with it.

"Pigeon" "Roach" and "Rat" are right out

2soxy4mypuppet — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:54:33 -0800

A New York client has asked for a group of names (3 to 6) with which to market some high-end luxury residences in Midtown. The previous theme was "theater" and they'd like something different. The residences are 30+ floors up. Unfortunately the setting is pretty sleek and anonymous. I haven't been to the city in a year and without a theme, my creative fu is completely failing. (Once I have that, the individual names will probably come.) Perhaps you have some ideas? Many thanks.

Writings on novel given names

zadcat — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:49:47 -0800

I'm looking for writings on modern given names, name lists and/or theories on why so many parents feel compelled to give children unusually spelled variants or completely invented names instead of names from the common stock, so to speak. I've done a bit of searching, but among other things the fact such names are variously called given names, forenames and Christian names makes it a bit complicated.

Post not-so-Secret

threeants — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:27:29 -0800

I'd like to start a blog featuring my small collection of found (used/sent) postcards. What measures should I take for due ethical diligence? I have some cool old postcards that I bought at thrift stores. I'm hoping to scan them and post them on a blog. They're all sent from someone to someone else (i.e. not me or anyone I personally know). I'd like to preserve/show as much of the contents as is ethical.

===

concerns:

--It stands to reason that generally, if someone's selling a used postcard to a thrift store, the sender (if not the recipient as well) is likely to be unaware of the sale.

--Visible names and addresses.

mitigations:

--The postcards are old. The most recent ones are from the 1960s. The vast majority of people involved are probably dead.

--The text is banal. People don't tend to send postcards confessing their deepest hopes and fears. They tend to write terse sentences about hotels and weather.

--There may not be much of an expectation w/r/t postcards in the first place? Anyone can read them while they're in transit (as opposed to an enveloped letter).

--There might be value in leaving names intact so people doing historical/genealogical searches on their family members could come across these...maybe? I know I'd be thrilled if I randomly came across a postcard sent by my great-grandfather or what have you.

--This is basically what historians do...right? Maybe? No?

===

So what should I do? Black out part of the name? Part of the address? Can I leave both intact? Is this project too ethically fraught to even embark on? Naturally, whatever I do I'll have a notice saying that if you are somehow party to one of the postcards, I'll take the entry down at your request.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not Mrs Him!

raspberry-ripple — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:13:21 -0800

I am not Mrs Myhusband'sfirstinitial Myhusband'slastname. I keep getting Christmas cards that suggest I am. Is there any way of nicely asking people not to do this that isn't rude or churlish? When I got married, after a great deal of soul-searching, I eventually decided to keep my own surname but add my husband's on at the end without hyphenating it (so I am officially Mrs Firstname Mysurname Hissurname). However, even people who know that I did this, know that I thought very very hard about doing it, and know that, of all things, I really, really did not want to just take his surname and ditch mine altogether, persist in addressing things to Mr and Mrs X Hisname. (It is slightly complicated by the fact that our first names do start with the same initial, but I'm pretty sure they mean his first initial and not mine.)

I'm sure this comes across as being uppitty and pedantic, but it's a big deal to me. There were a few reasons why I didn't want to change my name to his - largely they were equality/feminist reasons (why should it be me who loses the name?), but a lot of it was also to do with the fact that I am very, very close to my family and not at all close to his, so having the same name as his family and not mine seemed completely wrong. Anyone reasonably close to me knows that this was a big issue for me, so it really bothers me that they just call me by his name regardless.

I'm starting to think that if people insist on leaving half of my surname out then the only option I have is to just go back to my maiden name, as if I had to pick only one of the surnames I'd go with mine rather than his. However, my husband would, I suspect, feel this was a kind of rejection, as as sensible as he is, he's never really entirely understood how I feel about the issue.

I really don't want to annoy or criticise people who are, after all, good enough to send us cards in the first place, but I'm a little miffed that I went through months of agonising and a deed poll just to be called Mrs Him regardless. (I get that it's easier and quicker just to write one surname on an envelope, but really, what's wrong with just "Hisfirstname and Myfirstname", if it's really that hard?) Is there anything I can do? Many thanks in advance!

Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?

xicana63 — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:51:06 -0800

Film buffs! - Other movies where we never know the characters real names and are only given nicknames? I just finished watching Exam (Netflix Instant, loved it) and it sparked this question. Other than Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Exam can you name other movies where the characters are not referred to by their name and are given nicknames at the beginning of the film? (Mr. Brown, Mr. Pink / Blonde, Black, Brown, Dark).

Will my new cat's smell ever go away?

kerri13 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:38:14 -0800

I just got a new kitten and she smells terrible. Will it go away? I just got a new kitten and everything is going great so far except for the fact that she stinks! She's been in a shelter for about 7 months so obviously that is why, but I'm just wondering if it's ever going to go away. I've given her a bath (which she surprisingly didn't mind) but it didn't seem to help in the slightest.

My other cat, I'm not kidding, actually smells GOOD. I don't remember her smelling bad when I got her, either.
Do you think new kitty will eventually smell good, too?

Also, any name ideas for new kitty? :)

Cross-lingual baby name suggestions

gorcha — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:51:23 -0800

Baby name finder... international edition. I'd like to find something like The Baby Name Wizard, but with a twist: it needs to find names that work in multiple languages.

For example, it would generate a name that works in English, French and German, and it would leave out names which are bad for whatever reason in any of those languages: whether the name be tricky to pronounce, to spell, or mean something terrible.

AskMezza

catlet — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 08:11:06 -0800

What is the etymology of British nicknames ending in -zza/-zzer? For example:

Jeremy Clarkson > Jezza

Paul Gascoigne > Gazza

Laurence Fox > Lozza

Bazzer in Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels

I'm trying to figure out what sorts of names get this treatment, and what the cultural "rules" are for applying it. It appears largely to be done with men's names that start with a consonant, though Harry Styles of One Direction is called "Hazza," so a glottal consonant seems to be sufficient. Some experts-on-the-Internet say this is a Cockney pattern, but I thought Cockney nicknames were more descriptive of person or occupation.

Name This Cat

munyeca — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:58:21 -0800

Help me name my cat. Cat is a very large (16lb, long and furry), solid white male cat. He has one blue eye and one green eye. See him here.

Bonus point for literary names. I'm also open to non-human names (i.e. "Karate Chop," "Popcorn," although I can't use either of these names because they belong to friends' cats.)

Musical Spoon River or Tilbury Town

dlugoczaj — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 06:51:07 -0800

Help me make a mix CD that populates a fictitious town. I'm interested in developing a mix CD that's populated by fictional characters, ending up as a musical town of sorts. What I need for this are songs that are titled with a person's first and last name (middle is optional)--I'm going for an effect like Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, in which most of the poems's titles are the names of people in his fictional town. I strongly prefer that the people be fictional or apocryphal, or at the very least, not famous for anything other than being in that song (e.g., the Beastie Boys' Johnny Ryall, who may be a real person but no one would know of him otherwise).

Some thoughts I have already:

"Richard Cory," Simon & Garfunkel
"Johnny Ryall," Beastie Boys
"Jimmy Bell," Mike Doughty
"John Wesley Harding," Bob Dylan
"Jacky Don Tucker," Toby Keith
"Sam Hall," Johnny Cash
"Eleanor Rigby," The Beatles

Obviously I got the easy ones already. Looks like I could really use some more women. Thoughts?

Girl names with a B

House of Leaves of Grass — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:20:53 -0800

Help me come up with a girl baby name within some very special constraints! We're expecting! As we're counting down the first trimester and waiting to tell people, we're discussing names. Our boy name is set in stone--both of our traditional family names. But we're struggling a bit with a first name for a girl, since we don't have any great girl names in our families.

Here's our criteria:

Must go with the middle name Leigh.
Must begin with the letter B.
Repurposed boy's names are fair game for consideration.
Our last name begins with an O and has two syllables.
Bonus points for literary connotations.

For example, our current front-runner name is Bridget; we'd call her Bree for short.

Name my (presumably) awesome baby

deadcrow — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:14:45 -0800

Help us name our second born so that she/he can live up to the awesomeness of her/his brother. We are expecting our second baby in May (gender undetermined). Last time around we had a boy and a girl name picked out pretty much immediately, which seemed to go a long way toward making everything seem real. We used our boy name for baby #1, and what we thought was our super-unique-perfect-for-only-us girl name has been used twice by relatively close friends since our kid was born, so I feel like we are back to the drawing board this time around.

Here are some of the loose criteria we have:

1. Nothing currently too popular or trendy. I usually use this to check a name's popularity over time. Top 20 in the last 20 or so years or top 100 in the last couple years is usually grounds for being blacklisted. I don't want my kid to have a handful of peers with his/her name.

2. I really have a preference for names that mean something in English, like Prudence, Ernest, and Clover but...

3. Our son's name is Basil, and I'm on the fence about whether it would be absurd to use a plant/plant-like name for the next kid.

4. Our last name is English, starts with W and is two syllables long.

5. The Playground Taunt Factor is not a huge concern. Kids will find a reason to make fun or our kids. We'll find a way to handle it.

And here are some names that we have considered, that haven't quite hit the sweet spot:

Boys:
Casper
Reuben
Richard/Ari (My husband's late father was named Richard. Do you think we can use Ari as a nickname for Richard?)
Alfie
Opie
Orville
Humphrey
Valentine
Royal
Linus

Girls:
Coraline
Margot
Ernestine
Persephone
Poppy
Posy
Poet
Clementine
Lavender
Juniper

So, what names are we overlooking? Give us something to work with for these next 7 months!

Impending name change and the resulting identity crisis.

_Mona_ — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:52:27 -0800

I'm getting re-married. How do I juggle a professional identity with my soon-to-be old name and a new name identity everywhere else? I'm about to get re-married (yay!). I'll need to keep using my current name professionally because I'm far too established with (online and otherwise) to change it. I'm not thrilled by this but, logistically, it would be just a nightmare.

Socially, I want to take my new husband's name because I like it. I also don't want to have my ex's last name while married to someone else. I never really liked my current name anyway but only hung on to it so my kids and I would have the same last name. In retrospect, I realize it wasn't the right decision, but I digress.

Is it better to legally change my name to Mona Newname or legally stay Mona Ex'sname? I know name changes are a hassle, but I don't mind that part. What concerns me is having to juggle two identities. How workable is it? I really don't want to be known as Mona Ex'sname any longer and anywhere I don't have to be, but is it worth legally changing it on my driver's license, etc when it's still going to be a huge part of my life?

I've read previous threads on change names but none seem to address this particular aspect of a name change.

Data points:

1) I considered hyphenating but the resulting name would be unwieldy and I would really like to shed my ex's name entirely wherever possible.

2) New husband and I won't be having kids so that's a non-issue.

3) New husband can't change his name for professional reasons either so coming up with a blend won't work.

To be clear, I have no animosity about my ex or his name, I just don't like it.

Help! Puppy is eleven weeks and still nameless!!!

OolooKitty — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:04:46 -0800

There's a new Corgi in town! But what's his name??? My friend lost her fabulous Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Smokey Joe, in April. He was officially the best dog in the world... and now she's been lucky enough to get a puppy from Smokey Joe's sister. People always commented on the greatness of SJ's name, and now she's feeling naming pressure and can't come up with anything. He can't be "Puppypuppypuppy" for much longer.

We have agreed that this boy looks kind of like a 1930s movie dog. He is a typical Corgi; charming, active, brave, and already majorly bonded to his new human.

Here is a link to the cuteness. Bonus picture of Smokey Joe included.