JFF What's in a Name?

I just watched the documentary called Freakonomics. It's based on the book. It had a segment that talked about names. It talked about how names don't determine anything, but, rather, the likelihood of a parent deciding to call their child a particular name indicates more about the parent and how the child will be raised. For example, parents who choose to name their child Bambi might be inclined to raise the child differently than parents who name their child, say, Ava. It was really interesting. =)

Oh, and my brother's name is Chris. He's the angel of the family! LOL

My husband loves the name Amber because every Amber he has had as a student (he's a teacher) has been WONDERFUL! But I don't like it because I went to school with an Amber, and she was a dingbat. LOL

As teachers we talk about this all the time. Never met an Alex or Jackson who wasnt difficult, Angel even worse, I've never met a John who didnt have trouble with alcohol. But my Chris is just perfect!

I've seen a trend recently which I don't like. I can't STAND names that are misspelled according to tradition...Kourtnie, Kadie, Aymie, Jakob...I swear, its not cute to me...it just looks like their parents don't know how to spell. I get its supposed to be creative and cute, but when you are 30 yrs old looking for a job, its not so cute.

Dont' get me wrong..I love creative names like Socrates and Zeus and Seven...just don't misspell them!

I HAD to read this one to my husband Chris. He's the least dangerous person I know. LOL!

Hah!! I totally know what you mean!! Every "Sandy" I've met has been SOO nice!! Growing up it seemed that boys with a "B" at the beginning of their names were always the cutest. Blake, Bryce, Brett.... Turns out I married a Brad!!

I will have fun with this and not over analyse. Marley. My cousin's husband wanted to name their daughter Marley but I said please don't. My daughter had 2 Marley's at her school and they were 2 year old bullies. :) Luckily she didn't like the name so she chose something else. Joyce. Every Joyce I know is self destructive even my Aunt who is named Joyce. For men its Todd. Every Todd I have ever met is an arrogant @#%. The name Rick is usually associated with bad boys but every Rick I've met or known have been the nicest people.

Disclaimer: I'm sure most people with these names may be wonderful people. This is just the experience I have had with these names.

LOL! This is hilarious!

Every "Robert" I've known has been a complete a-hole. Ever since high school!

"Chris"- Needy.

I grew up with several Lisa's.
One was a good friend, another was a bully and I couldn't stand her.
I had a boss named Craig and he was simply deranged.
I had a friend named Chris - he didn't have a dangerous bone in his body.
Best description for him was 'mostly harmless'.
I don't think the names mean anything about how a person grows up or turns out to be.
I think people bring something to the name which leaves an impression.
People are named at birth and can live till their 90's - a whole lot of changes and life experiences happen between those events.
People make the name, the name does not make people.

My nephew is a Chris(topher) and he's not dangerous...and my boys' best friend? A Chris(topher) as well!!! Not dangerous!!

The Ian's I've known have been arrogant and self-centered..

The Lisa's I know - would give me the shirts off their backs if it would make a difference to my life - as I would them...

So what's in a name? Not much....it's more about character and personality!! :) ")

I think it's by coincidence that these names align with people we might of had a bad experience with...I know several Lisas! I get along with all of them LOL :)

I am Catholic and we name our little ones with names of great Saints and then ask that Saint to help with prayer and intercession. I love my youngest name. My older children named her. She came after two of our children passed away and we didn't think we would have another. They chose Isabella because it means devoted to God and Rose because that flower is the Blessed Mother's favorite flower. Often before we knew I was pregnant I would pray and meditate on the Presentation in the Temple. I asked that if God desired we have one more that we would love to present one more for baptism. Our little girl was born on the feast day of The Presentation in the Temple.

:)

My mom's first boyfriend was named Mikey (don't know anything about him except he had a motorcycle). My biological dad (her first marriage) was a Michael (he's ridiculously intelligent but an unmedicated bipolar with ptsd, and a raving lunatic liberal). My adopted dad (her 2nd and last marriage) was Mike (he's a super smart engineer type, no social/emotional intelligence though, and a raving lunatic conservative). She fought like crazy with my brother who is a Michael Jonathon (but goes by Jonny now, and they get along fine......because of adulthood, or because of names.....*ominous music, and thunderclaps) I told her that she should go out and date, have some fun, but for heaven's sake stay far away from any derivative of "Michael"!

Diane: the goddess of war. We've had 2 women in our life named Diana or Diane. They wreaked havoc in our families and in their own life. I made a mental note back when I was in high school to never name a girl that name!

I have had 3 Allison friends over my lifetime. They are all stable, rock steady kinda girls, good heads on their shoulders. Love them all. I know 4 Staceys and they are all goofy, not too stable, but SO MUCH FUN.

There are some names that are simply off the table for me when it comes to naming my children... not generalizing here, but some names just have terrible associations for me.

Matthew: Beautiful name? Sure, if you're a pint-sized sociopath. I had three clients with this name while working in juevie. Off the list.

Jackie: Literally the craziest child I have ever worked with. She went through a period of time when she thought she was a bird. Sitting in my office "preening"... off the list.

Austin: Future white-collared criminal. I promise you that we will read about this kid one day. He'll be running the next Ponzi scheme while cheating on his wife and abusing his girlfriend.

There are some definite pitfalls to what I did in my former life... so many names down the drain!

Oh, cool! I thought I was the only one that noticed this! I'd never met a Lisa I have liked until a few years ago. So I have one Lisa I like.

For me, the bad one is Jennifer/Jenny/Jen. Never met one I could stand. Which is a very big problem considering the name is so damn common!

A few years ago, after moving here, I met a Jen that I liked. I was very surprised that we became such good friends, and thought my streak of "bad" Jens was over.

One day, after I knew we were going to be pretty good friends, I told her how glad I was to meet a Jennifer that was not snotty, and all the Jennifers I had known so far were conceited and arrogant. And she said, "Oh. Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, then.....you still haven't met one you like! My name is short for Genevieve." We laughed so hard, especially when she told me SHE didn't know any Jennifers she liked, either!

Having worked with children for so many years, and meeting many children with the same names, I fortunately have found that for every "bratty" Madeleine, there is a kind one, and for every "troublemaker" Dawson, there is a sweet one. So my only hang-up is with Jennifers! : )

Haha- every "Anthony" I have ever met has been a human food disposal system. And every Chris I have ever met has been an a**!
Fun question!

For me it's Michael - I had two boyfriends back to back with that name (both are amazing people, though), and at the time, my sister's boyfriend (her son's father) was Michael as well (definitely NOT an amazing person). One Mike had a mom named R. and his sister's middle name was R. as well. Weird.

I have never met another (adult) E., I liked.

For me its Jamie. Doesn't matter if its a male or female.
I just can't seem to hit it off with a Jamie. I don't really have a good thing to say about the ones I have met.

Among all the friends I have had through out the years, every Molly I have met have a bubbly personality.

My whole teen life I only dated guys that names started with J. It was really annoying.

Thank Goodness I married a Cory.......

Other then that nothing sticks out.

Jen....I have never met a Jen that liked me right away. And I have known many many many. They all have only thought I was tolerable. One I was the manager over and wowie wow wow...She was nasty too me.

Justins are bad news

Jesses seem nice but aren't

Jasons get into a lot of trouble

(I'm getting a little jaded with the entire male J section, actually, except for
Jamies, Jamies are great... but Jameses aren't)

Peters are AMAZING people

Sarahs all seem to be scorpios by birth or personality

Troys are great dads

Coreys are touchy feely

Yep! I named my son nicholas. In my 32 yrs I have never met a nick I didn't like or a ugly nick. Good thing my son is beautiful :) then I was preggo with my daughter and my husband wanted to name her nathalie so we could have a nick and nathalie. No way! Every nathalie I've ever know is a brat or a hoochie. So shes madisyn layne. Common name but I spelled it different :)

haha! how funny. I never really thought about it, but my SIL was saying she will never again date a guy whose last name begins with a "b" all the "b's" in her life have been trouble.
I have noticed this conversation a lot between my friends who are teachers - I just hope my kiddo has a name they don't associate with trouble - LOL!

Yes, I think we grow into our names.
I have seen trends with mens names like Chris, Jason etc.
Very interesting.
Good question. :)