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Though I take it you strongly disapprove, I think Bride of the Wind, in English, is quite lovely. Windbride, maybe, as well. Very evocative, particularly because I am the daughter of a pilot. I have long advocated for the use of phrase names in one's native tongue and could easily see it as a mn. Windsbraut, because it is not in my native tongue, has the unfortunate effect of reminding me of sausages (brats), though I recognize that braut and brat have nothing whatsoever to do with one another, including pronunciation. My husband, who is American, so happens to have grown up in Germany, and he thinks Windsbraut itself holds promise. But he is like me, which is why (and is partly a result of the fact that) we married.

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I did not wake up this morning intending to cause such a stir, mafiosa, nor did I think to myself, I'm going to go poke that mafiosa person with a hot stick. This all got rather more out of hand than I expected.

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I would like to say, and I hope you will believe and understand, I was not calling you personally a Nazi. I didn't say just Nazi, I must point out, but name Nazi (though that distinction may be uniquely insignificant to you), though, yes, I did include you in that category. My choice of words was unfortunate but coincidental. I was not thinking of you being in Germany when I said that; though if I had, I can't honestly say I would have used another word, because, again, I wasn't trying to single you out. I meant it when I headed my post, "not just for mafiosa."

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I meant the term broadly to apply to all those namenerds who are consistently intolerant of others' odd or unorthodox choices, no matter what rationale is demonstrated, as though there could never possibly be any reason good enough to break the sacred rule of xyz whatever today's rule is (boy names on girls, today). With my post I just wanted everyone to stop and think for a moment about why people make unorthodox choices. Was that really so terrible, to defend that little girl's name, and her thoughtful mother's choice? I don't think so.

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It may seem a very harsh thing indeed, to say name Nazi to a German, and I probably can't appreciate the full weight of it. I do apologize for that.

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On the other hand, I find the intolerant and judgmentalist stance of many posters here very harsh. Mind you, I say no to things too sometimes; but on the whole I much prefer to say something positive, or nothing at all. I don't by any means expect everyone to say only positive things all the time, but negativity seems to weigh more, and gets heavier faster. *shrug* I could just be whining. I can admit that. But I keep my peace for weeks and months at a time. Every so often I say something about the negativity. Today was one of those days. I'm sorry you happened to get the brunt of it.