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HelpElmer
I think it is going to be a future Jasper. WDYT?
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My Elmer story.
I went to school with a boy named Elmer. That is, until he was about age 9 or 10, when his mother decided he should be called by his middle name, Edward.
Don't know why,as he was certainly never teased about it, it wasn't *that* unusual.
Anyway, the teacher complied, but we kids wouldn't adapt, and still addressed him as Elmer. Which he was fine with..he hadn't wanted to change, anyway. He liked his name.
I went to school with a boy named Elmer. That is, until he was about age 9 or 10, when his mother decided he should be called by his middle name, Edward.
Don't know why,as he was certainly never teased about it, it wasn't *that* unusual.
Anyway, the teacher complied, but we kids wouldn't adapt, and still addressed him as Elmer. Which he was fine with..he hadn't wanted to change, anyway. He liked his name.
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It's a good name.
If there were never problems with it than the mother should have asked him if he wanted to change.
If there were never problems with it than the mother should have asked him if he wanted to change.
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No, please no. It sounds so geeky!
This message was edited 11/28/2009, 6:12 AM
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I don't like it, personally. It always reminds me of that multi-coloured elephant in this kids' cartoon thing that was on TV ages ago.
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Fudd
can't help it!!
can't help it!!
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The same could be said for...
Felix the Cat and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Both are extremely stylish now. I think the Fudd association will turn out to be a positive one.
Felix the Cat and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Both are extremely stylish now. I think the Fudd association will turn out to be a positive one.
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I don't think you'd call them "extremely stylish"
They are getting recognised among certain groups of people but that is a tiny proportion of the population. I think the average Joe on the street would say they are more suited to pets.
Jasper on the other hand is actually getting popular. Not just a little passing yuppie phase. (Speaking from an Australian's point of view. I know Jasper isn't as popular in the US yet but I think it has way more potential than Elmer, Felix or Casper ever do)
They are getting recognised among certain groups of people but that is a tiny proportion of the population. I think the average Joe on the street would say they are more suited to pets.
Jasper on the other hand is actually getting popular. Not just a little passing yuppie phase. (Speaking from an Australian's point of view. I know Jasper isn't as popular in the US yet but I think it has way more potential than Elmer, Felix or Casper ever do)
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I know what you are saying, but to me, extremely stylish things aren't generally stylish to most people. In fact, true style, in my opinion, often bypasses most people, and that is the component which makes these things stylish. I have also observed that inaccessibility is often a criterion for style (the fact that most people simply wouldn't be able to "pull off" certain things). Most people I see are not stylish, but I can recognize the ones who are, and they are always imitated, usually 3 years later.
Casper and Felix, I feel, are well on their way to being trampled, and it pains me deeply to say so as I adore both, and would especially like to sire the only Felix in the state of Virginia. One can only hope.
This is often the reason why I am back and forth on whether to take the [perhaps fleetingly] stylish Felix, Edwin and Magdalene path, or the safely classic Isaac, Benjamin and Elizabeth path.
Even when I was very young, I was always a bit of a trend setter, always being the first to try something no one else would think of. The current cultural associations (Fudd, glue), which I don't find particularly egregious, set the name up for this type of allure.
As for Elmer, I am glad I like the name now, too. It also happens to be my great-grandfather Cuff's name.
It always seems like the unthinkable suddenly becomes fresh. I would not be surprised if Dorcas and Nimrod have their time in the limelight once again some day (not my current taste, for the record).
Casper and Felix, I feel, are well on their way to being trampled, and it pains me deeply to say so as I adore both, and would especially like to sire the only Felix in the state of Virginia. One can only hope.
This is often the reason why I am back and forth on whether to take the [perhaps fleetingly] stylish Felix, Edwin and Magdalene path, or the safely classic Isaac, Benjamin and Elizabeth path.
Even when I was very young, I was always a bit of a trend setter, always being the first to try something no one else would think of. The current cultural associations (Fudd, glue), which I don't find particularly egregious, set the name up for this type of allure.
As for Elmer, I am glad I like the name now, too. It also happens to be my great-grandfather Cuff's name.
It always seems like the unthinkable suddenly becomes fresh. I would not be surprised if Dorcas and Nimrod have their time in the limelight once again some day (not my current taste, for the record).
This message was edited 11/27/2009, 5:03 PM
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I think this way all the time. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or what (I certainly don't consider myself stylish at all), but somehow the names I love to death become suuuper popular within two or three years, and then I start to hate them. So what's a person to do?? Somehow I think though that I will end up going with either something really outlandish that will never be considered palatable by the masses, or just something that has really deep meaning to me, and popularity be damned.
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yo, style shifts
if you let your namelove depend on something fleeting like style then of course you're not gonna end up liking your names in a few years! defying style and following style are bothwise being enslaved to style.
if you let your namelove depend on something fleeting like style then of course you're not gonna end up liking your names in a few years! defying style and following style are bothwise being enslaved to style.
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excellent point
....defying style is still following style... never thought of it that way! You are so smrt.
....defying style is still following style... never thought of it that way! You are so smrt.
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I feeel your pain. I've always liked 'old-lady' names, and now we're at the point where a lot of their original owners have died off, they've suddenly resurfaced in a big way and I am having to wave bye-bye to names like Lily, which everyone thought was awful when I named my dolls it. I'd still use them anyway right now, but I fear for Alice and Jemima every time I see them on here. And I'm also veering towards the uglier ones in the hope that they'll stay unpopular.
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three cheers for the uglies!
They're cool because they are so uncool!
They're cool because they are so uncool!
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"So ugly it is beautiful" is no new concept...
It goes back to Beethoven's Große Fuge Op. 133, and I am sure there are even earlier examples of artists having this foresight. :)
It goes back to Beethoven's Große Fuge Op. 133, and I am sure there are even earlier examples of artists having this foresight. :)
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Eh, It's all glue to me. :-/ It just doesn't have the pizazz of Jasper, IMO.
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I quite like it, although I don't have the old-man associations with it as it was never common here. Slightly prefer Aylmer.
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I think it's quite cute. It isn't dated here in Sweden and I see more and more little Elmer's. Just for the fun of it, Edvin/Edwin, Emrik, Carl, Eskil, Melvin/Melwin, Alfred, Alvin, Edith, Esther etc are popular here too.
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Swedish Elmers
Cutest mental image everrr!!! And Melvins and Alvins, gah! I need to visit Sweden and just revel in all the old-schoolery one day....
Cutest mental image everrr!!! And Melvins and Alvins, gah! I need to visit Sweden and just revel in all the old-schoolery one day....
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...as in Fudd?
Sorry, but I don't think what's liked here on the board works in real life. The only people I can see giving their son the name Elmer are hopelessly nerdy hipsters, but I just don't see it becoming popular with the mainstream.
Sorry, but I don't think what's liked here on the board works in real life. The only people I can see giving their son the name Elmer are hopelessly nerdy hipsters, but I just don't see it becoming popular with the mainstream.
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I agree.
Sorry, but I don't think what's liked here on the board works in real life.
I totally agree. Sometimes I wonder if people have ever said some of these names out loud, particularly to acquaintances in their real lives. It can be jarring to hear how stupid some names sound in a context that isn't this one.
An aside: I think Jasper is heinous anyway. I wonder how so many people like so ugly a sound.
Sorry, but I don't think what's liked here on the board works in real life.
I totally agree. Sometimes I wonder if people have ever said some of these names out loud, particularly to acquaintances in their real lives. It can be jarring to hear how stupid some names sound in a context that isn't this one.
An aside: I think Jasper is heinous anyway. I wonder how so many people like so ugly a sound.
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Really?
A future Jasper? Hmmm... I see what you mean, it is similar in sound, but I think it might be just too old school for lots of people to start freaking out over it like they did with Jasper. And there is also the Fudd and glue things to consider (is Elmer's glue still used these days? Been a while since I needed that stuff, but I still remember it).
But who knows. I still think that WWII names are going to creep back into fashion over the next five or ten years... maybe Elmer won't be far behind!
A future Jasper? Hmmm... I see what you mean, it is similar in sound, but I think it might be just too old school for lots of people to start freaking out over it like they did with Jasper. And there is also the Fudd and glue things to consider (is Elmer's glue still used these days? Been a while since I needed that stuff, but I still remember it).
But who knows. I still think that WWII names are going to creep back into fashion over the next five or ten years... maybe Elmer won't be far behind!
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Yes it says "Elmers Glue" on my kids school supply list....
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I really think so!
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