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HelpRe: Juniper vs. Rosemarie
in reply to a message by jemis
Rosemarie. I love Laurel and Ivy, and Rosemarie goes with them well. I think the plant thing is plenty subtle. It's less subtle with Juniper, but that hardly matters, in my view. I think of all these names I would rather be Laurel, and I'd be most likely to use Ivy. But Rosemarie is also a great name.
Warning - incoming rant against Juniper. Don't read if you don't want to hear it.
I'm not sure why Juniper bugs me and not, say, Meadow or Ivy or River ... but it does. It's a little worse than Rebel in this way (Rebel at least is suggestive of something abstract and significant, especially in some regions), and not as bad as Calliope. It's acceptable, not horrible, but just really rubs me the wrong way. Juniper just sounds so bouncy and juvenile to me. Its only substance is that it's spunky-sounding (it smacks slightly of Jupiter and gin so it's vaguely masculinizing) and oh so herbally fresh. A good name for a bunny. If I met an adult woman named Juniper, who was not in the entertainment industry, I'm afraid I would think it was awkward and inadequate as a handle ... especially for an accomplished and powerful person. This is how I felt on encountering a professional woman named Rebel ... I thought, nifty name - BUT, it's not good enough for her somehow. It's like grownup Juniper's name is a relic of her parents' visions of a spunky childhood. Like Calliope. Or Piper. Or Cash or Colt. These names just are not names for men and women, to me - on adults they'd make me frown and think, gosh, I'm kind of sorry for you, your name's a gimmick.
Warning - incoming rant against Juniper. Don't read if you don't want to hear it.
I'm not sure why Juniper bugs me and not, say, Meadow or Ivy or River ... but it does. It's a little worse than Rebel in this way (Rebel at least is suggestive of something abstract and significant, especially in some regions), and not as bad as Calliope. It's acceptable, not horrible, but just really rubs me the wrong way. Juniper just sounds so bouncy and juvenile to me. Its only substance is that it's spunky-sounding (it smacks slightly of Jupiter and gin so it's vaguely masculinizing) and oh so herbally fresh. A good name for a bunny. If I met an adult woman named Juniper, who was not in the entertainment industry, I'm afraid I would think it was awkward and inadequate as a handle ... especially for an accomplished and powerful person. This is how I felt on encountering a professional woman named Rebel ... I thought, nifty name - BUT, it's not good enough for her somehow. It's like grownup Juniper's name is a relic of her parents' visions of a spunky childhood. Like Calliope. Or Piper. Or Cash or Colt. These names just are not names for men and women, to me - on adults they'd make me frown and think, gosh, I'm kind of sorry for you, your name's a gimmick.
This message was edited 11/7/2012, 6:18 PM
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Thank you for your honest opinion. I did think Juniper would be very sweet on a child, and that kind of distracted me from what it might be like for an adult. I was thinking maybe if she had the right personality it could work, but I don't want to leave that up to her, and it also disregards first impressions.
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