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HelpMilady
I had to take my son to urgent care for an ear infection, and the NP who treated him was named Milady. I'm sure, over time, it would end up feeling like just another name, but I was genuinely thrown by it. It was so awkward. I felt like I should curtsy at the end of the visit as I said "Thank you, Milady."
I trolled the 2011 SSA list for other names that are deferential forms of address or titles, and there were at least 8 of each of these. It's more common for boys than girls. In order from most to least common:
Princess
Queen
Lady
Milady
King
Prince
Major
Duke
Earl
Thane
Sir
Captain
Judge
Laird
General
Boss
Sheikh
Chief
Master
Thoughts on this type of name? Like any? My feelings are mixed. They're so much more loaded than most word names. It's hard for me to imagine looking at a little boy in class (or the grown man who is selling me a car/doing my taxes/in bed with me/whatever) and being forced to call him Master or Boss if I want to use his name. Earl, on the other hand, is so familiar, it barely registers with me, and Queen doesn't feel all wrong, probably because I've accepted the idea of Queenie. I sort of like Thane, but I liked the sound of it long before I knew it was a word.
I trolled the 2011 SSA list for other names that are deferential forms of address or titles, and there were at least 8 of each of these. It's more common for boys than girls. In order from most to least common:
Princess
Queen
Lady
Milady
King
Prince
Major
Duke
Earl
Thane
Sir
Captain
Judge
Laird
General
Boss
Sheikh
Chief
Master
Thoughts on this type of name? Like any? My feelings are mixed. They're so much more loaded than most word names. It's hard for me to imagine looking at a little boy in class (or the grown man who is selling me a car/doing my taxes/in bed with me/whatever) and being forced to call him Master or Boss if I want to use his name. Earl, on the other hand, is so familiar, it barely registers with me, and Queen doesn't feel all wrong, probably because I've accepted the idea of Queenie. I sort of like Thane, but I liked the sound of it long before I knew it was a word.
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Once I knew a woman who was Queen Elizabeth Lastname. That, I thought, was a name too far.
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8 boys named MASTER?
Oh my!
I can't imagine these kids actually were called those names by their own mothers. It's just TOO comic to be believed.
I have less objection to the ones that don't sound like deferential forms of address, but are just words for authority figures, like Queen or Judge or Captain.
Milady seems especially silly because it is never used for address in modern times. So it's not absolutely exasperating like Boss or Sir or Master.
Oh my!
I can't imagine these kids actually were called those names by their own mothers. It's just TOO comic to be believed.
I have less objection to the ones that don't sound like deferential forms of address, but are just words for authority figures, like Queen or Judge or Captain.
Milady seems especially silly because it is never used for address in modern times. So it's not absolutely exasperating like Boss or Sir or Master.
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These kinds of names (except for Earl, which has been in use so long it's not really in the same class with the others anymore) have a very strong low-class/downmarket vibe to them. I would say that if you run across parents who've named a child Boss or Lady, that's almost a dead giveaway to their socioeconomic/educational status. Fair or not, that's just how it is.
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Like you, Earl doesn't really register as a title with me and Thane is alright too. I *might* could get used to Duke, because of it reminding me of John Wayne and also of a horse I was fond of who happened to have a rather cool personality. Laird brings to mind the surfer rather than a title and it's alright too. The others are just too much for me. A name that means queen is fine, but the title itself doesn't work for me.
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Woah.
Okay Milady isn't too bad because like you said, I think eventually it would just sound like another name. If I saw it on paper, I would have wanted to pronounce it mill-ady, just to avoid the weirdness of my-lady.
Earl is fine as well since obviously it's widely accepted as a name. Duke and Major aren't totally wacky, but still bad imo. I can't even imagine the others being used on real people, they're just terrible. I can't imagine introducing myself as "Queen" lol.
Okay Milady isn't too bad because like you said, I think eventually it would just sound like another name. If I saw it on paper, I would have wanted to pronounce it mill-ady, just to avoid the weirdness of my-lady.
Earl is fine as well since obviously it's widely accepted as a name. Duke and Major aren't totally wacky, but still bad imo. I can't even imagine the others being used on real people, they're just terrible. I can't imagine introducing myself as "Queen" lol.
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