Message: "edited to add about Nella"

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edited to add about Nella

by RoxStar

12/1/2014, 6:23 AM

Essie falls into a category I'd describe, for lack of a better term, Slave Names. Essie, Hattie, Jemima, Mamie, Moses/Mose, Amos, that kind of thing.

Essie could be short for any name with the ess sound, especially a name a little kid couldn't pronounce and ended up with Essie.
Or Estelle, Esther, Essence, Elizabeth?

Nella makes me think of vanilla wafers.

I think, therefore I judge.

This message was edited 12/1/2014, 7:38 AM

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- Joiya +2

12/1/2014, 7:53 AM

I agree somewhat with the "slave name" connotation.

However, I think that is a great reason to use the name. Kids nowadays will not get the reference and we could stymie the cycle.

In any case - Araminta (a def. "slave name") is one of my favorites and pretty trendy in the UK, so I hear.

- RoxStar +1

12/1/2014, 8:12 AM

Araminta definitely doesn't give off a slave-name vibe to me. It sounds like mouthwash, first and foremost. If I try to picture a human named Araminta, I picture some irritatingly "spunky" Victorian kid pulling less "spunky" girls' hair and then acting all innocent and who-me? when caught.

- Joiya

12/1/2014, 9:38 AM

Harriet Tubman was named Araminta - so I guess that association is ingrained in my memory.

Your description is humorous though.

I have a totally different picture, except when the nickname Minty is used. Then I picture Nellie Oleson (Little House on the Prairie) for some reason. She could technically fit your character description if you swap out victorian garb with upper-class prairie-girl frocks.

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