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HelpRe: Unusual British Names
in reply to a message by lac
These differences of course didn't just happen in 2005. Parents in Great Britain have liked pet forms as official names more than Americans do for many years. There are a great many boys in England named Ben or Sam on their birth certificate; in the USA you almost never have those as official forms, with Benjamin and Samuel being used instead. You must remember that British culture is not identical to American culture; why do people in England have to have the same feeling about certain names that Americans do? It's highly unlikely that boys now being born in England named Alfie will be "embarrassed" by their name; the fact that it's so popular will ensure that if they are embarrassed by it, it will only be because they think it's "too common" in their generation. (And men are much less likely to be disturbed by that factor than women are.)
I've thought that perhaps one reason why pet forms are more common in Britain than in the USA has to do with a greater sense of conscious identification with class in England than in the USA. Blue collar people in England tend to identify as "working class" and perhaps think names such as Alfie and Freddie sound appropriate for their neighborhoods, while Alfred and Frederick would sound too "posh" and like the parents were being snobbish. American culture, on the other hand, tries to pretend that we are all "middle class" and parents are encouraged to give their kids names that would be "appropriate if your child ever became President" (especially boys.)
There are of course some individual culture factors that influence particular names. I think Poppy is more acceptable for girls in England because "Pop" is not as commonly found as a form of address for a father or grandfather in the UK as it is in the USA. Demi is more common in the UK partly because it has a different pronunciation in England than it does in the USA. In North America, most people pronounce Demi as "deh-MEE", with the accent on the second syllable, as Ms. Moore herself prefers. But in the UK, most people pronounce Demi as "Demmy", rhyming with Emmy. So in England, the name sounds more like Emma and Emily, and so seems more like one of those "different but not too different" alternatives for other names than it does in the USA.
Different media stereotypes also help lead to some of these differences. In the USA, Archie is associated with Archie the red-haired teen in the comic strips, Archie Bunker of All in the Family, and also has some hillbilly associations. Those factors don't operate in England.
An example of a name that goes the other way, even though it's now falling out of fashion in the USA, is Randy. People in England often think it's hilarious that Americans would ever name boys Randy (or girls Randi or Randee), because in England the word randy is very common and means "over-sexed" or "lecherous". Americans simply don't use that word in everyday speech, and I think lots of Americans assume when they hear "randy" being used by a British person, that it is a synonym for "sexy" rather than meaning "sex-crazed." So Randy is perfectly acceptable as a pet form of Randall or Miranda in the USA, but is considered inappropriate and an example of how silly Americans are in England. :)
I've thought that perhaps one reason why pet forms are more common in Britain than in the USA has to do with a greater sense of conscious identification with class in England than in the USA. Blue collar people in England tend to identify as "working class" and perhaps think names such as Alfie and Freddie sound appropriate for their neighborhoods, while Alfred and Frederick would sound too "posh" and like the parents were being snobbish. American culture, on the other hand, tries to pretend that we are all "middle class" and parents are encouraged to give their kids names that would be "appropriate if your child ever became President" (especially boys.)
There are of course some individual culture factors that influence particular names. I think Poppy is more acceptable for girls in England because "Pop" is not as commonly found as a form of address for a father or grandfather in the UK as it is in the USA. Demi is more common in the UK partly because it has a different pronunciation in England than it does in the USA. In North America, most people pronounce Demi as "deh-MEE", with the accent on the second syllable, as Ms. Moore herself prefers. But in the UK, most people pronounce Demi as "Demmy", rhyming with Emmy. So in England, the name sounds more like Emma and Emily, and so seems more like one of those "different but not too different" alternatives for other names than it does in the USA.
Different media stereotypes also help lead to some of these differences. In the USA, Archie is associated with Archie the red-haired teen in the comic strips, Archie Bunker of All in the Family, and also has some hillbilly associations. Those factors don't operate in England.
An example of a name that goes the other way, even though it's now falling out of fashion in the USA, is Randy. People in England often think it's hilarious that Americans would ever name boys Randy (or girls Randi or Randee), because in England the word randy is very common and means "over-sexed" or "lecherous". Americans simply don't use that word in everyday speech, and I think lots of Americans assume when they hear "randy" being used by a British person, that it is a synonym for "sexy" rather than meaning "sex-crazed." So Randy is perfectly acceptable as a pet form of Randall or Miranda in the USA, but is considered inappropriate and an example of how silly Americans are in England. :)
This message was edited 9/28/2006, 1:10 PM
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