Message: "Re: Kimberly has its fans [m]"

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Re: Kimberly has its fans [m]

by Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans)

1/18/2009, 10:25 PM

I think that's correct, and it is a common phenomenon among first generation immigrants. Immigrants often want to give their kids "American" names to help them fit in, but they are not acculturated enough yet to be affected by the same trends that native born American parents are, so they choose "American" names from among the names of adults that they know. They don't realize that by doing so they are usually -- especially when it comes to girls' names -- giving their kids names which are now "out of date".

Immigrants from China, Korea, and Vietnam do exactly the same thing.

You can see this if you look at the New York City top names for 2007:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/popular-new-york-baby-names-2007/

And of course even the "White" list for NYC is very different from the national list because of the very large Jewish population there.

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- Joan-Ay

1/19/2009, 10:18 AM

That's very true

I have a friend who is Filipino, him and his siblings have what some would call "out of date" names.

Their names are:
Wayland
Janet - I graduated with her
Reginald Cedric "Reggie" - My friend
Ashley
Aileen
Sheldon

With the exception of Ashley, they all have unusual names for their age groups

- number1212

1/19/2009, 9:51 AM

that would explain it

I know a lady from Vietnam with a preschool aged daughter named Joyce.

- Lily8 +1

1/19/2009, 9:02 AM

oh that happens a lot in Germany. Polish immigrants give their kids German names but aren't familiar with naming trends and choose something really dated. I've met Polish girls named Dagmar, Beate, Agathe and Susanne all of which are really dated here.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 10:51 PM

Beate (if pronounced be-ah-tay) is one that's actually kind of pretty... I've only ever met one in Canada though (and she was young). I like it better than Beatrice anyway. It's not common in Canada at all.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 12:18 AM

Yes... I've met my share of Fannys, Cindys and Glorias who were from Asia... Actually, with Fanny, I pretty much expect to hear a Chinese family name with it... and hope the poor woman never winds up in England or Australia, poor dear.

For boys, it's frequently Chris, Matthew or Daniel, it seems... but those are more long-lasting.

This message was edited 1/19/2009, 12:19 AM

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