You're right; I apologise. (m)
in reply to a message by Array
I'm sorry I came off as snobby. I don't find musical theatre particularly high-brow and I don't think I'm a better person for liking it. I think it's fun.
What I actually meant was that the problem I have with Rogue and Strider is that they are immediatly associated with the characters. A child named Strider is always going to be associated with Aragorn, and people will always assume his parents must have been very into LOTR, and will oftentimes feel the need to comment. John wouldn't have that problem. (Nor, by the way, would Eve.)
Either way, I'm sorry I phrased my opinion in such a bitchy way. I really didn't mean to offend.
What I actually meant was that the problem I have with Rogue and Strider is that they are immediatly associated with the characters. A child named Strider is always going to be associated with Aragorn, and people will always assume his parents must have been very into LOTR, and will oftentimes feel the need to comment. John wouldn't have that problem. (Nor, by the way, would Eve.)
Either way, I'm sorry I phrased my opinion in such a bitchy way. I really didn't mean to offend.
Replies
For me it's more a question of the general impression the names give and how obvious the reference is. I've heard of a medieval philosophy professor who named his kids Abelard and Heloise. The reference is very highbrow, but it's a very infortunate sibset for various reasons (naming siblings after lovers, naming a son after a man who was castrated, giving him a name that for many will sound ugly and strange). I find this name just as bad as something from a hyped popular culture source.
So for me, it's not a question of high-brow or low-brow, but of how the name will be seen in general, since the child won't interact only with its parents. Some of the names Array listed might be unusual, but the graphic-novel association is not too blatant, especially as these graphic novels are a bit more obscure. On the other hand, names like Othello, Abelard, Strider and Rogue Marie all feel cumbersome and limiting, and give the idea that the kids' parents were rather obsessive, and this is going to be more obvious if the name comes from a super-hyped source such as LotR or Harry Potter.
And as concerns "heroism" being subjective, well, there have been people who named their kids Benito, Stalino or Lenina because these names matched their personal criterion of heroic.
So for me, it's not a question of high-brow or low-brow, but of how the name will be seen in general, since the child won't interact only with its parents. Some of the names Array listed might be unusual, but the graphic-novel association is not too blatant, especially as these graphic novels are a bit more obscure. On the other hand, names like Othello, Abelard, Strider and Rogue Marie all feel cumbersome and limiting, and give the idea that the kids' parents were rather obsessive, and this is going to be more obvious if the name comes from a super-hyped source such as LotR or Harry Potter.
And as concerns "heroism" being subjective, well, there have been people who named their kids Benito, Stalino or Lenina because these names matched their personal criterion of heroic.
Thank you. This is what I was trying to say and not saying very well.
My concern is exactly that the parents will come off as obsessed, and the child will bear the brunt of that...especially when the name's heavy and not too name-like in the first place. (Such as Rogue.)
But yeah, thanks for putting that so clearly. The reference being obvious is exactly my qualm, not what it referenced.
My concern is exactly that the parents will come off as obsessed, and the child will bear the brunt of that...especially when the name's heavy and not too name-like in the first place. (Such as Rogue.)
But yeah, thanks for putting that so clearly. The reference being obvious is exactly my qualm, not what it referenced.