Interesting local article on baby names

Just out of curiosity, do you think Alex for a boy is particularly bad? Im
just wondering because we have Alexander picked for one of our boy names
and
we may call him Alex (or Xander) for a nickname. Has Alex become really
unisex? I love the name Alexander but it sounds so...boarding school-ish I
guess that I dont think I'd be calling him that all the time.

Alexander/Alex is perfectly fine for a boy. Alix for a girl is dumb. My
BIL is Alex - actually Michael Alex - he had to have an M name even though
they knew they'd never use it (also dumb to me).
To me Alex is not unisex, it's a boy's name.

I dont like unisex names much either, for example Riley to me sounds
boyish
but I only know girls with that name.

I only know one Riley, a girl.

And Jaden (Jayden) sounds girly but
I've only heard it for boys.

I only know it for celebrities' babies.

I like to hear a name and know if its a boy or
a girl without having to wonder.

Absolutely!


And I agree that most of those names on the list were pathetic.

Kari
mom to Kaylie (7) Noah (4) and #3 due Sunday

Banty wrote:

In article , Tom Enright
says...

I disagree. If I travel to China or Mexico I would assume that a non-English
speaker would have trouble pronouncing my name and it would not bother me a
bit. I believe there is a bit of a double standard at work here. If an
American traveling outside the US were to assume that a Russian or Iraqi can
properly pronounce his name he would be considered a bore. But if a Russian
or Iraqi were to come to the US, the American is an oaf if he doesn't pronounce
their name correctly.

But I believe that Spanish is a special case. Very often you will hear
newscasters state Spanish names or places with a Spanish (more likely,
Mexican) accent. The same newscaster would never say "Pair-ee" instead
of Paris or "Deutschland" instead of Germany.

Both cases are merely a reflection of PCnes at work.

Wow what a rant.

True. I admit, it is a pet peave for me. The pretense of those who have
to give some odd spelling to their child's name to make it unique. It is
an excercise in jackassery to pronounce every proper noun in the language
of the originator, because it is impossible and one tends to sound, once
again, pretentious.

I only advocate that one *asks* the correct pronunciation. And find it
puzzling that you consider Spanish to be an exception to your expectations.
(You're not correct anyway - I've never heard as U.S.ian newscaster say
"Me-khi-ko"

Really? You struck me as an NPR listener. I have heard "Coo-Ba."

Cheers,
Banty

Alexander/Alex is perfectly fine for a boy. Alix for a girl is dumb. My
BIL is Alex - actually Michael Alex - he had to have an M name even though
they knew they'd never use it (also dumb to me).
To me Alex is not unisex, it's a boy's name.

Ok, whew. Lol. I think it's a boy's name too and I was hoping that it wasn't
one of boys names all of a sudden turned unisex. Especially for as much
trouble as we're having picking a name this time around, I am hoping
Alexander will be the name if he turns out to be a he. I just want to pick
and have it over with at this point!! Our girl names are giving us an even
harder time though I think we have it narrowed down to 4 or 5. Pretty scary
since Im due on Sunday

Kari

In HoGcb.1756$hp5.356@fed1read04,
Circe wrote:

*"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...
* Sure. But Joaquin is not pronounced JoeACKwin.
*
*Shrug I once heard a mother calling her daughter Aisling, pronounced
*Ays-ling. The proper Irish pronunciation is, of course, Ash-leen, but the
*mother obviously saw the name in a book, thought it looked pretty, and
*worked out the pronunciation herself.
*
*So there just might be a JoeACKwin whose parents made a similar error.

Okay, FINE!
But this particular kid was named Joaquin ObviouslyHispanicLastname, and
the Philly 'burbs aren't exactly suffering from a dearth of Mexican
migrant workers, so frankly there was no excuse for the particular teacher
at the particular time in this particular place to be so darned ignorant!


--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

"Sophie" wrote
Alexander/Alex is perfectly fine for a boy. Alix for a girl is dumb. My
BIL is Alex - actually Michael Alex - he had to have an M name even though
they knew they'd never use it (also dumb to me).

The last Tsarina of Russia was called Alix :-) (OK she was really Alexandra
but her nn was Alix).

To me Alex is not unisex, it's a boy's name.


How would you shorten Alexandra?

Jean
--
HOLLY: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of
vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type
of milk, dog's milk.
LISTER: Why?
HOLLY: No bugger'll drink it. Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when
it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
LISTER: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?!
HOLLY: What, and spoil your tea?
(Red Dwarf: Series 2, Episode 1)

In ,
Jenn wrote:

* * *but the correct foreign pronunciation of a place name is not 'correct'
* * *if the people who use the name locally differ e.g. Lafayette as a place
* * *name is often correctly pronounced Lah FAY ut not LA fay ette in the US
* * *when it is a town or street name. Cairo Il is correctly pronounced Kay
* *
* * Seriously? Here in Lafayette Hill, PA, we say LAH-fay-ette HILL.
* *
* *
* *in Nashville it is LAH fayut
*
* so, where is it that you were saying they correctly pronounce it Lah FAY
* ut, then?? Just curious!
*
*it is hard to convey things like this in words it is more like LAH FAYut
*not the French LA fayette

Hmm. Here, it is definitely accent on the first syllable, next two
syllables short and not emphasized. "That's Lafayette Hill, as in General
Lafayette," is pretty much what everyone says in an effort to stave off
the inevitable "can you spell that please?" But of course it never works


--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

Sophie wrote:

I dont like unisex names much either, for example Riley to me sounds
boyish but I only know girls with that name.

I only know one Riley, a girl.

As much as you think of Alex as a boy's name (I agree) I believe that
Riley is a boy's name as well. My nephew is Riley, short for O'Reilly,
a family name. My Grandfather was called Riley by his freinds and
family but this was a nickname.

-TOE

"Circe" wrote

Shrug I once heard a mother calling her daughter Aisling, pronounced
Ays-ling. The proper Irish pronunciation is, of course, Ash-leen, but the
mother obviously saw the name in a book, thought it looked pretty, and
worked out the pronunciation herself.

So there just might be a JoeACKwin whose parents made a similar error.


A neighbour of my grandmother's called her daughter Juanita. She'd heard
the name while on holiday in Spain and thought it was pretty. But she'd
never seen it written down. So she spelled it phonetically.

Yup, daughter's name is Waneeta!

Jean
--
HOLLY: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of
vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type
of milk, dog's milk.
LISTER: Why?
HOLLY: No bugger'll drink it. Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when
it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
LISTER: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?!
HOLLY: What, and spoil your tea?
(Red Dwarf: Series 2, Episode 1)

Kari wrote:


Alexander/Alex is perfectly fine for a boy. Alix for a girl is dumb. My
BIL is Alex - actually Michael Alex - he had to have an M name even though
they knew they'd never use it (also dumb to me).
To me Alex is not unisex, it's a boy's name.

Ok, whew. Lol. I think it's a boy's name too and I was hoping that it wasn't
one of boys names all of a sudden turned unisex. Especially for as much
trouble as we're having picking a name this time around, I am hoping
Alexander will be the name if he turns out to be a he. I just want to pick
and have it over with at this point!! Our girl names are giving us an even
harder time though I think we have it narrowed down to 4 or 5. Pretty scary
since Im due on Sunday

You never know. My 10 yo son is named Cameron. I always liked the name
since hearing of the football coach Cam Cameron (Indiana?) and hockey
player Cam Neely. Two or three months later "The Mask" is released and
suddenly people know of Cameron Diaz, now the name is as popular with girls
as boys. Personally, I think many of those people who name their girl
Cameron are confusing it it with Carmen.

For the record, my son hasn't had any other kids in his class named "Cameron."

-TOE

Kari

Okay, FINE!
But this particular kid was named Joaquin ObviouslyHispanicLastname, and
the Philly 'burbs aren't exactly suffering from a dearth of Mexican
migrant workers, so frankly there was no excuse for the particular teacher
at the particular time in this particular place to be so darned ignorant!


--
hillary israeli

Lol. I'm with you. I don't know how someone doesn't know Joaquin is not
JoeACKwin for goodness sake.