Re: UMRA birthday info for 17 December

Jim Easterbrook wrote:
gurzhfvp.jbexfubc@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Nick Odell) wrote in
news:476acaca.4234278@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:24:01 +0000, Jenny M Benson
<nemonews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

What are Umrats' views on following fashion in the naming of children?
I find it hard to believe there are parents out there who look through
the league tables, scroll their way to the top and say "right, we'll
call him Jack, then."

I fear there may be many people who think very much like that. The underlying message of much of our popular press is that being "normal" is good, and being anything else (gay, foreign, intelligent, Roman Catholic, ...) is bad. I assume the readers of these papers really do want to be the same as everyone else, and giving their child the most common name is an obvious thing to do.

Well, not so long ago that was what you did. AIUI, until recently there were relatively fewer of Christian names in use. Most girls were named (say) Mary, Ann, Elizabeth or Margaret, and most boys John, William, George, etc, and it was common to keep the same few names circulating in a family. I think the pursuit of individuality and the emphasis on unusual or unique names is quite a recent thing.

Also, we use first names so widely now that we need some way of distinguishing between the various Jacks or Sues of our acquaintance. When surnames were the normal form of address, either with or without title, it mattered less. Even in my schooldays, boys were always addressed by surname by their teachers, and many of their mates, so it didn't matter if half of them were called David.

--
Marjorie
.

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