How did you discover your interest in names?

Well, the title of this thread pretty much explains it. What do you think made you interested in names, and at what age?

For me, I think it was a combination of a few things. I loved the names in the children's books I was raised on- Amelia (Bedelia), Celeste from the Babar books, and especially Charlotte, Fern, and even Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.
(Yes I know Wilbur is on the Gone Forever list, but I'll always have a soft spot for it because of that cute little pig)

Then I think my Jewish faith helped shape my interest in names. So many people in my life had very common biblical names like Jacob, David, Adam, Sarah, etc, but I was intrigued by the notion of having a "secret", separate Hebrew name and religious identity. I remember a conversation with my dad about why names like Samuel get "recycled" from the older generations to the younger generations (I know of lots of younger Sams). And that's my story. Any thoughts?

-Allison

I have always loved names. When I was four, it once took me two weeks to name a teddy bear that had been given to me (she ended up Cordelia, still a favorite). I couldn't just stick her with a name that wouldn't fit! I was always the one put in charge of finding names for any pets that we got as well.
When I was probably 12, my best friend and I began making lists of names for our future children. Thank God for Trina, because she made my name obsession feel less strange.

Ages about 4-7 years old - a few short years to learn and absorb a whole lot of awareness of and fascination for names:

Before 5 years old, I remember playing house, and how when you play house, you can't use your own name, because it's pretend. I thought Sally was a great name (I still like it), and I sort of somehow became aware of Patricia as a "fancy" name, if we were playing "mansion." I remember there'd be lots of children, and it was like something you'd see on tv, rich people at some sort of benefit, tawlking like we were ever-so-fahhhhncy. Sally couldn't live in the mansion, unless I was "the baby" or the maid.

When I was about the same age, the daughter of a friend of my father's used to play with me and she had a completely weird name, I recognized at +/-4 as unique. She was named after her Italian grandfather. Her name is so unique, I don't want to spill it.

I remember Mary's brother George. I thought the name George sounded like an old man's name, and I went the entirety of my academic career never meeting another young George, "proving" my hypothesis. I was on the junior bowling league with Mary, and another one of her friends from Catholic school had a younger sister, Colette. Oooh. Very exotic and dainty. Like I knew these things, I just had a sense about them. Strange Italian grandpa name - not just offbeat; highly unique. George - old man. Colette - like a princess.

I must have been already 6 or 7 by the time I bowled on a team. There was the incident where my mother brought me to the lanes, and one of the other parents wrote my name on the electronic roster before we arrived, which transmitted on the overhead, and spelled my name CARYN, over which I threw a fit, and that they couldn't erase once it had been entered in the machine. I refused to bowl unless they could change it, thinking if it had been the other way around, and I was the one who spelled it weird, it would have been totally forgivable had they guessed the standard spelling. Who spells a regular name 60% wrong? After we came in 2nd place that year, I never bowled again in any organized way, and Mary and George moved away.

My other friend up the other way was in my kindergarten and 1st grade whose older brother's name was Roch. More intriguing than my other friend's brother David or Darren or neighbor Andrew. Then they moved away too. But going to school made me so aware of names that other people had and I loved it, and the way they spelled it, Lorin, Woodrow, Delmar, Dominic, Adrienne, Lori-Ann. Loretta even (she was called Lori, because again, passé name). I wish I remember Delmar's last name. He was the funniest kid to eat lunch with in 1st grade.

There were lots of Jennys and Heathers and Kims too, Freddies and Jimmys and this other Karen in kindergarten. It was the first time I'd met another one. I knew my name was just not as wicked unique as the Italian-grandpa girl somehow without ever meeting another Karen. Since I was Karen _. from the get-go, and others, Mikes and Jennifers in particular had this in common with me, I loved to hear last names too. Long, short, easy, hard - Italian, Dutch, Irish, Polish, without knowing yet that's what they were. Everybody gets their own song.


My sister was born just as I entered Kindergarten, when my mom brought out the book earlier that year, "Name Your Baby" by Lareina Rule. I remember trying to find "Jennifer" in the book. How come Jennifer doesn't have its own entry? It's a form of Guinevere. Huh, interesting. Fascinating. Thrilling. Totally flawed: Who the heck names their baby Guinevere? I know 7 Jennifers and 0 Guineveres, Ms. Rule. The book was my bible for years - even though it was off the mark for what's going on in the world - for naming dolls, babies, and myself for pretend. It was good enough, I suppose, but even at 5-6, I think I was looking for another kind of book to come along, which took about 15 years, give or take, better late than never. (Thanks, Pam and Linda!)

I also remember as my mom struggled to come up with an original K name that she liked for baby if she's a girl, as the neighborhood had a Kathleen, Catherine, Kim, Koreen, and she didn't like Kelly. She didn't like Kim either, but I loved Kim. She didn't ask my opinion. And she was very conscious not to copy someone's name, especially family or anyone near. So my sister is Lauren. Contrast that with the Lorin in my kindergarten class - I did, very much. The bowling incident would come after this.

The girl who lived next door came over all the time and loved my baby sister. She must have been about 9, and started to call the baby Lorelei. Must look that up in the book. The book, book, book. I was a little frantic that she could have her name changed somehow, as my mother liked Lorelei a lot and called her that sometimes. Unfair. I know that's unfair. Lauren is like Karen but different. Lorelei is just. not. fair. Anyway, I had the book and I knew how to read, so I was off on my own, ready to take any name I wanted. Take that, "Lorelei," I'll fix you.

Other names that caught my interest (some 1st love, some just curiosity):
Henrietta (Pussycat)
W-W-Wilhelmina (a short piece that was on Sesame Street)
Joey - a girl named Joey on Sesame Street. I wanted a boyish name like that right away.
Shala - just wow. Who with me remembers Shala? Love to say Shala.
Bernadette (Peters)
Jessica - my grandparents' dog. They had had her at least all my life by then, but at some point it struck me as weird, a dog with a real name and not something, oh, like Daisy or Misty or Heidi. The families on either side and ourselves used these names for our dogs.
Francesca - in my first ballet recital, there is an older dancer (like 15? 18? maybe even older) who had a solo - I didn't know her, I was just so mad for her beautiful name listed in the program.
Palma - another friend's mom had this name.

IN SUMMARY:
Basically, it looks like I became aware of and "collected" and "studied" names like another kid picks up rocks or seashells or matchbox cars or baseball cards, and used them like tools to understand as well as create. The mind needs and seeks something to fascinate over and organize and rank and compare and admire and judge and categorize. Names are people, they are words, they are words about people. That's a lot, but that's about it.

For me, it was my pregnancies (I'm on my fifth, although I've lost two), the pregnancies of all my friends and peers, and then being involved with a daycare/preschool and seeing all the other kids' names. Its interesting to see what becomes popular, the unusual names some people choose, and so forth. I did think some about names when I was younger and my nieces and nephews were born, but not nearly to the extent I have in past years.

I'm also exposed to a large number of names in my work, and once I got interested in names, this became a huge source of amusement -- seeing the names that come through - sometimes having to guess who is the man and who is the woman, or getting a kick of spouses with really similar names . . . its really a lot of fun once you start noticing names.

Wow Karen, did you take a breath there? You must be exhausted! That was very interesting, and I would like to comment on this and reciprocate, but it is nearly midnight now and I have to be up early in the morning. But I empathised with a lot of your early feelings about names. It is already evident to me that name obsessives are born that way. xxx

I do get carried away sometimes. I even edited out a whole paragraph this time, and cut out extraneous information. Among 3 forums today and yesterday, I've been letting it just run. I had to shut down and go out to the grocery store just to get a grip. I did get obsessed with names early, but I'm not the one to go to for a heap of suggestions, and I wish I could keep up in threads that go faster than I do. Seems to do ok without my input for long lists I just don't have in me. You all rock. You do.

I think we all have our different strengths. We all make a grand team. I will post more over the weekend.

x

I first got interested in names when my sister-in-law was expecting my nephew. Their discussions on names fascinated me, and they had a baby name book I pored over whenever I went to their house. My interest in names slumbered after that for a while. then one day my sister gave me a baby name book she'd found at a used book sale at her church. Then my interest revived and has been thriving ever since.

VERY interesting. Karen, you are a name genius!