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HelpRe: names ahead of their time ...
in reply to a message by RoxStar
Wow, a Sidni in her 70s. That's striking.
They're not exactly ahead of their time, IMO. I'm under the impression that creative naming / spelling has been around for at least as long as the US has and probably longer. It's just that the names of people who go down in history tend not to be creative names ... either because they've been a tiny minority so it's unlikely, or because creative names tend to be given to people who don't become well-known. Take your pick ... I think I know what you'd pick.
I think creative naming was bound to take off, over time, like a contagion. A few people get creative at first, those kids grow up and a few more people see their names and sense the possibilities and want to name accordingly, and even more people meet those kids in their lifetimes ... etc. So the proportion grows, the styles become more familiar and less stigmatized, until creative naming saturates the population of people who would want to name creatively. I guess there is cultural change that makes creative naming appealing to more people, too - like the association between modern fame and a preference to name creatively - but I'm inclined to think sheer contagion came first. ymmv.
- mirfak
They're not exactly ahead of their time, IMO. I'm under the impression that creative naming / spelling has been around for at least as long as the US has and probably longer. It's just that the names of people who go down in history tend not to be creative names ... either because they've been a tiny minority so it's unlikely, or because creative names tend to be given to people who don't become well-known. Take your pick ... I think I know what you'd pick.
I think creative naming was bound to take off, over time, like a contagion. A few people get creative at first, those kids grow up and a few more people see their names and sense the possibilities and want to name accordingly, and even more people meet those kids in their lifetimes ... etc. So the proportion grows, the styles become more familiar and less stigmatized, until creative naming saturates the population of people who would want to name creatively. I guess there is cultural change that makes creative naming appealing to more people, too - like the association between modern fame and a preference to name creatively - but I'm inclined to think sheer contagion came first. ymmv.
- mirfak
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