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I notice that the name Journey is in the Top 1000 in the US (at 692) and also appeared in the list of names given to babies in Alberta (posted yesterday on Ops board).
I'm just wondering what the significance of this name is other than as a random word and why it is so popular (it didn't appear at all in the top 2000 names in England last year). Has it been used in a book or film? Does it have some kind of religious significance or is it to do with the "journey of life". I'm genuinely puzzled by why it should be so "popular" compared with some other, what I consider to be legitimate names which are less popular.
Not sure if this is a Facts question or an Opinions one really. Thanks.
I'm just wondering what the significance of this name is other than as a random word and why it is so popular (it didn't appear at all in the top 2000 names in England last year). Has it been used in a book or film? Does it have some kind of religious significance or is it to do with the "journey of life". I'm genuinely puzzled by why it should be so "popular" compared with some other, what I consider to be legitimate names which are less popular.
Not sure if this is a Facts question or an Opinions one really. Thanks.
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Replies
Thank you
Your replies make a lot of sense. I hadn't considered anime (knowing next-to-nothing about it) or the rock band. I agree with the theory that once it is legitimised by being a book or film character's name it becomes more popular generally. Thanks again.
Your replies make a lot of sense. I hadn't considered anime (knowing next-to-nothing about it) or the rock band. I agree with the theory that once it is legitimised by being a book or film character's name it becomes more popular generally. Thanks again.
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It's possible this name was first introduced by fans of the Japanese animated films known as "anime". The first reference to a character named Journey on the Internet Movie Data Base is to an anime film called "Gall Force: Destruction" which came out in 1987:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276976/
Perhaps the original Japanese name of the character either sounded like "journey" or had a similar meaning in the original Japanese.
But we would have first to find out what the original Japanese name was and then get someone who knew Japanese characters to interpret it.
Journey is also the name of the title character in a "young adult" novel by Patricia MacLachlan, published in 1991:
http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/tradebk_Journey.html
And this was made into a "made for TV" film:
http://www.chucksconnection.com/journey.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116718/
There also is a rock band called Journey, and some parents have been known to use other band names, like Tesla, for kids in the USA:
http://www.journeyband.com/
Once the name was "legitimated" by being a character name, it may have increased simply because of the "different but not too different" factor, as its sound is close enough to names like Jenny and Courtney that some parents might have been attracted to it.
I realize that the film character is a boy and Journey is more popular for girls, but that may have been an inevitable shift given the name's ending in -ney. The anime character does seem to be female.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276976/
Perhaps the original Japanese name of the character either sounded like "journey" or had a similar meaning in the original Japanese.
But we would have first to find out what the original Japanese name was and then get someone who knew Japanese characters to interpret it.
Journey is also the name of the title character in a "young adult" novel by Patricia MacLachlan, published in 1991:
http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/tradebk_Journey.html
And this was made into a "made for TV" film:
http://www.chucksconnection.com/journey.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116718/
There also is a rock band called Journey, and some parents have been known to use other band names, like Tesla, for kids in the USA:
http://www.journeyband.com/
Once the name was "legitimated" by being a character name, it may have increased simply because of the "different but not too different" factor, as its sound is close enough to names like Jenny and Courtney that some parents might have been attracted to it.
I realize that the film character is a boy and Journey is more popular for girls, but that may have been an inevitable shift given the name's ending in -ney. The anime character does seem to be female.
1
There is also the actress Jurnee Smollett, who was born in 1986. Apparently she first starred in a TV show in 1994, which is later than the anime character or the book, but since Journey didn't appear on the SSA list until 1999, she may have had some influence.
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Thanks, I forgot to check alternative spellings. :)
Any ideas on whether or not the anime character's Japanese name meant "journey"?
Any ideas on whether or not the anime character's Japanese name meant "journey"?
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Thank you! It never dawned on me that the Japanese animators would be using English names for their characters back in Japan. :)
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