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Where have all the Adolfs gone?
In Greece, there are socres of women born in the 40s and 50s with the name Frederika, after the then Queen of Greece. Frederika eventually fell from grace due to her rather domineering personality, and her meddling in politics which is believed to have undermined Greece's constitutional monarchy. None of these ladies publicly call themselved Frederika today. My auntie Frederika insists on being called "Frieda" since the late 70s. I take immense sadistic pleasure in casually calling her "Frederika" in public on occasion
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"immense sadistic pleasure" -too funnyReally, though, it's a shame about Frederika. I love that name, especially in combination with Sophie. ;D Seriously, it was on my list of mn's for our Sophie, but David was having none of it, her greatness notwithstanding.
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Gone to graveyards, every one!My husband used to play tennis with an Adolf who was known as Dolfie. He was as unfortunate as his name. But, remember that Winston has gone just as much out of use as Adolf. Does Louis get much use in France? In other words, is it a matter of name fashions being cyclical, or are some associations just too strong?And I had an honorary auntie Frieda, a German woman, who lost her German accent completely when she hit South Africa and very mysteriously called herself George - and so did her husband, Bob. Go figure.
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As a matter of fact, Louis was out of fashion in France during the middle of the 20th century, but it has now returned to fashion there. According to La cote des prenoms en 2004, Louis has been among the top 20 names for boys in France again since 2001, and is now the #1 name for boys born to upper-class parents who put birth announcements in Le Figaro.
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Merci!
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