So I found this to be a really interesting question, because yeah, Chuck and Brandon are “default American” names to me.
-
@hattom Kayleigh I think is possible, but all the weird Mormon -leigh and -lynn names where they just throw random letters in a blender and stick a suffix on the end are DEFINITELY American.
Like, I can’t even imagine a British Peiyghzlynn or whatever.
@astronomerritt give me a year or two and I'll find the article
-
@astronomerritt Billy-Bob.
@BenCotterill Are there Americans actually called Billy-Bob? I mean, apart from the obvious Thornton. Legit question.
-
@astronomerritt give me a year or two and I'll find the article
@hattom Todd is for sure American though, you’re right on the money there.
-
RE: https://mastodon.social/@amenonsen/116029985914224033
So I found this to be a really interesting question, because yeah, Chuck and Brandon are “default American” names to me. And now I’m interested to know what other names people from outside the US see as default American names, and also, if there’s default names for other countries.
@astronomerritt Chad.
-
@BenCotterill Are there Americans actually called Billy-Bob? I mean, apart from the obvious Thornton. Legit question.
@astronomerritt Honestly no idea.
-
@astronomerritt Chad.
@piglet I forget Americans might actually be CALLED Chad as it’s totally solidified in my head as a meme
-
@piglet I forget Americans might actually be CALLED Chad as it’s totally solidified in my head as a meme
Better than being called Central African Republic!
-
@hattom Kayleigh I think is possible, but all the weird Mormon -leigh and -lynn names where they just throw random letters in a blender and stick a suffix on the end are DEFINITELY American.
Like, I can’t even imagine a British Peiyghzlynn or whatever.
@hattom @astronomerritt interesting that Kayleigh was the example here, since it was pretty high on this list of Irish girls names (though I suspect this list was written for Americans)
-
@piglet I forget Americans might actually be CALLED Chad as it’s totally solidified in my head as a meme
@piglet @astronomerritt I work with 2 men named Chad
Also a Chaz -
RE: https://mastodon.social/@amenonsen/116029985914224033
So I found this to be a really interesting question, because yeah, Chuck and Brandon are “default American” names to me. And now I’m interested to know what other names people from outside the US see as default American names, and also, if there’s default names for other countries.
@astronomerritt some names I'd assume the bearer was Irish:
Seamus
Angus
Ciarán
Fergus
Lochlan
Sinead
RóisínActually it's interesting. Scanning through lists of irish boys names, I recognize a lot of them but associate them with Ireland. For the girls names, I either recognize none of them, or they're all like Kate, Sophie, Lilly, Amy, which I consider so widespread to be generic. Nothing in-between where it's a name I recognize but wouldn't expect to find much outside of Ireland.
-
@astronomerritt some names I'd assume the bearer was Irish:
Seamus
Angus
Ciarán
Fergus
Lochlan
Sinead
RóisínActually it's interesting. Scanning through lists of irish boys names, I recognize a lot of them but associate them with Ireland. For the girls names, I either recognize none of them, or they're all like Kate, Sophie, Lilly, Amy, which I consider so widespread to be generic. Nothing in-between where it's a name I recognize but wouldn't expect to find much outside of Ireland.
@Artemis201 I would immediately assume an Angus to be Scottish and a Lachlan or Lochlan to 100% be Australian!
-
RE: https://mastodon.social/@amenonsen/116029985914224033
So I found this to be a really interesting question, because yeah, Chuck and Brandon are “default American” names to me. And now I’m interested to know what other names people from outside the US see as default American names, and also, if there’s default names for other countries.
@astronomerritt this reminds me of the Kevin name shame in France..
-
@astronomerritt this reminds me of the Kevin name shame in France..
@croptopjin Oooh I heard that was a thing in Germany! They call it Kevinismus.
-
@astronomerritt some names I'd assume the bearer was Irish:
Seamus
Angus
Ciarán
Fergus
Lochlan
Sinead
RóisínActually it's interesting. Scanning through lists of irish boys names, I recognize a lot of them but associate them with Ireland. For the girls names, I either recognize none of them, or they're all like Kate, Sophie, Lilly, Amy, which I consider so widespread to be generic. Nothing in-between where it's a name I recognize but wouldn't expect to find much outside of Ireland.
@astronomerritt I wonder if that's a function of the names' actual spread, or my perception?
Does Hollywood/media only pick traditional names when it's a boy?
Are names like "Kate" just so popular that everyone uses them? -
@Artemis201 I would immediately assume an Angus to be Scottish and a Lachlan or Lochlan to 100% be Australian!
@astronomerritt oh yeah, I guess Angus is more Scottish. I just scanned through a list of Irish baby boy names and picked out the ones I was familiar with.
Lochlan I've never heard as Australian. But also I don't know a ton of names I tie to Australia -
@skribe @astronomerritt poor wee bugger, hope he was ale to change it.
-
@astronomerritt I wonder if that's a function of the names' actual spread, or my perception?
Does Hollywood/media only pick traditional names when it's a boy?
Are names like "Kate" just so popular that everyone uses them?@Artemis201 I mean, Ireland basically uses very similar names to the UK but with a lot of Irish names thrown in.
There’s some names I’d consider default Irish in comparison to the UK though, like John Paul, Gerard, most female variations of male names like Geraldine or Bernadette, Maurice pronounced “Morris”, double-barrelled girls’ names in general.
-
@astronomerritt oh yeah, I guess Angus is more Scottish. I just scanned through a list of Irish baby boy names and picked out the ones I was familiar with.
Lochlan I've never heard as Australian. But also I don't know a ton of names I tie to Australia@Artemis201 Apparently it’s a super popular name in Australia: it’s Scottish in origin but idk, just seems to have caught on over there
-
@Artemis201 Ah no, specifically John Paul together! Boys named after the Pope, as you’d know yourself. The hyphen is more or less optional, most of the John Pauls I’ve known haven’t had the hyphen.
I’d say most of the names you’ve listed are really common in the mainland UK too, so not seen as specifically Catholic there. Things can be different up here in NI… as usual
-
@pthime First of all, this is wonderful, thank you for your contributions to the totally legitimate field of Global Name Science. (Actually, that probably is a legit field…) Glad to be vindicated when it comes to Brandon.
As you’re likely aware, the obvious issue with Chuck is that it’s a nickname so most US Chucks are of course Charleses. And it’s absolutely wild that there’s apparently so many Chads in Chad?? Is that really a thing? I need to look at where this data comes from, actually.
Gonna mess with this myself for a bit…
