Speaking of Americans not understanding the "foreign" names they've blessed their offspring with (and no, I'm not US-bashing. I'm as American as they come so don't even think of it!) I overheard a woman calling her daughters Shannon and Brittany. I told her wasn't it interesting that both her daughters had geographic names. She looked bewildered. I said, "You know, Brittany in France and Shannon in Ireland." She still looked bewildered. I said, "You know, the province of Brittany in France and the River Shannon in Ireland?" She still looked bewildered so I gave up.