BS: Musically inspired children's names

Subject: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 04:30 PM

Hi all,

In my small suburb and also my extended family circle, I know of three young boys with musically inspired names. Zeppelin, Hendrix and Arlo.

I only met Zeppelin once a few years ago, and he may not still be living around here. I admit, my first reaction was: "that poor kid, carrying a name like that around!" but as a tribute to a great band, I get it. Better than being called Led, I suppose.

When I was told my neighbours' new baby was called Hendrix, I heard the first syllable and thought they were going to say Henry, which has taken off as a first name in the last few years, but my Dad hated that as his second name so for me it's a bit cringeworthy.

Hendrix, on the other hand? Way to go!! And the kid loves rock music, so he's aptly named.

And the same for Arlo. My hubby misheard my cousin tell him the name and he thought it was Arthur. When I saw my cousin and she told me his name - same reaction: Way to go!!

Do you know of any musically inspired kid's names? What do you think about it?

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 05:06 PM

No children named that way but several kittens born in our house - Mingus and Miriam (after Miriam Makeba), Siouxsie and Courtney (both rather punkish-looking).

I knew someone who named her goldfish Tristan and Isolde. Their relationship departed from Wagner's script when Isolde ate Tristan.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 05:39 PM

"Do you know of any musically inspired kid's names?"

I've met a couple of Haydns.

"What do you think about it?"

I think parents who name their kid 'Zeppelin' must be double-jointed.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 05:59 PM

THere used to be a kid at our school called Albert Hall.

Some parents are right bastards.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 07:24 PM

Isolde ate Tristan, did she?
How Wagnerian of her ...
after all, Tristan drops dead in Act Three of Wagner's version,
and then Isolde takes center stage
and sings The Soliloquy To End All Operatic Soliloquies.
No doubt the tenor feels
as though the soprano consumed him.

It also reminds me of the music professor who opined,
"Kirsten Flagstad had a voice that could swallow us all ..."

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 07:41 PM

How many little girls
have been named "Layla"
because of Derek and the Dominoes? More than a few, I would guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 08:30 PM

I think some of the Layla's were named for Eric Clapton's song, too. I worked with a young woman named Layla a decade or so ago and she said it was Clapton-inspired.

Backwoodsman, maybe I'm a bit slow, but I didn't get the "double-jointed" reference.

The Tristan & Isolde story reminds me of the poor young male yabby (Oz crayfish) hounded to death by the older female yabby when my hubby kept them in a fish tank. I think the motivation might have been sexual, or let's be a bit coy about it, "procreative". It changes the concept of sexual predator a bit because she seemed to have no second thoughts about eating him when she finished hounding him to death. Talk about "off topic"! That topic still gives me the heeby-geebies when I think about that poor little yabby.

Back to the topic of the thread, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 09:05 PM

I knew a Melody who was pretty but had no affect or personality.
If Melody had a musical last name it would be Deis Arae

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 11:49 PM

I have a grandson named Hendrix, but neither of his parents are big Jimi fans. I have no idea why they chose the name.

I suspect a fair number of the Martins in the world were named after Martin guitars. The name seems to be more common in musical circles than in the population at large.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 01:26 AM

Back in the late 90s I worked with a girl named Capella, her name was part of a trend of Hong Kong Chinese parents using Western words as names. She was in her early 20s, so would have been been born in the 70s.

These names were not just personal names that sounded pleasant, which apparently led to some very unusual first names ...

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 01:57 AM

I think that the Burt Bacharach song is the reason for the naming of my grandson Alfie. There's a second grandson on the way - no name yet.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 02:39 AM

"Backwoodsman, maybe I'm a bit slow, but I didn't get the "double-jointed" reference."

I'd imagine it's impossible for anyone who isn't double-jointed to be able to get their head up their own arse like that.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 03:53 AM

Thanks for the clarification, Backwoodsman. I think I agree with you.

I sometimes wonder if the poor kid copped a lot of references to gas filled balloons bursting into flames, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 04:24 AM

You have to hope there isn't a set of parents whose musical idols are Frankie Armstrong and Johnny Handle.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 05:06 AM

wot?
Armstrong Handle Smith?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 05:44 AM

I just realised I forgot to mention the most common musically inspired name: Dylan. I would be fairly safe betting that the majority of the multitude of young Dylans in the world would not be named after the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 05:54 AM

I had a young man who worked for me named Delaney and it seems he had a sister named Bonnie.
I should have lobbied harder for Motorhead when my daughter had her daughter.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jos
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 05:57 AM

Or Dylan the rabbit in the Magic Roundabout? At least it was his first name.
Wouldn't the Bob Dylan fans call their child Bob or Robert, and the Hendrix fans call the child Jimi?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 06:04 AM

Yes, but Jos, would anyone then realise that it was a tribute to a musical great. Bob, Robert or Jimi/Jimmy doesn't stand out from the crowd in the world of nomenclature.

gillymor, I would expect nothing less of you. However, what sort of life would a girl named Motorhead experience, especially in the throes of the bullying years at school?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 06:10 AM

It's a strange fashion of newfangleness to name your children after entertainers or entertainments. Jason was a teddibly teddibly upper-class name until some Australian soap brought rashes of Jasons into the working-class world - how teddibly embarrassing for all the noble Jasons whose names were heroic and familial.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 06:13 AM

Get her accoutered like Lemmy and I'm sure the bullies would have given her a wide berth. (I may have said that in jest, Helen, actually I was in favor of Emmylou)

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 06:36 AM

you could name them after murderous dictators, or serial killers...or your favourite assault rifle.

I wonder how many German kids were called Adolf Hitler in the thirties.

i know one guy whose communist parents called him Josef, after Stalin.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 07:01 AM

Helen - I once met a young mother whose name was Dylane and she was NOT named after Bob Dylan but after Dylan Thomas. I thought her parents were kinda inventive on that since Dylan is gender neutral. They gave her a little extra flair!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 07:10 AM

I knew of a pupil called Ophelia, not in my class though. Rather a swanky name, except her surname was Balls. :)

A very 'hippy' mother at the same school had a girl she called Squirrel. Her son was Starshone. I asked her one Parents' Evening where 'Starshone' came from. The dad said when he was born, he took the baby over to the window of the maternity hospital and a star shone in the sky.

I privately thought it was a jolly good thing he hadn't seen a dog crapping in the street, or the poor lad might have been named Dogshit!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 12:51 PM

My best buddy's daughter's name is Amanda after the version by Don Williams. She's about 40 now and is mostly called Mandy and it drives her crazy when she's asked if she was named for the Barry Manilow hit.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 02:53 PM

I have known three Melodies. One played harp, one played piano, and as for the third, I don't know. I just learned from the newspaper of a bar owner named Rhythm.

Surely somebody knows a Harmony to complete the set.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 03:00 PM

A newsreader on our local TV programme Look East, called Susie Fowler-Watt, named her baby girl Lola. It made me smile as I can't help thinking of that Kinks song 'Lola' (lo-lo-lo-lo-Lola). And 'Lola' turned out to be a transvestite!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 03:57 PM

Not real-life, but fiction:
Any fan of Madeleine L'Engle's books who has read more than A Wrinkle in Time will have met Poly, short for Polyhymnia.

Real life: actress Calliope Thorne

A woman I know wrote her name as Mairi, as in Mari's Wedding, because Mary was too plain for her. I guess she renamed herself.

I, too, have known a few Dylan's but never been sure if they were named for B. Dylan or D. Thomas.

Not musical: girl or boy, my child was going to have a name from nature, and so he does: Forest.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 04:37 PM

You're right, leeneia. There is an Oz singer-songwriter called Harmony James. I have been to one of her performances because she was a support act for another performer, and I bought one of her CD's. I like her songs and enjoyed her concert.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:39 AM

or the poor lad might have been named Dogshit! well they could have called him Pure** - in the Victorian era it would have been known what the reference was anyway.


** if collecting the stuff was your trade - what would you call it? For tanneries - since you ask.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:53 AM

Mairi, as in Mari's Wedding, because Mary was too plain for her.

The name is actually Mhairi, and the initial consonant is one that doesn't occur in English. Non-Gaelic-speaking parents who wish that on their kids (which happens quite often in Scotland) are usually unclear on the concept.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 06:21 AM

Cecilia is probably the most persistent - pity Orpheus never caught on !
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 12:46 PM

Thank you, Jack. She spelled it Mairi, and I don't recall ever seeing it written by anyone else. I could do a lyric search, but I'll take your word for it,

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 07:15 AM

Ah Cecilia, patron saint of music!

We called our son Ewan, so he would have a Scottish name, but nothing too outlandish for someone born in England (moved to Scotland when he was only 3, though). If anyone asked what or why, I would say "Ewan - as in Ewan McColl" - and mostly (non-folkie people) they'd say "Ewan who?" (Sorry Jim!) My Canadian sister-in-law had never heard the name and having seen it written down came back with "EEEEE-wan? What sort of a name is that?"

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 08:27 AM

You know how Jimmy Miller got his stage name?

When he moved to Scotland he heard two miners chatting in a pub.

"I was doon the mine, 'ewin ma coal..."

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 09:50 AM

Haven't they heard of Ewan McGregor in Canada?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 12:12 PM

Thanks, Helen. We have Melody, Harmony and Rhythm. Now we need somebody named Music Critic. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Mr Red
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 03:57 AM

Now we need somebody named Music Critic. they already inhabit this parish!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: BTMP
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 06:59 AM

My wife vetoed my two name suggestions for our daughter:   Amanda Lynn and Claire Annette.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 07:11 AM

I was chatting in the pub the other day and one chap said he called his son George because he was born in St. George's day. Another christened his son Patrick as he came into the world on that saint's day. I didn't mention my son, Pancake.

:D

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 08:20 AM

Hahahahaaaaaa! This thread is making me laugh a lot! :)

I suppose an Irish baby might be called Vi O'Lynn.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 08:56 AM

Then there is the quintessential name for an American acoustic guitarist, Martin Taylor, though, of course, he is an Englishman who is mostly seen playing electric archtops and even has his own line of them.
Uhh, never mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 09:24 AM

Just as long as we don't get Martin Gibson back here.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 09:32 AM

Amen!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: leeneia
Date: 22 Sep 18 - 01:13 PM

BTMP, I had to smile at your clever names, but I am glad your wife vetoed them. Same for Vi O'Lynn.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 22 Sep 18 - 04:10 PM

BTMP, I didn't say those names out loud so I missed the joke. Clever!

I'm about to shift the topic slightly to children named by parents who seem to have had issues of some kind, IMHO. Maybe they think it's funny, but I expect the child suffers at school.

Names like Robin Banks, Helen Melon, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Sep 18 - 04:24 PM

Those are priceless Helen!

As a teacher, I cam across lots of hilarious and daft names.

In the same class were Mark Clark and Paul Small.

I had a Mary Christmas (who had an awful lisp) and a Dwayne Pipe (the latter's mother was a teacher at a different school - you'd think she should have had more sense)

Annette Curtain and (as mentioned above) Ophelia Balls.

In Edinburgh I had a Mhairi Grubb. But Mhairi isn't pronounced M'hairy, but 'Varee'. Unfortunately I didn't know this and on the first day read out 'Ma Hairy Grubb' from the register. The whole class shrieked with laughter.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 22 Sep 18 - 08:27 PM

Senoufou, the best attempt at spelling a name that I have ever seen was "Joesph".

When I asked the mother whether the spelling was correct on the form, she gave me a withering look, and said with a curled lip that Billy Idol would be proud of, "Yes. Joe-sph."

Emphasis on the first syllable and the "sph" is pronounced between the "s" and the "ph" sound with a kind of non-specific, almost non-existent vowel sound, which is fairly common in Oz, hence the absence of a vowel in the second syllable. Brilliant piece of logic, that!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 03:44 AM

I do like Joe-sph!! hee hee 'Joesph and the Techniclr Dreamct'

I had a Jasson. I had to double-check before entering it in my register, as it's a legal document and must be accurate.

His previous teacher assured me it was how his parents spelt it. It was pronounced Jay-sun, so they obviously intended Jason to be his name.

I wonder if the Registrar of Births ever tries to correct these daft people? In France they're much stricter and actually refuse many proposed names!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 05:41 AM

There were a lot of little girls in Salford called "Chardonnay yer likkle bleedor"

How about the old ones? Eileen Dover, Theresa Green and Poppy Tupper?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Jos
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 05:41 AM

You can't necessarily rely on the registrar - I had to persuade one that Juliet isn't spelt 'Juliette' (he had obviously never studied Shakespeare).

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 08:17 AM

I like Major Bumsore.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 08:58 AM

Gay Paris, a childhood friend who remained so until she went away to college. Nickname obvious.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 03:07 AM

I remembered another musically inspired name. A woman I met about 20 years ago told me that her son's name is Lydon, after John Lydon. Lucky for him she didn't call him by the stage name, i.e. Johnny Rotten.

Also, years ago I saw a young man's name written as Jammie, so I called him that and was told it was pronounced Jamie. Huh!?

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 03:31 AM

My first wife had a work-colleague whose surname was Carte. They named their son 'Orson'. Genuinely! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 05:06 PM

many years ago my mother was a night nurse in casualty - she told us about someone bringing in their child and when asked the child's name the parent said 'y-vonn-ie' - pronouncing the 'y' as in 'yacht'
(they spelt the name Yvonne correctly - just didn't realise how the rest of the world pronounced it!)

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Helen
Date: 26 Sep 18 - 04:14 PM

No! Backwoodsman. Say it isn't true!!

Gallus Moll, that reminds me of that email which went around 10 years ago. I had trouble remembering the girl's supposed name but Hubby remembered it: Le-a, pronounced Ledasha. Snopes has not been able to verify that the girl actually existed. They make some good points, e.g.

Not all symbols go by only one name. While the “-” in “Le-a” could be parsed as “dash,” it could just as easily be read as “hyphen” or even “minus.” Such alternate interpretations of the “-” would render “Ledasha” as “Lehyphena” and “Leminusa.”

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Sep 18 - 08:07 PM

Well, hope he won't mind if I tell you, but Glenn Miller is alive and well and living in West Lothian: really!

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 27 Sep 18 - 11:28 AM

It used to be frequent in Wales for children to be given the names of composers.

I heard some years ago (can't vouch for the truth of it) about a teacher who took on a class in a Welsh primary school, which included a little boy called Handel. Problem was, his family name was Mycock.

Subject: RE: BS: Musically inspired children's names
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Sep 18 - 12:09 PM

onkey's years ago, I occasionally used to attend a 'shoppers' lunch' at the Catholic Cathedral in Norwich. I got chatting to one of the organisers, and her name was Pat Mecock. I had to ask her to spell the surname, but it honestly WAS Mecock. Her husband was called Mick. Mick Mecock.