Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A to Z BLOG CHALLENGE...APRIL 16, 2014...LETTER N

A to Z BLOG CHALLENGE
Today's letter is.................N

Thank you for stopping by! Comments welcome! Happy reading!

WHAT'S YOUR NAME?

I'm fascinated by names. Names of people, animals, and things, are so interesting. I like to look up the meanings of names, how they evolved, and how they are spelled. There is a list that comes out every so often, that shows the most popular names that have been used to name new babies over the years. Some are always on the list, and some are new.

There are lots of books on what to name the baby, the meanings of each, and where it originated. Have you looked your's up? Mine, Barbara, is from the Greek, and means foreign or strange...traveler from a foreign land. Does that fit for me? In some ways, yes.

Some people carry on a name throughout generations, adding a junior, or a number after the name. It's funny, too when you find someone that has the same name as yours. I know in our city there are at least two. I sometimes get a phone call intended for the other one!

I like naming things. Our cats each have a name, but we call them all kinds of different things. It is fun to make up their 'old west' name, or their 'pro-wrestling' name, etc.

Have you seen the name games that pop up on Facebook or Pinterest? They say to find your Royal name, or your Elf name, and all other kinds of funny ones.

How about nick-names? Do you have one? Why did someone start calling you that name? I never really had one, just a shortened form...Barb. My husband's family, however, give almost everyone a nick-name. I finally figured out who they were talking about!

Do you use pet names for your significant other? They can be sweet and endearing, or cute and silly.

And of course, there are derogatory names...names that hurt...names that label people. These are abhorrent to me.

But, mostly, names are fun and interesting. I also wonder how some things were named. Why did someone call a tree, a tree, and why did it stay that name? I know some surnames come from a person's occupation...a tailor would be known as 'Joe, the tailor', and later, just Joe Taylor.

So, yes, all facets of names are interesting, as you might have seen in an earlier post about horse names...:)

William Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." from Romeo and Juliet ~

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to, visit my other blog for the letter N. Find it at http://teleportingweena.wordpress.com


Peace, Love, & Writing

2 comments:

  1. I love names, too. When I pick a name for a character (and our daughter for that matter!) it has to have just the right meaning or I can't use it. I spent forever picking the lead character's name in my work-in-progress. Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your comment, Abby! Exactly...names to me have to sound just right, or nope...not going to work. haha even the title of this blog took forever to come up with. Characters are hard to name, I agree! All the best to you! Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete