Maple burl; Image via Wikipedia
He has a cowboy cool sound, a nature name link, and even ties to Hollywood – and Christmas!
Thanks to Kathleen for suggesting Burl as our Baby Name of the Day.
Burl always strikes me as a nickname, the kind of name a guy called
It doesn’t seem like all of this article is here, Abby. I’d love to be able to read it!
I like it, but then I’m also a big fan of Pearl, Merle, and Fern. I love hearing about Burl Ives’ full name and siblings’ names, too–what an interesting bunch!
I first thought of Burl Ives as Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof! And burly to me is roughly equivalent to brawny–more muscular than just heavy.
Would never be on my short list, but it’s OK! Would his nickname be Burlie?
Burl has been in my family for generations now, which is why I suggested it. I’ve always liked it, and honestly the youngest Burl in my family is in middle school now and he doesn’t have problems with teasing. No more than any other kids with rhyming names. All of the Burls have loved their names. My Uncle John got more teasing with his name being associated with the toilet. 🙂
I actually kind of like Burl. I like it for the burl wood, as my FIL is a master woodworker and my husband’s family is all-around outdoorsy. To me it sounds more rugged cowboy than fusty old man. Also, the word Burly sounds warm and fuzzy to me, not negative. I could see its rhyming with hurl being a problem in the middle school years, but that’s it.
And lots of things do have dreadful rhymes, really – Stella smella, Asher gasher, Bart fart … what happened to my Garbage Pail Kids collection … need those now.
and Crabby Abby, which you might be familiar with. I know you were born an Amy, but as you go by Abby, which is also my name, perhaps you were privy to such gems, as I was. My least favourite will forever be Scabby Abby 😉
Oh, well hello Abby! And nope, I became Abby after college – after the age of Scabby and Crabby. Though I think my husband has probably called me crabby Abby a few times … and I’ve probably deserved every one!
I could never take real offense to that one either 😉
Most of the previous comments point to my comment: I don’t think we’re quite ready for the return of the “ur” names. Bertha, Burl, Earl, Herbert, etc., still aren’t ready for their comeback. Burl might be the one that starts the trend, though, if it every gets going.
I wish there wasn’t such a hatred for the “ur” names. Two of my favourites feature the sound: Gertrude and Hermione,
Oh, I do like Gertrude! Well, I love Trudy. I’m less keen about the Ger. And Hermione is on my longer short list – the one I’d use if we decided no family names and then we had octuplets. And all eight were girls.
There’s a Brit chic lit series where the main character’s nephew was named Cuthbert, called Bertie. I’ve been a little bit in love with Cuthbert ever since. And Albert – I kind of like Albert, even if he seems 40-plus to me, rather than 4. That’s a lovable, youthful 40-plus. (For reference, I am a youthful 38!)
Ooooh, I’m really liking the sound of a Cuthbert called Bertie. Hmmm, I’ll have to suggest that one to Mark. I’m not going to get my hopes up though. It’s not remotely his style.
My childhood soundtrack was Pete Seeger, Tom T Hall and Burl Ives.
For me Burl feels warm, cozy and well grandfatherly. It’s interesting how popular the -ur- sound was 100 years ago and how unpopular it is today. Earl, Merle, Elmer, Wilbur, Murray, Burton… they all sound old fashioned.
Still I think Burl could be a rather interesting nature name, especially in the middle. Speaking of middle names…did you notice that Burl Ives full name was Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives!!! His parents were definitely name nerds.
The first thing that came to mind for me was the snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In fact I had forgotten his name was Sam, and have always thought of him as Burl the Snowman.
Personally, I’m not fond of the look or sound of this name – reminds me of similar names I’m also not a fan of, like Merle and Verle and Earl.
I actually think Burl has a certain charm, although the first time I ever came across it, in Catherine Marshall’s _Christy_, I did find it rather odd.
Burl is quite possibly one of the ugliest names around, really dislike it. Wyatt and Gage or Sage are way more appealing
Artie? Cute. But, Burl. Ugh! I see almost nothing appealing about him. There’s burly and hurl and those are generally unfortunate as well, so, yea, Burl’s not topping my list. I’d rather use Wyatt or Gage, actually (I’ve still never met one of either of those!), and Argo, sans -la, is really quite cool, too!
PS If Burl was someone’s friendly old farmer grandpa, I could SO see that!
Burl is lovely! Hurl didn’t enter my brain until Panya said it but even then, Ives is my main assocation. And I like that! Christmas is the only thing I enjoy about winter. I suffer from SAD and winter is such a drag for me. Blah.
But Burl feels like Leo to me; a bit hefty and warm, even a touch fuzzy. I love Leo and am enamoured with Burl. I like those cowboyish names, they’re so stunning on a city kid! 🙂
I was pleasantly surprised to see Burl. My first association with it is a high school teacher I had, followed by Burl Ives. Not a name I ever think of, but I like it.
I too thought Burl=hurl. Plus makes me think of burly and burlesque, just can’t like it im afraid. Argola sounds interesting though, I think I could like that, possibly!
I’m intrigued by Argola, too – there’s a town in Missouri called Argola, but I’m stumped on the origin. It appears in lots of foreign languages, and there was a similar ancient place name. Plus there’s Jason’s ship, the Argo – so … not sure what’s behind this one, but I agree – interesting!
Uh, no. Burl = hurl = vomit. This is just one of those names where the sound does it in. I don’t see this ever becoming popular again.
I thought hurl too! I acutally know a man that went by Hurl as a nickname, which I always thought was terrible.
An ex-boyfriend of mine goes by Hurl nowadays. Perhaps this is why he’s an ex!
HA! Maybe so …
It’s a bit too cowboyish for me but I’d still rather run into a little Burl on the playground than jaden/braydon/caiden.