About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

29 Comments

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. Burl is quite possibly one of the ugliest names around, really dislike it. Wyatt and Gage or Sage are way more appealing

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  5. 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!

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  6. 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! 🙂

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  7. 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.

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  8. 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!

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    1. 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!

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  9. 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.

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    1. I thought hurl too! I acutally know a man that went by Hurl as a nickname, which I always thought was terrible.

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  10. 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.

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