Rushes in Castleford; Image via Wikipedia
Boys are called Cash and Dash, but this choice might be tainted by its most famous bearer.
Thanks to Nicole for suggesting Rush as our Baby Name of the Day.
Regardless of your politics, it is tough to imagine Rush Limbaugh inspiring parents.
This is my surname, and you wouldn’t believe all the jokes I’ve gotten throughout my life. “You like Rush LImbaugh?” “I bet you like the band, don’t you?” Meh. Indifferent on the first, very true on the second. In fact, I’m such a big Rush fan that I told my wife that if we had a boy, I wanted to name him Alex Sawyer Rush — Alex for Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, and Sawyer for one of their best-known songs, “Tom Sawyer.” Perhaps it was a good thing we had a girl. 🙂
Oh, another famous Rush for you — Benjamin Rush, early colonial physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence. My grandpa Rush claims our family is related to him, though I’ve never been able to draw a genealogical connection.
That’s a nice Colonial tie for the name!
I think you’d get away with Rush outside America. I know of Rush Limbaugh and his reputation, but he is sufficiently distant from my world not to tarnish the name as much as I fear he must in the US. Like Waltzing, the wonderful Geoffrey Rush comes first to mind for me when I think of Rush as a name. I very much associate the name with the plant and rather like it.
I’m so glad you chose it for NOTD. As a kid, Rush was one of my two favorite boy names – mostly from reading The Four-Story Mistake. At this point, I agree with everyone else I’d never use it now given the Limbaugh association.
The Melendy books are probably my favorite books of all time, and the reason why I’ve always been drawn to the name Rush. I’m really not a fan of surname names or word names, so it’s definitely not one you’d expect me to like, but I guess my love for the character is strong enough to look past that… that said, there’s absolutely no way I’d name my child after Rush Limbaugh.
Anyway, nice to see someone else who’s read Elizabeth Enright’s books! And I’m glad this was NOTD.
I didn’t even know Rush was a real name – I thought Rush Limbaugh’s name was a made up nickname, like Bubba or Fatty …
I want to like it, and yet all I can think of is Limbaugh. Ugh, no thank you.
As an Australian, the first association I had was Geoffrey Rush. I’m actually not sure who Rush Limbaugh is, except I think he was parodied on an episode of the Simpsons once (yes, it’s true – most of my knowledge of American culture comes from the Simpsons!)
The Simpsons must be quite the filter!
I’m Canadian so I don’t know much about Rush Limbaugh. The first Rush I thought of was Rush Sanders, Steve’s dad from Beverly Hills, 90210.
My initial reaction to seeing today’s NOTD was– “Oh, Hell no!” Beyond the obvious connections to Mr. Limbaugh, I not a big fan of verb names,
Clearly I’m still far too in touch with my inner child, as I immediately thought of the Mr. Men character! As for the actual name, I think he’d make a bold choice, but not one I could see myself making.
I could see using Rush as a modern nickname for Russell. (I also like Chase for Charles). Russell is a family name, but I doubt I’d use it.
That’s a pretty cool idea – Rush is far better than Rusty!
Rush is all Limbaugh to me, so double thumbs down from me. And I agree with Patricia, that beyond Limbaugh the meaning/connotation of “hurry!”is kind of negative. However, on sound alone I do understand his appeal.
Btw, Rusha (prn like the country) is a girls name in Arabic that I happen to love. That name doesn’t give me any Limbaugh vibes 🙂
I agree with Panya. The image of Rush is far from positive. Plus even if that weren’t the case, I don’t like the way the name sounds when I say it or it’s usual meaning — hurry, hurry, hurry. That said, no doubt there are parents who will find Rush appealing.
I think of that line from The Smiths song “a rush and a push and this land that we stand on is ours …” The lyric has been stuck in my brain ever since I started working on this one, and somehow it makes the name feel more positive.
No thanks. Rush Limbaugh is an awful person most of the time, and I despise Geddy Lee’s voice, so don’t want any reminders of them.