Wild elephants have names! Apparently they sound like low rumblings, but researchers were able to isolate sounds and design an experiment. Elephants do seem to respond to these names and it seems like the mama elephants are the ones giving the names to their young.
Add the pachyderms to the list of creatures that seem to have some type of personal name, joining bottlenose dolphins and orange-fronted parakeets.
No word on whether they read this site, but I feel like elephant feet are not good for browsing, so probably no.
Read on for more names in the news for the week ending June 16, 2024 …
FREDDIE, ALFIE, LOUIE
The new data on name popularity from the UK is out! Something that always strikes me? The boys’ list is jam-packed with choices ending in -ie and -y. American boys are Theo, and so are British ones … but if you find a Teddy, he’s almost certainly more at home in England.
MEANWHILE IN AUSTRALIA
And in Australia, Oliver and Isla are on top of the charts. McCrindle’s annual report is out. Besides the chart-toppers, there’s lots of analysis. Rising names include Ollie and Myles for the boys, and Cleo, Kaia, and Lottie for the girls. Get your own copy of the report here.
WHOA, YES YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR NAME
I think any grown(ish) person should be able to change their name for nearly any reason. But every once in a very rare while I find myself thinking, “Yes, absolutely THIS is a moment when changing your name is the best possible course of action.” This? Is one of those rare times, because her given name is Kyrie-E-Leison. From the 1980s Mr. Mister song. Which … is actually from the Greek “Kyrie Eleison” for “Lord, have mercy.” It’s a prayer, and a significant one, too. There’s nothing problematic about that, not exactly, and there are plenty of Kyries out there, many inspired by the song. But Kyrie-E-Leison is … a lot.
BUT THIS ONE IS ALMOST CERTAINLY FINE
On the other hand, I suspect that Coco will grow up and like her name just fine. Or not! But it’s not an inherently problematic name, not with choices like Willow and Margot and Cleo on the rise.
AND I THINK THIS ONE WILL (PROBABLY) WORK OUT
The internet let out a collective gasp with Glee alum Darren Criss announced that he and wife Mia Swier have named their new son Brother László Criss. Brothers joins big sister Bluesy Belle. Criss comments, “And yes, his first name is Brother,” before anyone could ask. Is it very different? Yes. But I think it works, particularly in our age of bold word names like Maverick and Legend. It almost makes me think of medieval monks, putting the title Brother in the same general category as Earl. Maybe? I think …
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
We need to drop the whole “stripper name” idea IMO. It’s really pretty sexist, but it’s also just not true. As a woman who worked in the industry pointed out, the actual women who do that work tend to have the same names as other young women do, and their stage names are often just popular names given to baby girls during the year they started working.
Same with the idea of a “dog name.” Most of the pets I know either have the sort of names the owner would have given to a child born that year, or they have a name that the owner liked but considered too adventurous for a human child…which often is very popular among human children by the time the pet is 10 or 15. Everyone I know has a cat who’s either recently died or is old and ailing, and it sounds like a high school class of names, with a handful of names you’d be more likely to find in a preschool.