I love this thread about names

a young (very young) couple here just named their baby Heaven Leigh
Neaveah is very popular here also.

Re ethnic names. I live in a predominatly Scandinavian settled community so names like Dagny, Berit, Hanne, Thor, Lars, Kristine, Kirsten, Bjorn, Marit are pretty common for all generations and they seem normal here. Last names are Knudson, Tjelveit, Thingstad, Larson etc, etc, etc

My niece is a Hanne (pronounced Hawnna - sort of - just more nasal -not Haaanah) - she will correct you if you say it wrong.

I went to school w/ Beppie (Dutch)
Zillah (biblical)

My best friend from high school named her daughter Ceildgh (sp) pronounced Kaylee. Her son was Aran

I had a female student named Aaron

and who ever referred to Erin Schmidt - I taught her too - a cute little American/Norwegian/German blondie.

I taught a WhiteCloud. We have a strong Native population in the vicinity so this would seem natural but nope she is caucasian.

The one that always throws me is Andrea. I have had 3 or 4 Andreas in one term and they all spelled it the same but pronounced it differently and they would let you know if you said it incorrectly.

Oh well at least they are interesting - a friend's DIL made the comment to her
" all the guys you know have 3 letter names, Pat, Ron, Don, Bob, Cal, Jim, Jon"
That's the 40's and 50's for you!

And to top it off I work w/ a gentleman in his late fifties and yes his name is
D*ck Butts AND he works in a grade 11 and 12 high school. His name is Richard so why oh why didn't his parents shorten it to Rick or Rich ? ? ? Or why didn't he reinvent himself when he left home? ? ?