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If you missed the news, my wife and I named our son Jack Nathaniel. We really did take all your comments into consideration, especially those who talked us out of Maximilian/Maxim/Max/etc. (Apologies to those named Max who love their names: nothing personal—it just didn’t work well with Israel.)
As already discussed, original names are becoming harder and harder to decided on and come by. To wit: a couple in Beijing recently settled on the @ symbol for their son’s name. The AP covered the story and reminded us that, “Written Chinese does not use an alphabet but is comprised of characters, sometimes making it difficult to develop words for new or foreign objects and ideas.” They also dropped this curious factoid: “As of last year, only 129 names accounted for 87 percent of all surnames in China.”
Apparently, the couple thought @ was a cool name because @=at, and “at,” in Chinese, can be pronounced in a way that sounds a lot like the phrase “love him.” (ed note: rolling eyes)
Okay, so we have the artist formerly known as Prince using the old unpronounceable glyph (combination of male and female symbols)(though no longer because, let’s face it, that was a terrible marketing decision), and we have a baby in China known as @. Of course, Prince wasn’t the first musician to associate with a symbol. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page branded himself back in the early 70s with what has become known as Zoso (or Zofo, according to some). The symbol, reprinted below, was penned by 16th century hermeticist J. Cardan in a 1557 work called Ars Magica Arteficii.
So I open the floor to you loyal Wrap readers: what other people have associated with special symbols or used them as a name? I can’t think of another right now, but I’m sure there are plenty more where Prince, Page and @ come from.
Comments (32)
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I think Beijing is not allowing the @ symbol to fly. Sweden has last word on what you can and cannot name your child as well I beleive.
Heck had the @ boy been a girl he would have been dumped in the hills for the monkeys to eat so let’s be happy the little guy has a moniker at all :}
As stupid as it is. :}
Last night on VH1 Classics they had a one hit wonder guy on who legally changed his name to a symbol as well. Darn if I can think of it now.. I was half asleep but it was the Top 100 One Hit Wonders Hosted by William Shatner. Maybe my hubby rememberss or you can look it up :}
Congrats on Baby Jack! I know several and it is hard to find names. Having 4 kids myself ..
Jack is popular here in Western Mass tho. I like it, it’s a strong one syllable name. My boys both have strong one syllabel names and the girls names all end in y like mine :}
posted by kimk on 8-24-2007 at 6:54 am
If memory serves (and it occasinally doesn’t) I recall a family in the 80s who wanted to name their son 6. He wasn’t the 6th of anything. Dunno the outcome – might be worth some research.
They said it was a protest against the increasing dehumanization of people in contemporary society. (”And so, to suit our great computer, you are now a number!” w/apologies to The Moody Blues if I got the quote wrong.)
I recall Charles Schultz using this theme in an arc of the Charlie Brown comic strip.
posted by Doc on 8-24-2007 at 7:04 am
Just last night VH1 reran One-Hit Wonders–one of which being Question Mark & the Mysterians.
posted by Gina on 8-24-2007 at 7:07 am
Thanks KimK!
posted by David on 8-24-2007 at 7:19 am
Isn’t there a band called “!!!”?
posted by Angela on 8-24-2007 at 7:29 am
Interestingly enough, Prince’s use of the symbol for his name wasn’t a marketing decision. It was part of a protest against the record company regarding the use of his name. So he dumped the name, used the symbol and kept on doing what he wanted to do. Brilliant, really.
(Love the name Jack, by the way.)
posted by b.n. on 8-24-2007 at 7:31 am
A Vietnamese friend told me that it is common to give the children names that are numbers by birth order, saying that his own best friend was “12″. I thought for sure that he was pulling my leg, but it is true.
From www [dot] 20000-names [dot] com /male_vietnamese_names.htm
“Both girls and boys are often given number names to indicate the order of birth however, this naming system is different between northern and southern Vietnamese. In south Vietnam, the first child is given the name Hai meaning two or “the second,” and the second son is given the name Ba meaning three or “the third,” etc. While in northern Vietnam, the first child is given the name Cả meaning “the eldest” or “the first,” and the second son is given the name Hai.”
posted by n2y2 on 8-24-2007 at 7:53 am
@ Kimk:
Why does Sweden have the last word on what can or cannot be a name? I mean the meatballs are good and all, but why them (if anyone at all)?
posted by Ed Hands on 8-24-2007 at 8:17 am
I’ve heard about the Sweden naming thing too. Its strange… I didn’t expect a European nation’s government to care about something like that.
posted by Amy on 8-24-2007 at 8:24 am
J.R.R. Tolkien had a pretty cool monogram he used made from the first letters of his name:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:JRRT_logo.svg
posted by Jason! on 8-24-2007 at 8:41 am
Back in elemtary school, we did a project where we had to create a cattle brand using our initials. That combination, somewhat altered by time and laziness, has become what I use for my initials and the first part of my signature.
posted by Tru on 8-24-2007 at 9:05 am
I don’t have any good contributions to the topic at hand, but I did want to express belated CONGRATULATIONS on the birth of your son. Mazel Tov! The name is excellent.
posted by Marcy on 8-24-2007 at 9:09 am
Lots of European countries have naming laws. Sweden is not the only one. The laws vary widely in how restrictive they are, but often require that names be actual first names (as opposed to just random words or collections of syllables — also no co-opting someone else’s surname because you think it sounds “cool”), be culturally appropriate (no calling your blond blue-eyed kid Ahmed), and be non-offensive (so no naming your child Cohen, although I guess that fits the above categories, too).
Frankly, it seems like a more attractive proposition than accepting names like Nevaeh-it’s-’Heaven’-spelled-backwards or Millionz A Dollaz or any of the other really, really awful names that I have seen used on real, live children.
posted by Amanda on 8-24-2007 at 9:55 am
Ed Hands:
Actually, official state approval for baby names is compulsory in several countries. Denmark and Brazil are two examples off of the top of my head. It has been the topic of discussion in the past on the mental_floss blog.
posted by n2y2 on 8-24-2007 at 10:02 am
Who can forget 4real, the baby whose name is the subject of legislation in New Zealand?
posted by Nora on 8-24-2007 at 10:02 am
I believe Six was the name of the chatty girl from Blossom oh so many years ago.
posted by Lindsay D on 8-24-2007 at 10:11 am
There is a band called “!!!”, and on at least one of their albums there is a subscript that says, “pronounced CHK CHK CHK”. (I think that’s it, but it could be ‘tck’ or something of similar consonance.)
posted by caitlen on 8-24-2007 at 11:34 am
There is a family in Australia if I’m not mistaken that is trying to name their child 4real, but the government isn’t letting it fly so they ecided to name him Superman instead and refer to him as 4real.
posted by Amanda on 8-24-2007 at 11:48 am
Germany (well, West Germany, it was the 60’s) had a rule that you have to be able to identify gender by first name. I don’t know if it still stands.
My cousin Kevin was born there, and had to be given a middle name, because Kevin was a rare name, and the staff didn’t know if the name was masculine of feminine.
posted by Emily Jane on 8-24-2007 at 12:51 pm
On the band “!!!” – I believe exclamation points have been used to represent clicks in Xhosa and some other African languages. I don’t know if that’s relevant to the band’s use of them or not.
posted by Coeli on 8-24-2007 at 2:26 pm
Isn’t the artist formerly known as Prince now known as Prince? So he is formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince. Is this like a double negative?
posted by UpOnIt on 8-24-2007 at 2:27 pm
I guess I’m pretty late to add to this blog but I wanted to add my two cents! I have cousins from the other side of my family named (seriously): Shake, Seven, Lucky, and Star. Surely some of you out there have read “Freakonomics,” in which the last chapter highlights bizarre names and the potential associated with naming your child something strange. For instance, a man named his two sons “Winner” and “Loser.” Loser became some hot shot lawyer (If I remember correctly), and Winner became a homeless drug addict. Ironic.
posted by B on 8-24-2007 at 4:25 pm
I always thought that purple glyph was pronounced “prince” (at least, that’s how I pronounced it).
And I knew a fellow named Logan 5 [last name redacted]. His father was a big fan of “Logan’s Run.” But yep, his middle name was “5″.
posted by Ian Randal Strock on 8-24-2007 at 6:41 pm
this isn’t quite the same, and might have fit better under an earlier post, but i went to high school with a boy named “jeremiah twenty-nine eleven” (last name redacted).
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
posted by katie on 8-25-2007 at 8:27 am
My name is Omega, so when possible I just use the symbol to label/sign
posted by Omega on 8-25-2007 at 3:48 pm
Being Aemi, I frequently use the combined a-e symbol.
posted by Aemi on 8-25-2007 at 9:23 pm
It is not only Jimmy Page that had a logo, all the members of Led Zeppelin had a symbol. I can’t place the link Check yahoo images type in zeppelin symbols in an Image search
posted by Dr Howard on 8-26-2007 at 10:53 pm
I was just thinking the same thing, Dr. Howard. Their names don’t even appear on the cover of the 4th album–just the symbols.
posted by Abbasmurf on 8-27-2007 at 8:52 am
I knew a girl in high school her name was A.M.R pronounced amar. It is my understanding that her parents could’t decide which name, so they gave her the fisrt letters, and she got to decide which one she wanted when she tuned 18.
I also knew a guy who was named Evol which is love backwards. Just looks like one letter from Evil to me.
and What about Frank Zappa’s kids Moonunit and Dwezzel.
posted by GilreanEstel on 8-29-2007 at 5:20 am
Yeah, most of Europe has or has had some kind of requirement for the names you give your child. France had several rules, but I think they got rid of them a few years ago. (Hence the propensity of French hyphenated names… You could use names like Jean and Marc, but there are a TON of French boys named Jean or Marc, so you name your child Jean-Marc. My dad’s name by the way.)
Backwards names are just weird in my mind. I had a student named Sema J (James backwards). He had a twin with a backwards name too.
posted by greenstrawberries on 9-18-2007 at 4:04 am
Further to ‘!!!’ (and very late, sorry!) – it’s pronounced ‘Tchk Tchk Tchk’ according to the record sleeves, so the african language reference is very close. Being an ex-acorn user I should point out that the exclamation mark was renamed to ‘pling’ back in the 80s, so the band could be referred to as ‘Pling Pling Pling’ (in English ;)
posted by Dave SC on 12-13-2007 at 7:53 pm
euhhh i read ur little article and i wanted to know what sofo or soso realy means .:p
can u answer please
posted by Criztyna Ezcubar on 10-3-2009 at 10:29 pm