My dad picked my name and has always justified it by saying "it's a proper British name". Didn't do me a lot of good - until now. I usually cringe when I hear people say may name. It always feels awkward to me. But, here in London, spoken with an accent, my name sounds normal! It's kind of nice.
Anyway, that was pointless. Here's a chart I found:
This is sort of hard to read, so I'll summarize. My name has not been popular since the late 50s, early 60s. It's been in steady decline ever since. Way to fight the trend, dad!
How do you feel about your name?
14 comments:
First, I've always really loved your name and thought it suit you very well.
Second, when I was still in utero, my dad desperately wanted to name me Nicole or Sydney and my mom wanted Lauren. They compromised with Lauren Nicole. I used to thank the stars that I wasn't a Sydney, but I'm not sure how I feel about it now. I did go through a period where I tried to get everyone to start calling me by my middle name, because I have always desperately wished to have a nickname so that I would be cool, and Nicole lends itself to that way more than Lauren, it seems.
But, alas, no nickname ever came about, and my middle name never stuck. In summary, I think I like my name fairly well, but it irks me when people say it wrong (which happens pretty frequently).
Also, where'd you find the spiffy chart?
I shall start calling you Laur. Or perhaps Laurs? Your call - it is your nickname after all.
Just randomly found the chart via google - some sort of US census chart...
I used to hate my name.
I still can't say I like Lauren*, particularly, or that I FEEL very much like a Lauren, and I went through a period in second grade where I seriously considered adding 'Alexandra' to my name so I could go by Alex. This continued until my parents told me that, yes, I could change my name to Lauren Alexandra, but did I really want my initials to be LABD - so close to LAPD, like the LA police dept.? I am not kidding. They used this argument, and, at 7, I completely bought it.
I've always wanted something more unique. I meet Laurens everywhere.
All that said, I like my whole name, and I think Lauren Bauman Dawson suits me rather nicely. And I like the legacy inherent in it.
*As there is another Lauren here, I feel I should point out that I've never disliked the name on other people - just me. Which is somewhat inexplicable, but I never professed to be logical. In this post, anyway.
When I was about 13, I desperately wanted my name to be Zoe. I find this particularly odd now because my argument was that I wanted a unique name. But, as we can see from the graph, I do have a fairly unique name.
I've only ever know two other Shelleys. One was pretty cool and I felt like she deserved the name. The other was a huge bitch and, I think, ruined the good name of Shelley.
I've just always thought there was something strange and old fashioned about my name.
I do like all the nicknames it lends itself to, however.
Shell, Shellbell, Shellphone, Shelden, Shells, Shellster. All good.
don't forget Shelley Belly!
i guess i don't really mind my name, except when people misspell it . . . honestly, more people spell it Jermey than you would ever care to know . . . i am also annoyed considerably when people think my name is jeremiah, or call me jeremiah, or hint that they would like to start calling me that . . . that's a friendship breaker right there, no questions asked
I went through a Zoe phase too! That's such a sweet name.
I really love old-fashioned names.
Other Lauren, I just have to ask, have you ever experienced pronunciation frustrations???
Oh, I forgot to mention, however, that it's very critical for me that the "e" on Zoe is absolutely silent.
Pronunciation problems ...
You mean - the sort of - LOR-en verus LAR-en question?
Because yeah, I've discussed that with other Laurens. I feel as if most people choose the latter. Apparently the former is the boy version ... which of course, is the one my mother very specifically chose.
Go figure.
I have a question - if the 'e' in Zoe is silent ... is the name pronounced Zo? I'm totally confused now. I've never heard of that.
And Jeremy, I know you dislike the name Jeremiah, but surely you love when people sing the bullfrog song. I know you love that.
That's so interesting, because in my experience it's way more likely that people will call me LOren (than LAWren).
As for the Zoe thing, I hear a bit more people say "Zoe-y", but I've known several girls who go by "Zoh" and I like the way that sounds much better.
I've known a dog named "Zoe" that was pronounced "Zoeeeee."
However, the only human I've ever personally known named "Zoe" pronounced it "Zoh."
I like the latter, as well.
Lauren, you can be Zoh, I want to be Zoe-y. We could have a sitcom. the Zoe and Zoe show. (And we can argue comically about whether "show" is pronounced show or show-y. It would be hilarious. We would win emmys).
Both Laurens: am I not 100% sure how I say your names, but you've never corrected me. So, unless you tell me otherwise I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. I never realized you could screw up the pronunciation of Lauren. Seems pretty straight forward to me.
Jeremy: is Germ ok? Because if you think about it, it's just as disconnected from your real name as Jeremiah is. I like Germ.
John:I now want to be Zoe even more than ever so you can call me Zoeeeeeee, perhaps while scratching me behind my ears. If I come back as a dog, I only pray my owner gives me that name.
Also, I've recently found myself pronouncing forward FO-ward, and it's bugging the hell out of me. Where did I pick that up?
funny you should mention that, lauren . . . also, i find it funny we are no longer friends
thanks
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