Re: OT: Anthroponymics

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005, 20:01 CEST, Tom H. Chappell wrote

> Gatewood is a famous example of a person who had no
> personal name.
When did he live? Reminds me a bit of the Doctor in the
Startrek: Voyager series.

> it is not Harry S. Truman, it is just Harry S Truman,
> because the S does not stand for anything.
There's an episode of The Simpsons where Homer finds out
that the "J" in his name stands for nothing.

> Less frequently, all of a person's "personal names" might
> be merely "initials", as for instance the soldier J B
> Jones.
That'd not be possible here I think.

> Royalty (of which America doesn't have any) can get along
> without any family name
The last name of the prince of this county (Waldeck) is just
_von Waldeck_.

> There was a person named Baxter Wilson Grant; upon hearing
> of him, one person said "How many people is that?"
Forrest Gump, anyone? Americans seem to be more liberal with
first names than other Western countries.

> Americans usually go by the first name; but not always.
> Stephen Grover Cleveland went by Grover.
My mother's name is Brita Becker (yes, with one <t> only)
and it's habit to answer the telephone with one's last name.
Once, a colleague from the US thought "Becker" would be my
mother's *first* name because in anglophone countries, it's
habit to address people by their first name. Not so in the
German speaking area. In Switzerland and Austria, AFAIK,
it's even habit to address people by their degree. My
father, when he worked in Basel for two years, was for
example frequently addressed as "Herr Ingenieur" (Mr
Engineer) instead of "Herr Becker" he told me.
As Jörg said, when you've got several first names, you can
choose by which one you want to go. For example, Friedrich
Schiller was actually Johann Christoph Friedrich von
Schiller.

One curious thing is that a cousin of my fathers' was born
Rainer Böttcher but calls himself Rainer W(alter) Böttcher
in honour of his father Walter Böttcher whom he never got to
know.

Another curious fact is that especially in Catholic regions,
men usually have Maria as a second first name: E.g. the full
name of my godmother's husband is Michael Maria Lamsfuhs,
their son is called Lucas Maria Lamsfuhs.

Since nobody has mentioned that yet: I've read that in
Iceland, it's still habit that children have a first name
and have as a second name their father's or mother's name
plus -son/-dóttir. People do not have an actual family name
thus. The members of my family would be called

  Ingolf Friedrichsson [Ilsesson]
  Brita Johannsdóttir [Gertrudsdóttir]
  Carsten Ingolfsson [Britasson]
  Philipp Christoph Ingolfsson [Britasson]
  Simone Ingolfsdóttir [Britasdóttir]

accordingly. I'd prefer Ingolfsson. BTW, how were Irish and
Scottish women called if "O'" and "Mac" mean "son of"?

OBConlang: Are there special naming patterns in your
conlangs? My Ayeri people go by happily with [family name]
[first name(s)].

Yours,

First name(s):  Carsten
Family name:    Becker

--
"Miranayam cepauarà naranoaris."
(Calvin nay Hobbes)

Current projects:
www.beckerscarsten.de/?conlang=ayeri
www.beckerscarsten.de/?conlang=tarsyanian

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