Once Again Canadian Problems

[commodorified]

benet: today I received an email blast from Nature Ganganbaigal, lead singer of Tengger Cavalry.
It's a stage-name.
benet: the #2 hypothesis was that Mr. and Mrs. Ganganbaigal, late of Beijing, were big hippies.
commodorified: "my parents named me Serenity MoonChild but I go by BloodEagle McCoy".
commodorified: I mean, bear in mind, I have a weird name and was born in 1969.
benet: right.
commodorified: I meet women my age called, like, Pippin and there's this LOOK we all have.
benet: In twenty-odd years there are going to be some very testy Khaleesis and Tyrions.
benet: I mean, sometimes these make some kind of phase transition and just become unexceptionable names, like Amber after _Forever Amber_.
commodorified: yeah.
benet: Madison post-_Splash_ is most of the way along the same trajectory.
commodorified: Madison is cute and all but I can't see "Wisconsin" as a middle name so.
benet: yeah, or "Avenue".
commodorified: that would be right out.
commodorified: If I'm naming a kid after a city it'll be, IDK, Toronto.
commodorified: Saskatoon.
commodorified: Medicine Ha - no.
benet: Flin Flon.
commodorified: Kapuskasing.
benet: I think Kapuskasing has a vaguely patrician New England feel to it.
benet: "Pleased to meet you, I'm Kapuskasing Routledge Lowell."
commodorified: True, true.
commodorified: And, of course, St John has a history.
benet: yeah.
commodorified: St John's less so.
benet: indeed.
commodorified: Halifax.
commodorified: Halifax Nightingale.
benet: it just sounds like a code-name for an invasion of something.
commodorified: Well, IT WOULD BE.
benet: "Vat can you tell me ... about _Halifax Nightingale_, Englischer Schweinhund?"
commodorified: ...
commodorified: Timmins
benet: Timmins Margaux

brownbetty: Winnipeg. White Horse. Gimli
commodorified: NOT GIMLI. Yellowknife?

fairestcat:we are not naming our child ¹ Halifax
commodorified: Okay
fairestcat: or Kapuskasing
commodorified: But

ETA1:
staranise: ... if I get another tortoiseshell or calico cat I'm naming it Nanaimo Bar.

ETA2: (Yelled across the hallway)
commodorified
Kelowna?
fairestcat: no.
commodorified: Kamloops?
fairestcat: NO.
commodorified: Penticton!
fairestcat: Penticton Meier?
commodorified Kelowna Nightingale?
fairestcat: That's not bad ...

ETA3:

staranise: Castlegar would make a very impressive WASPy middle name
Benjamin Castlegar Nightingale III

ETA4:

dira:*giggles*
Penticton could go by Pen.
Pen Meier
fairestcat: Pen Meier has some potential
Castlegar could be fit into the traditional CMM pattern
Castlegar M Meier

ETA5:

staranise: Camrose?
commodorified: hmmm
staranise: I know, right?

1) Nobody is pregnant, there is no cause for alarm at this time. Remain calm.

Comments

[raincitygirl]

I laughed so hard I scared the cat!

[graydon]

Drumheller?

Calabogie?

Rimouski? Shediac?

I mean the potential of Canadian place names, especially Eastern Canadian place names, to produce character building names is very large.

[commodorified]

I will be go to Hell before I name an innocent child Shediac.

[indywind]

But it would be a greathorrible name for a longhaired pet!

[boxofdelights]

Ishpeming! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishpeming,_Michigan

[commodorified]

... no.

[tam_nonlinear]

Only if you retain the exclamation mark. It must always be said with great emphasis.

Remain calm

[thnidu]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllandysiliogogogoch

Re: Remain calm

[commodorified]

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Re: Remain calm

[legionseagle]

No, true, but Llanfair P.G. (you can tell the offspring of a posty anywhere) is on Anglesey or Ynys Mon, which practically teems with vaguely Celtic Twilighty naming possibilities; Beaumaris and Gaerwen for the eldest twins, the boys, Rhosneigr and Amlwch for the next two girls and Valley for the youngest.

Re: Remain calm

[thnidu]

<eg> My work here is done.

[redbird]

Kapuskasing sounds enough like a verb that such a child would keep being asked "how do you kapuska?" by people who thought they were being clever.

[fairestcat]

Kapuskasing looks more like a verb than it sounds. It's pronounced KAP-us-KAY-sing, so perhaps the hypothetical child would be safe from that particular "cleverness".

[nenya_kanadka]

My cousins and I used to have a favourite pretend character when we were kids, called Kakabeka Basalyga, after the surname of a family friend and the falls we frequently visited.

Which Wikipedia tells me is one of those The The Falls Falls names.

Kelowna has already been spoken for as an alien planet in Stargate, right?

[violsva]

...It would almost be worth having a kid if I could name it Toronto.

(I have strong feelings about this city, okay? :D)

[commodorified]

There is apparently a woman in Toronto who lived a blameless and untormented life in the Southern USA for the first thirty-five years of her existence, then married a Torontonian, moved north, and is now forced to explain roughly six times a week that yes, her name is Dawn Valley, want to make something of it?

[tam_nonlinear]

There was a brief* fad a few years back for not only town names for ones children, but town names based on place of conception. One would hope that it was a very small blip in naming trends, or else there would be even more reason for consternation in kindergarten classes where several children had the same name.

*if it was not brief, I prefer denial

[commodorified]

1) c.f. Fenchurch in So Long And Thanks For All The Fish?

2) Oh, oh! I read about that in Foxglove Summer! It's called "dogging", right?

*runs away*

[clanwilliam]

A colleague opted for Sofia as her daughter's name. I know the child was not conceived there, but IVF Clinic, South London, doesn't have the same ring.

Unless it was Turkeybaster, which would be the most hilarious name ever at parties.

"So? Your parents named you Dick. Mine just operated on the same principle."

[ell]

Here in Europe, especially on the border between France and Germany, nobody understands my actual name. For people from the area it is exactly the same as if my parents had called me New Jersey.

[clanwilliam]

Nancy or Lorraine? Or did they go for Luxembourg? :-)

[ell]

Luckily they did not go for Luxembourg, but legend has it that they were considering Kunigunde, so getting away with just Lorraine is actually lucky. I wonder if there are any French kids named Weehawken running around.

[linaelyn]

We cannot (VERY SAD ABOUT THIS) get a pair of cats, because Estel's allergies might kill him (or kill me with worry)

BUT

Our hypothetical future pair of cats are absolutely going to be named: Burkina Faso and Ouagadougu (Kina & Doug for short)

[staranise]

I don't know if you've heard of Siberian forest cats, but I've heard people with cat allergies love them.

[ell]

I almost hope your flight on the way home in May is delayed. Then you can come and play with ours for a while :-) Also, we are on the same flight to FRA as you are so if something does go wrong, we'll be right there to help...

[azurelunatic]

Deadhorse.
Chicken.
Tok. (Pronounced like "toke".)

[aella_irene]

It worked for Florence Nightingale (though less well for her sister Parthenope).

[commodorified]

Aah, G-Aunt Flo. One could argue tradition.

[beable]

St. Louis de Ha!Ha! Nightingale.

[commodorified]

MAIS NON!

[lenora_rose]

And of course my brain leapt immediately to Newfoundland... although I suspect naming your child Dildo would be considered abuse by almost anyone, even if their middle name was "The TOWN!"

Flin Flon would be a bit recursive, as it's a town named for a character.

[commodorified]

Come By Chance and Rocky Harbour, also Right Out.

[shadowspar]

OMG, I'm glad I'm not the only one whose brain immediately went there.

[dejla]

Tiramisu.

Or my favorite Vulcan name: (which I created) T'ohtalitunkaldfor. She's Captain D'esprit Mezurs' First Officer.