I know I am not alone in the world of onomastics when I say that I Google new names I discover or like. Really if you were going to give your child a name wouldn't you want to know who else out there has that name? It avoids those moments where you introduce your child and weird thoughts run through people's minds. For example:
Person A: "This is my daughter Marley"
Person B: Thinks: oh like the cute dog in that movie, gee that movie was so sad.
But says: "How lovely"
Person A: "Meet my son Edward"
Person B: " How cool, are you a Twilight fan?"
Person A: "What's Twilight?"
Person B: "Oh sorry, I just thought, because your surname is Collin it sounds like Cullen, Edward Cullen, you know, Twilight, vampires, raaaaaarrrrr???"
Or a situation that happened to some I know who didn't do their research
Person A: "This is my child Jenna"
Person B: Thinks: Jenna, ok, um isn't your last name Jameson, Jenna Jameson, that's a porn star right. But says: "Oh yes, how nice to meet your little girl"
So like most people I make a a habit of Googling names and combinations just to see what else or who else is out there, and yes 'what' was not a misprint.
Recently I came across the name Solveig (sol-vay) and have been rather charmed by it. I'm not sure why I am so fascinated by it because in Australia any Solveig would inadvertently be called Sol-vague which isn't really appealing and I'm not so keen on the nick name Sol or Solly, which seems very masculine to me, even though it (sol) means 'sun' in several languages.
In my quest to find out more about Solveig I Googled the name. It turns out there are many people named Solveig ranging from sportswomen to politicians and a ten year old graffiti artist, who isn't too bad really! I've included one of her pieces below.
Just out of interest there were no hits when I Googled Solveig with my surname.
So I'd like to know, do you Google names? Have you ever found anything that turned you off a name?
XOXO
