AMLinington

Eurgh, the last one.

I tried to make it loop and it wouldn't

Aye - I turned up to my first teaching placement when I did my PGCE and sat in reception for AGES until someone bothered to find out where I was because they were expecting 'Alex Lightfoot' so didn't associate me with the person they were waiting for. THEN to add insult to injury my name badge had Mr A Lightfoot on it. and when I pointed this out, they (badly) tippexed over the r and put 'Ms'. It was awful. In the end I removed the paper slip and printed my own with 'Miss A Lightfoot' on it.

You can see them in IE too - is there a menu option to disable them?

Actually, no. I don't mind that - at least it is gender-correct and saying 'Alexandria' is a simple mistake. I get annoyed at being called Alexander or people assuming I'm male because people call me Alex (despite my best efforts)

On the subject of names, I'm hoping the Duchess of Cambridge will have a baby girl and that she will call her Princess Alexandra - such a famous use of the name is bound to help educate people. Giving thought to putting a flutter on at the bookies.

So how do you pronounce it? I've heard it said as Gehr-aint (by a Geraint himself) - is this right?

Pronounced Ewan and Ethan perhaps? Then again we've been told they are welsh names and we know that welsh consonants and consonant pairs sound different.

I'd agree if there weren't long and historical examples of the clear differentiation between the Masculine and Feminine. I've NEVER known of a single female 'Alexander'. Alexander, of Greek origin meaning 'One who is defender of makind' and it's feminine counterpart Alexandra/Alexandria have been very clearly differentiated throughout history - Alexander the Great is the main example that comes to mind but also Alexander Graham-Bell as famour males, but Queen Alexandra of Denmark was Elizabeth II's Great-Grandmother I believe. There is no excuse where we live either as the QA - the Queen Alexandra Hospital is the main hospital in Portsmouth! The Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps, Alexandria in Egypt - Plenty of examples.

The thing is, names evolve in society - how often do you hear of someone named Boudicca? Or Gaius, or Abrecan? These were probably popular names once but as society evolved so have names. Gaius or Romulus or Lentulus were Roman names but I only see them in TV shows now. I can't imagine for a second a medieval person called 'Jordan' although 'Morgan' was a medieval female name - Morgan Le Fay anyone? Geraint is popular in Wales but you don't see it in England unless the person is of welsh origin. @X-13 makes an interesting point about names being an arbitrary collection of characters assigned meanings but I do think that the popularity of names is linked to reputation and vice versa - if the reputation of a name is sullied by the actions of a celebrity, then the use of that name will decline - 'Jordan' for example - many people may think twice about using the name 'Jordan' for either boys or girls because of the 'celebrity' association with Katie Price - this is an example of how 'reputation' affects name use. I wouldn't call my child 'Myra' for example - not because it is an ugly name, but because of the notoriety of someone once called it.

LOL just found this: EXCLUSIVE: Katie Hopkins: 'Obese people look lazy and are unemployable' | The Sun |Showbiz|TV This woman is a piece of work. She is down the extreme end of the spectrum. I also don't think she fully understands how and why certain names in certain areas are more popular than others. She doesn't seem to understand demographic skews either... I love Philip Schofield - he has a look of consternation throughout the whole interview and points out how wrong she is about things without sounding like he's arguing with her. He's a great presenter.

Does it? Written it is still ambiguous to me - isn't 'Dani' a better short form of Daniel than Danny? If I saw 'Dani' I'd not assume anything as that could be anything - Traditional African names in particular can be very difficult to make assumptions on as well as a lot of Asian names. I went to school with girls called Rajinder and Pushwinder and I've seen those used for both boys AND girls. In this day and age of more ambiguous or unisex names it surprises me how many people still assume gender based on a name - It is impossible to tell gender from 'Alex' yet people still do. 'Alexis' is much more feminine but I can't get people to use more than 2 syllables. Chad seems to be more American in origin and I've only ever seen it used in men. What would it be short for in a woman? (If shortened at all).

Interesting that you mention this as we've had this discussion ourselves as my Sister and I have no brothers and when my sister married my parents suggested calling herself Lightfoot-Davies. She hasn't because quite honestly it's far too complicated - double barrelling only really works when the names are short - like Smith-Evans or 'Taylor-Jones' otherwise the signature is too long to fit into government forms or text boxes with character limits LOL. Imagine the difficulties I'd have being Lightfoot-Linington - it is hard enough for me to get people to spell my first and surnames correctly without the added difficulty of the misspelling of LeBoyfriends surname (usually too many N's or M's instead). Too many syllables for me.

Well it is not very common around here - I've only ever met another Alexandra once - names like Sarah and Emma are more popular here. Rebecca and Nicola are also popular. I feel kinda guilty hating my name. I don't hate the NAME per se, but the daily difficulty I have with getting people to spell it or pronounce it correctly. I HATE that people shorten it to 'Alex' automatically and I hate that it's stuck. There are LOADS of lovely feminine short forms of Alexandra and I've tried to get people to use all of them and failed. I've tried 'Alexa' and 'Xandra', I've tried Lexie and Lexa - my sister uses a variant of 'Lex' or 'Lexie' and I actually quite like it - Lexie/Lexa is pretty and I don't give a fig about the spelling lol. I think if I'm going to change people now, 2 weeks shy of the big 3-0 I will have the greatest success with a variant on the Lex/Lexie/Lexa as this is close enough to 'Alex' to be simple enough to push but yet clearly female (although Lex is a bit ambiguous). Although Chad implies male.... This thread has prompted me to push people to call me Lexa - it is a perfectly legitimate shortening of ALEXAndra.

I don't think it is fair to say that I am as prejudiced as that woman - I haven't stated that I would censor who my child plays with by name - I am MORE likely to censor who my child plays with by whether or not the child possesses basic manners. A child that doesn't think, doesn't use please or thank you is not a child I want mine associated with, regardless of whether that child is Jack Bloggs or Arthur Connington-Smythe the 3rd. It seems to me that I hit a nerve with either Calum or Conner as the previous comment about Josh or Liam didn't get a similar response. I lived next door to a nice couple when I was growing up who had a child called Calum. He was a horrible little so-and-so. The parents were lovely and the father often spent time with his son and I regularly heard him correct Calum in various matters of basic etiquette but nevertheless this little boy was obnoxious, rude, spiteful and deceitful. I very much doubt it had anything to do with his name and is probably more likely that he was somewhere higher up on some behavioural spectrum somewhere. But when I was teaching I ran into another Calum who was very similar in behaviour. I also ran into a Connor who was cheeky and rude and, funnily enough, best friends with a kid called Tyler who was very bright but wilfully arrogant and deliberately difficult. For what its worth, I don't believe for a second that something as trivial as a few syllables and letters can define a personality, but there seems to be correlations all over the place between various types of behaviour and names. I am inclined to think this is regional - so in one area the 'troublemakers' might be called 'Jack', in another 'Liam'. Perhaps this is more about demographics than the name itself. Let us assume, for arguments sake that the name ABCD is really popular in, say, Wales. This means that proportionally MORE children in Wales will be called ABCD than in, say, Scotland, where the name WXYZ is more popular. This inevitably means that a greater proportion of children, who may be troublemakers because of parental attitudes, undiagnosed learning difficulties etc etc etc will be called ABCD in Wales or WXYZ in Scotland, which leads to a REGIONAL observation that the name ABCD or WXYZ belongs to 'troublemakers', which in turn feeds its decline as a popular name in that area. However in Scotland, ABCD is less popular, so less children are called it, so it is not or rarely associated with 'difficult' children. So someone from Wales might say 'Oh, all the ABCDs I've encountered have been real troublemakers' and someone in Scotland might say 'That's RUBBISH, I've never met an ABCD who is anything but kind and sweet and polite - no, you need to look out for the WXYZs - they're the problem!' THAT is the point I was trying to make - so @witch, clearly regionally the name 'Jack' is very very popular (along with variants like Jackson) around here, which means that proportionally the number of kids called Jack is higher, so the likelihood of 'Jack' being a troublemaker is higher. I don't think names define personality, I think it is the other way around - the popularity of a name and the personalities of people called by that name define the 'reputation'. Perhaps that is why companies with well known names are proud of their 'Name' being synonymous with their values - because the reputation assigned to a name is important. I also think that kids with difficult or complicated names suffer as a result and it can affect them into adulthood - even my name is very traditional and I HATE it. I HATE being called 'Alex' and I hate that people assume automatically that I'm male by virtue of being referred to as 'Alex'. It has plagued me my entire life. When I speak to someone on the phone I have to specify that my name ends with DRA not DER as I've lost count of the number of letters I've received addressed to Ms Alexander Lightfoot. ARGH It makes my blood boil. I've grown up having to defend my name and get people to spell it or pronounce it right so I am very very very short tempered with anyone who botches it. It isn't their fault but when you can't even go through a single day without someone messing up your name it becomes very grating and has an effect on you as a person. I HATE it when people from companies phone me (the bank, the electric company, the council etc) and assume they can call me 'Alex' or 'Alexander'. A typical conversation goes something like this: Me: "Hello?" Them: "Is that Alexander Lightfoot?" Me: "No, it's AlexanDRA Lightfoot. Who is this please?" Them: "It's Clare from Orange. Can I call you Alexander?" Me: "No, you may not. You may refer to me as Miss Lightfoot until you can learn the difference between the Masculine AlexanDER and the feminine AlexanDRA. Or you can fetch me a manager." Them: "Okay Miss Lightfoot, I'm calling about XYZ." ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I don't WANT to be rude but this happens almost every single time with everything and I lost patience YEARS ago. Is it obvious that I'm bitter about my name at all? LOL

Agreed. Calum and Connor seem to be troublemakers too

It has to be said that when I was teaching, any child named 'Jack' was almost invariably trouble - disruptive, rude, lazy etc. That is not to say that the Connors and Marks and Pauls were any BETTER just that proportionally, anyone named 'Jack' in any of my classes was always trouble. If there were 3 Jacks in a class, at least 2 of them would be in detention regularly. I have issues with weird names - WHATEVER a person names their child is largely selfish as the child has no say in their name and it is based solely on the preferences of the parent. Same with pets - my cat is called Enzo because I thought it was cool. As a cat he doesn't much give a hoot - I don't expect he even knows that the 'Enzo' sound that comes out of my mouth refers to his name as I don't imagine Cats have a concept like 'Names' - they identify each other by scent. I was called Alexandra because my mum was in the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps. I had no say in my name and have been plagued by gender confusion issues ever since as people generally refuse to call me anything other than 'Alex' despite my best efforts. I actually prefer to be known by my unique Avatar name as I chose this for myself. Then there are the people that take a 'standard' name and spell it strangely in an effort to be 'original' therefore guaranteeing that your poor hard-done-by child will never ever find a piece of personalised Tat in a gift shop with their name on it and whilst all the 'Emma's and 'Simon's of the world are parading their personalised pens/pencils/rubbers/bags/coasters/dinosaur moneyboxes/badges/fridge magnets/door signs at school, your child will be bitterly cursing the extra Es Is and Ys they have been saddled with. Little Kayden/Kaiden/Kaidon/Keyden/whatever with their unique name will go for a job interview in 20 years time where the manager interviewing them can't work out how to pronounce their name and they will be lumbered with the embarrassing dilemma of 'Do I correct my potential future boss?'. On the flipside, language, names and spellings evolve - I don't know of a single person called 'Mercutio' today (although I'm certain there is one), and 'Faye' and 'Gaynor' and 'Gay' are largely out of favour so it is difficult to say exactly what constitutes a 'normal' name as the 'Top X' names change and evolve. A unique name is something that sets a child apart from others - so whilst a class might have 6 'Olivia's, there will only be one 'bWEFBHJswfjk' (pronounced Clare). Personally, I think we should all do like the Egyptians - have a 'Childhood name' then an 'Adult Name' - the childhood name is picked for us but we get to pick our own Adult names.

Aluminium foil. It is the answer to everything.

Funnily enough that was about the time I dusted off my iPod too. He could be an obnoxious twot sometimes but for all his faults the CM breakfast show was good. I miss it. Can't abide the new DJ's - they all sound like they are still at school - complete with unnecessary cheering and 'woo'ing.

Well I've heard of about 3 on that list.

Funnily enough, similar thoughts occurred to me when my grandmother passed away - my mum and her brother are now the 'top of the pyramid' (as I like to think of it) and all of us that were in the bottom tier 'grandchild' bracket have now moved up to the middle. Less than a month to go until the big 30 and I'm feeling a bit old - feels a bit like 'where has my life gone?'. House, mortgage, 2 cars, 1 Cat, 1 Rabbit, thinking about starting a family. 'Going shopping' now means 'food shopping' instead of going into town. I have to walk past pretteh shoes because we need new guttering and carpets. The prospect of shopping for homewares in Dunelm Mill and IKEA fills me with excitement and a sense of purpose. I no longer look at clothing and think 'frumpy and old' or 'something a 30 year old would wear', I think 'Oooo I like that'. My crafting is no longer a guilty secret hidden from the girls at school but something I promote, am proud of and occasionally sell! When I buy a car I am no longer looking primarily at style and power but how much it costs to tax and run and the fuel consumption. I have a responsible job doing important things instead of a Saturday job at WHSmith. My garden is for BBQs and plants. I have a greenhouse, a compost bin and veg patch. But on the flipside: I don't have to do homework or coursework or uni assignments so I'm free to kill a few braincells sewing in front of 'The Simpsons' or playing World of Warcraft until whenever I feel like it. I have my own home so I get up and go to bed when I please and watch what I like on TV. I bring in a wage packet and everything I own or use is MINE. I paid for it. If I WANT to spend some money on something I can. When I want to go somewhere or have a day out LeBoyfriend and I get in the car and go. I make my own rules about what is and isn't acceptable in my home and have been able to shuck off all the weird random arbitrary rules my mother seems to live her life by - like the weird rule about not using new stuff and keeping it 'for best'. When I finish work for the day I go home, snuggle Enzo, Snuggle Rocket, and put my feet up to enjoy half an hour of kitteh snuggles before LeBoyfriend gets home. I also get to eat only the things I like. Growing up can be kinda cool...

I've only heard of one song on this list

My eyes watered at that weight lol

Sadly the balls are retired but now you get to lob bricks at each other instead - much more fun. You might have seen them at EDIT...

LOL LeBoyfriend takes his computer to work and uses the tyre filling hose to blast it out and it's been fine...