Timeline for A word for first name and middle name/s, but not last name
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 24, 2021 at 4:51 | comment | added | Prime Mover | @Dan When I was a child, I never knew it ever happened. I probably did it myself when I was a child, of my Asian classmates. The very concept of a different religion was alien to me in those days and I wouldn't even have known what a Muslim was. In the Saudi situation it didn't happen because they were the ones with the difficulty in accepting the existence of other religions apart from knowing they were out there, somewhere. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 0:00 | comment | added | Dan | @PrimeMover: How common was it for people to answer “What's your Christian name?” with “I don't have one; I'm a Muslim”? | |
| Jun 23, 2021 at 22:13 | comment | added | Mark G B | @Cascabel, kinda OT, but no way to PM, eh? Canada geese become pests from 2 sources. One: migrating geese who stop migrating, since food is plentiful. Two: former live decoy Canada geese, ancestors originally raised in captivity as (duh) live decoys. Released into the wild decades (and generations) ago, when live decoys became illegal, they don't know how to migrate. A single adult goose defecates on the order of 2-3 lbs of poop per day. Bad news for lawns, beaches, playing fields. We teach them they should find somewhere else. | |
| Jun 23, 2021 at 18:42 | comment | added | Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ | @MarkGB ...just read your SE bio...that sounds like a fascinating job. But what the heck is "pest" wild geese? Is that like migrating geese looking for a new spawning ground intruding on human built-up areas? | |
| Jun 23, 2021 at 15:13 | comment | added | Prime Mover | @terdon Native Brit here, 6 decades in. The term "Christian name" was the most common word we had for a given name when I was a child. As far as I'm aware, it's still common, despite the perceived non-inclusive nature of it. | |
| Jun 23, 2021 at 15:10 | comment | added | Prime Mover | When I worked in Saudi Arabia some 30 years ago, we always stayed alert for the unbearable solecism in which that one of the Westerners asked one of the locals: "What's your Christian name?" Everybody did it at least once. It never got old. | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 21:12 | comment | added | Dan | Wow! The ngram changes dramatically when it's made case-insensitive... books.google.com/ngrams/… | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 21:10 | comment | added | Dan | The British English ngram - books.google.com/ngrams/… | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 19:40 | comment | added | terdon | @EspeciallyLime so it does. Interesting, thanks! | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 19:37 | comment | added | Especially Lime | @terdon I remember "Christian name" being quite common in the UK, and I am nowhere near 70. Indeed, switching that ngram to "British English" paints quite a different picture. | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 14:02 | comment | added | terdon | Yes, the US would certainly qualify as very Christian, no argument there, that would explain it. I am still surprised that the expression was common at some point in the last 70 years or so. I don't doubt you for a second, I am sure you're right, it's just not something I (in my 4th decade, all of which I've spent in various countries in Europe) have ever come across outside novels, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks! | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 14:00 | history | edited | Mark G B | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 38 characters in body
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| Jun 22, 2021 at 13:57 | comment | added | Mark G B | @terdon - I'm in the US, and you have to realize I am in my 7th decade. I agree that today many people would find "Christian name" jarring, at the least. Even so for the past 20-30 years, unless you are among the many amongst the evangelical and "born-again" persuasions. As for "very Christian" describing the US, I defer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States | |
| Jun 22, 2021 at 11:03 | comment | added | terdon | Where do you live? I am quite surprised that in your lifetime the term "Christian names" was common. I assume you must live in a very christian part of the world, right? As your NGram shows, "christian name" has been steadily disappearing for more than 100 years. I would certainly never use it and would find it very jarring (borderline offensive, as would be other, similar expressions such as "speak Christian" or "christendom" to mean "world"). | |
| Jun 21, 2021 at 13:48 | history | answered | Mark G B | CC BY-SA 4.0 |