Do you think that some first names are really strange?

Could it be from the French feminine article?

The custom is mentioned in passing in this Wikipedia article:

In his dictionary of black names, Cenoura asserts that in the early 21st century, black names are "unique names that come from combinations of two or more names, names constructed with common prefixes and suffixes...'conjugated' with a formula..."[13] "Da", "La", and related sounds may originate from the French spoken in Louisiana. Attached to a common name such as Seán and spelled phonetically, one obtains "DaShawn". Diminutive suffixes from French, Spanish and Scottish such as "ita" may be combined directly with prefixes or to a name, as is often found in white naming or nicknaming. Conventions followed usually make the person's gender easily identifiable. Following Spanish, masculine names often end in "o", e.g. "Carmello", while feminine names end with "a", e.g. "Jeretta". Following Irish, French and Italian, apostrophes may be used, e.g. "D'Andre" and "Rene'e". Parents' names may be blended, e.g. the son of "Raymond" and "Yvonne" might be named "Rayvon".

I read somewhere earlier (sorry, I can't find it now), that "la" denotes "fertile and sexual prowess" in Swahili, and that's why some female babies of African descent/heritage might be given a name starting with "La".

emsr2d2 said:

Of course we're aware of the alternative definition of the word "dick". However, using Richard as a first name, and using the diminutive "Dick" came long before the more vulgar connotation. The 125 people who called their baby Richard in 2021 in the UK are clearly perfectly happy with it. No one actually names their child Dick. It's a diminutive that might or might not end up being used.

There is nothing exotic or unusual about naming your child April. You seem to be implying that there is just one use of the word "April". There's not - there are at least two - the name of the fourth month of the year AND a person's name.

Well, there you go. Other languages do it too.

Björn doesn't just mean "bear" in English. It means it in Swedish too! It's clear, therefore, that Swedish people are very happy to name their baby after that animal.

No.

Please note my corrections and comments above. I don't know what you mean by "What a cultural perspective is it?"

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Your corrections concerning grammar are pretty helpful, instuctive and informative. You do your job well, thanks a lot.

Unfortunately I am still unable to find out why a first name having an additional, probably unwanted, sense is taken usual or ordinary in a society. This case may be an explanation for the term "cultural perspective". Different societies may not response the same cultural phenomena in the same manner. I can't remember no such problematic first name equivalent to "Dick" in my own language. Nobody -in Turkey- can dare to call some person with a first name having a meaning related with species genitalia. Perhaps you can tell that English or American people omit or don't bring to mind those problematic meanings at first. This is your cultural perspective then, because ours is the opposite to yours.

Regards.

VOYAGER said:

Different societies may not response the same cultural phenomena in the same manner.

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Yes, of course, I think that's a fact of life.

VOYAGER said:

Nobody -in Turkey- can dare to call some person with a first name having a meaning related with species genitalia.

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You might be missing the point. The word "Dick" has two meanings. One is a short form of "Richard" and I believe this originated first. The other is a slang term for "penis". They're separate and used in separate contexts.

When someone says, "This is my brother Dick", the person he's introducing Dick to doesn't think to himself, "Ha ha, he calls his brother a penis". He just thinks "This is his brother and his name's Dick".

I believe the Turkish name "Erdogan" means "brave man" or "warrior" or "soldier". When you hear your president's name, do you immediately think of a soldier in uniform firing a gun? Or do you just think "That's the president"?

Hello again. I am sorry because I could not shorten the reply.

The question which is also the title of this thread was answered to a large extent in the posts #3, #7 and #9. However the discussion has gone on along with 66 posts. In the post #1, I also stated that the word “Dick” is used as a male first name but also added that it has additionally a vulgar meaning. This was why it seemed strange to me. Because I previosly knew it just as an ordinary male name. I don’t remember exactly when I learned that it has also a vulgar meaning. Needless to say that there are a vast amount of media in text , picture, audio or video formats of obscene content involving it. I don’t want to disturb you with nasty examples. This reality can be thought as likening the given first name to a dress having a permanent stain on it. You can wear this dress if you don’t care the stain on it.

Perhaps this analogy is one of the disturbing points that some forum members have been missing or ignoring. In other words if the male name "Dick" was a dress, the noun “dick” with vulgar sense would be a terrible stain polluting it. Noone would like to wear a dress with a bad stain on it.

It seems that the way the nickname "Dick" of the legal first name "Richard" used in such a nasty context is an unfortunate reality. People can not change this reality but they can refuse using the problematic nickname and always prefer to use the legal first name “Richard”. I would wish that no vulgar connotation and context about this nickname were existent in English.

I got the main idea in your last paragraph. However I must correct some points. The Turkish word “Erdoğan” is a compound name by combination of the two Turkish words “er” and “doğan” and used as both first name and surname but mostly as surname. The word “er” can mean (1) early (2) private / soldier in an army (3) male person and the word “doğan” can mean (1) born (adjective) (2) the bird hawk. The compound surname “Erdoğan” can mean (1) “early born” and (2) “someone who was born to be a soldier/private”. It has got no vulgar connotation. Of course when I hear the surname “Erdoğan”, I don’t firstly think of these meanings. However the case for the nickname “Dick” is rather different. Since it has a vulgar connotation, someone can think of this connotation eventually.

Thanks for your contribution anyway.

I am closing this thread. It seems that, no matter what we say, you are determined that we should be upset by the two meanings of Dick, Voyager. We are not upset in any way.