American names: origin and variety

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The American nation was finally formed towards the end of the eighteenth century. The bulk of it was formed by immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland. However, there were quite a lot of Germans, Dutch, Swedes and French. Each settler contributed a part of his culture, his worldview. The result is a chaotic cocktail called American culture. Today, the descendants of different peoples continue to shape it. They have many differences in lifestyle and preferences, but this is the special charm of the USA.

American names today are very different in origin and pronunciation. Quite common three-term initials - US residents have a surname and two personal names. Such a tradition came into use around the nineteenth century, when a newborn was given an additional name in honor of important events or personalities. In writing, both names are rarely written in full, abbreviations are practiced in any form.

American names are borrowed from ancient Latin, Slavic, Hebrew, Germanic, Celtic. The early colonists often referred to themselves in biblical terms, but such names are now very rare. Catholic families tend to choose totheir children's patron saint.

When choosing a child's name, many Americans take into account the beauty of the sound and its combination with the surname, as well as the hidden meaning. That is why dictionaries of names with interpretation are so popular. American names are often derivative: suffixes, endings are added to the main traditional word, abbreviations are allowed. This naming is used not only in everyday life, but also in official circulation. So Robert has a dozen derivative forms, and Elizabeth has as many as 34.

Besides the traditional ones, American girl names are often associated with precious stones and plant names. Some states of the country have chosen a certain flower as their symbols: North Carolina - a daisy, Georgia and Iowa - a rose, South Carolina - a jasmine. Therefore, residents of these regions often receive flower names. The prefixes "senior" and "junior" are also popular, which are used in families where two people have the same first and last names.

Rare American names are obtained by shortening the name of a famous person (for example, Franklin), merging two names, or from the names of significant historical places. Sometimes girls are called by a man's name, and a boy by a woman's.

Different ethnic groups and regions are dominated by different American names. Federico, Dolores use the descendants of Spanish-speaking colonists in the settlements, Antonio and Paolo - Italian, Marta and Rudolph - German, Patrick - Irish. The most popular female names in the USAare Dorothy, Mary, Barbara and Elizabeth, and the males are George, John, William and Charles.

Migrants arrived in the US from all over the world. Their names and surnames were written in English letters and were pronounced differently. That is why there is such diversity. Some ethnic groups, such as the Indians, opposed the Americanization of their initials, so their complex surnames and names have not changed.