See the results of this poll: Is Fable usable?
Respondents: 75 (This poll is closed)
- Yes : 38 (51%)
- No : 22 (29%)
- It Depends: 15 (20%)
I think it is more usable as a mn but could be cute with the nn [name]Fay[/name].
[name]One[/name] one hand, I like it, I think it’s right in line with a lot of other popular word names - why would [name]Willow[/name] be usable but not [name]Fable[/name]? It also shares a similar sound with [name]Mabel[/name], which I think is a point in it’s favor, makes it more familiar. Plus the nickname [name]Fay[/name] is a good point, good nicknames are always a plus.
The one thing I worry about is it aging properly. I question whether someone named [name]Fable[/name] would be taken seriously? Middle name is just fine, but I would tread carefully with it up front.
It’s such a pretty sound. As a name nerd --I like it. As a hiring manager? I might cringe seeing that name on a resume. [name]Fable[/name] might have a hard time being taken seriously. It’s comparable to [name]Snow[/name], [name]Fawn[/name], etc where if she wishes to be an artist --hey no biggie. But if she has her heart set on a conservative career it could be a hurdle with closeminded people and why not set her up for success?
Exactly my point with 99.99% of my posts - not that OP here will be offended, but when I bring this up, people tend to get kind of upset. I majored in HR in college, I even wrote a paper on name discrimination, in fact, I think [name]Pam[/name] and [name]Linda[/name] even wrote about something that related to this in Beyond [name]Jennifer[/name] and [name]Jason[/name], I would have to pull it out and look - point is, it happens, putting your head in the sand and pretending like it won’t happen is just silly.
Emphatically no. Not only is it an everyday word (which has difficulty making the jump to name status), it’s somewhat negative. It can mean an instructive tale, but it absolutely often means “a falsehood, lie.”
I think it would make a quirky mn choice but personally I wouldn’t choose it for a first name.
I don’t think it works as a first name, but I think it makes an adorable middle name (especially for a writer or some such. I’m using [name]Saga[/name] and I like [name]Story[/name], [name]Fable[/name], [name]Lyric[/name]…those kinds of things in the middle).
I think a more “normal” name would be better in the first spot with [name]Fable[/name] in the middle. The little [name]Fable[/name] I know is named [name]Violetta[/name] [name]Fable[/name] (vee-oh-let-ah) and her mother calls her [name]Fable[/name] sometimes.
I can see it as a first name, since it does come with the recognizable but unique nn [name]Fay[/name].
But, I agree with the PPs, it doesn’t age well. Can you imagine a [name]Fable[/name] being the head of a company? What if she gets caught up in a scandel? I can think up a bunch of newspaper headlines, since [name]Fable[/name] also means lie. But, I would rather see a [name]Fable[/name] then a Emmaliegh (I do know a girl named that).
I love [name]Fable[/name]! I say use it. It would be the perfect name to see on a job application for a stylist at Anthropologie or a magazine editor. It’s whimsical, fresh, and fun.
I say the fact it means false/fake/lie/not real would make it a no. It seems more like an insult than a name.
I think you have to be the type of family or type of child that could pull it off. [name]Rebecca[/name] [name]Woolf[/name]'s [name]Fable[/name] wears her name very well, but I think that family is cool enough to get away with it- [name]Fable[/name]'s mother is a professional blogger, after all. I have seen a video of [name]Rebecca[/name] discussing [name]Archer[/name] and [name]Fable[/name]'s names and she says that [name]Fable[/name] brings a lot of confusion- people think it’s [name]Mable[/name], [name]Cable[/name], etc. I think it’s definitely a risky choice, but it could work on the right kid.
I think I get the appeal - when I think “[name]Fable[/name]”, I don’t think “fake / false” - I think of a whimsical fairytale type story.
I have to say I’m surprised by the people saying it means a lie. That’s secondary meaning that really doesn’t see much use. I honestly have never heard anyone use the word that way. To me, it’s a story with a moral, which gives it a noble, and literary meaning.
To call someone a fabulist is calling them a liar. “Confabulate” = make things up and pass them off as true. Etc.
Yeah, but how often do people use those words, lol. Not very often. Confabulate =/= [name]Fable[/name], imo. Yes, same roots, but the idea of a fable does not bring to mind lies and deceit - just a story with a moral.
Actually, the definition of [name]Fable[/name] that refers to it as a lie is listed as the 5th definition in the dictionary because the word isn’t in common use among every day people anymore.
From Merriam-[name]Webster[/name]:
- a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; [name]Aesop[/name]'s fables.
a story not founded on fact: This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.
3.
a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend: the fables of gods and heroes.
4.
legends or myths collectively: the heroes of Greek fable.
5.
an untruth; falsehood: This boast of a cure is a medical fable.
And, though I hate to disagree with [name]Blade[/name], Fabulist is defined as a person who writes fables as the primary definition, someone who is dishonest secondary. So while she’s write in her definition, she’s wrong in that it’s not what the word is used primarily to describe (All of this also from Merriam-[name]Webster[/name] dictionary).
There’s also this:
[name]Fable[/name] is a literary genre. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a “moral”), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim.
A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind[citation needed].
Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the [name]King[/name] [name]James[/name] Version of the [name]New[/name] Testament, “μ”θος” (“mythos”) was rendered by the translators as “fable” in First and Second [name]Timothy[/name], in [name]Titus[/name] and in First [name]Peter[/name].
A person who writes fables is a fabulist.
All of that to support the use of [name]Fable[/name] as a middle name in relation to stories and moral lessons in that, in this day and age, the words primary definition is as a story with moral lessons.
I’m torn. I like the sound but worry if it’s serious enough.
On the other hand, it’s close to [name]Mabel[/name]- which I hate- so I can see it working. It also reminds me of Fayval which is an established Yiddish name. Plus I love word names. And I don’t think “lie”, I just think “story” (as a name I prefer [name]Fable[/name] over [name]Story[/name]). I guess the positives outweigh the negatives for me
I like it a middle name and it strikes me as more masculine.
I like it as a middle name, but it would take a special sort of lady to pull off [name]Fable[/name] as an adult.