Nostalgic References

[name]Hi[/name]. I have been looking over some posts and a name popped up two or maybe three times, [name]Aveline[/name] (at least that I noticed since the weekend). So this got me thinking about Mr. [name]Rogers[/name]’ Neighborhood and one of his neighbors, [name]Betty[/name] Aberlin (her stage name was retained for her portrayal of said neighbor), who also played a character in the [name]Land[/name] of Make-Believe, Lady Aberlin. Upon all research, I can find this isn’t her real name, but nothing that says where she got this name, Aberlin.

Anyway, I always liked this character. She might have made some impression on me as I was young, and she was young, and she was pretty and nice, so even if you never watched Mr. [name]Rogers[/name], you can understand a smart pretty woman on tv, but I think in the US, most of us who are old enough to post on the internet have been exposed to it. (Part of my enduring love for the name [name]Daniel[/name] is from the tiger puppet who lived in the clock, and one of my early naming obsessions for multi-syllabic feminized names part from examples like [name]Henrietta[/name] Pussycat, who lived in the tree).

So anyway, this made me think - is Aberlin a name? I have only the idea that I might put it in the middle for a daughter someday, not a first name. For me, that’s still maybe too weird. She, the imaginary future daughter, may never experience this show the same way I did, or at all. Is this too obscure or ugly or demented to pick this? She wasn’t really a princess, but I could say pre-Disney dvd era, she was my closest ideal to a princess in my daily life, who was awfully kind and thoughtful.

[name]How[/name] does this come off to you?

I always thought Aberlin was a pretty name for a nice character, too. It’s unlikely to attract much attention if you use it in the middle, and far less people will make the Mr. [name]Rogers[/name] association without [name]Betty[/name] or Lady in front of it. It’s an unusual namesake but still cute.

Aberlin is an incredibly rare surname. So rare, that it doesn’t have an entry in The [name]Oxford[/name] Dictionary of English Surnames. I did however manage to find it under Aplin.
The entry reads:

Aplin, Applin, Appling: [name]Thomas[/name] Abelyn 1275; [name]John[/name] Applyn 1547. [name]Ab[/name]-el-in, a double diminutive of [name]Ab[/name], a pet form of [name]Abel[/name].

(I excluded the source codes from the entry)

I think it’s nice to use a name that has meaning for you. But because it’s so obscure, I would definitely use it in the middle spot.

That’s very interesting to find out about this surname, like I said was either chosen at random, picked from someone else’s maiden or family name in her family, or was her married name - could not find out where she found it herself.

It is the sort of name I would choose only for the middle. I realize it’s quite obscure, but it seems so pretty. I like personal references for middle names (family, cultural, something a little more fantastic or elaborate), and maybe somewhat acutely functional, spare first names (like [name]Karen[/name], at least in my mind, is). I guess part of me thinks that name Aberlin is as ridiculous as choosing [name]Cinderella[/name], even in the middle. I had corrected myself before posting the original, that I thought her make-believe persona was spelled Aberline, but it was still Aberlin, as her surname was in the more realistic parts of the program. Good to put that on the list, I always get excited about new names to consider, this one feels special to me, may be offhand kind of appealing to others without having the reference too. When I look at hipster names, especially like jazz and other musical references, I feel like such a poser if I like some name better than I know a musician, but there doesn’t seem to be a list for cultural references that come from children’s tv shows with a heavy dose of puppetry, save for [name]Barney[/name] and [name]Kermit[/name]… [name]Elea[/name] and our other UK posters, you should check out nameberry’s entry for [name]Barney[/name]!
https://nameberry.com/babyname/[name]Barney[/name]

I always think it’s lovely to have a meaningful name in there somewhere. And the middle spot is great for guilty pleasures :wink:

LOL! Yes [name]Barney[/name] makes me laugh when I see it in the Times or Telegraph newspapers (the kind that posh Brits – particularly Londoners – put birth announcements in). I have seen it (and [name]Barnaby[/name]) quite a few times. We do know about [name]Barney[/name] the Dinosaur. My sister used to watch it on TV when she was little, but it was never HUGE here (we were too busy creating the Teletubbies rolls eyes).

I think of the big purple dinosaur, but I guess other parents didn’t see it around so much for it to bother them.

I’m a [name]Brit[/name] too, and completely associate [name]Barney[/name] with the dinosaur, mainly because my younger cousin played the tapes repetitively every time we were on a car journey … he was the one who taught me not to talk to strangers, and introduced me to the American phenomenon of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

As for Avelin - it is pretty, and it is nice that it has such a significance for you, but I would use it in a mn spot due to the rise in made up -lynn/-lyn names which it would unfortunately be associated with (e.g. [name]Shaelyn[/name]).