Punctuation in Names

General Name Discussion
1

My husband related a funny story about a coworker with a colon in his name, for example, [name_m]John[/name_m]: [name_m]Smith[/name_m]. When he was asked about it, he explained that the government owns everyone, but adding a colon signified that he was not a civil servant and did not belong to the government. My husband didn’t know what to say and changed the conversation. Not sure if it was a legal name change or just used professionally.

I had an apostrophe in my maiden name and have seen hyphenated names, but never a colon. We thought next we might see other punctuation in names:

[name_f]Jane[/name_f]! [name_m]Smith[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m]? [name_f]Doe[/name_f]
([name_m]Harry[/name_m]) [name_m]Jones[/name_m]

Anybody else see punctuation in names?

2

There’s a businesswoman who owns a few famous dressage horses, named [name_f]Antonia[/name_f] [name_m]Ax[/name_m]:son [name_m]Johnson[/name_m]. It’s pronounced like Axelson [name_m]Johnson[/name_m]. I’m not quite sure why the colon’s there. Funny story!

3

Apostrophes are the only punctuation I’ve ever seen, as in D’[name_m]Angelo[/name_m] or [name_m]Tre[/name_m]'shawn (kids at my high school)

4

I’ve only ever heard of apostrophes (O’[name_m]Brien[/name_m]) and hyphens ([name_f]Mary[/name_f]-[name_f]Jane[/name_f]) in names. Other punctuation seems interesting, if a bit over-the-top.

5

Exactly this.

6

I may stop reading entirely. :slight_smile:

7

Reminds me of the urban legend about the little girl named La-a, pronounced “[name_f]Ladasha[/name_f].” Whenever someone tries to tell me that story and pass it off as their own (which seems to occur often when I mention being interested in names), I always comment that I personally would pronounce it “Lahyphena.”

8

Has there ever actually been a person named La-a (or Abcde, or Female, or any of the common urban legend names) before? I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere, someone heard about it and decided it was a good idea to name a child that! Where could I look that up?

9

Is it allowed for one to use other types of punctuation than hyphens and apostrophes?

I don’t think Danish parents would even bother trying to apply for a name like [name_u]Caro[/name_u]!ine or (hristian - it would never ever be allowed (I think you’d might even get fined for wasting people’s time with such a ridiculous application).

10

I’m pretty sure the social security administration doesn’t count punctuation in names - so for example Marieclaire would be the same as [name_f]Marie[/name_f]-[name_f]Claire[/name_f] and La-a would be the same as Laa and [name_m]John[/name_m]: same as [name_m]John[/name_m]

So, to answer bonfire’s question, I looked up the data in the SAA for 2012:
36 baby girls have been named “Female”
18 girls have been named “Abcde”
Data for “Laa” didn’t show up, but keep in mind that the SSA only reports names used more than 5 times to protect privacy. So that means there may be or may not be a La-a somewhere in [name_u]America[/name_u], but we might never know.

11

One of my friends is named [name_f]Bre[/name_f]'ette. That’s pronounced “bree-ETT.” Obviously, her name has an apostrophe in it-- her parents say they wanted her name to be one of a kind. The punctuation in her name certainly makes her unique. :wink: