Top 100 Lists---

General Name Discussion
1

I was reading the fairly recent novel, Matched, which is set in a future where everything has been pared down to the basics to make life easier–i.e., the people who created this way of life chose 100 poems, 100 songs, 100 films, 100 books, etc. to be the only options their society would have for study. I had a random thought about the book tonight, and wondered about names. The protagonist’s name in the book is [name]Cassia[/name]; other names include [name]Xander[/name], [name]Ky[/name], [name]Abram[/name], [name]Bram[/name], [name]Molly[/name], [name]Em[/name], and [name]Norah[/name].

In a world like that, where everything has been pared down to the basics, though, I’m surprised there didn’t seem to be rules regarding names. Out of curiosity–what names do you think would end up being included on a list like that, and why? What kinds of criteria do you think they would use? Also, the protagonist’s surname is [name]Reyes[/name], indicating some ethnic diversity, so how would that affect the overall list of 100 names?

I kind of think the lists would use formal names rather than nicknames, just so that nn could be used for variety given that everyone would be named form the same pool.

I think the top ten girls would include things like [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Catherine[/name], [name]Jane[/name], [name]Anne[/name], [name]Mary[/name], simply because they are classic. Other names I think would be included based on overall popularity and usage as well as age: i.e., [name]Jennifer[/name] (for the 70s-80s), [name]Susannah[/name] (for the [name]Sue[/name]/[name]Susan[/name] trend of the 40s-50s).

I haven’t made a complete list yet, just thinking about it for fun. What names could you see on it?

2

Interesting idea. I wouldn’t know what to do with various cultural names. A lot of the names I would put on the list (like the ones you listed) would be greek or anglo-saxon in origin because that’s my heritage. But what if you wanted to use names like [name]Hoshi[/name], [name]Manuel[/name], or [name]Soren[/name]?

3

I wonder if [name]Mary[/name] would get bumped for [name]Maria[/name], which is used in more languages, and [name]Catherine[/name] for a K spelling as more popular/standard? Or maybe [name]Kate[/name], alone, consolidating all the various [name]Katherine[/name]/[name]Katerina[/name]/[name]Kaitlyn[/name] type names?

[name]Susannah[/name] seems rather random to have survived such a heavy cull. I’d guess [name]Sarah[/name] before [name]Susannah[/name].

Assuming [name]Reyes[/name] suggests a Spanish influence, might pop [name]Isabel[/name] on there, or [name]Lucia[/name].

Does raise the question of did 100 nations survive? Or 100 languages?