I was wondering recently what made a name seem childish? I think it is mostly nicknames, but what makes [name]Polly[/name] or [name]Lulu[/name] more childish than [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Louise[/name]? Would you change your mind about a name being childish if you met an adult with that name?
Good question!
I guess in the case of [name]Polly[/name], the ‘lee’ ending sounds young to me. It reminds me of names like [name]Kailey[/name], which doesn’t sound strike me as a mature name. Although to be fair, I don’t know if I’d call [name]Polly[/name] a childish name, except that it also makes me think of [name]Polly[/name] Pocket.
[name]Lulu[/name]…I guess in the case of double names, I generally think of them as childish. [name]Gigi[/name], [name]Coco[/name], [name]Kiki[/name], [name]Mimi[/name], etc. Maybe because the repeating sounds remind me of little kids when they’re first learning to speak, and say things like ‘wawa’ for water. [name]Lulu[/name] also reminds me of tutu, which makes me think of little ballerinas.
I guess there’s not really a science to it though, because some names that plenty of Berries feel are better suited to children I think work perfectly well in adulthood, such as [name]Tallulah[/name].
i agree with the ‘ee’ sounding endings. its like meeting a man named [name]Tim[/name] and hearing someone call him [name]Timmy[/name]. another thing i noticed, is that the general public has only been hearing new, ‘recent’ names that have only been popular within the last twenty years or so on the younger generations. we’re more likely to associate a name like [name]Kailey[/name], like holbs mentioned, with someone born within the past twenty years. it is the same with other recently popular names, like the -aden name fad and such. we’re just not used to hearing some names on adults because those who carry those names haven’t grown up yet.
another thing to blame can be popular media and name stereotyping. think of all the shows you used to watch as a kid, or certain movies. didn’t the school bullies always have similar sounding names? one could argue that so did the kids, or the more immature characters. sometimes the world around us just conditions our minds to associate certain names with certain characteristics, one of them being immaturity or a childish quality.