People keep saying [name_m]Gunner[/name_m] is a violent name but it’s just another spelling of [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m], which I believe is a Scandinavian name and has nothing to do with guns.
I find it hard to believe that everyone who picked it did so because of the recent trend in “violent” names.
Especially people spelling it the original [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m] might just like the name.
Should a name that has been used for a while really be suddenly looked down on?
I am not trying to sound like a know it all. I am actually curious!
I don’t know, I see why people would not like [name_m]Gunner[/name_m]/[name_m]Gunnar[/name_m]–even if it doesn’t actually have a meaning to do with guns, it still sounds like a gunner, someone who operates a gun. I also can see your point, though–it’s a Scandinavian name with lots and lots of history, and one would think it would fit right in, but its meaning in English makes it sort of unusable here. Maybe not unusable, but sort of frowned down upon. I think it’s much like the Vietnamese name Phuc–it means “blessing”, and is totally harmless in Vietnam (at least, I would assume), but it’s completely unusable here, for a very prominent curse word.
ETA: That being said, I think Gunnar is much more usable than Phuc, and I do like it, quite a lot. I’m not sure I’d use it, because I think most people would assume “gunner”, like the position, but I love Gunnar and would love to see it used.
I think people avoid names for a multitude of reasons, but a fairly common one is because of things it might sound like ([name_m]Philo[/name_m], filo dough, [name_f]Titania[/name_f]/[name_m]Titus[/name_m] has ‘tit’ in it, there are lots of others but I’m not feeling very creative). [name_m]Gunner[/name_m] falls into the same category, but somehow people are choosing it anyway, enough for it to be in the top 300! I think of all the thousands of names out there, it shouldn’t be hard to find one without the violent connotations, if you actually wanted to, so my logical conclusion is that at least some of those parents are choosing [name_m]Gunner[/name_m] exactly because of the ‘someone who operates a gun’ meaning. That’s the bit that I don’t like about it…
(As a side note, [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m] is hopelessly dated in Norway, I’m assuming in the rest of Scandinavia as well. I can’t imagine a [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m] under 40 years old, it’s one of the names I think will never come back in style…)
To me it’s certainly not in the same vein as [name_f]Beretta[/name_f], [name_u]Remington[/name_u], [name_m]Cannon[/name_m], et c. which are more inherently tied to guns/violence, but there is a difference in my mind between [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m] (a Scandinavian name) and [name_m]Gunner[/name_m] (a noun name, i.e. a “gunner” position). Most people probably liked the name [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m] but wanted it to be easier to pronounce, and weren’t trying to pick a “violent” name, so I can see both sides. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the name [name_m]Gunner[/name_m].
Now if someone named their kid [name_m]Shooter[/name_m] or Sniper, that I might have a problem with.
I have no problems with guns, at all. I have no problems with gun names, either. But [name_m]Gunnar[/name_m], just sounds awful to me. I don’t know why, I feel like maybe there is something tied to that name and my younger years. Either way, it’s a name I cringe at.
