Tue 15 Apr 2008
You are about to have a boy child, and for some reason, it is imperative that you choose one of these two names:
Adolf
Gaylord
Which is better? Why? Discuss.
Posted by Mister_A12 answers so far!
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Well, when it comes to getting made fun of, only the smart kids will know who Adolf is, and they will presumably be less likely to bully than the those of a lesser intellectual inclination. Gaylord is just opening up a can of worms for getting harassed. Later in life, say, 15+, the kid might be able to change his name or go by a nickname. I’d have to say Adolf.
My reaction is: will it EVER be OK again to use the name Adolf? Is it true that only the smart kids will get an Adolf reference? To me, bad as Gaylord is, Adolf is just too taboo to consider.
If you were Adolph, you could call yourself Dolph. (Like Dolph Lundgren.)
Really nothing useful can come out of Gaylord. Can it be turned into “Gabe”? (I know Gabe = Gabriel, but do people with the name Gaylord use Gabe as a nickname?)
Well, I can’t think of reason why it would imperative, you know? This just sounds cruel to the kid.
That said, Adolph might be slightly better. Gaylord would just ’cause the boy to be equated with gay and faggot, which is just killer for most young boys, even if they are gay. No, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, kids are just cruel and while both names are terrible in America today, gaylord has that extra “kick me” ooomph that a kid doesn’t need.
Here’s some notes on the meaning of the name and US census data on the popularity of the name in America. What the hell happened in 1930 to cause the names popularity to plummet?
Hmm, is there anywhere that gaylord doesn’t have that connotation?
Go with Adolf so he’ll be closer to the front of alphabetically sorted lists and then give the kid a diametrically opposed middle name by which you always call him. Something like Jeremiah, Jonathan, Simon, Benjamin, or Bartholomew. I like Bartholomew ’cause then the kid could go by the name A.B. or Ab and no one would ever have to know.
What the hell happened in 1930 to cause the names popularity to plummet?
Somewhere in there gay became widely accepted slang for homosexual where it wasn’t before. I had an Aunt whose given name was Gay who used to do a lot of public speaking. She said she hated her name in the 50s but it was a killer opener for speeches in the 80s. “Hi, I’m Gay” wasn’t exactly a common opening line when speaking to say, the Legion’s women auxiliary on the subject of rose gardens.
I just couldn’t bring myself to call my son Adolf. I think I’d have to go with Gaylord, then call him by some other nickname. Assuming nicknames are allowed in this sad situation in which a child only has the choice of two bad names.
Are middle names allowed? Can I call him, say, Gaylord David, and then just call him David?
Fuck it. Name the kid Adolf Gaylord. Nobody asked me what I wanted to be named.
Go with whichever name you like best.
My parents worked way too hard thinking up a name for me that no one could make fun of. Nothing much rhymes with my name, etc. And it worked. Kids didn’t make fun of my name. They just called me faggot instead. If kids want to be cruel, they’ll find a way.
To answer the question, I think I would have to go with Adolf if Caligua wasn’t on the sheet.
I was just watching a newsreel taken in 1950s England which used the word “gay” throughout in non-ironic fashion, about a man who was resolutely heterosexual but happy, so I’m not sure in 1950’s England “gay” was instantly assumed to be slang for homosexual.
Cecil Adams investigated this a bit in one of his columns. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_271b.html
There was a famous pitcher, Gaylord Perry, who was born in 1938; played up ’til the early ’80s and was quite a character. Wikipedia article is pretty informative on Perry.
I have not heard of a single Gaylord since, other than that one movie character.
Adolf, I don’t know of any born since the ’40s. There is the Coors family, German immigrants, who had a line of 3 Adolph Coorses, but I think they gave up too.
Here’s the Internet’s vote, by proxy:
According to someone who got here via a google search, “gaylord is an awesome name”.
There is no such referrer log search string for Adolf.
I knew an Adolf and a Gaylord. Adolf was an old german farmer missing a leg and Gaylord a fanatical bike-riding design teacher in California. neither seemed to have too many problems with their names.