Originally Posted by WifeUnit (Post 191354)

... when I was living on a Medical School campus in the early 80's, I found out that medical students who were in their OB rotation were often asked by poor expectant mothers what to name their children. They were notorious for giving these unsuspecting women the obscure latin names for diseases that sounded quite lofty and appealing. (for instance Varicella for a girls name, aka Chicken Pox).
....

Originally Posted by WifeUnit (Post 191354)

I got your answer for you. Check this out... This article spells it all out for you.
...Among other things, a strong affinity for French-sounding names is quite obvious with the articles L', Le, and La used in abundance. Also very popular are the prefixes Sha, She, Shi, Ja, Je, Ka, Da, and De; and the suffixes isha, esha, ika, ius, ante, and ita. We also note the prediliction for mid-word capitalization (examples: LaQunda, LucQuente, D'Livero, AuTashea, DeLisha, NeClea) and the rising trend toward hyphenation (Fa-Trenna, K-Rob, R-Kal)...

more on that in the actual article.

Name of the Year: But the Comma, Colon, Semicolon and Ellipsis Remain Very Much Underused

On a personal note, when I was living on a Medical School campus in the early 80's, I found out that medical students who were in their OB rotation were often asked by poor expectant mothers what to name their children. They were notorious for giving these unsuspecting women the obscure latin names for diseases that sounded quite lofty and appealing. (for instance Varicella for a girls name, aka Chicken Pox).

I keep expecting to see ViAgra, Cialis and LeVitra show up in the next kindergarten class.

Originally Posted by foreverfan (Post 191214)

Origins of Levon....

Here's a real obscure reference that I have been unable to decipher. The song "Levon" from Elton John's Madman Across the Water album has the following lyrics:

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day,
When the New York Times said God is dead,
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today.

OK, who the hell is Alvin Tostig? My best guess is that he is some British icon of stability and normality, or maybe some member of Parliament. Please enlighten this poor uneducated colonist.

— Matthew Mitchell


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You're making things waaaaaay too tough on yourself. Your answer is within the song. Alvin Tostig is, in fact, Levon's father. To put it another way, Levon is the son that Alvin Tostig had that day. The next line, which you didn't quote, is, "And he shall be Levon." Put together, it says, "Alvin Tostig has a son today, and he shall be Levon." (Which, to extend it to the rest of the song, would make Alvin Tostig "Jesus'" grandfather.)

But at The Straight Dope we can't just spend one lousy paragraph to answer a question. So I kept digging. Or, more precisely, I contacted a member of the Teeming Millions who I knew to be a huge Elton John fan. He's a peaceful, honest type of guy and led me to some background information on the song.

According to Gus Dudgeon, who produced Madman Across the Water and wrote an essay containing this information to accompany the remastered version, the name "Levon" was inspired by Levon Helm, drummer, lead singer, and founder of The Band, a group from the 60s and 70s. The Band was apparently Elton John's and Bernie Taupin's favorite group in those days. (Taupin is the guy who writes or co-writes a lot of Elton John's songs and who wrote the lyrics for "Levon.")

Tracing the name "Alvin Tostig" is fairly straightforward, but with a bit of a twist. Taupin has said the name was fictitious. But Taupin was from Wessex and there was a historical "Tostig," who was the Earl of Wessex back in the 1040s. So perhaps Taupin pulled the name out of history without realizing it.

Anyway, there's your answer plus a bit more. Not quite as interesting as a pompatus of love, but what is?

— David

Originally Posted by skymike (Post 191370)

My 1st wife works in a hospital and remembers a girl who named her kid "Placenta."

I understand some people call him Maurice (ooooweeeewoooooowww!)But what the hell is a pompatus of love?

Originally Posted by Crusader (Post 189376)

Watching diferent sports I have curious about the names of black players like
LaDainian Tomlinson and JaMarcus Russel. If seen more like DeAndre LaRonda and so on. And i wonder why is that prefix added? Does it have som cultural significance or is it "just" because it makes the name nicer?