"Luna has gone from almost nonexistent 20 years ago to number 14 on the Social Security Administration list of popular names. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend used that for their daughter. You saw the same thing with the 'J' names of the ’70s and ’80s — Jennifer, Jason, Jessica, Joshua. Then there were the 'K' names, which the Kardashians helped popularize in the 2000s. The sound of the letter is what becomes fashionable. But why 'L'? There are a lot of words that start with L that have very positive, warm connotations, like 'love,' 'lovely,' 'lilting,' 'lively.' What about for boys? There are definitely boy equivalents — Lucas, Luca, Leo, Levi. I know it sounds crazy, but there were more than 50 boys in the United States named Lucifer last year."
Is the letter "L" the best letter? I have seen rankings of the letters, such as "Ranking the Letters of the Alphabet, From Lamest to Coolest" (Paste). But that ranking is so obviously wrong, putting "M" and "Q" near the bottom! But reasons are given. Here's what it says about "L" (which comes in at 21st):
Hard to pronounce, limited in use, and ultimately pretty apathetic. Words like lollygag and idle and lazy and aimless and desultory and casual and frivolous and sluggish and lethargic and lackadaisical and dull and dally and indolent and laggard and languid and lummox and loafer and lifeless and slack and sloth and slow and lag and somnolent and…you get it. They all feature an L, the slug of letters.
Wait! "Lummox" is a great word. It's so close to my all-time favorite word, "flummox." Yeah, I know, negative meaning, but it looks and sounds great, and this whole topic is gloriously superficial.
And that reminds me. That NYT article tells us: "Parents are now looking at animal names like Ox — seriously." If Ox is okay, then why not Lummox. We'll name the twins Lummox and Flummox!
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10 comments:
Rebecca writes: "I've always loved the cursive capital L, and think it's the most beautiful of all the alphabet. I suppose there's not much of a connection as cursive writing goes the way of the landline phone."
Maybe you would like this sweater!
Tim writes:
Re: "Hard to pronounce, limited in use, and ultimately pretty apathetic. Words like lollygag and idle and lazy and aimless and desultory and casual and frivolous and sluggish and lethargic and lackadaisical and dull and dally and indolent and laggard and languid and lummox and loafer and lifeless and slack and sloth and slow and lag and somnolent and…you get it. They all feature an L, the slug of letters"
Is it just me,or is that a great list of words? I was reading the list and thinking "Is he crazy or what? That is an incredible list of words! L is a contender for 1st place with words like that!
Curious George writes:
"In the movie “Stripes” John Candy played a character named Ox. Well, Dewey Oxburger. But as will see, his friends call him Ox.
Joseph writes: "When I was a youngin', we had a preacher renting a house on our block. He had two little girls named Grace and Faith.
With no insult intended, the neighborhood kids called them Gracey and Facey. It seemed inevitable at the time.
I grant you it's no Lummox and Flummox. Or Goofus and Gallant."
Leland writes;
Now, gods, stand up for “L”s.
As a lifelong Leland, I was likely to be labeled as laconic and yet elevated to a level of learning unlikely in the lazy. Luckily I liked leafing through literature and lolled away the days lavishly lapping up les livres. My life has been lighted by many a library filled with lucid lectures and learned lore. Lucky Leland!
Timothy writes:
The most beautiful cursive letter L is this: £
Ed writes:
Where have all the Lolitas gone?
Lugubrious, ludicrous, laughable--nothing wrong with L-words.
Barbara B. writes:
B cannot be the least of the letters!
They must not have seen the sign outside the Badda Bing strip club on “The Sopranos.” Each mound on the Bs is enhanced with a red nipple…so subtle, so perfect.
Irving writes:
"Luna has gone from almost nonexistent 20 years ago to number 14 on the Social Security Administration list of popular names. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend used that for their daughter.”
So would her pet name be Loony?
I'm sure it would be one of the pet names — along with Loony Tunes and Luna Balloona.
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