American Names: Origin and Diversity

The American nation was finally formedend of the eighteenth century. The bulk of it was formed by immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland. However, there were quite a few Germans, Dutch, Swedes and French. Each settler contributed part of his culture, his worldview. As a result, there was such a confused cocktail, called American culture. For today the descendants of different peoples continue to form it. They have many differences in lifestyle and preferences, but this is the special charm of the United States.

American names are very different today.origin and pronunciation. Quite common trinomial initials - US residents have a surname and two personal names. This tradition came into use around the nineteenth century, when the newborn was given an additional name in honor of important events or personalities. In writing, they rarely write both names completely, cuts are practiced in any form.

American names are borrowed from the ancientLatin, Slavic, Jewish, Germanic, Celtic. The first colonists often called themselves in a biblical manner, but now such names are very rare. Catholic families, as a rule, choose their patron saint for their children.

Choosing a child's name, many Americans considerthe beauty of the sound and the combination of it with the name, as well as a hidden meaning. That's why the dictionaries of names with interpretation are so popular. American names are often derivative: the main traditional word is added suffixes, endings, abbreviations are allowed. This naming is used not only in everyday life, but also in official treatment. So Robert has a dozen derivative forms, and Elizabeth - already 34.

Besides traditional, American names of girlsoften associated with precious stones and plant names. Some states of the country have chosen a certain flower with their symbols: North Carolina - daisy, Georgia and Iowa - rose, South Carolina - jasmine. Therefore, residents of these regions often get flower names. The prefixes "senior" and "junior" are also popular, which are used in families where two people have the same names and surnames.

Rare American names are obtained byshortening the name of a famous person (for example, Franklin), the merger of two names or from the names of significant historical sites. Sometimes girls are called a man's name, and a boy's name is female.

In different ethnic groups and regionsdifferent American names prevail. Federico, Dolores use the descendants of Hispanic colonists in places of settlement, Antonio and Paolo - Italian, Marta and Rudolph - German, Patrick - Irish. The most popular female names in the US are Dorothy, Mary, Barbara and Elizabeth, and male - George, John, William and Charles.

Migrants came to the USA from all corners of the earthball. Their names and surnames were written in English letters and pronounced differently. So there was such a variety. Some ethnic groups, for example the Indians, were against the Americanization of their initials, so their complex names and names practically did not change.