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[Opinions] Sibset siting: poultry farming family edition
I was watching my weekend rounds for different farming YouTube videos and finally nailed down what the poultry couples four kids were named on a channel I've been sampling lately. They are: Elijah "Eli"
Uriah
Isaiah
Isabella Parents are Jake and Becky Wdyt? Pretty standard lineup for me since I originally came from a rural, religious community. I like Elijah, but the latter 3 sound too similar for siblings imo. I never cared for Uriah. I only heard it in church and not IRL until now and it makes me cringe a little. The youngest two both being isa- names a bit rubs me the wrong way. Plus, if the 3 boys have biblical names it seems odd that the girl is an Isabella. I would have switched it for Elisabeth then. How would you have changed it? Becky likewise is pretty standard for a farmer's wife here it's almost trite. I prefer Becca.Please rate my "Names I would Use" list & "Backup Favorites" list. Feel free to rate some of my other lists too if you have the time.
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/223226/138473

This message was edited 11/26/2022, 6:36 PM

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I'm reminded of something Isaac Asimov said when he wrote about the art of joke-telling. He wrote this in the early seventies, so of course it's very dated now, but he was talking about if you give your ethnic joke characters' names, it will sort of telegraph the ethnicity even if you don't say so right out. He told a lot of Jewish jokes (he was Jewish himself) and specifically mentioned Jake and Becky as his go-to names for Jewish couples. So that's what I thought of when I saw that pairing.
I like Elijah and Isaiah, and they definitely sound like brothers. I don't like Eli and if I did and wanted to use it I'd just use it and not make it a nn for Elijah.
I hate Uriah. Nothing with the yur sound can escape the urine association.
I don't like Isabella because it's so overstuffed and fancy and I picture a bratty little girl always screaming and yelling about how her princess costume isn't ready to be worn even to places where it isn't the least bit appropriate, like on the class trip to the dairy farm.
She definitely doesn't fit with the other names in her family, but maybe they just strictly went by names they liked and didn't think about making them all Biblical.I'd keep Elijah and Isaiah, but if we were going strictly Biblical I'd make the other two Noah and Naomi. They are two very similar-sounding pairs.
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The "ah" theme is cheesy, but if they were going to do it then they should have committed to the bit and used an "ah" name for Isabella. Lilah, Mariah, Aaliyah? I like Isaiah, and Isabella is okay, but I don't like two "Is" names in the same sibset. The one name that didn't have the matchy ending ended up with a matchy beginning... I've never heard Uriah before. It kind of seems like an old person name. And "Uri" is a dangerous start to a name if you don't want people to think of the word "urine". Edit: I just looked at the US popularity chart and I'm surprised! I expected to see it have a small peak in the early 1900's or something and then fade into obscurity, but it it's actually pretty new. Huh. Jake and Becky are hilariously normie compared to the "ah" siblings.
If I had to use "ah" for this set, I'd go with Josiah, Isaiah, Micah, and Lilah.
If I could do whatever I wanted, I would keep Isaiah, change Elijah to just Eli (or Elias), change Isabella to Arabella, and... idk what I'd do with Uriah. Maybe Jethro? For some reason that seems to fit.

This message was edited 11/26/2022, 9:08 PM

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Uriah Heep probably put most people off the name since the publication of David Copperfield in 1850. Dickens used it for a thoroughly nasty character with an equally dreadful mother, both of whom but especially Uriah are skilled confidence tricksters who claim to be humble and God-fearing. Uriah ends up in prison where David meets him and finds him, unsurprisingly, keeping up his image by reading, I think, a hymn book; perhaps a prayer book, I haven't read David Copperfield for years! And I think that in the early 1900s people were much more likely to read Dickens than they are now, and so I'm not surprised it's more popular now than then.
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I agree that Isabella is the odd one out. It is also extremely popular: I'd have used Imogen if I'd wanted an I- name, but I'd rather have chosen a different vowel: Abigail is biblical and has nn potential, for instance. I dislike it, but it would work in this family.
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I like Isaiah.Uriah is okay.
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I like Elijah, Isaiah and Isabella, but I don't like Isaiah and Isabella,, way too close
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I agree with everything you said, everything and I had not heard Uriah or seen even before. I'm curious what you watch! Becky is just bad. :)
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The channel is "White House on the Hill"
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Thanks!
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