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Help[Opinions] Re: Obsession with Tennessee?
in reply to a message by Wish Fish
There's a lot of popular place names. I haven't noticed obsession with Tennessee in particular, although a lot of people do love the state for various reasons.
Nash is a common surname, and surnames are trendy; I think of that (people I know with the surname, then the group Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, and the popularity of other surnames like Cash) before I'd associate Nashville. A lot of people associate Nashville with music, so maybe they're going for that, though association with Nash Bridges and a soap opera as mentioned on the BtN name page seems more likely.
Most states have been used as names; Tennessee's one of the older ones, seems woodsy (the Smokies) and literary (Tennessee Williams), has a nice enough etymology (I tend to like names associated with water; Tennessee is a river), and sounds pleasant in my opinion. I thought it would have fit as my name when I was a kid, because my sister's name is Virginia, and my NN began with a T, plus I liked irises and passionflowers, and it probably reminded me of my friend Jesse's name. I think Tenny is cute - sporty and reminds me of Denny. I've met a couple people named Henessy / Hennesey, which I don't like as much because of the drink association, but I still like the sound. The other Tennessee I think of after Tennessee Williams is Tennessee Claflin (a suffragist, Victoria Woodhull's sister), but she's more obscure.
I think Memphis is associated with ancient mythology (so it's kinda exotic and mystical while also sounding appealingly familiar). I heard it that way as a rare girls' name before its current trendiness as a boys' name. I guess it's kind of like Phoenix in that way. Cairo is also popular. I think *s names in general might be trending for boys in the US.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were a big influence in popularizing Knox and Shiloh, both of which I associate with military history (Shiloh is a biblical place name as well as a place in Tennessee famous in association with a US Civil War battle, and I mainly associate Knox with Fort Knox in Kentucky - both Fort Knox and Knoxville, TN are named after Henry Knox, an American Revolutionary War general, who among other things was known for calling for the US government to treat Indian nations as sovereign; it's pretty common historically for Americans to name kids after politicians and generals, and these names can coincide with place names - like, Lincoln, Grant, Jackson, Cleveland, Washington, Jefferson, Lee, Franklin, Monroe, Marion, Lafayette, Sherman, Napoleon didn't become popular because people are obsessed with places named those. Nash could fit in this category as well technically.)
Current earworm: "Little Dark Age (in Classical Latin)"
https://youtu.be/hEsxc_jmArU?si=QOs3myJK999bh3NX
Nash is a common surname, and surnames are trendy; I think of that (people I know with the surname, then the group Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, and the popularity of other surnames like Cash) before I'd associate Nashville. A lot of people associate Nashville with music, so maybe they're going for that, though association with Nash Bridges and a soap opera as mentioned on the BtN name page seems more likely.
Most states have been used as names; Tennessee's one of the older ones, seems woodsy (the Smokies) and literary (Tennessee Williams), has a nice enough etymology (I tend to like names associated with water; Tennessee is a river), and sounds pleasant in my opinion. I thought it would have fit as my name when I was a kid, because my sister's name is Virginia, and my NN began with a T, plus I liked irises and passionflowers, and it probably reminded me of my friend Jesse's name. I think Tenny is cute - sporty and reminds me of Denny. I've met a couple people named Henessy / Hennesey, which I don't like as much because of the drink association, but I still like the sound. The other Tennessee I think of after Tennessee Williams is Tennessee Claflin (a suffragist, Victoria Woodhull's sister), but she's more obscure.
I think Memphis is associated with ancient mythology (so it's kinda exotic and mystical while also sounding appealingly familiar). I heard it that way as a rare girls' name before its current trendiness as a boys' name. I guess it's kind of like Phoenix in that way. Cairo is also popular. I think *s names in general might be trending for boys in the US.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were a big influence in popularizing Knox and Shiloh, both of which I associate with military history (Shiloh is a biblical place name as well as a place in Tennessee famous in association with a US Civil War battle, and I mainly associate Knox with Fort Knox in Kentucky - both Fort Knox and Knoxville, TN are named after Henry Knox, an American Revolutionary War general, who among other things was known for calling for the US government to treat Indian nations as sovereign; it's pretty common historically for Americans to name kids after politicians and generals, and these names can coincide with place names - like, Lincoln, Grant, Jackson, Cleveland, Washington, Jefferson, Lee, Franklin, Monroe, Marion, Lafayette, Sherman, Napoleon didn't become popular because people are obsessed with places named those. Nash could fit in this category as well technically.)
Current earworm: "Little Dark Age (in Classical Latin)"
https://youtu.be/hEsxc_jmArU?si=QOs3myJK999bh3NX
This message was edited 6/2/2025, 1:16 PM
