I think it sounds like her parents grew up listening to Duran Duran in the 1980s.
The song is the main reason I think the name actually kind of suits a girl or woman. It sounds strong and bright, and it means 'river' -- the song even refers to the
Rio Grande (too bad the noun is gendered masculine in Spanish). On a boy, it would sound very Spanish or Latin American to me, even though I have never been exposed to that usage.
Anyway, I personally think it's a bit silly to use it on an anglo girl in the US, because of Duran Duran.. I never would, and I'd laugh if a peer of mine did. To me, it'd be kind of like someone who saw this post naming a girl Chazda: artificial, meaningless, and copycat.
Rio is sort of a retro-wannabe-cool name to me.
Probably it's only my own generation who might think of it that way, and the name will prove to be really flattering on a younger
Rio.
- chazda
[edited because I read other posts and saw there really are guys named
Rio]
This message was edited 9/27/2004, 10:34 PM