i think its fun and good that people pick an internet name for themselves these days but i kinda miss when u had some fuckass username and ppl just extrapolated from that i used to be on a star wars forum where my handle was ProfessorMug and ppl just called me prof. u know like there was a guy w vader in his handle so he was just vader

one of my favorite important little details in goncharov is the way that it deals with names - especially that of the eponymous title character, goncharov. for everyone else, names are important for a wide variety of reasons: Sofia’s last name, at least from an Italian perspective, would be an indicator of social class, and Andrey and Katya’s last names are both indicative of their closeness (or lack thereof) with the Naples mafia. their first names being russian has an othering effect on first watch that expertly ties in with broader themes. hell, even Ice Pick Joe has a name that tells us pretty much everything we need to know about him: his abilities, his intentions, etc. but the first name we see - goncharov - we know almost nothing about. everyone calls him goncharov, sure, but he’s been undercover before in canon. even if we could be sure it was his real name, we don’t know if it’s a first name or a family name. the name goncharov, in many ways, is almost a brick wall, much like the man himself. we cannot learn anything about goncharov’s family, his past, or, depending on how you read katya’s actions in act 3, his future from the way that he chooses to be known. there is only goncharov himself: the man, singular, in the moment. it literally all comes back to the clocks - time, history, cycles of repetition. it’s such a striking little piece of characterization

There seems to be some kind of recurrence, a motif if you might, in the RTD era with names: people or creatures’ names, asking and learning someone’s name. There is something very tender and incredibly intimate and human in taking the effort to ask and learn and remember their names, even if it’s characters we only see for two minutes onscreen. Rose does this every time (asking Gwyneth in the Unquiet Dead, the servant in Tooth and Claw, asking if the ood have names), Martha too (when she walked the Earth, with the boy in Utopia) and Donna (asking Jenny what her name is, and when she says she hasn’t got one, suggesting Jenny), and so does the Doctor (with Linda, Alonzo, Mrs Moore in The Age of Steel). It happens time and time again and I think it says a lot about the humanity and heart, especially of companions, about these seemingly ordinary people who know what there is no such thing as ‘ordinary people’, that everyone’s got their own story and their own individuality, and so asking for their names is a way of refusing to let them blend in that anonymous crowd of nameless characters who will be forgotten within the second. And that’s why that final moment in Midnight is so utterly devastating, because nobody in the entire shuttle had bothered to even ask the stewardess’ name, not even the Doctor, and the meaning, the implications of that… are just way too heavy

Militia as a girl's name

This seems like a good time to mention that I once met a little girl named Tyranny.

amy, who carefully picked out a cool name for her daughter while naming her after her best friend: sorry your daughter’s named what 

11, quieter: jenny, short for generated anomaly 

amy immediately @ 11:

Aksjdhflgjskdhfjghk 😂😂😂

if you think he/him lesbians are bad and appropriate trans struggles and lead to trans men being taken less seriously but don’t have a problem with women going by names like sam or joey or charlie:

°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕒 𝕙𝕪𝕡𝕠𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕓𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕤 ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°°

i keep on seeing yall compare shit that doesnt even help your argument LMFAOOO 

“people who go by he/him and are lesbians are the same as women who use names like sam joey or charlie >:((” no actually because lesbians are women and since pronouns equal gender lesbians are always going by she/her no matter what this hellhole of a site says and women who use names like sam and joey are obviously valid because NAAAAME HAS NO GENDER. 

why does the traditional gendering of names not matter but the traditional gendering of pronouns does? language is a social construct. its not that fucking deep. choose a different hill to die on

^^^

Circular Galifreyan: Answering the First Question, And Why the Doctor Keeps Their Name a Secret

SPOILERS FOR ARRIVAL (2016)

I just watched Arrival and it got me thinking. The alien species in that movie (Heptapods) use a language that is circular – words and whole sentences look like this:

This is because Heptapods have the ability to see into the future, so when they use a word or object, they are defining that thing’s entire existence, from creation to destruction.

Do you know what other alien language is primarily based on circles, and is used by a race that can see through time?

Circular Galifreyan.

Now I know the show has established grammar rules for how this language works, but I couldn’t help thinking, what if the Time Lords moved away from Old High Galifreyan (pictured below) once they invented time-travel because it made them look at the universe in an entirely different way?

Now when discussing objects, Time Lords had to take their entire histories into account, so their language changed to accommodate that.

But what does that mean about the names of people?

A person’s name in Circular Galifreyan is not just a statement of who they are. It is also everything they ever were. Everything they ever will be. Their names act as prophecies for the people they will become.

At the same time, people aren’t objects. They are autonomous, and time isn’t fixed. They have the ability to better themselves and change their futures, thus changing their names in Circular Galifreyan

This is why Time Lords never use their real names, only titles. Out of respect for a person’s privacy and protection, because revealing their name in Circular Galifreyan is dangerous, exposing their future to a stranger that could manipulate them or judge them for things they haven’t even done yet.

So, Time Lords have two names; the one in Circular Galifreyan, which is a closely guarded secret, and the name they choose. This title can be a statement of intent (e.g. Lord Master), or an acceptance of the fate or duty laid out for them by their name (e.g. Lord General).

Or it could be an attempt to deny the prophecy, an attempt to change the future before it happens, even if it’s impossible.

Hence, Lord Doctor.

Imagine it, as a child, knowing you will commit terrible crimes, genocides, that you will destroy entire universes, because your name says so. No wonder the Doctor was an outcast from Galifrey, shunned by his own people, sleeping in the barn alone. No wonder they said he’d never make a Time Lord, because he was destined for war and slaughter, not learning. No wonder their best friend was the Master, driven insane as a child with an insatiable lust for power.

No wonder the prophecy of the Hybrid terrified him as a child – he knew it was him the prophecy spoke about because his name told him so. No wonder he ran away, no wonder he’s so determined to play the hero, no wonder he hated soldiers and war and weapons so much, even before he had a real reason to.

He knew the Time War was coming. But maybe there was still a chance for him to change the future.

In Twice Upon A Time, the First Doctor says he ran away to discover the source of good in the universe - the thing that kept evil at bay. What if he was trying to save himself? Trying to find the thing that could fix his destiny and save him from becoming a monster.

So he became that force of good almost accidentally, trying to prove there was still a chance for him, and saved everyone but himself.

No wonder she doesn’t tell anyone her name.

But we already know it. Because if the Doctor’s name is a summary of everything they’ve ever done and ever will do, every world saved and every life touched, it means the title of 7x13 The Name of the Doctor meant literally that - the Doctor’s time stream is their name.

It also explains the 12th Doctor saying that children know his name. 12 often breaks the 4th wall to talk to the audience, and this is him doing it again - he’s telling the children that watch the show that by doing so - by seeing the Doctor rise and fall and save and run - we understand them. We know them. We’re in on the joke, more than any character within the fiction of the show could be.

This explains why River Song - an archaeologist who dedicated her life to studying the Doctor - knows their name. It also explains why the Doctor considered this mortal woman his soulmate. They were both destined to be murderers, but they both rebelled against the destinies others gave them.

The title of this show is a question - Doctor Who - and the show itself is the answer. Actions speak louder than words.

Holy shit this

Trying to find the perfect name for a character, but you only have a vague idea of what you want, like “he feels like a 2-syllable kind of guy” or “It need a hard consonant at the end.”   

Aksjdhsldh mood

catch me, a wicked and dastardly villain, giving all my evil schemes and projects and plots thematically inappropriate Classical names to throw people off

“Project Icarus”, my plan to flood the world.

“Project Neptune”, my secret space weapon.

“Project Lycan”, my orbital Death Ray

“Project Lazarus”, my plot to take over a popular fast food chain and replace key ingredients with my artificial meat that makes people more vulnerable to my subliminal messages

“Project Tantalus”, my essential oil pyramid scheme

Project Sisyphus?

“Project Sisyphus” is the supercomputer I’m building that can predict crimes before they happen and escalate them.

Aksjdlfhgk

The United States has 3 times as many Jerusalems as Israel

10 times as many Londons as England

30 times as many Parises as France

World capitals, but they’re all in Arkansas.

I actually think Illinois has more world capitals in it but they’re not as funny.

New York ran out of names to take so they just started taking other states

America wtf

PSA: no name is impossible to pronounce. no name is too hard to learn, no name is justifiably butchered. kids with 'different' names should be taught again and again that being called by their name is a right, not a privilege

there are over 2000 unique phonemes (individual sounds) in the world’s languages, and each language has anywhere from around 20 to 60. you stop learning new phonemes it’s theorized at around age 12. this is where accents come from -- using your own language’s/region’s phonemes to speak

so no name is impossible to pronounce world-wide, but it is very easy to not have the linguistic archive necessary to pronounce a given name entirely correctly. it is a simple case of physically not knowing where to place your tongue, whether or not to vibrate your vocal chords, etc. the only one of the dictators of sound you could be shown is how to position your lips

that being said... obviously you should still try. saying a name as correctly as you physically can goes a long way for making someone feel respected and humanized, and dismissing a name entirely as too hard goes a long way to disrespect and dehumanize people. just also accept that someone’s accent interfering with their pronunciation isn’t a sign of lack of trying, but a sign of physical limits

This is very true. I met a baby at my old store whose name was Navajo. I did my best and actually got a bit frustrated because there was a syllable I could NOT get, and her dad was like “it’s very hard if you don’t actually speak Diné, but thank you. Most people won’t even try.”

Be the one who tries.

Yes, there’s a big difference between getting as close as you can with your native language’s phonology, and just not even trying

"Be the one who tries."

This!

Isn't this that angel guy from Good Omens?

Aziraphale is the new Benadryl Comboque

*white parent voice* i cant believe kanye and kim named their baby North West!! thats ridiculous!! oh no, its almost 4:30, i need to pick up my kids Mackaylikiah and Ashleighyie from their water polo practice!

I always reblog this post so fucking fast every time it comes on my dash my phone shuts down the tumblr app and reboots

McKarty 64 is my favorite Mario Kart game.

My favorite part is that the blog post the photo was taken from detailed this mother’s decision-making process and chose this name because her husband saw it on a road sign on the way home

She named her daughter after a road sign

a road sign

there was a girl at my school called “zona” cause he parents went on holiday to spain and saw it and thought it was a nice name. IT LITERALLY MEANS ZONE

“47 month old”

this is my four year old rayman origins

“Who’s doing your surgery?”

“Dr. Rayman Origins.”

THE APP REBOOTED FOR ME!!

i met a kid once whose name was “Ryce” and his mum said it was pronounced “Reese”

the best part is she was originally going to spell it “Rice”

My auntie knows a family who decided to name their daughter Owen, but they spelled it “Oin” and they made her middle name the first sound that her big sister made which happened to be “Oogok”. her name is literally “Oin Oogok Puscus”

Oin Oogok Puscus is my favorite dwarf from the Hobbit

Yo I work at a rec center in a rich neighborhood and these are some real names of white children:

Salter Tryge (pronounced Trig) Loots Pocket Aughyst (pronounced August) Taileigh Lotiss Leviathin (yes spelled like that) Bacchus Daniyal (a girl, pronounced like Daniel)

All real

This shit is hilarious

@kaiiwooo

I can’t

47 month old.

Nayvie….. Bish whet????

this is from my kid’s valentine’s list this year like this corny fake unique name thing is no joke yall this is all of the boy names 

47 month old.

I refuse to go on knowing someone named their child “Salter” I’m so done ✌🏿️

Treyton lls, I’m dying…

I know a person from college who’s name is literally “Smile”, l can’t even explain how ridiculous that is…

47 month old

47 month old

Damn suburban moms love to put unnecessary “Y’s” in names.

<b>47 month old<b/>

47 month old.

Somebody named their kid Pocket?!?!???

I am cry wheeze laughing at this post, and then when I got to the bottom I had apparently already hearted it at some point in its life?

Anyway, bless little Christopher’s parents. My god.

47 month old tho

One of the classes I subbed in had a kid named Glarison. I’m sorry, did you misspell Garrison?????

OMG IT IS BACK! I CAN FINALLY POST THE ASK I GOT ABPUT THIS!

I went to college and took religious studies courses with a girl named Storm Pagan. She never understood why I found that both funny and oddly appropriate, and I never felt like taking the time to explain.

for the love of your future children, look up what a name means in all languages before you saddle you kid with it until they’re old enough to legally change it.

I took latin in middle school. I don’t actually remember much now, but i’m telling you, it was IMPOSSIBLE to look this girl I knew in passing in the eye because her name was Latrina. 

Latrina.

(For those of you who have no idea why this is unfortunate and hilarious, ‘latrina’ is one of the latin words for toilet)

47 month old

I love that one of the restrictions on name changes in the UK is that your name cannot “promote criminal activities” and fucking hell every name I can think of that violates that is just stellar honestly like fucking hello nice to meet you my name is Commit Arson, I’d like you to meet my daughter Dont Pay Taxes and my son Steal From Work

“Hi, my name is Arthur Banks and this is my son Rob. Just make sure you call him Robert around the police.”

… guys

Apparently someone named Rob Banks had a crush on my mum when she was in highschool

I love this post 🤣🤣🤣

you know what i want all of us to normalize? trans people changing their name more than once.

you changed your name again because the other one didn’t work for you? that’s cool.

you changed your name again because you found another better one? that’s cool.

you changed your name back because it just felt better? that’s cool!

also normalize not changing your name at all, or having several different names, and just normalize all kinds of relationships with names, because it really does get complicated for some. and that’s cool.

This!!!

You can see the difference in how these characters were brought up clearly from the younger years. Harry if you remember has to be prompted to tell his name, most likely because the Dursley’s hated to acknowledge he is important. Ron, as an afterthought tells his name as though he always gets a head of himself and must be reminded all the time to tell others who he is. While Hermione recites her name as though she has walked up to so many kids trying to make friends, because her parents told her the easiest way to make friends is to introduce yourself. And finally Draco leads with his family name because it shows his pure blood status and sets him above the rest; it is what makes him important and special, and his last name is the only thing that matters. Yet in the end war does not care what your name is, it hurts without discrimination, and that is what the second gifs display all to well.

Hoooooly shit that comment

here are my favourite babycenter.com poll questions from the past week

Craigory