Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 January 6

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January 6

Non-religious/atheist given names

Please suggest some non-religious given names. --PlanetEditor (talk) 10:30, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Too many to list. An ordinary baby's name book will be of use. Classical names:Hector, Claudia. Celtic names, which precede any saints that carry them: Alan,, Saoirse. Germanic names: Ethel, Robert. Names taken from surnames: Clive, Bradley. Place names: Lorraine. Made-up names: Raylene. Flower and tree names: Daisy, Hazel. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:10, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Lucifer ("shining one, morning star, bringer of dawn") is kinda catchy, especially for the militantly atheistic. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:22, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Although Lucifer comes from the Old Testament, Isaiah 14:12, so not really "non-religious". Alansplodge (talk) 15:37, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

The OP also asked for atheist names; I can't think of any more blatant than that (although one's offspring might object in later life). Clarityfiend (talk) 01:23, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Or Keeeith. --Saddhiyama (talk) 11:38, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Dweezil and Moon Unit are attractive options. Celebrities' kids are a good source of non-traditional names, but not everyone agrees the names are entirely sensible ones. --Dweller (talk) 18:49, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

All the Old English ones: Edward, Albert, Edwin, Alfred, Emma, Hilda, Elfrida, April, May... Just look at given names of English kings and queens up to the Norman Conquest (and just after) and you'll get some ideas. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:31, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

I heard a goodie the other day: Tintagel (from "The Green Mill Murder" episode of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries). I can just imagine some eccentric type naming his six sons Tarquin, Tintagel, Peregrine, Vespasian, Nebuchadnezzar and Rumplestiltskin. But for a real-life weird name, try Hiawatha Coleridge-Taylor (1900-1980), son of the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (no relation to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 19:32, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

This genealogy forum has some corkers from the 19th and early 20th century UK censuses; 36 children registered with first name Mafeking in 1900 (at least 13 females), a few girls born in WWI called Zeppelina, 959 individuals with the forename Napoleon born in England, a William Wellington Waterloo Humbley and a William Wellington Waterloo Jackson, a Tom Tootle Plucknett born 1839 and Albert Posthumous Brown born in 1894. On the 1891 census, a child called Santa Claus[1] and a list compiled from the 1911 census includes a 6 year old boy called Love Child Charles Wales Bull and a chauffeur called Alfred Stephen Danger Wood[2]. Alansplodge (talk) 19:58, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd suggest that Santa Claus, being derived from Saint Nicholas, is quite religious. HiLo48 (talk) 20:54, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that's true. I had lost sight of the original question and was just going for the amusing ones. I'll go and stand in the corner. Alansplodge (talk) 22:22, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

We need an article for a Canadian/US pianist named Waugh Lauder. Sounds exactly like "Warlorder". What were his parents thinking? Then there was Voltaire Molesworth. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:16, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Waugh Lauder doesn't sound anything like "Warlorder" in Canadian English. --NellieBlyMobile (talk) 18:10, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, and my nephew thinks Mary Maugham sounds exactly like Merry Mom and Marry Ma'am. But it doesn't. μηδείς (talk) 20:45, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Charlton Heston is named after two London suburbs. Itsmejudith (talk) 23:02, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you guys. --PlanetEditor (talk) 01:47, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Whole bunch here. "Number 16 Bus Shelter" is the most ridiculous one. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 09:17, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

J M Barrie invented the name Wendy for the book Peter Pan. HiLo48 (talk) 09:25, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

That's a nice story - but our article "Wendy" begs to differ: "The name is found in United States records from the 19th century; the name Wendy appeared over twenty times in the U.S. Census of 1880" - Peter Pan was written in 1904. SteveBaker (talk) 21:46, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd always accepted the Barrie claim at face value, too. But it's clear all he did was to popularise it as a girl's name (it was previously better known as a male name or a surname). Amazing how this got translated into "Barrie invented the name". -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 22:01, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Not even that...it was short for the female name "Gwendolyn" even before he used it - and that name had been around since the thirteenth century and was well known in England from the 1860's. SteveBaker (talk) 14:49, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

I see xkcd has some at [3] ;-) I can't see that one should be worried, I go and listen to choirs singing masses and I'm an atheist. Dmcq (talk) 15:32, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

163rd Depot Brigade

Where can I find information about the 163rd Depot Brigade, an [All African American?] World War One unit?--*xia9jan (talk) 17:27, 6 January 2013 (UTC) Thanks!

Thunder Phoenix. LoL 203.112.82.1 (talk) 17:29, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure that you're right about an "all African American" unit. According to this book, The 88th Division in the World War of 1914-1918, Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, New York 1919 (p.29) it was the base unit for the 88th Division, through which recruits were posted to the front line units in the division, and a home for specialists and those unfit for active service. It was formed at Camp Dodge near Des Moines, Iowa in June 1917. Presumably it followed the division to France, but you'd have to read the book properly to find out - just click the pages to turn them. The book includes a long list of names of all those who served in the division. Alansplodge (talk) 19:00, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Well, a bit more digging and I found Black soldiers in WW1 (92nd & 93rd Divisions), which mentions two African American soldiers who were sent to 163rd Depot Brigade at Camp Dodge, before being posted to a front-line Pioneer Infantry Battalion in 92nd Division, the "Buffalo Soldiers Division". So it looks as though the 163rd were the staging unit at Camp Dodge, feeding men to various divisions in France. This page (second entry) confirms that 163 Bgde were still at Dodge in April 1918. I suspect that the various units within the brigade would have been racially segregated; perhaps someone with more knowledge of the US Army in World War I can comment please? Alansplodge (talk) 19:16, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

According to McGrath, 'The Brigade,' ..'[w]ith the large number of draftees coming into the Army in 1917, a specialized brigade was established, the depot brigade. These brigades, organized for each National Guard and National Army division, processed new draftees and provided basic training. Each depot brigade had from two to seven training battalions, though some were organized with one or two training regiments as well. These units were eventually removed from divisions and placed directly under cantonment commanders.' The Brigade: Its Organization and Employment in the US Army: A History, John J. McGrath, Combat Studies Institute Press Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2004, p.35. It appears that the 163rd Depot Brigade was the depot brigade for the 88th Div. The U.S. Army was not desegregated until after World War II, so units almost certainly were segregated. Buckshot06 (talk) 04:53, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. Alansplodge (talk) 22:45, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Women dress type

Is there a specific name for the upper cloth of Kitana, Mileena and Jade from MK 3 onwards (with that type of laced decolté)? thanks--93.174.25.12 (talk) 21:39, 6 January 2013 (UTC)