...I would personally shy away from multiple names with similar-sounding starters, although if you were aiming for a name like Tracey that gets the "that's a girl's name!" then Carmen would definitely be in that category as well. But otherwise, Cameron and Carmen, wow, if I'm picking, I'd take Tyr and Tracey because at least they have more than just one letter's difference between their names. Though every time I see Duane, I keep wanting to snark, "so, basically, this version isn't too bright, is he." Talks slow, thinks slow (and I say that as someone who gets that reaction myself and hates it, so, uhm, ehehehe, WHOOPS).
Regardless, that-all just cracks me up, these associations we have with names, like what's a girl's name, or a boy's name, or what names mean in a popular sense. Back when I was in junior high, I came across a book that wasn't name-meanings but name-associations. The authors had made a list of all sorts of names -- and variants, like Mike, Mikey, Michael, Micheal -- and asked people to give a one or two word definition of what they thought of people who actually have that name. IIRC, names like Mikey and Joey (diminutives) were associated with "fun to be around" and girl's name diminutives like Katie and Crissie got "sweet and kind" while non -ie girls' name diminutives (like Cathy or Janey) got "friendly and outgoing" or some such, while full names -- Katherine, Christopher -- were associated with formality, or education, or distance of some sort. Single one-syllable diminutives -- Mike, Chris, Rob, Liz -- were seen as more adult than juvenile, and thus more mature, more likely to be successful with job or attractiveness.
Really very fascinating, especially when I looked up names like Veronica (didn't outright say 'slut' but definitely was something like 'very popular with boys' unh-hunh) and Valerie (most often associated with cheerleaders). The more popular/common the name, the more likely the kid's seen as popular and confident as well, which for that time would've been Jenny, Mike, Chris, and Patty, I think.
Well, anyway, never have found the book again, but it was pretty fascinating snapshot of the variations in how we suss up folks based on not just their name but the version they use. Probably terribly out of date by now, but man, I'd still love to find a copy... but I can't even remember the title. Sheesh!
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...I would personally shy away from multiple names with similar-sounding starters, although if you were aiming for a name like Tracey that gets the "that's a girl's name!" then Carmen would definitely be in that category as well. But otherwise, Cameron and Carmen, wow, if I'm picking, I'd take Tyr and Tracey because at least they have more than just one letter's difference between their names. Though every time I see Duane, I keep wanting to snark, "so, basically, this version isn't too bright, is he." Talks slow, thinks slow (and I say that as someone who gets that reaction myself and hates it, so, uhm, ehehehe, WHOOPS).
Regardless, that-all just cracks me up, these associations we have with names, like what's a girl's name, or a boy's name, or what names mean in a popular sense. Back when I was in junior high, I came across a book that wasn't name-meanings but name-associations. The authors had made a list of all sorts of names -- and variants, like Mike, Mikey, Michael, Micheal -- and asked people to give a one or two word definition of what they thought of people who actually have that name. IIRC, names like Mikey and Joey (diminutives) were associated with "fun to be around" and girl's name diminutives like Katie and Crissie got "sweet and kind" while non -ie girls' name diminutives (like Cathy or Janey) got "friendly and outgoing" or some such, while full names -- Katherine, Christopher -- were associated with formality, or education, or distance of some sort. Single one-syllable diminutives -- Mike, Chris, Rob, Liz -- were seen as more adult than juvenile, and thus more mature, more likely to be successful with job or attractiveness.
Really very fascinating, especially when I looked up names like Veronica (didn't outright say 'slut' but definitely was something like 'very popular with boys' unh-hunh) and Valerie (most often associated with cheerleaders). The more popular/common the name, the more likely the kid's seen as popular and confident as well, which for that time would've been Jenny, Mike, Chris, and Patty, I think.
Well, anyway, never have found the book again, but it was pretty fascinating snapshot of the variations in how we suss up folks based on not just their name but the version they use. Probably terribly out of date by now, but man, I'd still love to find a copy... but I can't even remember the title. Sheesh!