Only in Utah
When Cari and Wesley Clark attended Brigham Young University, they noticed that many of their Mormon classmates had unconventional first names. Years later, after moving to Washington, D.C., they realized they had a knack for guessing which other expats hailed from the Inter-Mountain West region simply by hearing their names. And so began their mission to define what makes a name Utahn.
Their hilarious, must-see Web site, "The Utah Baby Namer," tracks the decidedly different names members of the Mormon Church give children. In a culture where big families are the norm and Smith is the predominant surname, appellations like Jeopardee, Abcde (AB-sid-dee) and even Rube and Pork Chop can certainly help a kid stand out. Not surprisingly, some of the tamer designations—like Electa, Hilma, Talon, and Dax—have become popular enough to make the top 1000 list, as well. As Latter Day Saints convert themselves, the Clarks say that intuition is a key player in rooting out Utah names. As Cari writes on the site: "Often identifying a Utah name is a gut feeling akin to Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography: you know it when you see it."
If you're from Utah or a member of the LDS church, you might even consider homemade names to be a theme reflecting your spiritual or geographic background. In case you don't already know the ingredients, Cari says that French-sounding prefixes, as in LaNondus, NeVada, and VeOnna, are particularly popular in Utah. Combination names that take a little something from both mom and dad—Veradeane or GlenDora—are also big. And then there's the frankly outrageous, like Chinchilla Zest and Fawn-Dew. Indeed, some of the following entries sound unbelievable, but the Clarks only accept submissions from people who actually knew the Utahner in question, and they interrogate rigorously. Love 'em or hate 'em, you've gotta admit that these names are unique—or as a Utahn might spell it, YewNeeq.
Their hilarious, must-see Web site, "The Utah Baby Namer," tracks the decidedly different names members of the Mormon Church give children. In a culture where big families are the norm and Smith is the predominant surname, appellations like Jeopardee, Abcde (AB-sid-dee) and even Rube and Pork Chop can certainly help a kid stand out. Not surprisingly, some of the tamer designations—like Electa, Hilma, Talon, and Dax—have become popular enough to make the top 1000 list, as well. As Latter Day Saints convert themselves, the Clarks say that intuition is a key player in rooting out Utah names. As Cari writes on the site: "Often identifying a Utah name is a gut feeling akin to Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography: you know it when you see it."
If you're from Utah or a member of the LDS church, you might even consider homemade names to be a theme reflecting your spiritual or geographic background. In case you don't already know the ingredients, Cari says that French-sounding prefixes, as in LaNondus, NeVada, and VeOnna, are particularly popular in Utah. Combination names that take a little something from both mom and dad—Veradeane or GlenDora—are also big. And then there's the frankly outrageous, like Chinchilla Zest and Fawn-Dew. Indeed, some of the following entries sound unbelievable, but the Clarks only accept submissions from people who actually knew the Utahner in question, and they interrogate rigorously. Love 'em or hate 'em, you've gotta admit that these names are unique—or as a Utahn might spell it, YewNeeq.
| Boys Bucket Canteen Denim Levi Dull Hummingbird Iron Rod Marvelous Man Mint Nugget Orange Rube Shag Zanderalex |
Girls Abcde Apathy Hereditary Jeopardee Jynx K-8 Paradise Sunrise Placentia Pork Chop Seavenly Turquoise Nova Velvaleen X Y Zella |
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