Lexicographers, registrars and sociologists are better guides than destiny coaches.
Their disagreements are about audience and power, which is the right argument to have.
People
- Stanley Lieberson 1933–2018 · United States — Fashion without moralising
Gave “good” a sociological meaning: timely within a taste system.
- Patrick Hanks 1940–2024 · United Kingdom — Onomastic dictionaries
Dictionary of First Names and surname work treated etymology as history.
- Elsdon C. Smith 1903–1996 · United States — Surname collector
American popular onomastics; dated, but he treated names as researchable objects.
- Marianne Bertrand b. 1970 · Belgium / U.S. — Bias as quality context
Showed that hearers’ grades are part of the environment a name must survive.
- Ministry of Justice (Japan) ongoing · Japan — Jinmeiyō list
Bureaucrats who operationalise “good” as “allowed character.”
- Mannanafnanefnd 1991– · Iceland — Committee standard
A living definition of grammatical and cultural fit.
If a guru cannot say who the name is for, they are selling a mood.