My wife and I were having an argument the other day, and she suggested that I ask Hatrack about it.
The question: Is the name Ned a hick name?
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I don't think it has to be, no.
Hobbes Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Depends on the last name that goes with it, or the middle name, in my opinion.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Though I would like a clear defenition of "hick".
To be honest, I can't hear "Ned" without thinking "Flanders".
Hobbes Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
I'm not asking whether it has to be. When I hear the name Ned, I think of hillbillies. Ruth says it's just me. I think that at the very least, it's a stupid name.
[ January 04, 2004, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: Captain Obvious ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
No. And I can say this, because I know a lot of hicks. Ned is more of an overweight businessman who vacations in Vegas.
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
Probably not hick like Cletis; maybe only bordering on white trash. Lower middle class, maybe? Truck driver?
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
No, a Ned is more well-off than that.
Hobbes Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
That is not the association I have with the name.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Ned is the name of a turn of the century homeless boy who does a good deed for a millionare and ends up very rich, usually by marrying the millionare's daughter.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
ned lives next to homer and marge.
jon, why are you so obsessed with hicks, white trash, and living in barns? freak.
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
Okay, here's the real crux of the argument: I'm reading A Game of Thrones right now, and I think that Ned is a stupid name for a hero. It's not a name that I associate with leadership and heroism. Ned is the name of a stablehand or kitchen scullion or something like that.
[ January 04, 2004, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: Captain Obvious ]
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I think it's just you. Edward is a great name for a hero, and Ned is a common nickname for Edward.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
heh, that's the next book on my "to read" list.
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
quote:jon, why are you so obsessed with hicks, white trash, and living in barns? freak.
It's because I'm obsessed with you, and I want to better understand your kind.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
truth hurts.
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
quote: Edward is a great name for a hero, and Ned is a common nickname for Edward.
Oh, Edward (or Eddard, in the book) is a great name for a hero, but the nickname just sounds dumb to me. Would anyone have respected King Richard if he had gone by Dick?
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
He didn't? o_O
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
He did? O_o
Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :
It's too easy to say Ned in a nice southern drawl...
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Oh dang, I thought you and Ruth were trying to decide on some names that you both liked *cough* and you got in a huge argument over Ned because Ruth is madly in love with the name and has childhood dreams of bestowing that name on a son. *sigh* But, 'twas not to be. You were just reading a stupid book.
Posted by Captain Obvious (Member # 4486) on :
I was just waiting for someone to make that assumption.
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
Doesn't anyone else just think of "Ned" as Ned Nickerson, boyfriend of Nancy Drew? I think of "Ned" and all I picture is a 1940s college boy.
Ned was quite heroic, in a strong, good-at-following-Nancy's-directions sort of way.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Theca, yes, that's it!
I was coming up with clean-cut preppie-type, and I couldn't figure out why!
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Actually, what I think of when I hear Ned is Mr. Stark. A Song of Ice and Fire has changed any view of the name I might have had before Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :
See, I think "Ned" as the name of one of the kids in Louisa May Alcott's book "Jo's Boys", so I think of a well-mannered boy who may be overcoming difficulty with the help of a Professor and his wife.
I read a lot of Victorian children's books in the sixth grade.
I think I may need to read some R.L. Stine to make myself mainstream. *shudder*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
R.L. Stine?
No, jexx! Don't do it! Don't let them pull you to the dark side!
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
jexx- That was the first thing that came to mind for me too. Sort of the stereotypical Louisa May Alcott male character.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
Ned always sounds like a very English name to me.
Or a horse. I rode a horse named Ned once.
Ni!
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
From babynamer.com: Ned This boy's name is used in English. It is a nickname of Edgar, Edmund, Edward and Edwin.
I keep thinking like...Nedry, for some reason. Wasn't that the name of that guy in Jurassic Park?
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Interesting the use of the word hillbillies as such a derogative, stereotypical...
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Hmmmm..
Many would consider me a redneck (at least in some instances), however the name brings absolutely NO stereotypes to mind when I hear it.
I don't know anyone named Ned, so it seems to have no associations, good, bad, or hick, to me.
FG
Posted by Robespierre (Member # 5779) on :
Ned is short for Nedward.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
quote: Okay, here's the real crux of the argument: I'm reading A Game of Thrones right now, and I think that Ned is a stupid name for a hero. It's not a name that I associate with leadership and heroism. Ned is the name of a stablehand or kitchen scullion or something like that.
I have the same feeling about my name. Nathaniel, perhaps as a tragic hero, but I loathe that name too much. Nathan, or Nate, just sounds like some dude filling up space.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Ned is the name of a guy who dated a girl who dated a guy that I dated and then my sister dated a guy who dated that same girl. That's the main person I think of as Ned. The idea that it's a hick name is off the wall, to me. But then, I picked three different names for my daughter and my husband shot them all down because he thought they sounded "loose".
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
ooooo what were they?
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
What about Ned Beatty? He seems to be loveable and jovial.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
He seems to be loveable and jovial.