diseases that make lovely baby girl's names

chained_bear They're not diseases, but Armada and Militia are possibilities, seen here. Aug 31, 2009

madmouth is it OK to twiddle some existing disease names to make them sound more feminine?

if not, delete away. Apr 29, 2009

marco_nj These are great names for fantasy role playing gaming. Jan 17, 2009

chimp_conspiracy Wonderful to know other people do this too.
I have a pair of degus called Typhus and Chlamydia, for a boy and a girl respectively.

Actually Typhus turned out to also be a girl, but I've never been able to subsequently think of her as one and rename accordingly. Is that psychologically damaging to a rodent?

Come to think of it, my mum calls me rickets. Jan 12, 2009

quinn done Jan 9, 2009

chained_bear Okay! Put it on my list then! Jan 9, 2009

quinn ok, i am actually going to argue with halitosis. hali, maybe, but not halitosis. that doesn't sound like a baby girl's name at all, even with unfortunate names like mackenzie and madison becoming popular. Jan 8, 2009

reesetee Right. Exactly so. Jan 8, 2009

chained_bear Not girls' personality traits -- diseases'. Jan 8, 2009

reesetee Well, that's where the fun is, no?

Wait...with this list, maybe not. Jan 8, 2009

quinn you realize now we're talking about these girl's personality traits. Jan 8, 2009

reesetee No worries, quinn. If you've ever experienced sciatica, you'd know she's no shrinking violet.

*winces at the mere thought* Jan 8, 2009

pterodactyl Hey, quinn, thanks for making this list! It's funny how lyrical these words are, given their meanings.

I keep a similar, but broader list: New baby names for girls. If you guys come up with any words that aren't diseases but would nevertheless make lovely names for girls, well, here's a place for them. Jan 8, 2009

quinn Oh no, reesettee, that would be silly. And poor Sciatica, not only does she cause countless people terrible pain, but now I'm saying her name doesn't sound sweet enough.

I'm a mean person. Jan 8, 2009

reesetee Quinn, I'd be happy to remove my sciatica contribution if you wish. Although I do think it's a damn funny name for a girl. :-) Jan 7, 2009

quinn I think it works for boys, hence Syphilis, it just seems slightly funnier for girls. Girl's names are just meant to sound sweeter, like Cholera, without self consciousness of the whole death by diarrhea thing. Bilharzia Sciatica and Acne don't work for me as much because they don't have the nearly saccharine sweet sound I'm looking for, but I can still see them. Jan 7, 2009

chained_bear You're right, yarb, I was just being a wanker. Hey! Colon would make a great boys' name. I'm starting a list, here. (Which I'll gladly give to quinn if he/she desires.) Jan 7, 2009

vanishedone Apparently, Colic is a surname. Jan 7, 2009

yarb Diseases tend to have latinate names ending in 'a', which makes them sound feminine.

For some reason the few unfeminine disease-names like mumps don't suggest themselves as names for boys. Flu, maybe?

I think there's a greater flexibility and variety in the naming of girls; it seems to me that society is more accepting of novelty and variation in girls' names than in boys'. So it's not as hard to imagine a world where gonorrhea is a girls' name as it is to imagine a world where colic is a boys' name. Jan 7, 2009

chained_bear That's because men think women are diseases, so diseases (like hurricanes, for a long time) only have girly names.

*poking the Wordie-hive with a big stick*
:) Jan 7, 2009

yarb Acne, pomegranate?? I'm not feeling it. Jan 7, 2009

reesetee Fun! Thanks, quinn. Jan 7, 2009

yarb Thanks for opening it!

n.b. diphtheria is the spelling you want. Jan 7, 2009

reesetee I think a complementary boys' names list is in order. :-) Jan 6, 2009

yarb This is fun - would you mind making it an open list?

And where did I read a very similar idea in a book recently? Jan 6, 2009