Culture: Names
Increased social mobility by middle-naming   (+3)  [vote for, against]

The plan is, all children get one middle name issued at random from a dictionary database.

So, for example the one who gets "Litigation", can say "Well, litigation is my middle name" and they will be more likely to be snapped up by a law firm.

Admittedly if they get "Sewage" or "Egypt" those might initially seem to be poor choices, but one can go work as a tour guide in Egypt, or possibly both of them, so it's not as bad as it could be. I mean, whoever gets "King" is onto a bit of a winner.

As the middle names are non-hereditary, Mr John Litigation Smith's children will end up funnelled into other occupations and so social mobility is given a boost.
-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 10 2013

http://www.wordgene...-word-generator.php [FlyingToaster, Sep 10 2013]

Jennifer Government http://www.goodread...Jennifer_Government
A dystopian novel with employer surnames [Adze, Sep 13 2013]

<link> Flying "Vesicant" Toaster
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 10 2013


I can think of no reason this could not be beta tested here at the HB, as F.V.Toaster has demonstrated. Middle names and monikers can be inserted out of a random database. They could switch up on a regular, or random basis. Quality and quantity of ideas will be corellated with new middle names.

- bungston "Heartlet" "Chaffy"
-- bungston, Sep 10 2013


On revisiting that random word generator site, "Heartlet" and "Chaffy" are the first 2 that come up each time. Maybe it uses a keystroke as the radom number seed. Let's try one more time.
-- bungston, Sep 10 2013


Hmmm Aus Flail Can. I can live with it.
-- AusCan531, Sep 10 2013


// Aus Flail Can.

See, a career in martial arts, or fixing farm machinery.

I got "not Proudling morrison_rm", which makes me a modest person, suitable for humble jobs. Blurgh.
-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 10 2013


xandram Owllight...huh?
-- xandram, Sep 10 2013


I got 'Corrosibility' on the second click. I must go back and have my grain structure and carbon content re-analyzed.
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 10 2013


What does "Marvolo" imply ... ?
-- 8th of 7, Sep 10 2013


I'm perfectly fine with "Halation" [+]

<here's GROG thankful it didn't come up with Halitosis>
-- Grogster, Sep 10 2013


//What does "Marvolo" imply ... ?/

That you're a huge nerd.
-- ytk, Sep 10 2013


Subpericardial. Yup, that's me, right here <gestures to chest>
-- lurch, Sep 10 2013


Your heart is two sizes too small?
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 10 2013


john doe doe
-- popbottle, Sep 10 2013


// whoever gets "King" is onto a bit of a winner.//

Not if their first name is Juan.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 10 2013


I got 'Agreeableness'?... I object!
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 11 2013


I got ferous, man jack, and trochili. Is this game over yet? Why did I have to get man jack?
-- rcarty, Sep 11 2013


Our children's middle names are hereditary. Also, one of them is "Gray", which effectively dooms him to a life of being boring, and the other is called "Ure (Iubhair)", which condemns her to a life of being hatstand.
-- nineteenthly, Sep 11 2013


//which condemns her to a life of being hatstand.

Them's the breaks.

Looking back at this, I'm not entirely sure I haven't possibly reinvented feudalism, marxism or meritocracy.
-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 11 2013


Mine came up "Cicatrix". Fitting, I suppose, after meeting me.
-- cudgel, Sep 11 2013


"Breaded", as in baker? I like...
-- blissmiss, Sep 11 2013


huhb huh huh. man jack. snort. way to go, "man jack".

I like this game!
-- bungston, Sep 11 2013


Tubular
-- pocmloc, Sep 11 2013


Well, this is a foresighting issue, isn't it? Assuming an environment where the workforce is entered at, say, 16 (rather than 37, as it is in the UK), you're going to need some pretty impressive planning to ensure that you don't end up with a glut of, I dunno, costermongers or rapists come 2032.
-- calum, Sep 11 2013


I can't speak to costermonging, but rap has come a long way. Most of popular music is now some sort of rap hybrid. One could argue that its popularity will only increase on the way to 2032! Said glut might be exactly what society demands.
-- bungston, Sep 13 2013


I had a half-aunt whose middle name was "Temperance". Cirrhosis is terrible way to go, and is only made worse by irony.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 13 2013



random, halfbakery