Comments on: Jessica, Jennifer, Elizabeth… Madison?

By: Kate Diamond

Kate Diamond — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:47:38 +0000

P.S. Tagged you on a meme. Check my site for details!

By: Kate Diamond

Kate Diamond — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:28:20 +0000

Yay! I’m so excited to see Alyssa Goodnight posting on your blog! Is this her first time? I regularly read her blog, and quite enjoy it.

Sorry I am so off-topic. I am home sick. Must be the Sudafed talking.

I like the name Madison, but I’d never be able to use it for my own child (having known several). Ah, the curse of being a teacher…

By: Alyssa Goodnight

Alyssa Goodnight — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:59:29 +0000

I’m inclined to agree with you–Madison is definitely a recent addition to the melting pot of names.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:12:11 +0000

I hadn’t thought about her name connecting with modern audiences (or perhaps I did unconsciously??!!) but I think that’s true. Hope you have a chance to read it sometime. Thanks.

Karen

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:23:35 +0000

Hey, thanks for weighing in, Karen! I wondered if her unusual name would be addressed in the book — since of course I’ve only cataloged it, and haven’t read it yet. I’m looking forward to!

Of course, these days, Madison is pretty common. It strikes me that while it’s a way to make the character stand out, it’s also maybe a way to help her connect with her modern audience.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:05:38 +0000

Yes, it’s true the name Madison was quite unheard of in 1980. That’s part of the reason I used it. My character is unusual in many ways — she’s the first girl to play little league with the boys — and her unique name is another way of having her “stand out.” The boys make fun of her name and one even comes up with a nickname he uses throughout the novel, Wisconsin. Which is quite appropriate since she’s named after the town where her parents met.

Karen

By: jfpbookworm

jfpbookworm — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:04:11 +0000

Jadelennox beat me to it.

A quick search on IMDB (there may be better data sets for this, but that one has names and birthdates, and famous people’s names tend to catch on) suggests that prior to Splash “Madison” was a fairly rare men’s name.

By: jadelennox

jadelennox — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:35:38 +0000

nope. no Madisons until after Splash, in 1984.