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Comment by antonvs | Hacker News Reader

Sad to see "Jennifer" listed as a "newer name". Aside from that spelling being more than a century old, it's just a newer spelling of Guinevere, a name which dates back to at least 1100, when it started appearing in written Arthurian legends. The Welsh form, Gwenhwyfar, is attested before that.

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That’s an interesting fact I didn’t know before that makes sense in retrospect.

I wish you hadn’t phrased it snarkily tho: is it really “sad” that someone doesn’t know an interesting fact that you do, or is it a fun opportunity for others to learn something?

FWIW I didn't read snark. I read "I am sad to see…", much as I might be sad to see the history of any other ancient thing forgotten.

A little bit of both, really. But thanks for the charitable reading.

The author took a position on the name’s newness, which implies he did some research.

Blog authors like this remind me of ChatGPT: they write with an affected authoritativeness completely disconnected from the actual value of their words.

This gains them a following in the same sort of way that Donald Trump, Joe Rogan, or Jordan Peterson gain a following.

That’s also sad to see.

> Sad to see "Jennifer" listed as a "newer name".

See also "The Tale of Tiffany" from CGP Grey:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LMr5XTgeyI

Don't forget the sidequest: https://youtu.be/qEV9qoup2mQ

That’s true, but there is no continuity with the old use of the name. Jennifer was presented to the UK and US as a strange name by George Bernard Shaw and gained popularity just because the play was popular on radio and the name sounds nice. Later use in TV made it a top name.

I would bet that there are more girls named Guinevere than girls named Jennifer for philologist reasons. :)

your fact is incontestable, but labeling this as 'sad' is.

Happy for your want to contest his claim of feeling sadness, but how do plan to do so? I expect you will come to realize it too is incontestable.

I'm happy you're happy. And happy to see Jennifer too. I'm just happy I guess. I'm happy I'm happy.

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