Mandy writes:
What do you think of the name Amos? Has enough time passed for it to overcome the “Amos & Andy” association? Famous Amos cookies? I’ve also heard that Amos is occasionally misheard as “Anus” (yikes!). Interested in your 2 cents :)
The Amos & Andy association has disappeared for me. I’m familiar with Famous Amos cookies, but the name Amos didn’t bring them to mind—and if it did, it wouldn’t be something that would feel negative to me. The last issue is the one that would most concern me: M and N are very similar sounds in our language. Those are my two cents.
I think what is needed here is more sets of two cents on those issues. Let’s try some polls, keeping in mind that a poll with a separate answer for each person’s exact point of view would be of no use; use the poll to put your answer into a general category, and use the comments section to be specific. (Or, if you truly can’t use any of the poll answers, skip the poll and use only the comments section.)
Name update!
Hi Swistle!
When I emailed you back in March asking your opinion on the name Amos, I wasn’t even pregnant at the time. Haha! Well, almost a year later I thought I’d let you know that I became pregnant, had a little boy, AND named him Amos! Thank you to you and your readers for all the input :)
Here is our little man Amos Beau and his adoring sister Elinore Davie.
The Amos/anus connection had never occurred to me… but once it was pointed out, I can’t help but think of it.
Yes, this was the same for me. I have the association of Amos & Andy and Famous Amos, but they are not at all problematic. I’d never associated Amos/anus, but now that it’s pointed out, it would likely ruin me using it personally, though it wouldn’t bother me on someone else’s child and would probably help save the name if I knew a little Amos.
I had never noticed Amos/anus, but once seen, I find it cannot be unseen (I voted yes for that, no for the other, which is of no consequence to me)
I wanted to say ‘no’ to all three, and I usually think fretting about potential negative nicknames is pointless. (If kids are being cruel, they’ll find a way …)
That said, Amos was my childhood nickname, from my given name, Amy. And a friend revealed – years and years later – that she’d thought it was unspeakably cruel that my mother used to call me anus, and it took her years and years to realize that it was Amos. Then again, my sisters and brother never thought of the connection, and they heard me called Amos constantly.
So … I voted yes that Amos/anus could be a problem. But I’d really like to say “yes, it is an issue, but NO, it isn’t a dealbreaker.” It’s just one downside to what is, overall, a really great, underused name.
I knew an Amos without ever thinking “anus”… But when I first heard the issue pointed out a few years ago, it became obvious and now it’s all I hear. :( Bummer! (er, no pun intended.)
I have similar issues with Anais (friends named their daughter this)– or rather, I feel it’s a possible problem with Anais. But, Amos is worse. Because now “anus” is all I hear when I hear Amos– but I have to think about potential problems to get that for Anais (which can be pronounced ah- NAY- is or ah-nah-EES). Same with Linus, another name I like but feel has possible negative connotations with various bits of anatomy through rhyming. Still, I don’t think “anus” or anything else immediately with Linus. (I just think of the Peanuts character).
Not that Anais and Linus have anything to do with this issue, really, but I was trying to pinpoint why Amos was so much more bothersome than those names…and I think the verdict is that with Amos, the association with “anus” is not a stretch. It’s right there.
Do you like Abner or Able?
Also, not to hijack this thread (maybe it deserves its own post), but what is the general feeling about Violet being so close to violent? I love the name Violet, but I worry about the single letter difference from such a negative word.
(Or Abel!)
I feel the same way about Aurelia and aureola. Though that association seems more out there. :(
Actually, you aren’t the first to mention it! I said the name Aurelia to a friend once and she thought it was the same thing as aureola. My SO also immediately thought “aureola” when I mused over the name aloud once, which exiled it from my long list of potential favorites.
Same thing with Ariella– my made up, perfect name that I never told anyone for years. I told my husband, and he says “Sounds like areola…” Squashed my dreams lol.
I think dismissing a name just because it’s one letter/sound away from being a negative word is generally a bad idea. So, is Lain out because of Slain? Or Abby because of Shabby? Or Cora because of Corrupt? Colin because of Colon? And I’m sure this list could go on and on.
Respectfully, I think “anus” is in a different category of potential misheard words than all of the ones you mentioned. And Violet and Violent are more easily misheard for each other than any of your examples. Your examples are more like rhymes or homonyms for less common words.
For me, Amos & Andy is a problem. Both the TV show & radio program were horribly racist-the NAACP actually got involved to have the TV show canceled. For me, it’d be almost like naming a girl Jemima (I assume you are in the U.S). Maybe I’m just old-it’s possible the name is ready for a comeback, but I’d suggest you research the show before making your final decision. There are clips of it on youtube and a Google search of “Amos and Andy racist” will also give you some interesting food for thought.
Forgot to add that I really like the suggestion of Abe. Abram would also be nice if you’re looking for a less common old testament name similar to Amos.
For me, the stronger association is Tori Amos. If you’re a teen of the 90’s, people may think you named your son after her. (A lovely association in my book but may not be one you want!)
If you do go with Amos, and you’re the type of mom who likes monograms, there’s a million monogramed things on ebay from this one mom. Every time I see them I think “there’s a nitch market…baby boy things with the name Amos on them”
I voted no to all three. Unless you have a last name that could also be rearranged so you have a double possibility with Amos, then I would say it’s not an issue. The name Anais, however, I still don’t even know how to pronounce it as all I read is Anus. As for the Amos and Andy, I am 30 and I don’t even know who/what that is? A TV show? Also, perhaps because I live in Canada but the Famous Amos Cookies doesn’t mean anything to me either.
I think Amos is a cute name.
Re Anais, I’ve heard both uh-NAY-is, which is kind of close to anus, and ah-nah-EES, which isn’t at all. The one I know is ah-nah-EES. Also I heard ah-NYE-is once, which I think is actually the prettiest pronunciation.
I don’t even know what Amos and Andy is without googling. The cookies are not a big deal. Amos actually makes me think of some youth chapter book series about characterds Duncan&Amos. I like the name and don’t think “anus” would be an issue at all.
If the ending of the name is the dealbreaker, what about Eamon? Pronounced AY-min.
I love the name Amos and it was on my list for my son. Then my husband pointed out how similar it is to anus, and thereby knocked it out of the running for us. But my husband didn’t love the name to start with; if we’d both loved the name I maybe could have gotten past it. It really is a great name!
I didn’t think of the connection with anus until you brought it up. I don’t think it would be a deal breaker for me personally.
I haven’t heard of Amos and Andy before. I’m in my twenties and in Canada for what it’s worth. Amos made me think of the Harry Potter character Amos Diggeroy.
My last name is Amos, and I have to say NO to all three of the questions above, speaking from experience. I actually love the name Amos as a first name (had to give it up when I got married to a man with the last name of Amos… dang). However, I don’t get the Anus association at all because, in my mind, it’s pronounced A-MO-S, not A-MU-S.
I would never have thought of anus with Amos… And now that it’s been pointed out, I still don’t see it as a problem. Could a child potentially be teased for it? Probably. As with anything. But I think it’s a great underused name, assuming the last name isn’t Butte, or anything that could compound the problem.
No idea what Amos and Andy is. And the cookies ring a faint bell. I just think of it as an Old Testament name like Noah and Abel.
I’m in my 30s.
I know an adult Amos and a 6YO (my son’s best friend, who is the adult Amos’s kid, and none of these have ever been an issue with either of them since I’ve known them. I love the name, & if it hadn’t clashed so terribly with my partner’s last name, would’ve been a strong contender for my own son. That said, the other names I associated with it that worked with the surname were Milo, Arlo, & Niko. Good luck!
I have a close friend whose son has the middle name Amos. When he’s in trouble, she always yells his first/middle name at him and every single time I have an immediate shocked reaction that she just said “anus” to her son. No matter how many hundreds of times I’ve heard it, I still get that immediate reaction.
I’m so glad to see this question here because I love the name Amos! If my daughter had been a boy that’s what we were going to name her. We worried a lot about the “anus” connection but in the end felt that the biblical Amos was such a great namesake that we didn’t mind (and we’re not even religious, just love that Amos fought for justice and was often referred to by Martin Luther King Jr.) I’ve never met a little Amos but would so love to!
I grew up knowing an older boy at camp named Amos. Since I knew an Amos it never struck me as an unusual name. I voted no for all 3 because in thinking back to him none of those issues ahs ever crossed my mind.
I grew up in the UK, where I think the pronunciation is AY-moss instead of AY-muss. I did a quick search and found this: http://community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a3534125/how_do_you_pronounce_amos._as_many_answers_as_poss_please
So I didn’t think of the word anus, until reading it here.
I really liked the name Jasper, but couldn’t get past the “ass” sound in there. So personally the close resemblance to anus might be a deal breaker on the name for me personally. It’s a shame though.
Do you like the name Silas?
See, and where I live in Canada, the few Amos’s that I’ve met go by A-MO-S not A-MUSS so to me that amos/anus isn’t an issue as the pronunciations are so different.
I know a 22 year old Amos, pronounced Ay- moss, and he has NEVER had the Anus association. Great name!
the pronunciation that I am familiar with is AH-mos, with a short A sound but a long O sound, so none of these things were issues for me. It’s a nice name.
Anus is not a word that most people use with any sort of frequency. I just have trouble believing that people would mistake a person’s name for an uncommonly talked about body part. Do young kids even know that word? I’ve taught all of my children to use correct terms for various parts of their anatomy and have certainly said the word anus to all four of them, but they have no more repeated it aloud than they have labia, epiglottis, rectum, or philtrum. They just aren’t parts that come up terribly often, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t imagine mishearing Amos as anus. I think you’re fairly safe on that one in the sense that those who mishear it will realize it was their mistake, not yours:)
I have met Wally Amos of Famous Amos cookies and he is a lovely man. Undaunted by adversity, he has found professional success after losing his own business and he has devoted a great deal of his time to teaching adult literacy. I would be proud to have a son share a name with someone like him.
Good luck with your decision!
Amos/anus is a total deal breaker for me! We were all set to name our 1st Aksel until I heard someone say it and thought they said “@sshole” … As someone who endured a ton of teasing about my own name as a kid, I just don’t want to make it easy for those bullies! If you’re gonna make fun of my kid, be creative, I guess. But that’s just me! I like Amos for someone else’s kid!
I don’t think Amos would be misheard, but I do think it lends itself to easy teasing. However, as someone else stated, kids will find a way to tease even if they have to be creative. I think it’s a great name and would still use it – I don’t think of it in terms of Amos and Andy, or cookies. I do remember it as the name of the sheriff in Murder She Wrote, but that just gives me warm, fuzzy feelings.
I can see how some might not know the Amos and Andy reference, but I am surprised that anyone could know it and not find it to be a very negative association. The association is strong for me (if someone names their kid Amos it would be the first thing that came to mind) and very negative (it was one of the most racist shows in television history in the US).
Swistle, thank you so much for posting my question! And thank you all for commenting. As I read and re-read all the comments, I wafted back and forth! I would read some and think, “ok, this is a great name to use!” And then after the next comment, “Darn, they are right, we just CAN’T use this name!”
I just love the name Amos but am still unsure about the “Amos & Andy” aspect :(
I really appreciated the commenter who said (re: Anus) that if someone heard “Anus” they would realize it was their mistake.
Aw, I’m so glad! I do think of Famous Amos cookies a little, but like Swistle said, it’s not a bad association. He’s an adorable little cookie, and I LOVE that picture with his sister. I have an Eleanor too, so I may be biased.
I’m glad you used Amos! Things like Andy & Amos are best forgotten if you ask me. I feel the same about Jemima. There’s just no point in continuing to drag around past racist associations like a dead horse, especially when those associations are long forgotten in the minds of the current generation.
I named my boy Amos in 2007. He’s 9 now & once had someone say “anus.,” He rolled his eyes, laughed & moved on. Frankly since every other word out of his mouth is “butt” or poop,” or “fart!” He probably thought it was kind of cool. Everyone loves his name. Only oldsters think of Amos & Andy. Mostly people say, “Great name!”