I thought of this in the shower, then deleted it when someone in a discord I asked it to eventually said duh it’s Michael Jackson, and another replied Michael Jordan you dumbass … oof … but then while deleted it got upvotes somehow so whatever lol

  • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
    2·
    14 hours ago

    I too am an etymology geek, I had to look up “aptronym” (I already knew there was a word for it, but couldn’t remember it) but already knew “patronym”. I can occasionally work out the approximate Latin roots of words and take a stab at what to search for.

    Regarding names’ positions moving around… that’s just people. People name their children all sorts of stupid things that eventually become normal.