Names We Think Of With Australian Men And Women

How many Australian men are named Bruce, and how many Australian women are named Sheila?

In Victoria, a state in Australia, there have been 8799 babies registered with the name Bruce since 1929, making it in the top 70 of all male names. However, almost all of those were from the 40s and 50s. As for Sheila, that name is not in the top 100 of all time and has never been in the top 100 for any decade: https://online.justice.vic.gov.a...I think it is safe to extrapolate from Victoria that say that Bruce is a fairly common name for Australian men aged 50+, and Sheila is not a common name at all. If you watched Flight of the Conchords, you might be interested to know that Keitha, an Aussie girl that Jemaine dates (and Murray complains that it isnt even a real name), is an actual name, with my aunt named Keitha.

What are some typical Australian first names and surnames?

Australian names are almost the sams as you said, but I think men/boys are called Ryan, Luke, Andrew, Chris, Jesse, Dave, Andy, Joshua & Jake while women/girls are more like Chloes & Emilies.Surnames can be difficult. I would say Lucas, Davies/Davis, Evans, Cameron & Weaver are popular ones.Would also be interested in seeing some surnames that are more common in Australia than in the US, Canada & England.

What would you never hear an Australian say?

I'm going to answer this as an educated Australian woman, a group whose existence is usually entirely overlooked by Australian men. I never say shrimp, barbie, G'day, fair dinkum, Aussie, footy, or any (I think) of the words shortened and ending in ie. I think it's a habit of youngish men. I don't say mate, although I don't mind being called mate. I do swear, but only when I have a suitable audience; my friends, or relative strangers (the shock factor). We don't use the endless, unimaginative lingo of the beach teen; sinking tinnies, swatting mozzies. It conjures images of being too hot, and very bored. I'm completely unaware of the tall poppy syndrome. It's a much vaunted myth dating from the early 20th Century. Women tend to congratulate other women who've done well. Men who show off abound and are ignored. They've done nothing to distinguish themselves, so the TP principle doesn't apply. Young Australians do not cut their Tall Poppy heroes down. They worship them, be they (note perfect grammar) sportsmen/women, pop singers, tv or film stars. All thinking Australians detest a good proportion of our (many) politicians, but tend not to cut them down, as it's a complete waste of time. We prefer to bitch about them afterwards. I do however say things that other Australians don't. I'm not overtaken by fear or amazement by foreign words. I can usually pronounce them, and speak a couple of other languages which many Australians do. I detest the practice of being dumbfounded by foreign names. You've heard them before boys and girls, so drop the act. I rest my case.

Why do many Australian men like to use "faggot"?

Its not used in polite company.There could be many explanations and allowances made, but the simplest one that most Australians would make is that the person saying ‘faggot’ is what an American would call an ‘asshole.’Aussies will call eachother ‘dickhead’ and ‘moron’ in jest. But not ‘faggot’ unless either everyone is gay, or the assumption is that everyone is straight and calling someone ‘faggot’ as a joke is OK.i think most people in Australia would say that calling someone ‘faggot’ as a joke outside of a group of gay men isn't funny.Its not common in my experience but I can imagine there could be some building sites, rugby clubs etc where that happens. And I think that the men involved may not always intend to be assholes, but they are being assholes.

What does the Australian term "sheila" mean?

It is not still used by many Australians. If you use it you will sound old and rural.Old farmers still use it still and it now sounds very rural. It comes from the Irish name Shelagh which used to be a common name for Australian women.We have similar things in the history of American English. There are old slang terms for women in the US that were popular in the early 20th century, but no longer are.To name one: Doll. This was a nickname for someone named Dorothy, and became used to describe women in general. It probably fell out of use in the 1950s and 1960s, but in old movies you can still hear it.There are some still used in American English for men like “Joe” e.g., “He’s just an average Joe”.In English at large, Guy is a common word for a male, and it is derived from an old name. This probably happened in the 1600s which is why this term exists everywhere.Since the English Catholic Guy Fawkes was hanged and quartered for treason on January 31st, 1606, it has not been a popular name. Now it is more often used to mean “human male”.If you look at the list of people named Guy, you see many in the 1200s and 1300s named Guy, but then don’t see it again as a common name until the 20th century. The resurgence of the name is probably due to the fact there is an identical-sounding name from Hebrew that was used by some Yiddish speakers גיא.Many Italian men named Guido also began going by Guy; historically Guy was the English nickname for Guido.