Announcing the Tag for December

[LibraryCin]

Karin wrote: "FYI, MacDonald/Macdonald is the 10th most popular surname in Canada (only 26th in Vancouver, naturally) but only 744th in the States (I only looked up the latter to compare). ..."

Wow! That's really interesting. I have a friend here in Calgary whose last name is Macdonald.

[Robin P]

Lots of Scottish names in the Atlantic provinces!

[Karin]

Robin P wrote: "Lots of Scottish names in the Atlantic provinces!"

Yes, that's for sure--Nova Scotia didn't get that name for nothing!

For those who don't know whatever language that is, it means New Scotland.

[Robin P]

I used to work with customers on PEI and was surprised how many Scottish names were there as well. Also some French names from Acadians who hid out from the British, but they mostly pronounced the names in very un-French ways.

Another lesser known thing is how many people in Quebec have some Irish ancestry or last names. During bad times in Ireland, many folks went to the US but also to Canada. They didn't want to be in another English-ruled area, so they preferred Catholic, French-speaking Quebec.

[Karin]

Robin P wrote: "I used to work with customers on PEI and was surprised how many Scottish names were there as well. Also some French names from Acadians who hid out from the British, but they mostly pronounced the ..."

Yes, its surprising how some French names are said in Canada, especially in the Maritimes--it might be as bad as what I've seen in this state. I have had to bite my lip more than once when Americans say their French names wrong, but I'm not sure how much of that influence on me came from my total of six years in Ontario where I met more francophones.

[LibraryCin]

Re: French names.... I grew up in a primarily French town in Southern Saskatchewan, so the names were pronounced in French! They weren't Anglicized. So, for names or places where French names have been Anglicized, my first inclination (and certainly if I don't know otherwise) is to pronounce them in French.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

I'm not sure I will have time this December for all the books mentioned here already, but I just added more from my Goodreads profile page, where I discovered I have 300+ direct book recommendations from my friends that I totally ignored, some going back to 2014. The standouts from this list are:

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Cathedral
Delights and Shadows
The Shootist