Well, a simple question to all: Does an Englishman or an American not know
this or
that definition for the word "dick" in well-known dictionaries? Do you still think that this word can be used as a suitable male name (even if it is said to be a nickname for the male name "Richard")? What a cultural perspective is it? Is it a logical or a nice choice to use an obscene/vulgar word as a first name? I am unable to find out the logic or decision behind the name "Dick". Could any of you bring a logical explanation?
No. Context will tell you when it's being used as an insult. Richard Noggin jokes, aside, only a young kid or teenager is going to find it amusing. Rod (short for Rodney) can also be used as a slang term for a penis, but again nobody normally associates the name with the slang.
I'm admittedly immature, but I'm more likely to laugh at foreign names that accidentally sound like English genitalia slang than commonly used English nicknames that can carry a double entendre. A name like Mr. Wang - now that's funny!
A number of years ago there was a prominent US Senator by name of Bob Dole who at one point campaigned for the US Presidency. When that happened, his name started appearing in news reports across the world, where his last name caused some consternation in Arabic language news sources because it sounded similar to Arabic slang for male genitalia.
The name "April" being rather innocent as compared to the one above may not perhaps be too much strange at all. However it may be considered to be somewhat unusual to some extent. Because calling a lady with a calendar month name is exotic though I know it has some historical roots and background.
There's nothing exotic or unusual about this. April, May, and June in particular are so commonly used that most people probably don't even make the connection to the month, at least at first.
I will stop here giving a last example, a very common Swedish male name "Björn" which means the animal bear in English. Would any of you like to be called by the synonym of "Bear" in your native language? The synonym of "bear" in Turkish language is not used as a male name because it is pejorative but Turkish synonym for "lion" is used as a male name to some extent. The total result is that most people on Earth can't stop thinking the actual meaning of the first names, isn't it?
It's not common, but not unheard of - you may have heard of
Bear Grylls? Edit: Admittedly it's a nickname, but one he uses professionally.
Some fairly common animal names for boys are Drake, Colt, Finch, Jay and Buck. The name Leo comes from the Latin word for lion. Lark, Raven, Kitty, Sable, Dove, and Birdie are some female names taken from animals. Robin is used for both male and female names - surely you've heard of the late great comedic genius
Robin Williams?
Again, I don't think most native English speaker would even think twice about most of these.
