Irksome names for children

[MercyStreet]

Enough with these names! Enough: Dylan, Dakota, Madison, Brittany, Harrison, Brody, Devon, Alexis, Ashley, Sadie, Brandon ... and anything else that would fit in a soap-opera script.

Why am I complaining? The other day in the video store, I got a steaming helping of this: "Tuckkkkker! Carrrrrrrter! Chaaaaaase! Come here, you guys!" A few moments later, in the grocery store, it was: "Caitlyn! Caitlyn! Caitlyn!" from one end of the produce aisle to the next. (Even more irritating: parents who feel the need to give the kids a lesson in sustainable agriculture while they're blocking access to the freaking self-serve grains bins.)

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. OK? UGH.

[Frostillicus]

This reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Marge became the "pretzel lady". Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel saved up 300 coupons for free pretzels and then called for his numerous children to come outside for a free meal. They were named just about every name you have listed above (Tiffany, Caitlin, etc.) My two favorite names amongst his children were Rumor and Scout.:D

[LifeOnWry]

I am baffled by the trendy names - that's all, just baffled. I mean, there must be 700 million possible names in the world; how is it possible to have 4 Ashleys (or Ashleighs, Ashlees, A'sh-Leas, etc.) in one third-grade class?? Can these parents really believe that these names are original, unique, creative?

I named my daughter Katherine. And people have said to me, "My, what a pretty, old-fashioned name."

[MercyStreet]

Bravo, LifeOnWry. Katherine/Catherine is a winner. As are Helen, Madeline, Grace, and Julia. And I tell you, I'm partial to Phillipa.

[LifeOnWry]

Uh. My dog's name is Grace. Actually, Gracie. Last Halloween, she started barking at a passing Pomeranian. I was on the front lawn, talking to a neighbor I sort of know. I yelled "Gracie, will you PLEASE shut up!" and the neighbor's little girl looked at me incredulously and said, "I didn't say anything!"

Oops. Little girls don't like it when you tell them they have the same name as your dog.

[altoid]

I teach and I see tons of absurd names that parents name their kids. (Then I meet some of these parents and it becomes clear.)

So, in no particular order:

First names:

Baby- Yes, this girl was twelve and will grow old being called Baby

Rhodesia- This student is African American, and I don't think the family knows about Cecil Rhodes, the colonization of Africa, etc.

Aristotle- The name itself says "educated parents." Funny thing about this student was I had no idea he was in my class until I got my grade sheet. He never. Showed. Up. He was late to school everyday and never managed to go to a class.

Whole names-

Decimus Cheeseboro- what else can be said.

Sandy Cheese- to keep a theme going

Last name: King, First name: Nosmo. Put together: Nosmo King.
(If you miss it the first time, keep looking at the name...)


I think I am improving my poker face everyday when I call roll.

[Already in Use]

I sort of think Aristotle is a cool name, at least for Greeks.

But I HATE HATE HATE yuppie-ish wannabe WASPy names that make kids sound like banking firms. All trendy flavor-of-the-month names are pretty stupid, for that matter. Look, people, if you want to name your kid something "unique," find something unique yourself, not something that makes you look like a mindless sheep.

[Caprese]

I teach, too, and sadly, I predict that the name Grace will become the next Jennifer.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by MercyStreet
A few moments later, in the grocery store, it was: "Caitlyn! Caitlyn! Caitlyn!"

And the worst part is that these cretins don't even pronounce the name properly.

They keep howling "KAYTE-linn", like the ignorant goobers they are. The name is properly pronounced something more like "cauch-LEEN" (but not "couch-LEEN", it's not a strong "ow" sound). In other words, it's to be pronounced close to "Kathleen", which is what it is.

But the ignorant fools persist in this rubbish. May all the Saints of the Blessed Isle come forth and give them a treatment worthy of any Irish parochial school teacher!

[Green Bean]

Originally posted by Already in Use
Look, people, if you want to name your kid something "unique," find something unique yourself, not something that makes you look like a mindless sheep.
Yeah, just try it. Any unique name that you choose will turn out to be non-unique. We named the Beansprout Arthur. We named him for my uncle, so it's not like we were specifically trying to be unique, but we figured a clunky old-fashioned name like that would be uncommon, and that would be nice.

HA!

Since Arthur was born 11 months ago, I've met a Frederick, 2 Oscars, 2 Lillians, a Sophia, and I know of another baby Arthur.

It seems that clunky old-fashioned names are the latest rage. There'll probably be three other Arthurs in his class. Except I bet one of them will have a "creative" spelling: Arther? Arthyr? R-thur?

[Dogface]

Originally posted by altoid

Aristotle- The name itself says "educated parents."

Not in the least. It says "Greek parents" to me. There were more than a few boys running around called "Ari" at my old parish. "Ari", of course, was short for "Aristotle". These were not the children of college-educated erudites. They were the children of ordinary people.

[Already in Use]

Eh, I still think Arthur is pretty cool. You can't go wrong with classic names like that, even if they do inevitably go in and out of fashion.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Green Bean
It seems that clunky old-fashioned names are the latest rage. There'll probably be three other Arthurs in his class. Except I bet one of them will have a "creative" spelling: Arther? Arthyr? R-thur?


Maybe somebody will go back to a very old way of spelling it: Rtros.

[Earl of Sandwhich]

Is Aristotle any worse than Joe, Sarah or Mary?
I can look look at Baby Boomers and see lots of Peters and Franks and Vincents. Were their parents "mindless sheep" or were they following family or religious tradition?
Honestly, what is wrong with the name Tucker?

[pezboy2u]

The ones that annoy me are the parents who give their sprouts a "creative" spelling and then act affronted because you didn't realize its Teighlor, not Taylor. I'm sorry, but if you use an unusual spelling, get used to spelling it out for people.

My SO has a kid in one of his classes named Champale, which makes me giggle no end.

[Lsura]

Originally posted by Caprese
I teach, too, and sadly, I predict that the name Grace will become the next Jennifer.

Which I hate, because it's one of those names I've always loved and wanted to name a child. But having been one of several people with the same name (Laura) in my high school, I don't want to use something that's highly popular at the time - or for several years before.

I've always liked the name Brianna as well, but with the huge increase in popularity that's had over the last few years, it's unlikey that I'll use it either.

[Max Torque]

Originally posted by Frostillicus
This reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Marge became the "pretzel lady". Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel saved up 300 coupons for free pretzels and then called for his numerous children to come outside for a free meal. They were named just about every name you have listed above (Tiffany, Caitlin, etc.) My two favorite names amongst his children were Rumor and Scout.:D

My favorite was "Q-bert".

What I really hate is the current trend of "last names given as first names". My own brother is guilty of this: three of his four kids are named Beck, Bailey, and Jackson. The fourth, I'm not even sure if they've settled on a spelling for yet.

[Earl of Sandwhich]

Max Torque writes: "What I really hate is the current trend of 'last names given as first names.'"

A "current trend" that goes at least as far back as to the time of Jefferson Davis and Johns Hopkins.

[Cat Whisperer]

BRIAN: Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we're all individuals!
BRIAN: You're all different!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!

From Life of Brian: Scene 19 from this (http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/Scripts/LifeOfBrian/brian-19.html) site.

Nuff said.

[psychonaut]

Originally posted by Dogface
And the worst part is that these cretins don't even pronounce the name properly.

They keep howling "KAYTE-linn", like the ignorant goobers they are. The name is properly pronounced something more like "cauch-LEEN" (but not "couch-LEEN", it's not a strong "ow" sound). In other words, it's to be pronounced close to "Kathleen", which is what it is.Yes, and would you believe the same ignorant cretins are known to read aloud the name "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" as "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" instead of using the correct pronunciation, which is "Throat-Warbler Mangrove"? Really, when will these morons ever learn? I mean, how on earth could they make such an obvious mistake?

[ivylass]

Originally posted by altoid
Baby- Yes, this girl was twelve and will grow old being called Baby

Last name: King, First name: Nosmo. Put together: Nosmo King.
(If you miss it the first time, keep looking at the name...)

I think I am improving my poker face everyday when I call roll.

These are just cruel, and the parents should be beaten about the head and shoulders severely. I mean, WTF are they thinking??

Perhaps you should design a lesson around how government works and include instruction on "How to Legally Change Your Name." Something the kids can remember as they get older.

[asterion]

I'm just waiting for the day we get an actual Major Major Major Major.

[LifeOnWry]

Originally posted by Already in Use
I sort of think Aristotle is a cool name, at least for Greeks.

But I HATE HATE HATE yuppie-ish wannabe WASPy names that make kids sound like banking firms. All trendy flavor-of-the-month names are pretty stupid, for that matter. Look, people, if you want to name your kid something "unique," find something unique yourself, not something that makes you look like a mindless sheep.

Yeah, I try to be understanding about this, but sometimes it seems so put-on. I have a friend whose son has surnames as his first and middle names, but I happen to know that the names are family names (both grandmothers' maiden names). People have said to my friend, "Oh, I love your son's name, I think I am going to name my son that!" While she appreciates the compliment, she feels that her son has more of a "right" to have those names, and I agree - although I can't blame other people for NOT knowing the origins and just liking the way the names sound.

Likewise, location names bother me personally, but I understand the desire to name your child after a place that's special to you - I just find it hard to believe that Wyoming, Dakota, Indiana and Cambridge are ALL that special to you.

Rhyming names - or close to rhyming - like Phil and Lil, Tim and Tom or (my favorite example of this) Tristan, Justin, Kristin and Austin. Bleeah. I had neighbors who named their sons Dirk and Eric, and to my mother they were forever Derek and Eric (to my sister, they were Dirk and Irk.) Or the families who don't realize there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and they can't come up with anything better than Joan, Jane, John, Joe, Jake and Jehosophat.

Hmm. Turns out I have more opinions about what other people name their children than I probably should!

[kanicbird]

My wife knew someone who wanted to name her daughter Brook. This was before she got married when her last name changed to Case.

That was the end of that idea.

[big alex]

Hey! I'm an Alexis! Although I have to admit it sounds a whole lot better when it's used as a boys name. As a girls name I think it is a bit prissy, which is why I go by Alex, or just Al.

[MercyStreet]

Well, Big Alex, it seems your parents beat the trend -- and that's cool! I bet you were the only Alexis in class.

... My name is just hateful, and it has a funky spelling to boot. It's mispronounced, misspelled, utterly mangled at every turn. Sigh. But at least I wasn't saddled with Hannah. Or Morgan. Or Arianna.

[Sapphire Wolf]

I can understand your pain, MercyStreet. My first name is...

ugh. I can't even type it out, I hate it so much.

Unfortunately, there was a famous actress with the same first name as mine, and the way her name is pronounced is the way that my is mispronounced. Constantly.

I've gotten used to it now, but it still irritates my mother. Which then prompts me to remind her that she let my father choose it, and why in all the gods didn't she go with HER choice of China Jo?

(My first name: Marlene - pronounced: Mar-lay-na. Mispronounced: Mar-leen. Mar-lee-na. Mar-lane. Mar-lay-nee. Mar-lee-nee. And a whole host of other things that now cause me to use a nickname of MJ)

[Zoe]

I've watched a parade of name fads during my lifetime. The following groups aren't set in concrete, but it is close to what I've seen:

Some of my elderly mother's aunts were named Myrtle, Elsie, and Mattie.

By my mom's generation I heard Ethel, Marjorie, Lucille.

I grew up with Patsy, Betty, Barbara, Joanne, Sandra, Jean and Sue.

Ten or so years later we began hearing Tammie and Debbie. (I suspect that we can thank Debbie Reynolds for both.)

In another ten or fifteen years, Michelle, Melanie and Angela were favorites.

Then came the Nicole and Kristin era, quickly followed by Samantha (a revival of a name from 150 years ago).

The first time I heard "Madison" was in a Darryl Hannah movie where she was a mermaid. Whitney came in about the same time. Brittany was soon to follow.

I've always liked traditional names and I am pleased to see them come back into more common use.

My husband and I could never agree on any names for our "future children." We finally settled on "Bat Nose" out of pure stubbornness. I guess it's a good thing that I have step-children and not children!

The names on nursing home doors have changed during my lifetime. The Mabels and Myrtles are mostly gone. It's strange to think that in another sixty or seventy years, we will see Madison and Bailey instead.

[Cat Whisperer]

This (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babynames.cgi) site has the top ten baby names for 2001 (most recent year available) for all you parents-to-be out there so you can make an informed decision if you want your child to be one of the five Jacobs or Emilies at their pre-school.

[CanvasShoes]

When I was pregnant with my daughter (she's now 23) all the women my age were naming their daughters; Britney, Whitney, Chelsea, Courtney, Tiffiny etc. With a few Jennifers thrown in for good measure.

I wanted a strong, pretty and unusual name so that my daughter wouldn't be in first grade with 3 or 4 other little girl's with her same name (I'm a Laura/Lori so I went through that).

So far I've only seen a few other women named Scarlett. She hated it as a child, but as a hair stylist/part time dept store model, she now thinks it's a pretty cool name.

[Elza B]

A few names that I've loved for years are starting to get popular - and so they'll get bumped off of my baby name list. SO and I both love the name Ava (hence the screenname), but I've heard of several little Avas - I'm hoping it's just a quick fad and by the time we're ready for kids in three years or so, it'll be an unknown name. I've also always loved Natalie, which seems to fall in the 'sorta popular, but on the lower popular' scale. And I've had the name Leo set aside - because it was my great-grandfather's name and I'm a big one for using family names. Unfortunately, even Leo seems to be gaining in popularity.

It doesn't particularly bother me what people name their kids, unless it's something that's going to make their daughter sound like a stripper in the future.

Ava

[mr. splitfoot]

Some interesting names of people I know:

My cousin Freedom and his wife Patina

They named their daughter Oisin (pronounced E-shin)

Friend named Jens

Cousin named Nikita

I think the most common name I've known/heard the most is definately Melissa

[Max Torque]

Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich
A "current trend" that goes at least as far back as to the time of Jefferson Davis and Johns Hopkins.

Trends come and go, my esteemed bread-flanked brother. I'm not denying that past generations had their shares of Millards, Dylans, and Washingtons, but lately things have gotten out of hand.

[Green Bean]

..three of his four kids are named Beck...
He's a loser, baby. Why don't you kill him. :rolleyes:
Max Torque writes: "What I really hate is the current trend of 'last names given as first names.'"

A "current trend" that goes at least as far back as to the time of Jefferson Davis and Johns Hopkins.
Yes, people have long used last names as first names, but they were generally family names or something. In the last few years, it's been exceedingly common for people to give their kids totally random 2-syllable last names as first names, and misspell them to boot:

"Hi there. These are my kids, Taylor, Tyler, Baylee, Ryleigh, and Snodgrass."

[Eve]

If it makes you feel any better, Sapphire Wolf, I know how to pronounce your name, and I think it's "wovewy."

One thing I've learned is, never complain about "Caitlyn" or "Ashley" or "Baylee," or the person you're talking to will either be named or will have named their kids "Caitlyn" or "Ashley" or "Baylee."

[susan_foster]

Originally posted by altoid
I teach and I see tons of absurd names that parents name their kids. (Then I meet some of these parents and it becomes clear.)

So, in no particular order:

First names:

Baby- Yes, this girl was twelve and will grow old being called Baby



Okay, I can't help myself. Did anyone put her in the corner?

Susan

[LifeOnWry]

NOBODY puts Baby in the corner.

[LifeOnWry]

WRT some of these names, I am often reminded of a scene from one of Robert B. Parker's Spenser books.

Hawk: The skinny shooter? His name Ty-Bop.
Spenser: Ty-Bop?
Hawk: That what happens when you got thriteen-year old girls namin' babies.

[Terrifel]

I worked in a children's zoo three years ago, and at that point all girls not named Brianna were named Caitlin.

Also, every boy, every single male child, was named Hunter.

[FairyChatMom]

Ah, for the good old days. When I was going thru school (1960-1972) my friends were named Jeanette, Denise, Hazel, Mary, Karen, Anna, Jane, Patty, Janet, Pam, Beverly. Among the boys were Michael, John, Frederick, Albert, Steve, Rick, Phil, Don, Dave. I used to think that if I had a son, I'd name him Matthew, then all of a sudden, there were Matthews everywhere.

We named our daughter Sarah because no one on either side of the family had that name and there were no obvious nicknames. He middle name is mine - Michelle. The day after she was born, in the same hospital, delivered by the same doctor was another Sarah Michelle. I think she's had a Sarah or Sara in her class every year.

[matt_mcl]

I used to think that if I had a son, I'd name him Matthew, then all of a sudden, there were Matthews everywhere.

And that is exactly what happened to my mom, except, as you might surmise, she didn't discover all the other Matthews until she got out of the hospital.

[MercyStreet]

Bleccch! HUNTER! It's just ... it's bloody ridiculous.

Ditto, CODY. Down with CODY!

[Earl of Sandwhich]

Max Torque writes:
"...my esteemed bread-flanked brother."

LOL, and you have a point about it getting a little out of hand. A name like Jefferson is a tribute to someone, rather than simply a name someone thought sounded nice.

[FaerieBeth]

If my husband and I had been blessed with a girl, I would have liked to name her Claire. I just love that name, and the meaning of it (light).
We, naturally, ended up with three boys, and I tried to do my best naming them. Hubby is not happy with Son #1's name (Ty - just Ty...not Tyler, Tyson, Tyrone, etc.) His middle name is my maiden name, so he's Ty Butler Davis. Son #2 came out with a more historical name, Ethan Alexander Davis. We went for a more traditional route with son #3, Joseph Matthew Outar.
At home, they are Ty, E, and Joe. :)

Naming that third son was a tough thing, though, after having taught school for a while. Every possible name my husband could recommend was forever tied in my mind to a horrid/spoiled child.

Some interesting ones I have seen in class?
One year I had three Corrie/Coreys...one girl and two boys.
I had Dana and Dayna..a boy and a girl
Trashonda (I always wondered what possessed some mother to put the word trash in her daughter's name)
Hunter, Bailey, Laci, Lindsey, Taylor-all girls
There was the year of the Megans! I had three girls all named Megan. The weird part was their last initials started with A, B, and C....so that's what we called them. Megan A, Megan B, and Megan C. :D
LaRaine (pronounced Lorraine)


Teaching exposes you to all manner of irksome names.

FaerieBeth

[Tsubaki]

My brother (now 27) went to school with five other Craigs. One year there were four of them in the same class.

I haven't met too many people with my name (Deanne) and I love it!

One great thing about an international marriage is that your name choices double. As long as we picked names which were easy to say in either language, we were fine. So we have a son called Katsuyasu (but everyone back home calls him Katsu), a daughter called Tahli Mai, and a baby boy called Kaishu (who everyone calls Kai).

I for one love unusual names.

[Caprese]

Originally posted by avabeth
SO and I both love the name Ava (hence the screenname), but I've heard of several little Avas - I'm hoping it's just a quick fad and by the time we're ready for kids in three years or so, it'll be an unknown name. I've also always loved Natalie, which seems to fall in the 'sorta popular, but on the lower popular' scale.




Have indeed been seeing little Avas in my preschool. I happen to adore that name. I hope your prediction comes true and that Ava will just be a low-grade fad.
I thought the name Ethan was fairly unusual 20 years ago when I had my first kid, and it seems to have turned into the 'sorta popular' category. Ah well, better that than a name which, have heard it, people give you a doubletake.
I think I posted this in another thread long ago, but I once taught a pair of twins named Destiny and Ecstasy.

[Skillet38]

I think in the BBQpit you could find some similar threads on naming children. Except that big bad bugabear "racism" rears it's head, so on second thought, don't go there.

It's ok to make fun of white kid's names, let's just relax and enjoy ourselves shall we ?

:)

[Skillet38]

oh, btw, my son's name is Ian. I don't really know where that falls in the spectrum of "out-there-ness". It's the Scottish form of John, which is my name.

ok, yeah I liked Jethro Tull too

[MikeG]

My kids are Claire and Andrew. Both are not so common and I kinda like that.

[Shirley Ujest]

Bailey, whether male or female, to me, belongs on a dog, not a child.

Blech.

YMMV. No slur intended, any guilt inferred is your own.

[Rysdad]

I saw a guy on TV a few days ago whose first name was Athol. I turned to my friend and said, "What do you think his sister's name is? Thlut?"

[DEVA]

My youngest child's first and middle names mean "beloved world ruler" and "dark ruler".

Any idea what his name is? Great trivia question.

[MsRobyn]

I went through this last year when naming Aaron.

Airman and I were bound and determined to stay away from the trendy. The problem was that Airman is of Irish extraction, and we were initially looking at Irish names. Most of the trendier names seem to be Irish, so we had to eliminate those right off the bat. We didn't want our child to be one of six Megans or Caitlyns or Connors or Rileys in their class.

One of the reasons we chose Aaron is that it's a fairly common name but not so common that he will be one of several Aarons in class. It'll also grow up with him; it's a name that works both for a child and for an adult. And because it's not trendy, he won't be dated by his name.

Robin

[Terrifel]

Originally posted by DEVA
My youngest child's first and middle names mean "beloved world ruler" and "dark ruler".

Any idea what his name is? Great trivia question.
Um... Gandhi Hitler McDEVA.

[DEVA]

Very clever try, Lefirret.

Any other takers who actually did RESEARCH or posess general KNOWLEDGE?

[DoctorJ]

My vintage (born in 1975) was definitely the year of Melissas--I never had a class in school without at least three of them. There were quite a few Jennifers that year, too. Guys' names were pretty standard--lots of John/Jonathans (of which I am one), Stevens, Keiths, etc. There was a big run on Nicole and Kristin a few years later.

My sister, born in 1985, has a lot of friends, every female one of whom is named Brittney (or some variant spelling). I remember that my mother (whom I love, but who was never one to buck the system) went into the hospital intending to name her that, as well. She went with Emily instead, which wasn't all that common that particular year but has been in spurts ever since.

A friend of ours who is getting ready to sprout has picked the name Piper Brooke for her little girl. CrazyCatLady and I are split on it--I like it, and not just because of the Phish song. She doesn't care for it so much, not least of all because we have a friend with a dog named Piper.

Another friend recently named her daughter Schyler Fayth. (That's "Skyler"). That's right out. I like "Skyler", and I'm not opposed to Faith--her middle name is Faye, so they're playing on that, I think. Still, I have a thing about extraneous "y"'s.

Another friend (yes, everyone we know is pregnant) just had a daughter named Katherine Grace. I really liked the simplicity of that--but, as I've learned in this thread, that appears to be the new trend.

Dr. J

[j_kat_251]

Jabuhlon Satan von Devaton

[Yllaria]

Seems like people take more liberties with their daughter's names than with their sons. I have nieces named: Aubrey, Ali, Portia, Myra, and Natalie. My sons are much plainer at Kevin, David, and Eric.

In our family it was Sharla, Sheree, and Shirlee. Or to give the full flavor - Sharla Mae, Sheree Lyn, and Shirlee Ann. And that was back when alternate spellings were considered to be odd instead of cute.

Oh, and an in-law has recently named their daughter Sydney. It was the name they had picked whether it was a boy or a girl. Either way, my cat had it first.

[Calliope]

Dr. J, I have a daughter named Katherine Grace, but she is 9, so maybe your friend just hit on a nice name and no trendiness will follow. :)

My other daughter is Mary, and 12 years ago, everyone, but everyone responded with, "Oh. That's so traditional." I have noticed quite a few little Mary's running around these days, so perhaps we were ahead of the curve.

I tend to refrain from criticizing the name anyone picked for his or her child, but there is one I simply must comment on. My mother is a nurse and one day she was giving shots to a little boy. She asked him his name and he replied "Nilknarf."

Fortunately, his mother explained that his father's name is Franklin and they spelled it backwards to get Nilknarf. But I can't help wondering what people call him..Nilky? Narfy? I mean, that one just has to be made fun of.

[Sapphire Wolf]

Originally posted by Eve
If it makes you feel any better, Sapphire Wolf, I know how to pronounce your name, and I think it's "wovewy."

Thank you, Eve.

My husband and I have agreed on Alessandre for our daughter, and Alexander for our son (depending on who's born first).

There's a woman I worked with briefly who's name is Krimsen. I think that's very pretty.

[lokij]

Count me in as part of the growing movement (I didn't even know there Was one) of people going back to older traditional names. My little girl is named Matilda and I've gotten many compliments on it with very few negatives.

[AfterAugust]

My name's Taylor...and I've always had issues with it.

My mom liked the name because she never ran into many girls with that name.

As a kid, I was constantly teased for having a boy name - and I've grown to hate any form of roll call. "Oh, I was expecting a boy," got too old. I was usually the only Taylor in class, but if there were others, they were always boys. When I was around 8, I tried desperately to get people to call me by my middle name, Michelle...but it never stuck.

Also, nobody can say my name right. It's TAYLOR....like the fucking LAST NAME! It's almost as if people are convinced it much be pronounced differently because it's a first name instead of a last.

Oh yes, it's spelled "T-a-y-l-o-r" but pronounced "Emily." *rolls eyes*

I've decided, for my own personal reasons, that "Tyler" is my least favorite name.

[zoogirl]

Well, I just snuck in slightly at the front of the "traditional" trend. I've got a 17 year-old Daniel James and a 14 year-old Joshua Christopher Randol. The Randol is short for Randolph, Mr zoogirl's name. He flat out refused to name any kid of his Randolph, so we compromised. Our first son, who passed away, was John Lesley after his grandfather's.

My own name is kind of a funny story. When Mom was a teenager, there was a popular actress named Joan Leslie. Mom decided that Leslie was a great name and she'd just have to use it when she had a little girl. Flash forward several years. Mom meets Dad. And his name is...Leslie! I ended up Lesley Ann, but no one has ever actually used the Lesley, except to confuse teachers every September! :D Everyone always assumes I was named after Dad too, which isn't helped by the fact that I'm an only child. :rolleyes: It's also let to some interesting mixups. For instance, I went to renew my driver's licence a few years ago after letting it lapse for a number of years. I was informed that there was indeed a Leslie A K--- on their records, but the birthdate was in 1913 - that wasn't right, was it? Uh, no!

[lee]

I am naming my child Loren Quinn. Loren was my grandfather's name and is currently in about 650 for boys and 700 for girls. Unfortunately, Lauren is 14th for girs, so I have been accused of using a misspelling of that name. I liked Emily and Emma for a long while, but I prefer either way names.

I really hope she likes the name more than my grandpa liked his.

[BytopianDream]

My parents love non-traitional names

Older brother: Coley Robert- Native American Chief
Me: Demian Jamal- Name of book, Persian for beauty
Sister: Caitreona Deeyan- Gaelicish for Kate and Cherokee for calm

I hated my name as a kid, but now that I've grown up with it, I love it.
I figure I'm going to make up names for my children. I disallow all family names ever. I will certainly take names from other cultures.

I was supposed to be Micah Jerimiah per my Great-grandmother.

I'm thinking:
Yunalesca Aerie for a girl.
Scipio Flavius for a boy.
(Okay, joking for the boy.)

[Mgcklmoon]

My friend's daughter goes to school with a girl whose name is pronouced She-tonya, but spelled Shitonya.

Now what were her parents thinking?

[DoctorJ]

I used to frequent one of those places where you put on vests and shoot one another with laser guns. The guns had a little display in the back that showed the name of whoever had shot you when you were hit.

A friend of mine would always sign up as Shy Tony A., which would show up on the gun as SHYTONYA. They eventually caught on and made him get a new handle.

I can't believe someone would be so clueless as to name their child that, though. Although an attending did tell me a story about a woman who named her child Chlamydia. She heard it while she was in the hospital, and thought it was pretty.

[Mgcklmoon]

I heard about the Chlamydia name too.
I always thought if it was true, some poor girl, somewhere would be slapping her mother.

BUt then I have also heard of twins that the mother named:
Lemonjello and Orangejello

Yeesh..

[Loneraven]

My name is unusual, and up until a couple of years ago I'd never met anyone else with it. And then, suddenly, there seem to be so many babies in possession of it.

My name is Iona, and it's further complicated by the fact it's not my real name, it's a nick, but we won't go into that.

[Tansu]

Originally posted by Frostillicus
This reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Marge became the "pretzel lady". Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel saved up 300 coupons for free pretzels and then called for his numerous children to come outside for a free meal. They were named just about every name you have listed above (Tiffany, Caitlin, etc.) My two favorite names amongst his children were Rumor and Scout.:D

Rumer and Scout are the names of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's two eldest daughters. Rumer is named after English novelist Rumer Godden (Black Narcissus, The River) and Scout is named after Scout Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird.

But if you already knew all that, then consider me whooshed.:)

DEVA, I'm thinking of Donald or Derek or Richard for your kid. Am I anywhere near close?

[fizzestothetop]

Originally posted by Max Torque
My favorite was "Q-bert".

What I really hate is the current trend of "last names given as first names". My own brother is guilty of this: three of his four kids are named Beck, Bailey, and Jackson. The fourth, I'm not even sure if they've settled on a spelling for yet.

My parents named me Bailie 19 years ago (waaaaaay before it became a trendy name). Bailey is my mother's maiden name, so at least they had the decency to change the spelling just a bit to make it not look so much like a last name.

I've never met another Bailie/ey anywhere near my age. They're all under 5 years old and their name is spelled wrong. You don't know how crazy it makes me to see Baylee, Bailea, Bayleigh, Baylie, and Bailee all running around. Everyone they ever meet in their entire lives will spell their names wrong. I know, I've lived with it my whole life and my spelling isn't that weird at all.

[An Arky]

I'm not fond of last name-y names, but damn if my sons didn't end up with them. Bennett and Owen. Bennett was the name of my GGGG grandfather; my wife saw it on the family tree and liked it. It goes well with my French last name. I picked Owen out of a book. I liked it because it was simple, rolled off the tongue easily and reflected the Welsh ancestry on my mom's side.

One thing that would-be parents run into is that brainstoming for names often devolves into a joke; kind of like band naming.

[Daftbugger]

What's the problem with Jennifer's? When I was at school there wasn't any other Jennifer's. When I was born (1978) the midwife told my mother that I was the first Jennifer that she'd help birth in over 20 years! OK, I live in England, I didn't realise that Jennifer's were taking over the USA!

[DEVA]

DEVA, I'm thinking of Donald or Derek or Richard for your kid. Am I anywhere near close? [/B]


"Donald" was close (well sorta). His name is Donovan Armand. I work in a child-care learning center with about 140 kids and my son is one of two Donovans.

Our oldest son is named Devan. He was named after a street in the college town that my husband and I met (but the street was spelled with an "o"). Boy was I pissed to learn that we were unwittingly part of a "Devin/Devon" movement. :smack:

[Summertime]

I've seen an abundance of Tylers (for boys) and Autumns (girls).
Could be worse.

[jjimm]

Allegedly heard shouted from a window on a Dublin housing estate, in a very strong Dublin accent:

"Come in Elvis Presley Byrne, your dinner's ready!"

[Kalhoun]

My son was Justin before the invasion started. He's 26.

A friend of mine is having a baby boy. She's named him Jerry after her father. My family and friends are just overflowing with Jerrys. My husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and two friends are all Jerry's. Sometimes we have JerryFest! Very freaky.

[AntaresJB]

I think my brother and sister and I got pretty decently unusual names. My sister's name has gotten a lot more popular now, but when we were growing up she was the only one around.

Sister(22) - Morgan Caldwell - Morgan for my mother's middle name, Caldwell for my grandmother's maiden name (I think).

Me(19) - Antares Janeva - Antares for the star (if I was a boy I would have been Orion) and Janeva for my two great grandmas, Jane and Eva.

Brother(17) - Clayton Rocco McCullough - Clayton for a grandfather somewhere, I forget which (they both died before I was born) Rocco for my grandma's best friend, McCullough for my dad's best friend. The two middle names thing really confused the hell out of the IRS one year, when they decided that McCullough was his last name, therefore he wasn't my dad's son and therfore he coudln't claim him as a dependent. So according to the SSA now, he's just Clayton Rocco.

And my parents are a James Patrick and a Cornelia Morgan. I'm not planning on having children, but if I ever do have a daughter, she's going to be Cornelia.

Whatever you people do, don't ever ever ever name your child Antares. Even if you do give him/her a nickname, like Tara, and just call her that all her life. Your just dooming her to a life of having to listen to people mangle the pronunciation and then having to correct them and say "but everyone calls me Tara". It's a pain in the arse, believe me. :)

Plus, I wanna be the only one. :p

[MSU 1978]

Our high school had twin girls whose last name was Piggie. They were named Ima and Eura. Really.

Any trendy name drives me bats. Caitlyn, Megan, Cody, Hunter, Trent, Brittany. Let's go back to John, Mary, and George.

My kids are Jeff and Maria. Some were taken a little aback by Maria because they associate it with Hispanic culture, but most think it's pretty cool.

[astorian]

Originally posted by MSU 1978
Our high school had twin girls whose last name was Piggie. They were named Ima and Eura. Really.



About 100 years ago, Texas had a very popular governor named Jim Hogg, and he really did have a daughter whom he named Ima.

Ima Hogg was a real person, but somehow, a legend arose that she had a sister named Ura. But there was no Ura Hogg. THAT would have made sense only if Governor Hogg was a wise guy who'd DELIBERATELY give his kids laughable names. In reality, Governor Hogg's wife named their daughter after a character in a poem she liked. Apparently, it just never dawned on either of them that the name might sound silly.

But, despite her problematic name, Ima Hogg grew up to be a much admired beloved philanthropist here in Texas (there are museums and concert halls named after her all over the state). So, the moral is, don't worry too much about names. Even people with the (seemingly) worst imaginable names can and will thrive, if they're made of the right stuff.

[juji_mojo]

Posted by Altoid

Rhodesia- This student is African American, and I don't think the family knows about Cecil Rhodes, the colonization of Africa, etc..
-------------

Am I the only one who is hoping Rhodesia grows up, and changes her name to Zimbabwe?

:P

On a more serious note, I like family names for kids... if they are from YOUR family. My maiden name (wll the last name I still use, but am planning to change by the time I have a child) is a first name/last name... which I want to use. My husband doesnt agree. He likes Jackson, which I am not partial to at all. (Not to offend anyone but here are my reasons. !. Family name, but not our families. 2 The Gloved wonder. 3. An American president... we arent American. 4. J names have been done to death... Im a J name.. Also it looks funny with his last name, which is Northern European, and while Im not planning on naming the kid Ragnar, there are choices that seem more balanced.

wait. Ragnar. hey!

I liked Portia for a girl, but brother in law named his kid Mercedes. It just sounds awful. Mercedes and Portia Think different spelling.)
I love my mothers name Ardythe. (Said Ard-ith). supposedly its Welsh, but my great grandmother found it in a phone book and named my great aunt that. My mom was named after that aunt.
my husband doesnt like naming kids after people. And since I wouldnt name any kid after my evil evil mother in law, I dont think its fair to insist on naming after my mom)

so far we've agreed we like the names Peter and Oliver, except there is some kind of in-joke among my brother and his best friends about the name Oliver. My brother gave his girlfriend a rabbit for easter /3 month anniversary. This pathetic, poop machine who destroyed girlfriends' mom's house was named Oliver. Then years later brother's best friend and his wife named their cat Oliver. Apparently another friend in that group has a guinea pig named Oliver. So... Im not sure I can name a kid oliver..they won't tell me the joke either.

Im thinking Baby X for a girl and Baby Y for a boy.

[Davebear]

Well, as one of the eight (Yes, really. :rolleyes: ) Daves in my department of, maybe, 50 people, I can understand the desire for a unique name. (We also have 5 Andys, which I find more surprising.) Not that there's anything wrong with Dave (or David, but I don't answer to that, normally), as a name. It's served me perfectly well, over the years, and seems to suit me. It's just kind of blah.

I actually like some of the names many people here have been dissing. I think Jennifer, Michelle, and Marlene (when correctly pronounced) are among the prettiest female names, even if some of them are overused. I also really like Ethan, for a boy. That was one of the names I had in mind, back when I thought I might someday need to name a baby. Along with Duncan and Eli (though I probably wouldn't have actually named a baby Eli, out of sympathy for the teasing he'd get). I did actually once name a baby that wasn't mine (long, strange, and boring story that I won't bore you with); it was a girl, and I chose the name Kelly, because this was during the peak Jennifer/Michelle hysteria.

My personal pet peeve, when it comes to names, is people who give girls names that are male. It's not so much that they sound bad. It just really irritates me that a perfectly good boy's name is now, and forever more, a girl's name. And, it's not like there is an overabundance of really good boy's names. Personally, I think there are more good girl's names.

And, I think we should all just agree that some parents just really need to be smacked upside the head. Shitonya? Chlamydia? (Okay. That one's a hanging offence.) Ima and Ura Piggie? What were they thinking? Of course, there's always my favorite baseball player name; Coco Crisp. That one always makes me laugh.

[Indygrrl]

My mom says I'm not allowed to make fun of kids names since I named my daughter, Nico Blue. I think it's a beautiful name, and she's not likely to meet anyone else with it. I'll take my Nico over a Madison or a Bailey any day.

[kittenblue]

Actual names of actual people I have worked with:

Caressa

Princess

Quasar

Precious

Caressa was big and mean and ugly and dirty...not caressable at all. Quasar's parents were hippies and lived in a commune when she was born. We suspected that she was using drugs because everytime she used the restroom she came out all giggly.

[StGermain]

Of the 8 fellow employees in my department, there are 2 Chris's and 2 Christy's. I'm a Chris. I rather like my name. It's strong and simple and (work being a strange exception) not all that common. I was almost named Lark, which, while pretty just doesn't fit me. Of course, maybe I'd be a different person if my name was Lark.

Of my nieces and nephews, I have 2 Roberts (the 5 year old goes by Robbie) & Chris, Susan, Brenda, Katherine, Elizabeth, Lara, Jamie (boy, thank you very much), and AJ (Andrew John). I think my sibs did well. I always said if I were to have a girl I'd name her Mary Claire.

StG

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Rysdad
I saw a guy on TV a few days ago whose first name was Athol. I turned to my friend and said, "What do you think his sister's name is? Thlut?"

Actually, "Athol" is a fairly old name. It's just not English.

[Dogface]

Recently came across a youn girl named "Indiana".

[pendgwen]

Originally posted by MercyStreet
Bleccch! HUNTER! It's just ... it's bloody ridiculous.



There's nothing wrong with Hunter except that it's currently overused. My 15-year-old brother is named Andrew Hunter after a great-uncle. We have always called him Hunter becuase my dad wanted to avoid the nickname Andy. Fifteen years ago Hunter was very unusual and we kept having to explain that it was a family name. I was rather floored when about 8 years later it somehow became popular.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by BytopianDream
Sister: Caitreona

So how is this bizarre construction proncounced, anyway?

Cauch-ROH-na is how it would be pronounced were it a Gaelic name (which I doubt that it is), or is it one of those daffy American names?

[slice]

I'm 22. All of my male friends are named Matthew or Michael, unless they are named Chris, Scott or John. All of my female friends are named Melissa or Jennifer.

My boyfriend has nephews named Michelangelo and Maxamillion. They are 5 and 2. (He himself has 3 first names. He shortened the third one and goes by that.)

[vibrotronica]

This site has the top ten baby names for 2001 (most recent year available) for all you parents-to-be out there so you can make an informed decision if you want your child to be one of the five Jacobs or Emilies at their pre-school.

Who knew "Server Error" was a popular name?

[DarbyV]

I never see my name in these kinds of threads. My mom did one of those name all 3 kids with the same letter, Dena, Dane, and, Darby. I have never been able to find anything with my name on it. When I was in middle school they thought it was my last name and never did fix it.

My daughters name is Tara Belle. Belle was my grandmothers name and I thought Tara sounded very southern with it.

My sons name is Cameron Dane. Dane was my brothers name and Cameron is the only thing we could agree on.

The name I will always hate with a deep burning passion is Amber. I have spent many summer afternoons at the laking hearing mothers screaming for AMMMMBERRR.

Apoligies to anyone named Amber.

[Max Torque]

Here's a working version of that link: Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/).

[Barbarian]

What, nobody bitching about Michael, the most-overused name in North America?

I busting for Gerhardt, Johan, Wilhelm, and D'Nile for whatever offspring I end up with.

[XJETGIRLX]

I think we need a club for those of us whose previously unusual names have become the nom du jour and are now accustomed to turning around every time a mother calls out to her toddler with our name.

I'm a 23 year old Briana (that's right, only one 'n') who grew up not knowing another soul with her name. My teachers always looked at me strange, and would ask if my parents were expecting a boy. (Did they mean Brian?)

Now it seems wherever I go there are legions of 4 and 5 year old Briannas, Breannas, Briannes and Brianas. Add to that most of them are of African American descent. I've gotten some might strange looks when I turn around as my name is called, or when I show my I.D. to people.

[Avarie537]

When I was a kid, my neighbor had a niece (a bit younger than me) whose name was Ember (girl).

My best friend named her daughter Keara Payton. (In high school, she always thought she'd use Alora.)

My husband once had a cashier at Wal*Mart named She'Wonderful.

A woman in my neighborhood (growing up) was named Sha'Nelle. So she named her daughter Na'Shelle.

My ex-bf's sister is Tina Renee. Her daughter is Tianna Renee.

My former across-the-street neighbor had a son named Ethan Allen (]www.ethanallen.com).

My unreligious parents ended up with Joshua, Matthew, and Leah. (I've met VERY FEW Leahs in my life.)

I like Madeline Ellen (Ellen is a family name) and Maxwell Philip. Although I normally VOMIT at the families with same first letters, I just really like those names!!

[Flutterby]

When you look over my cousins names you can often see the fads.. very few are actually 'original' names that aren't heard very often. In order (oldest to youngest or thereabouts)

Boys: Jonathan, David, Aaron, Cody, Lucas, Alex (Alexander), Rhys and Ewan

Girls: Jennifer, Emily, Megan, Brittany, Marinna, Kenzie

The most original ones of my cousins I'd have to say are Marinna and Lucas, though Lucas is swiftly becoming a popular name. Their father is Lithuanian and wanted to name them more Lithuanian names..

Ewan is actually named after my Grandfather (Hugh, Ewan is the Gaelic(?) version of it) and both my Brother and I were named after our Great Grandfathers, and Grandmothers respectively.

Surprisingly enough I've seen my name turn up in this thread a few times as a good name. I have only met maybe a handful of Claire's (or Clair or Clare) in my life and the majority of them are related to me. My first name was also disparaged on Friend's as an 'old lady's name'. I found this out when my friends told me they had watched the episode and immediately thought of me when they discarded Ruth that way.. My brother has pretty much escaped the wrath of having multiple people with his name, and I have met maybe 3/4 people who share either his first or middle name (James Adam)

If I ever have kids I have no clue what I would name them. I definately think I will name a daughter Amara, as for a son I have no clue. One friends told me to name him Damien, and I might.. it's a nice name but we'll see how popular it is.

But no matter how much I dislike my name, I'm really glad I didn't end up as Mary Rose like my Mom considered naming me. It's a nice enough name.. but it's really not me. Actually, more often then not I go by RC and have been debating changing my name to something like Arcee or maybe just Clarice which my friends think it's funny to call me up and greet me with the Lector voice and that name.. I probably never will change my name but I have considered it.

btw Antares is a really nice name, I read somewhere that it's supposed to bring courage to the namee? I dunno..

[Flutterby]

Oh and as an aside, I was surprised to learn that my Aunt Sherry's actual name is.. Sherlynn.

Funny how I found that out too. I borrowed a sleeping bag from Grandma to go camping and a friend asked who Sherlynn was. I had no clue and asked why she had asked.. it was written on the sleeping bag in one of the corners (first and last name, same last name as mine) and totally confused me as I had never heard of this elusive person! At least until I got home and asked Grandma about it...

[LifeOnWry]

How 'bout Glary? Yep, that's a real name, one of my nephew's classmates. And the kid who used to live across the street from my nephew? ETHER. No joke. I harbor a strong supsicion that when the mother was asked "What do you want to name the baby?" she heard "What kind of drugs would you like to be on?"

XJETGIRLX - I have a friend whose daughter is a one 'n' Briana, too, but the reasoning there was that her mother claims Brianna is pronouced Bree-ANNA, and her daughter is Bree-AHHHHNA. In my entire life I've never heard either variation pronounced Bree-ANNA (although according to Jamie Fraser of the Outlander books, it's actually BREE-ahna.)

[Mirror Image egamI rorriM]

I'm Lindsay Kerr, which is a good name. I don't know very many other people with my name (and none with it spelled the same.) Kerr is a family name, and it's a tradition to give the first child the middle name of Kerr, so we have Clyde Kerr, Nan Kerr, Kate Kerr, and Lindsay Kerr.

My brother is Peter Nichols. Peter because that was the only boy's name my parents could agree on, and Nichols because it was also a family name. I don't think there are any other Peters in his class, and I don't think there are any at my school either.

Christina is one of the overused names at my school, along with Brittany. I know a bunch of kids with "nice, old fashioned names," though. Noah, Deborah, Jeffrey, Emily, Hannah, Tommy, and Sam all come to mind.

[MLS]

I gave my kids nice old-fashioned names that belonged to nobody I knew. Of course the year of the second, it seemed everybody else came up with the same one. She always had several people in her class with the same name. We did luck out though. One name considered and rejected was "Christine," and later on there were 2 girls on our street with that name, and one Christopher. It would have been bedlam yelling "Come home, Chris!"

[irishgirl]

Mr Splitfoot, Oisin (OSh-een) is a boy's name in Ireland. The son of Fionn Mc Cool in myths, who went to the land of youth, and returned 800 years later and died.

I'm Kathleen Ann, my sisters are Rebecca Claire and Lucy Hannah.
All nice, old-fashioned names.

We go by Katie, Becca and Lucifer...seriously...she's been Lucifer since she was about 4...she likes it.

I went to school with a Binky Moorehead (which is asking for a career in porn), a Diva McIlroy (which is asking for trouble), and a Marlon Dean Such-and-such (after Brando and James).

I'll be calling mine Danny, Paddy, Isaac and Samuel...
a girl would probably be Lehane.

[Podkayne]

Originally posted by Dogface
Recently came across a youn girl named "Indiana".

[Sean Connery]We named the dog Indiana![/Sean Connery]

My personal least favorite: "Avery" for a girl. Blech. I don't particularly like one of the Averies I know, either, which doesn't help.

The hubby was fixated on "Loki Coyote" for our first-born. I have talked him down to just Loki with a normal middle name, in case the kid hates it, but I think I'm going to avoid the whole issue by not having children. ;)

[Invisible Chimp]

My name is the trendy name for boys now, Jacob. I can't pass a schoolyard without hearing my name called. Fortunately I was born well ahead of the trend. My older sister was one of the countless Jennifers born in the '70's. My younger brother's name is neither trendy then or now. My surname is very common, so I would never name my kid John or William or Robert. I hate Hunter, Jordan, and Brittany. I grew up with a lot of Jasons, Stephanies, and Katies. I really like the name Heather, but I think it is a little too common. I wanna name any eventual kids I might have Preston for a boy and Gretchen or Gertrude for girls. We'll see if I can find a wife who will like those names.

My sister just had her first child, a girl. Her friend was pregnant at the same time. Friend's daughter is Sophie, my neice is Sophia.

[Earl of Sandwhich]

Something I think is cool, but which no one seems to do anymore, is to give a kid someone else's full name: the first name becomes the kid's first name, and the last name becomes the kid's middle name.
Of course, maybe people never really do this on a widespread basis, and baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander, inventor George Washington Carver, and M*A*S*H doc Benjiman Franklin Pierce are more exceptions than rules. Still, I think it's nice.

[asterion]

Can I use Holly if I ever manage to get married and have a kid?

[Lissla Lissar]

A friend of my husband met a small girl named Shithead. The mother pronounced it "Shith- heed" and thought it was pretty. Aagh.

[Siegfried]

After much wrangling, my parents settled on Christopher Todd as my name. My mother originally wanted Austin James (so I would be A.J. and named after my dad) and then tried to get Kristopher Todd. Yeah, there were always other kids in the class with my name, but I never really saw it as a bad thing. Plus, it takes forever for people to guess my middle name (even when I tell them it starts with a "T").

My sister's name is Jaime Shay. She's sometimes expressed frustration at having it spelled "Jamie," at being assumed to be male, or having it pronounced the Spanish way (hi-me). I can tell my mother had a thing for slightly off spellings.

My mother is pressuring me to find a woman, get married, and start producing grandchildren for her. I'm threatening to name my children Siegfried and Brunhilde if she keeps the pressure up. :)

[ShadiRoxan]

my mother picked my name because she wanted one that would translate in to english easily. so far i've only met one american that has my name. (it is a common persian name though)

and you'd be amazed at how my name gets hacked up. it's simple. spelled like it sounds. maryam.

it never failed year after year of school having to go to the office to correct it from maryann.

various other hackings... mirium, maryum, marium, myram, miriem. that's just in spelling. for some reason no one can say my name. i once got called morgan.

i personally like lela. it stems from the persian name layla, but some how eric clapton ruined that one for me.

[SpazCat]

Originally posted by fizzestothetop
My parents named me Bailie 19 years ago (waaaaaay before it became a trendy name). Bailey is my mother's maiden name, so at least they had the decency to change the spelling just a bit to make it not look so much like a last name.

I've never met another Bailie/ey anywhere near my age. They're all under 5 years old and their name is spelled wrong. You don't know how crazy it makes me to see Baylee, Bailea, Bayleigh, Baylie, and Bailee all running around. Everyone they ever meet in their entire lives will spell their names wrong. I know, I've lived with it my whole life and my spelling isn't that weird at all.

I went to preschool with a girl named Bailey back in the early 80's. Haven't thought of her in years. I wonder what she's up to now?

I've been cursed with a name that no one can pronounce. The third letter of my first name is e. No one pronounces the e. The vowel is there for a reason and it would like to be used. I eventually gave up and hacked the first three letters off my name and I'm trying to go by the last three letters instead.

Count me among those who hate the name Jennifer. Every single girl I've ever met (in person) who goes by Jennifer is an irredeemable bitch. The Jen(n)s and Jennys are nice but I hate the Jennifers. Ashley and Caitlyn and their variant spellings are making the Hate List as well. The strangest name I've ever seen I can't remember how to spell, but it looked like someone tried to spell Sacajawea sideways.

[elelle]

My name is Laurene, feminine derivative of Laurence, after my grandfather. His comment on the naming at birth, "Well, thank God I'm not Uriah!" It's a nice name, and I loved my grandpa, so am happy enough with it. But, buyer beware, if ya name your little girl this, it just never gets pronounced right in the school situation. Seems pretty simple, but gets the "must be a typo" Laurence (happened at high school graduation; My grandfather, bless his heart, had flown from California to see his 1st grandchild graduate, stood up after the mispronounciation and shouted across the gym "It's LAURENE!!!!") also often read as LaVerne. I was a shy kid, so the odd name readings were embarrassing. Ya get over it, though.

Some names I love that are family names: Ruth, my grandmother, what a great name. And Hollis, my aunt, goes by Holly, named after my grandfather's cousin, a beautiful woman who died young. Hollis just rolls off the tongue, nice and solid. Lily is a fave, too, think it would be nice to have Lil as the calling tongue recognition.

[neuroman]

Originally posted by featherlou
This (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babynames.cgi) site has the top ten baby names for 2001 (most recent year available) for all you parents-to-be out there so you can make an informed decision if you want your child to be one of the five Jacobs or Emilies at their pre-school.
That link did not work for me, but this one did:
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

Designer baby names suck.

[neuroman]

Also I have just become extremely alarmed over the prospect of me one day naming a child. :eek:

[ruadh]

Originally posted by Dogface
So how is this bizarre construction proncounced, anyway?

Cauch-ROH-na is how it would be pronounced were it a Gaelic name (which I doubt that it is), or is it one of those daffy American names?

It's almost a Gaelic name - Caitriona is a fairly common name in this country. It's pronounced "Katrina".

[Loneraven]

Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich
M*A*S*H doc Benjiman Franklin Pierce are more exceptions than rules. Still, I think it's nice.

I'd love to call a kid "Hawkeye." I really love the name... and it's unusual, easy to pronounce and spell, and if the kid hates it, get 'em to read The Last of the Mohicans and watch M*A*S*H.
Wahey! Decision made!

[summerbreeze]

All five of my children have names that were on the Top Ten list for 1900 -- and still are. Andrew always has at least 6 other Andrews in any group he's in.

A friend once wondered why "store" names -- like "Tiffany" are so popular. Suggested I name my next child Papa John.

And oh, yes, Mercy, using shopping as a teaching tool is a big nuisance. I work retail & have customers allowing 4-yr. olds to attempt to count out the correct change while a long & grouchy line forms.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by psychonaut
Yes, and would you believe the same ignorant cretins are known to read aloud the name "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" as "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" instead of using the correct pronunciation, which is "Throat-Warbler Mangrove"? Really, when will these morons ever learn? I mean, how on earth could they make such an obvious mistake?

You're right. If ignorant rednecks want to keep mispronouncing Caitlin as "Kate-linn", they have every right to advertist their stupidity to the world.

[BrotherCadfael]

Originally posted by Podkayne[Sean Connery]We named the dog Indiana![/Sean Connery] We named our kid for our dog. So there!

[FairyChatMom]

I was quite surprised to learn my Aunt Jean's given name was Genevieve (actually, the Polish equivalent, which I can't recall)

My dad's name was Thaddeus, but he went by Ted. Mom's name is Loretta - and she's nothing like Loretta Tortelli. :D My FIL's given name is Bobbie. I'm sure it was a perfectly adorable name for a teeny tiny baby, but he's now 73, nearly bald with whisps of white hair - the name just doesn't fit. He goes by Bob.

My daughter was born in 1985, and when she was in middle school, she had four friends named Jessica. I decided the new rule was that all her friends had to be named Jessica - easier for me to remember. Brat of a child chose to disobey that rule. :p

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Yllaria
Seems like people take more liberties with their daughter's names than with their sons. I have nieces named: Aubrey, Ali, Portia, Myra, and Natalie. My sons are much plainer at Kevin, David, and Eric.


Lessee. My nieces:

Victoria (Vicky)
Katherine (Katey)
Alexandria (Al)
Samantha (Sam)

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Indygrrl
My mom says I'm not allowed to make fun of kids names since I named my daughter, Nico Blue.

So, if she marries Fred Patch she'll be a Nico Patch!

If she marries George Thien, she'll be Nico Thien!

[Dogface]

Originally posted by LifeOnWry
(although according to Jamie Fraser of the Outlander books, it's actually BREE-ahna.)

Actually, no such name would have been known to the man, had he existed. It was invented in the 20th century.

True gaelic girls' names do not end in "-a". That's not a feminizing ending in the Gaelic langauges.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Lissla Lissar
A friend of my husband met a small girl named Shithead. The mother pronounced it "Shith- heed" and thought it was pretty. Aagh.


Did your husband actually see the name written down?

For all you know, the name might not be English at all and was spelled "Siathid".

[Intrinsic]

I suspect that "Shitonya", "Ima Piggie", "Lemonjello", "Nosmo King" are of the urban legend variety. Over the years I've encountered school teachers who always seem to know of students with these names. It's probably an ongoing joke in many a teacher lounge. I've heard more than one person swear that they know of a Shitonya or Shithead.

I've also heard the tall tale about Baby "FE-MAH-LEE" spelled "Female" since the mother looked at the baby's ID band and came up with the name.

:rolleyes:

[tsarina]

My brother and sister-in-law told us that when they have children, a boy will be named Connor Cahill (my mom's maiden name), and they're considering Delaney for a girl.

I can't wait to think what horrid nicknames I'll come up with for them. "Connie! Laney! Come give Aunt Kendra a kiss!" :D

[Satchmo]

I have a second cousin who would have named her child Michael Jordan Vacanti, if it had been a boy. She had a girl, so they gave her a sensible sane name instead. Jordan Michael Vacanti. :rolleyes:
I have a cousin on the other side of my family who told me he and his wife were naming their little girl Reilly. I said, that's not a girls name, and besides we're not Irish. He said, we can name her whatever we want, and besides, it's not Reilly, it's Ryleigh. So I don't really want to hear what anybody in my family is naming any of their kids anymore.

[Serendipity]

quote:Originally posted by LifeOnWry
(although according to Jamie Fraser of the Outlander books, it's actually BREE-ahna.)

Originally posted by Dogface
Actually, no such name would have been known to the man, had he existed. It was invented in the 20th century.
True gaelic girls' names do not end in "-a". That's not a feminizing ending in the Gaelic langauges.

The name "Brianna" was picked out by his 20th century English wife. (He had wanted her to name their child Brian -- after his father -- but, oops! the baby was a girl instead of a boy.)

No, I'm not a Diana Gabaldon addict. Really. ;)

[DrDeth]

Trendy names aren't so bad, the worst crimes are :

1. Cruel joke names, or names that will be turned TOO easily into cruel jokes. Fine, maybe you revel in the fine old family name of "Hogg"- but don't name your kid "Ima". Or like on Baby Blues- "Hammie". Why would you do this to your kids? Don't you love them?

2. Androgenous names. Studies have shown these can give a child a indenity complex.

3. "jr." "II" "III". No- don't do it. I don't care even if you are John Smith V. All his life he will be plagued by problems. If you MUST, then do the same first name, but different middle name. Legal problems, tax problems, credit problems. I have only the same first name (and last, of course) as my Father (dead some 10 years) but his info still shows up in them ail, on my credit report and otherwise. One company even refused me credit as "you are deceased". I guess better than the many who keep offering my dead father a "low interest credit card" & other such junk mail. NO. STOP. DON'T DO IT. REALLY.

4. Weird spellings. Not as bad as the other 3, but remember- all their life they will have to spell it out & correct the pronunciation.

Oh, and Dogface- "Caitlin" IS "Kate-lin". By many girls who have that name, and phonetically.

[LifeOnWry]

Thanks, Serendipity.

Dogface - once you can accept that the man's wife was born 200 years after he was, that she traveled back through time, was nearly burned as a witch, traveled FORWARD through time carrying his child, went to medical school then traveled back through time yet again, the choice for his daughter's name is pretty easy to live with :D And to be totally fair, Jamie's first reaction to the name is, "What kind of name is THAT?"

[MonkeyMensch]

Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich
Something I think is cool, but which no one seems to do anymore, is to give a kid someone else's full name: the first name becomes the kid's first name, and the last name becomes the kid's middle name.
Of course, maybe people never really do this on a widespread basis, and baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander, inventor George Washington Carver, and M*A*S*H doc Benjiman Franklin Pierce are more exceptions than rules. Still, I think it's nice.

Of course one of my favorite books was written by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

I've gotten such a kick out of this thread. I live in a house with three teenage girls and love to hear the litany of names going through the house...

[LifeOnWry]

Originally posted by MonkeyMensch

I've gotten such a kick out of this thread. I live in a house with three teenage girls and love to hear the litany of names going through the house...

Lemme guess: Amanda, Alex, Katie, Brittany, Jessica, Molly, Taylor and Samantha.

And they all have boyfriends named Brad, Brendan, Brett and Tim, right?

[dorkusmalorkusmafia]

Isn't Shithead (Shi-theed) a semi common arabic name? Crap, I guess I fell for that urban legend too. (http://66.165.133.65/index.html)

[Gorgon Heap]

KACK! LifeOnWry, even hearing that list makes me groan.

Myself, wife and daughter all have names that sound fairly normal but, both in reading the lists of their "popularity" and just in rea life, don't seem very normal.

I am Nathaniel, my wife is Dawn and our daughter is Autumn. I have never met more than two people besides us who actually have these names. In high school, I knew 2 other Nathaniels, but I have never met another in the years since. I worked with a woman named Dawn, but never anywhere else, and I met only one single person in my entire life named Autumn - she was a waitress whom I never saw again.

They all seems moderetely normal, but really aren't around very much. And besides, I often go by "J" for our last name, and we usually call the baby "AJ" as well.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by DrDeth
Oh, and Dogface- "Caitlin" IS "Kate-lin". By many girls who have that name, and phonetically.


Nope. "Caitlin" is phonetically pronounced "cauch-LEEN" or "cauch-LIN", depending on how close to Ulster one is. It's a slender "t" but the preceding vowel structure is the "ai" diphthong.

[Palo Verde]

Dogface,

I'm sure some girls pronounce it the way you say. But most girls (in America at least) pronounce it 'Kate-lin.'

It's their name, they can pronouce it anyway they want.

[Airblairxxx]

Originally posted by Obsidian Flutterby
When you look over my cousins names you can often see the fads.. very few are actually 'original' names that aren't heard very often. In order (oldest to youngest or thereabouts)

Boys: Jonathan, David, Aaron, Cody, Lucas, Alex (Alexander), Rhys and Ewan

Ewan is actually named after my Grandfather (Hugh, Ewan is the Gaelic(?) version of it) and both my Brother and I were named after our Great Grandfathers, and Grandmothers respectively.

Well, I will be damned . . . another Ewan. How old is he? This is the first time I've ever seen my baby son's name show up outside of a cast list of "Trainspotting", or Tony Blair's son--which is kind of funny, since my last name is also Blair. (I was hoping for a good Scottish name.) From what I've read, "Ewan" is a variant of "John", similar to "Ian" or "Owen", but definitely not a common name in America.

Surprisingly enough I've seen my name turn up in this thread a few times as a good name. I have only met maybe a handful of Claire's (or Clair or Clare) in my life and the majority of them are related to me.

I wanted to name a daughter Claire, but given my last name, you can see this would border on child abuse.

[kung fu lola]

Originally posted by DrDeth
Trendy names aren't so bad, the worst crimes are :
<snippity snip snip snip>
2. Androgenous names. Studies have shown these can give a child a indenity complex.
<snip snip snip>


Cite, please. Gender issues and myths really get me tied in knots.

Originally posted by XJETGIRLX
I think we need a club for those of us whose previously unusual names have become the nom du jour and are now accustomed to turning around every time a mother calls out to her toddler with our name.

Amen, sister. My name is Emma and everyone thought it was a musty old name that deserved to languish with Mildred and Ethel and Bertha back in the trendy 80's, when I was born. Of course, at the end of the ultra-trendy "so uncool it's cool" 90's, every damn person named their daughter Emma.
I work at a fast food joint. Sometimes I'll hear a woman's voice snapping my name while I'm clearing tables and I'll think it's my supervisor trying to get me back to my till to serve a customer. It's just some Mum dragging her child away from the display case, where the little one has been making fish faces against the glass, and I have had a coronary for nothing.

And for the record, I was named after Emma Goldman, a turn-of-the century author and lecturer who advocated reproductive choices for women, gay rights and women's lib. Of course her experiences working in sweatshops made her a Commie and blew her credibility, but whatever. At least she stood up for what she believed in.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Apparently those names are a lot more popular than we realize, if we are to believe these accounts:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=12851
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7755
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20125
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27486
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=45287
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=79940
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=91928
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59247
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=109977

[Palo Verde]

In my son's preschool class, of the 10 of so girls, 2 are named Claire.

[summerbreeze]

My grandmother's name was Emma & I planned to name a daughter for her, but had only the one & had already chosen Elizabeth. I had lovely girls' names ready for the next four (all boys) & plan to lean heavily on the people who become pregnant with my grand-daughters.

Beg to differ with DrDeth: constantly having to spell one's name rates a higher annoyance number than 4.

In the south, where I live, people give girls their father's or grandfather's given name, or their mother's maiden name, preceded by Mary. I know dozens & dozens of women named Mary Douglas, Mary Christian, Mary James, Mary Howard, & so on. Sounds like you're at a convention of nuns.

[MercyStreet]

I'm on the phone all day at work. My name ceased being MercyStreet, oh, around kindergarten. At least a dozen times a day it is, "Hi, this is MercyStreet, spelled M-e-r-c-y-S-t-r-e-e-t."

Same thing with my deskmate. His name is even more unusual, and it's quite nice. But his routine is, "Hi, this is OddlyNamedMan, spelled O-d-d-l-y..."

It's a sad situation. See what happens when parents Go Kreative? Their kids turn into lifelong crankypants, sighing into the phone all day. (And don't ask me for a cite on that one. Harumph.)

[Flutterby]

Originally posted by Airblairxxx
Well, I will be damned . . . another Ewan. How old is he? This is the first time I've ever seen my baby son's name show up outside of a cast list of "Trainspotting", or Tony Blair's son--which is kind of funny, since my last name is also Blair. (I was hoping for a good Scottish name.) From what I've read, "Ewan" is a variant of "John", similar to "Ian" or "Owen", but definitely not a common name in America.

Well my cousin Ewan isn't American.. he's Australian :p Maybe you are right and it means John.. I knew it mean one or the other because my Grandfather's name was Hugh John, I just couldn't remember which. Oh and he was born this past November. I have another cousin born this past October as well (Kenzie's brother) but I can't remember his name.

I wanted to name a daughter Claire, but given my last name, you can see this would border on child abuse.

I'm glad you realize that. Us Claire's get enough people calling us Claire-bear (well only the people who we let.. like guys we think are cute :p ) without that being almost their exact name!

[NightRabbit]

One of my roommates tells me that an acquaintance at a convention was named "Sterling Price Adams Darling Jr"- and every bit as stuffy as the name sounds. Gack.

A girl who used to sing with me was named "Herrick". That's a new one. She went by a nickname.

There are about 7 million Sarahs, Sarras, Saras, etc. at this school. I'm thoroghly sick of the name and vow never to name my child Sarah.

My own name is Maryna Elizabeth after my mom and grandmother, who are Marinas. I don't understand why a "y" is so confusing- I've been called everything from Maryanna to Marion to Marna. I feel sorry for people with more interesting names, because mine isn't really out in left field and people still have problems saying it.

[MissGypsy]

I inadvertently named my son after the creators of South Park. Yep, both of 'em. This is what I get for allowing my mother to choose a middle name. How trendy is that going to be?

Myself, I'm named after a former U.S. President's daughter. My dad chose it. Almost everyone I know has a grandma or great-aunt with my name. Very old-fashioned, and quite the old-lady name.

[ruadh]

Originally posted by Dogface
Actually, no such name would have been known to the man, had he existed. It was invented in the 20th century.

True gaelic girls' names do not end in "-a". That's not a feminizing ending in the Gaelic langauges.

Can't get more Gaelic than Fionnghuala (now commonly spelled Fionnuala), one of the children of Lir in Irish legend.

And in addition to the previously-mentioned Caitríona, there's also Clíodhna, Ciara, Neasa and Sorcha ... all of which appear well before the 20th century.

[auliya]

Originally posted by Kalhoun
My son was Justin before the invasion started. He's 26.


My Dylan is 23, back then I knew of only one other Dylan, my 9 year old has 4 in his class this year!

Damned soap operas have a lot to answer for :(

[Tristan]

Hehehe....

My daughter is Anne. Anne Marie, to be specific.

My son, is just a plain old Micheal.

My fiance and I have picked out names. In the case of a boy, it will be Riley David. Her bio-dads family name is Riley, and we want to honor him. David is my father.

A daughter will be Brenna Joy. Brenna because it's pretty, and Joy is her sister.

My name, Raymond, I have only seen on 2 other white people, a guy I met at Faire and my grandfather.

[Green Bean]

Originally posted by gypsygirl31
Myself, I'm named after a former U.S. President's daughter. My dad chose it. Almost everyone I know has a grandma or great-aunt with my name. Very old-fashioned, and quite the old-lady name.
Ruth? Alice?

[sajwalke]

A unique name a friend of mine has is "Shin." I think it's kinda cool, and it suits his personality well. Much better than Bradley, but if he wasn't Korean it might not be as good.

[AntaresJB]

Originally posted by ruadh
And in addition to the previously-mentioned Caitríona, there's also Clíodhna, Ciara, Neasa and Sorcha ... all of which appear well before the 20th century.

My best friend's name is Sorcha. What's the Gaelic pronunciation for it? Usually she just pronounces is "Sor-shuh," like the witch's daughter in the movie Willow, but our old diction teacher pronounced it "Sooer-hah" with the kind of gutteral hacking-up-spit h sound.

[Atrael]

I don't know about some of these names. On one hand, we're all pretty much saying that the flaky spelling, and or pronunciation is terrible, but then we have Caitlin, and Marlene which people are saying that they're being pronounced wrong. The way I see it is that if you're speaking English, then don't get all huffy if someone doesn't pronounce a name the way it should be said in Gaelic for god's sake. I tend to pronounce words the way they're spelled, and the way they look. So Caitlin is KATE -lin and Marlene to me would be MAR - Lean, that's just the way the word would be said in normal English. If your parents decided that it should be pronounced a different way than it's spelled, well sucks to be you. Really. I can understand if the name is just strange, people not being able to get it right, but both of those are straightforward. I suppose if you live in Ireland, getting upset about a native that mis-pronounces the name might get you upset, but not here in the US.

FTR, our children's names will be either: Auriana Hadara *girl*, and Kristopher (or Christopher) Hagan *boy*. I've always liked the name Auriana, ever since I first saw it. I see no need to change what I like, just because other people might like the same thing. Although that spelling never came up in the ssa search, and Arianna only came up once in the past 3 years, and that was at number 87.

[Green Bean]

Originally posted by Atrael
I tend to pronounce words the way they're spelled, and the way they look. So Caitlin is KATE -lin and Marlene to me would be MAR - Lean, that's just the way the word would be said in normal English. ]
By that logic, then, we should be calling Sean "Seen."

The thing about English is that there is no "one way" to pronounce things. To me, Marlene could be either "Mar-lean" or "Mar-lane-a." They both seem equally right to me, possibly because I've usually heard Marlene Dietrich's name pronounced the latter way.

At this point Caitlin, pronounced Kate-lyn, is such a common American name that it seems silly to complain that it's mispronounced. It's worked its way into our vernacular. I'm well aware of the proper pronunciation, but I suppose I would find it pretty tiresome if someone insisted on having her daugher Caitlin called "Kathleen."

[House]

I'm an Aaron (for 28 years now), and I love it...except for the idiots who spell it "Erin".

My wife and I like the name Lorelai for a daughter. I always thought that was a pretty name. She also likes the Irish name Rein (pronounced Re-Ann).

I've heard on several occasions people with the last name of Grooms naming thier kid Bride Ann.

Also to add to the names-to-eliminate list: Logan.

[Atrael]

And since I've never in my life heard it pronounced that way, that's probably the reason that an alternate way of saying it would never occure to me. Same with Caitlin. I had no idea that the correct way to prounounce it would be "Kathleen", although I'd have to wonder why someone wouldn't have just spelled it that way to begin with.

[ruadh]

Originally posted by AntaresJB
My best friend's name is Sorcha. What's the Gaelic pronunciation for it? Usually she just pronounces is "Sor-shuh," like the witch's daughter in the movie Willow, but our old diction teacher pronounced it "Sooer-hah" with the kind of gutteral hacking-up-spit h sound.

Well, if you wanted a really Gaelic pronunciation for it, I suppose it would be "Sura-huh" with that gutteral sound. However, I don't actually know any Sorchas who pronounce it that way - one says "Sura-kuh" and the others say "Surkuh". (None of them are native Irish speakers, I suppose that might make a difference.)

In response to somebody else, I have never heard of an Irish name "Rein", and that spelling would not give the pronunciation "Re-Ann".

[House]

I'm an Aaron (for 28 years now), and I love it...except for the idiots who spell it "Erin".

My wife and I like the name Lorelai for a daughter. I always thought that was a pretty name. She also likes the Irish name Rein (pronounced Re-Ann).

I've heard on several occasions people with the last name of Grooms naming thier kid Bride Ann.

Also to add to the names-to-eliminate list: Logan.

[House]

I don't know how this repeat-post thing happens, sorry.

[House]

Originally posted by ruadh
In response to somebody else, I have never heard of an Irish name "Rein", and that spelling would not give the pronunciation "Re-Ann".

That's the closest way to spell it phoenetically, though not exact (Not to be prounced with southern drawl like REE-Ayan.)

I guess if you've never heard it, it must not exist. I was making it up I guess.:rolleyes:

[Mirror Image egamI rorriM]

I know a girl named "Rian." (Ree-Ann). People are always calling her "Ryan" and it drives her nuts.

[asterion]

Originally posted by House


My wife and I like the name Lorelai for a daughter. I always thought that was a pretty name.

You monster! You're going to name your daughter after a Styx song! :p

[lovelyluka]

Originally posted by FairyChatMom
We named our daughter Sarah because no one on either side of the family had that name and there were no obvious nicknames. He middle name is mine - Michelle. The day after she was born, in the same hospital, delivered by the same doctor was another Sarah Michelle. I think she's had a Sarah or Sara in her class every year.

I'm a Sarah. I bet your daughter and I went to school together because there were FIVE THOUSAND SARAHS at my school. And we only had 850 students. :D Let me guess, she's about 20, right? Yup. That's what I thought. The Sarah explosion of the early 1980s.

I probably won't have kids for another 10 years, but right now I also like the name Grace...although if I find everyone else likes it too, scratch that idea. I also like Joy. And I want to work my mother's name (Christina) in there somewhere. My last name is a boy's first name - Anthony (uh-oh, you know my name!) - so if I have a boy, that's him. Are those classic or dated?

[ruadh]

Originally posted by House
That's the closest way to spell it phoenetically, though not exact (Not to be prounced with southern drawl like REE-Ayan.)

I guess if you've never heard it, it must not exist. I was making it up I guess.:rolleyes:

I'm not suggesting you made it up, but as I've never come across it here in Ireland nor can I locate it in any of my references, I am doubtful as to whether it is actually an Irish name. There are a lot of names that people think are Irish, but aren't in fact.

And in the Irish language a word spelled "rein" would be a one-syllable word rhyming (more or less) with "hen".

[FairyChatMom]

Originally posted by lovelyluka
Let me guess, she's about 20, right? Not quite - she's 17... 18 in Sept. And had she been a boy, she'd have been named Peter.

[stargazer]

In my class (born 1978), there were a number of Lisas, Sarahs, and Jennifers, and a few Melissas. For the boys - a few Marks, and a lot of Jeffs. As I recall, I was the only Ann until high school. I think my name is a little boring (Ann Elizabeth -- it always felt like 2 middle names!). I was almost called after my great-grandmother, Lora -- but she didn't like having to spell her name and wanted my mom to spell it "Laura." I would have loved either of those! My mom's family has a sort of tradition that I like: give a child a "fancy" name and a "regular" name. That gives the child more options when they're older. My grandmother is Virginia Mae, my mom is Ann Denise (but she's always, always gone by Denise), my aunt is Janis Lynn, my cousin is Johanna Mara, etc. I think that's a sensible way of naming children.

When the time comes for us to have kids, we'll probably name a daughter Ella Catherine (or Katherine -- we have time to decide) and a boy Thomas Aaron (after both of our maternal grandfathers). I think they're both classic and easy enough to spell and pronounce, and neither has (at this point, anyway) a lot of baggage attached.

One of my pet peeves when it comes to naming children is giving kids nicknames instead of the full name. Children named Kate instead of Katherine, Mindy instead of Melinda, Chris instead of Christopher, etc. Is the full name really so bad? What if your daughter is a Kathy and not a Kate? I was "Annie" until 3rd grade, but I wouldn't really have felt like I had a choice if Annie were my given name.

(My other naming pet peeve is giving girls cutesy names. If she becomes an executive or something, wants to be taken seriously, is she going to want "Brandi" on her business card? No. )

[Hilarity N. Suze]

When I named my son Dylan I didn't know of anyone else with that name except the Welsh poet and the rock singer (who named himself). Three Dylans in maternity ward.

He had a friend named Kate-lynn who went pretty much all the way through school with him. Spelled just as I wrote it, and constantly misspelled as Caitlin. Like all the other Caitlins, and there were many.

I wanted to name my 3rd son Dashiell (after Hammet), because I think it's a great name and nobody else had it. Bet they would've if I'd actually used it. His other parent objected and we already had a D, so I named him Sam. Three Sams in his current class. Were there really that many Sams born in 1995, or did they just all end up in his class?

PS--Dylan thinks all with his name under age 21--his age--are usurpers. But he likes the name.

[MissGypsy]

Originally posted by Green Bean
Ruth? Alice?

Even worse... Margie. After Harry Truman's nickname for his daughter Margaret. At least they should have given me the full name.:rolleyes:

[summerbreeze]

Heard of a mother who named her son Ian. When they moved to NY, other women wanted to know why she'd given her son a girl's name -- they pronounced the name Ann as EE-Ann.

[Jenypher]

Okay, so how many kids were in the 3rd grade with me? about 40
And how many were girls? lets say half
And of these 20 girls, how many were named Jennifer? 8!
And of these 8, how many were Jennifer Lynn(e)'s? 7! (One was Jennifer Leigh - like that's different)
And in college I ended up with another Jennifer Lynn(e) for a roommate! Although we were the perfect guy hunting duo! I mean what guy can forget Jen & Jenny.

I asked my mom once how I got my name and she said, "Your father was outside and the nurse really wanted to know. It was the first thing I thought of." Luckily, my mom left the "e" off of Lynne so I have a male middle name. Hey! It's something!



And just for the record, I love the name Vivianne (Viv-E-Anne not Viv-E-In).

[irishgirl]

Sorcha is sort of Zor-ucca. But not quite.
Not to be confused with "Freedoms" or "Georges" (only ruadh is going to get this...)

All the Caitlin/Kate-lyn/Cathleen reminds me of a friend who did Camp America one summer (everyone I know who did that ended up HATING Americans, whatever you are doing to your kids, stop it...*joke*).
She had two brothers, Shaun (SHAWN) and Sean (SEE-ANN) in her care.
D'Oh!

[frank zafka]

My wife and I decided, after much torment, to bestow a name upon our daughter which would imply a certain amount of 1940-ish toughness, with a whiff of sexiness. We settled upon Charley. In case she receives infinite grief a run-of-the-mill middle name, Anne can be used.

[Green Bean]

Originally posted by gypsygirl31
Even worse... Margie. After Harry Truman's nickname for his daughter Margaret. At least they should have given me the full name.:rolleyes:
Ohh, ya. But Margie is a good name, doncha know?

(My first kayak and my Jeep pickup were named Margie. Marge Gunderson's a personal hero.)

[Avarie537]

This is all reminding me of my freshman dorm floor ...

Very small college (about 2500). TWELVE rooms on our floor - about 20 girls. And we had: Kristie, Krista, Kristin, Kristen, and Christina. w00t!!

[Miss Teerious]

i once knew a girl named isadora belle. bleghk!

also met a girl named acquanet. pronounced aqua-net, like the hairspray. unless this is some sort of family name or something, i cannot imagine someone thinking to themself, gee i think i'll name my daughter acquanet. they had to know. they had to know she was going to live a sad life of hairspray jokes. cruel, cruel world!

[dinahmoe]

I'm 33 years old. My name is Meaghan (pronounced Mee-gan)
My 23 year old sister is Brianne.
My 35 year old sister is Tanya.

Whenever anyone calls out to any one of us, they are answered by a chorus of 6 year olds.

I think my parents were a bit ahead of their time.

(in their defense, Tanya and I were allowed to name the baby, and we came up with "Brianne", after an actress we saw on "Battle of the Network Stars." She hates it, and goes by "Brie.")

[Quasimodal]

Strangest names I've run into include:

September
Candy
(both for girls)

I guess "Candy" is supposed to be short for "Candida", though you can imagine the insults at high school.

I've never run into anyone called September before, however I may just be living in a isolated bubble.

This thread reminds of a Seinfeld episode. Didn't someone want to name their kid "seven" on an episode?

[Quasimodal]

I was just reminded of a name! Perhaps the most bizarre incident in the history of naming. Check this article out:




Talk about character's names - people seem to have problems by just choosing a name for their child.

BRFXXCCXXMNPCKCCCC111Mmnprxv1mnckssqlbb11116. No, this is not a misspelling of some kind. I've checked it out several times. It should be a correct spelling of a name. How it is pronounced? Well, according to the parents who came up with the above-mentioned name: Albin. They have fought hard against Swedish authorities to be able to give their son this hard-spelled name, but they didn't succeed anyway. Instead they had to be fined $753.






Generic names don't seem so bad in comparision

[Apollyon]

Originally posted by stargazer One of my pet peeves when it comes to naming children is giving kids nicknames instead of the full name.
I work with a very nice chap named Lex. As in, that's his official name, named I understand for someone who was always called Lex (though his full name was Alexander). Me, I think it's cool. I guess YMMV. :)

My little lad's first name is Alexander (for my maternal grandfather), who's given names were Alexander John, though he was called Jack his entire life. I have a cousin who named his son Jack after the same gentleman... a slight variation on the nickname theme. :)

[SLASH]

I'm a Matthew. Very normal and no one ever misspells it. I like it just fine and plan to name my kids more standard names too like Henry and David. No one will ever think me and my wife to be pretentious:D

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Originally posted by Quasimodal
BRFXXCCXXMNPCKCCCC111Mmnprxv1mnckssqlbb11116. No, this is not a misspelling of some kind. I've checked it out several times. It should be a correct spelling of a name. How it is pronounced? Well, according to the parents who came up with the above-mentioned name: Albin. They have fought hard against Swedish authorities to be able to give their son this hard-spelled name, but they didn't succeed anyway. Instead they had to be fined $753.


They should be fined! They could have done something creative with MANY fewer letters that would have been equally incomprehensible.

I know a Twist. It's her real name. Mystery writer, formerly a lawyer.

[Angel of the Lord]

I'm a Rachel. And I hate it. Hatehatehate it. I can't blame my mom, because I was her first child, and she didn't know what the naming trends were at the time. She just liked the name. Technically, I'm named after my Great-Grandma (Rhea [they pronounced it Ray-uh]), my grandma (Roselind Elizabeth--my middle name is Elizabeth), and my uncle (Raymond). I still hate my name.

It wasn't so bad in elementary school--for some reason, I was the only Rachel in my grade. This made life fairly easy. For whatever reason, though, no one could ever spell my name right. It was always "Rachael" or "Racheal" or whatever the alternate spelling that I don't use is.

Then, I went to middle school. There was one other Rachel. She spelled it differently. This was the one time in my life when my name was *always* spelled correctly.

Then I went to high school. There were quite a few other Rachels, most notably one that shared many classes with me. She spelled it the same way I do. While this meant that we could feign dumb if we didn't know the answer, it did not ensure that our name would be spelled correctly--several teachers never got it right. Additionally, the other Rachels were much more sociable than I was. Hence, I got used to *never* turning the first time my name was called, unless it was my best friend, who usually called me "Rach" anyway.

At the same time, I started reading Animorphs. There was a character named Rachel there. I also started posting on an Animorphs message board. There were two other Rachels there. We all spelled it the same way. I adopted a psuedonym that I will answer to more readily than my given name.

Then, college. Oh, college. The honors college at my school, to be exact.

Rachels are smart, apparently. In our class of 74 people, there are six Rachels. There were three of us in one of my 20 people classes. We all spell it the same way. I have the same last initial as one of them.

There are three Rachels on my floor. My ex dated a girl named Rachel after he dated me. My SO dated a girl named Rachel before he dated me. It gives a girl identity issues when you hear your fiance mention your name, and you're not 100% sure he's talking about you. I hardly ever turn when I hear my name spoken. I try to go by Sanji--the name I adopted on the Animorphs boards--but, with the exception of Shadez, no one at school seems to get it!

My sister has a not-too-popular name. My cousin is named Simone. My other cousin is named Lucas. They have fairly unique names. And I am a Rachel in a sea of Rachels...

...don't even start me on the name Mike. "I talked to Mike today." "My Mike, or your Mike, or Justin's Mike? Or Ekim? Or online Mike? Or..." ::screams::

[Shirley Ujest]

Oh, just go and name your daughter Joan

It's truly a dying name.

Other dying names:

Ethel
Betty
Norma
Shirley :D

[LifeOnWry]

Originally posted by Shirley Ujest
Oh, just go and name your daughter Joan

It's truly a dying name.


When my Mom was little, she was nicknamed Sissy. On her first day of school, her mother said, "Sissy, the teacher is not going to call you Sissy." Mom said, "Why not?"

"Well, because your name is Joan," said Gram. "Sissy is your nickname."

Mom said, "Well, I don't like it."

She did get used to being called Joan, although she NEVER grew to like it. Fast forward 15 years or so, and Mom's about to get married and she needs a copy of her birth certificate. No record of her birth. So she telephones Gram and says there's no record. Gram says, "Oh. Have them look under 'Alice.'"

Mom: "ALICE?"

That's when Mom found out that her name at birth was Alice Joan, but a well-meaning aunt switched it around when Mom was baptized in the hospital and Gram was unconscious. Turns out Grandpa had been married before, and his first daughter was Alice, and that Alice had been killed in an accident. Auntie thought it was bad luck to name a baby after a deceased child. My poor mother was 20 years old before she found out her name.

[Bren_Cameron]

Originally posted by Cicada2003


I wanted to name my 3rd son Dashiell (after Hammet), because I think it's a great name and nobody else had it. Bet they would've if I'd actually used it.

I think you're right--I considered Dashiell for paidhi-boy, who's three. Like you, I'm sure that if we had used it, it would have been trendy in no time.

Instead, I gave him a name that would never, ever reach the top of the charts. People who think kids should all be named Michael and Susan, cover your eyes.

He's named Gawain. Stress on the first syllable, and yes he'll be spelling it the rest of his life, but what the hell. I've got a surname that everyone misspells and mispronounces, and you know what? The sun hasn't exploded. It isn't even minorly annoying, I just spell it automatically whenever someone has to write it down. No biggy.

I'm a little worried about paidhi-girl's name, though. We gave her an Irish boy's name that was hardly ever heard in the US. In the past few years, that name has become increasingly common for boys here, and I've even seen it on a few girls' birth announcements, which tells me it may well be headed for the "trendy" category. My only consolation is that all these kids are some six years younger than mine, so I can call myself a trend-setter.

[GuanoLad]

My name is Paul. A name most people recognise as being fairly common. A biblical name, what's more, which seems to count for a lot. It has equivalents in most European and Middle Eastern cultures.

But in reality, I've probably barely met even 15 Pauls in my whole life of 33 years. And kids these days are pretty much never named Paul anymore.

So it's in actuality a relatively unique name, and I would be honoured if my mention of it inspired anybody here to consider it as a name for a future child of theirs.

[ShibbOleth]

Originally posted by sajwalke
A unique name a friend of mine has is "Shin." I think it's kinda cool, and it suits his personality well. Much better than Bradley, but if he wasn't Korean it might not be as good.

That's funny. I know two Shins here, and they even dated each other. Both spelled their name "Hsin", but it was pronounced "Shin". It's apparently a fairly common Chinese name. The male Hsin went by Steve with his American friends, though.

It's also very nice to have gone all the way through this thread without seeing either of my kids' names.

[Ceejaytee]

There's a grown woman who's on staff of a gym I belong to named Cricket. That's a cute name, but how do you grow old gracefully with the name "Cricket"?

My son is Aaron George, a nice old-fashioned name. If we could just get past all the people who think his name is "Erin" we would be set.

[Gorgon Heap]

I think the only problem between "Aaron" and "Erin" is people mumble too damn much. I always know the differece when I hear it.

And I like "Gawain" as well. We were one of the few couple (so it seems) nowadays who actually didn't want to know our baby's sex befre birth. For a boy we were thinking "Quintus."

[dorkusmalorkusmafia]

Maybe all of you with trendy names should change your names to Rasputin, Adolph, or something equally out there.

Thanks to the quick and interesting social security search, I see that my name is in the top 1000; however, I have never met anyone else with my name. However, according to the SSA the diminutive of my name when I was born was around the 600's and now is off the list. Woo woo!

[Jenypher]

I once wrote a term paper on Anne Rice. Her parents named her Howard cause they expected a boy. It wasn't until she went to grade school that she insisted on being called Anne.

Everyone in my family has 2 word names. My mom is a Martha Jane. When I was about 7 I asked if I could have a 2 word name. She assumed I wanted to be called Jennifer Lynn (oh, little did she know). I smiled and politly asked to be Light Bulb from then on.

Luckily, that didn't work out.

[DrDeth]

Originally posted by Dogface
Nope. "Caitlin" is phonetically pronounced "cauch-LEEN" or "cauch-LIN", depending on how close to Ulster one is. It's a slender "t" but the preceding vowel structure is the "ai" diphthong.

Sure guy, and "pain" is pronounced "pauch", and "stain"= "stauch". There is phonetically no "ch" sound in "Caitlin", "t" is NOT phonetically pronounced "ch". Nor is "ai" PHONETICALLY pronounced "au". Now, yes- it is a perfectly legit LOCAL dialect pronunciation, and sure, as you get closer to "Ulster" the dialect pronuciation become more & more common, and the phonetic pronuciation gets rare- but a local dialect, nice as it may be doesn't get the change the way English is phonetically used.

Frank- you wanted to give your daughter a name that had a "whiff of sexiness" and then you chose CHARLEY?!:eek: "I do no tthink that word means what you think it does".

[NurseCarmen]

Names are such a cyclical thing, I'm named John, and I had 5 other Johns in my class. There isn't a John in my son's whole school. There is a Jonathon.

I named my son Riley. Before the Riley explosion. What really pisses me off is that people are naming girls Riley now. WTF? Why take a good Irish boy's name and ruin it?

My dad's name is Terrance, and he hates it, so all his kids got dull names. His kids hate the dull names, so they give their kids different names. And so on, And so on. And so on.

I guess it skips a generation.

[asterion]

Originally posted by Ceejaytee
There's a grown woman who's on staff of a gym I belong to named Cricket. That's a cute name, but how do you grow old gracefully with the name "Cricket"?


Especially the jokes. I can see them now. "Hey, that's not cricket, is it?"

[austen]

My parents were pretty good with mine and my siblings' names:

Me (29) : Katherine Victoria - after my great grandmother and grandfather (Victor). Go by Kate.
Brother (26): Timothy William (my uncle's middle name and my father's first name). Goes by Tim.
Sister (19): Elizabeth Caroline - my mother's middle name and just something they liked that sounded good with her first name. She used to be Betsy, but wehn she started high school changed it to her full first name, and now we have all gotten used to calling her that, since she won't answer if we call her Betsy. I still do it sometimes to irritate her - that's what big sisters are for. ;)

Looking at them all, they kinda sound slightly regal but are also all old-fashioned kinda biblical names. None of us ever had too many problems with other people having the same first names in our classes. When I was in school, there were lots of Jennifers, Michelles, Lisas, Kristens (Kirstens and other variations), always many Mikes and Daves running around.

I'm thinking about Cordelia if I ever have kids - Delia for short. It's such a pretty name, and a little unusual. For a boy - Gregory, after my father's middle name.

[lee]

Originally posted by Quasimodal
Strangest names I've run into include:

September
Candy
(both for girls)

I guess "Candy" is supposed to be short for "Candida", though you can imagine the insults at high school.
Candy is often short for Candice. Like the actress from Murphy Brown.

[AntaresJB]

One other name I like that hopefully won't suddenly get popular -- Desdemona. And for a nickname, I don't like Mona, so I'd probably call her Desdi. It's kind of unfortunate that I have all these names I wanna use and yet I don't want kids. Guess all my cats are gonna have very interesting names. :)

[ruadh]

I had a friend called Desdemona when I was a teenager (I'm 33 now). She went by "Desi".

[little lighthouse]

I completely agonized over naming my chilren- especially my daughter. I think girls think more about thier names than boys do.

I have a very common last name and did not want my children to have common first names to go along with them.

My son is Tor (not Thor) and my daughter is Zella (nicknamed Zelly). I have a sneeking suspision they won't be in class sitting next to another kid with the same name!

My sister just had a daughter and named her Ava and I have a 13 year old nephew named Casey. He's going by Case these days, since his name is now very trendy for girls.

[belladonna]

My mom named all of us (there's six daughters) with fairly unusual names. I've only met one other Darcy in my life, and that was the girl who sold me tacos at DisneyWorld. My youngest sis got a name that was unusual at the time but has quickly become trendy, much to my mother's disgust.

It's been funny reading this thread, because I'm due with my second son in less than 8 weeks and half of the names on my list of potentials are getting ragged on! :D
I'm thinking Jasper, Oscar, Zane, Augustus (Gus), or possibly Xavier. My first son has a fairly traditional, if slightly old-fashioned name--he's named after my father and a paternal grandfather--but my personal preference is for the more uncommon ones.

As for "Cricket", I went to school with one of those, but her real name was Christine.

[Katisha]

Originally posted by Bren_Cameron
He's named Gawain. Stress on the first syllable, and yes he'll be spelling it the rest of his life, but what the hell.

Sir, you rock. ;)

[auliya]

Originally posted by Tristan
My name, Raymond, I have only seen on 2 other white people, a guy I met at Faire and my grandfather.
I am amazed!! in Australia every second male born in the first half of the 20th century was called Raymond, or so it seems. These days it is considered a dorky old fashioned sort of great uncle -y name. (sorry Tristan, different cultures I guess)

[Flamsterette_X]

I've mentioned this before on this forum, but I have this book called The Baby Name Countdown by Janet Schwegel. You wouldn't believe some of the names in there:

Two-Million
Precious Angel
Cash Money
Weyekin-Ilp-Ilp
Western-Li
Chicago
Curry
Downy
February
etc, etc., etc.

Kinda makes you wonder what those parents were thinking..


As for current names, the only really current sample I have is the kids at church. In Awana, there are three Brandons, two Stevens, two Brians, three Erics, two Jessicas, and two Michaels; there also used to be two Jonathans, two Michelles, and two Justins). As for the rest of the church kids.. there are two Adams, two other Justins, two Emilys, two Hannahs, two Andrews, two Ethans, two Christophers, and two Jasons. Among us older people, there are seven Karens, two Sarahs, two Justins, two Phils, two Helens, three Joes, two Anitas, two Johns, two Erics, etc.

When I was in school (1981-1994).. I knew at least five Andrews, four Scotts, five Angelas, six Lisas, four Melissas, five Brians, five Nicoles / Nikkis, eight Chrises, three Jonathans, six Kevins, five Stevens / Stephens, ten Sarahs, ten Matthews, fifteen Michaels, six Jamies (both boys amd girls), four Darrens, eight Daves / Davids, four Heathers, ten Christines / Christinas / Kristens / etc., twelve Jennifers, and a bunch more people I can't remember right now. I'm sure when my brother (1986-1999) and sister (1988-2001) went to school, the names were a bit different.. but the general principle remains the same!

I don't like those really misspelt names for children, either. Sometimes, I'll scan the birth announcements or glance through the book I mentioned earlier.. Teighlor, Ashlee, Brandee, Rylee, Bayleigh, Kayleigh, etc. Yuck. I've heard of a set of quadruplets named Jennifer, Jenny, Joshua, and Judith. What's up with that? I mean, Jennifer and Jenny? (then again. I was on the Twinsburg site once.. I read about a pair of 56-year-old twins, both named Beverly)

For the person who mentioned knowing brothers named Dirk and Eric (I think), that reminds me of this family I know. The parents' names are Eric and Brenda, and their kids' names are Erin, Derek, and Darren.

F_X

[Crafter_Man]

Count me as another who despises trendy names. Among family members:

Sister has son named Colby.
Cousin #1 named her children Dillon (sic) and Brittany.
Cousin #2 named her children Cody and Shelby.

We really went out on a limb and named our daughters Catherine and Elizabeth…

[Caprese]

Originally posted by Crafter_Man
Count me as another who despises trendy names. Among family members:

Sister has son named Colby.
Cousin #1 named her children Dillon (sic) and Brittany.
Cousin #2 named her children Cody and Shelby.

We really went out on a limb and named our daughters Catherine and Elizabeth…

I have met a zillion Elizabeths in my years as a preschool teacher.
(Not too many Catherines.)
Just as with Sarah, Matthew and a few other *classic* and/or biblical names, these monikers seem able to hold their own and never feel trite to me.

I guess there can be a hazy line between seeking originality and being practical.
I have a somewhat unusual name (been spelling it all my life). Hated it as a kid but grew to like it as an adult.

Funny how one person's trendiness is another person's brilliant idea. Back in the early 80's, I warned my brother-in-law that Jennifer was becoming awfully common, but he was determined that this would be his daughter's name. To my husband and me, naming our son Ethan seemed fairly straightforward and a bit out of the ordinary. Now it's twenty years later, there are hordes of Jennifers, and quite a few Ethans popping up.

[asterion]

My name's Jonathan. See, nice, normal translation out of the Hebrew. People can't keep from misspelling it. I have no idea why. One time I snapped and told them to look it up in 2 Samuel.

[House]

Originally posted by ruadh
I'm not suggesting you made it up, but as I've never come across it here in Ireland nor can I locate it in any of my references, I am doubtful as to whether it is actually an Irish name. There are a lot of names that people think are Irish, but aren't in fact.

And in the Irish language a word spelled "rein" would be a one-syllable word rhyming (more or less) with "hen".

Sorry for my smart-assedness (not a word, i know), I must have been having a bad day. I saw the name on a web site somewhere, so I guess you can't always believe what you see on the web, huh?:(

If I remember correctly the site claimed the name "Rein" is an old (maybe ancient) one. I'll have to see if I can find that site again....

Thanks for your input though. I acknowledge that if you're from Ireland, you would probably know better than me! :)

(Boy this crow tastes good. After that, I'll eat my foot...)

[House]

Originally posted by asterion
You monster! You're going to name your daughter after a Styx song! :p

Crap, I didn't know that! Thanks alot, you just ruined that name for me.:D

[Avarie537]

I worked at a Japanese restaurant for a while. Most of the employees were actually Chinese, Korean, Filipino, etc.

One of the servers was Korean, but had been adopted at a young age. Her name was "Milydia" (not sure about the spelling). Yeah. Rhymes really well with "chlamydia." WTF???

[Dangerosa]

Count me as one of those "never knew anyone with my name my age, now turn around constantly at the mall" people. I'm a 36 year old Christina. Went to school with a ton of Christines and Chris's, but I'm one of the few Christinas my age I've ever met.

Sometimes you can't win for trying.

So we named our daughter Elinor. She's three. Its a pretty uncommon name - classic and old fashioned, with good roots (Eleanor of Aquitane, Eleanor Roosevelt, its a variation on Helen, which is my grandmother's name, spelled Elinor in honor of Jane Austen - a less common spelling, but still a traditional one). And friends named their daughter (born within a week) Eleanor, and aquaintences named their daughter born two months later Eleanor and my OB says to me last checkup "I thought you were nuts when you named her that, and I've delivered 30 Eleanor's since then - you were the first on a really popular trend." We don't call her Eleanor or Ellie, she is the very old fashioned Nell - and she is the only Nell we've come across - which may be what saves her from being the leading edge of the next "Jennifer/Brittney" wave.

My son's name is Alex. Like Michael, its been a top name for years and years and years. He'll never be the only Alex he knows, but he's the only Alex in his daycare class (where there are two Josh's and at one time were three Austins)

[ecugrad]

I'm a 39 year old Anne Elizabeth, named for my grandmothers. My sister is a 35 year old Mary Katherine named for two aunts, but we call her Katie.
My mother was Marjorie Eleanor ("Margie") and my father is John Frederick ("Jack").

Katie has a baby boy they named John Michael for his grandfathers. Had the child been a girl, she would have been Eleanor Ann for her grandmothers.

My 51 year old husband is Coby (he hates the name but I love it). I don't like the name Anne and God help you if people see that it's spelled with an 'e' at the end - they pronounce it Annie every time!

If we have children it would be Marjorie for the girl because my mother died when I was a child, and probably Wilson for a boy because my father-in-law is Woodrow Wilson.

I've always had a thing for the names "Hannalore" and "Talmadge" but I'll tag those names onto my new beagle puppies.

[lezlers]

Originally posted by zoogirl


My own name is kind of a funny story. When Mom was a teenager, there was a popular actress named Joan Leslie. Mom decided that Leslie was a great name and she'd just have to use it when she had a little girl. Flash forward several years. Mom meets Dad. And his name is...Leslie! I ended up Lesley Ann, but no one has ever actually used the Lesley, except to confuse teachers every September! :D Everyone always assumes I was named after Dad too, which isn't helped by the fact that I'm an only child. :rolleyes: It's also let to some interesting mixups. For instance, I went to renew my driver's licence a few years ago after letting it lapse for a number of years. I was informed that there was indeed a Leslie A K--- on their records, but the birthdate was in 1913 - that wasn't right, was it? Uh, no!

I just had to comment on this. My fathers name is Leslie and so I ended up with the name "lezlie". Which has grown on me in 25 years, but I do get tired of having to explain the spelling to people (and they always ask). And my last initial is "K" too. I feel your pain. ;j

[ruadh]

Originally posted by House
I acknowledge that if you're from Ireland, you would probably know better than me!

Well, I'm not a native. But I have lived here long enough (and studied Irish, and worked in a field where I come across hundreds of Irish names a day) to feel reasonably confident in knowing whether a name is Irish or not. Of course, you could be right about it being an ancient or obsolete Irish name, and then I might have to eat some of that crow ;)

[lezlers]

Originally posted by Flamsterette_X
You wouldn't believe some of the names in there:


Cash Money

F_X

Dude. I'm so naming my kid "Cash Money." :cool:

[gwendee]

Originally posted by LifeOnWry
Likewise, location names bother me personally, but I understand the desire to name your child after a place that's special to you - I just find it hard to believe that Wyoming, Dakota, Indiana and Cambridge are ALL that special to you.


We were fleetingly acquainted with a couple who named their kid Eiffel. I believe the significance was that they had gotten engaged in Paris. (Might have been that she got pregnant there) Anyway, whenever they introduced this kid to anyone the whole explanation got tacked on as if his name were actually, "EiffelwegotengagedinParisweloveitthere!"

[Infectious Lass]

In 70s England, it was compulsory for every class to have 14 Darrens. And all the girls who weren't called Joanne were called Nicola. (apart from me)

I was there, so I swear it's true!

I hate the name Nicola, it reminds me of the word 'knickers'. I just think it sounds ugly. Why every 3rd new parents of baby girls in the UK from about 1968 to 1988 thought it was so fab I'll never know if I live to be a thousand years old....horrid horrid name! (and it is really an Italian boy's name anyway, as is Andrea-for some reason everyone in this country goes if it ends in an a it's a girls' name! duh.)

[fizzestothetop]

Patrick and I have already done the baby name song and dance even though babies are a long way down the road. So far we've agreed on Abigail Florence for a girl and Ian James for a boy. I don't think their overly popular, at least I don't hear them very often here in SoVa.


I really love the names Ophelia, Olivia, Nadine and Elizabeth (but I really dispise the nickname Liz. Ugh).

For boys I'm fond of Noah, Nathaniel, Brian and Caden. Patrick didn't like any of those either.

Good thing we came up with Abigail and Ian before we actually have a kid otherwise our baby would probably be born without a name!

[fizzestothetop]

Do I dare make a post pointing out my misuse of their in my other post?

I don't think they're overly popular!

[Chanteuse]

Originally posted by Ceejaytee
My son is Aaron George, a nice old-fashioned name. If we could just get past all the people who think his name is "Erin" we would be set.

Cool! My dad's name is George Aaron! :)

[Achernar]

People, I have a request.

Someone's name can be a very personal thing, so please don't make fun of anyone's name; you might as well be making fun of how they look.

If you're not fond of a name, that's fine, and by all means say so. But saying, "Bleeech!" or "What were her parents thinking?!" or even "I hate that name. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!" is being insensitive. Some of the posts to this thread I consider offensive, but they're confined (for the most part) to the first page or so, so hopefully they're out of everyone's system.

Thank you. :)

[Chanteuse]

Garth and Sandy Brooks named their daughter Taylor Maine Pearl after James Taylor, Maine (where she was apparently conceived), and Minnie Pearl. I guess its a good thing they weren't in Saskatoon when they conceived her (and that they were not huge Engelbert Humperdinck fans).

The thing I didn't much like about names that are really unusual is that you can never find things with your name on them. When I was a kid I was always disappointed when I'd look at racks of name tags and my name was never there. My name really isn't all that unusual (Carla) and now I can readily find it. But I would hazard a guess that little Xerxes Jones will never see his name on a bicycle license plate. Same for kids with fairly common names with "out-there" spellings. ("It's not 'Kate,' it's 'Khayte.'")

And parents who name their kids "cutesy" names (this seems to happen more with girls than with boys)--"Pebbles" for example--should be taken out and shot. Come on, parents, think beyond the baby stage and give them a name that will fit a teenager, an adult, and an elderly person as well! (Can you imagine--CEO Pebbles Martin?)

For our kids, the hubby and I went with Charlotte Nicole, Jason Nicholas, and Sheila Marie. Occasionally people misspell Charlotte, but you would be amazed at the number of people who get Sheila wrong. It's SheILA, not SheLIA! My mom, for whom she is named, gets that all the time, too. I guess there are hazards with any name! :)

[whiterabbit]

Originally posted by Angel of the Lord
I'm a Rachel. And I hate it. Hatehatehate it. I can't blame my mom, because I was her first child, and she didn't know what the naming trends were at the time. She just liked the name. Technically, I'm named after my Great-Grandma (Rhea [they pronounced it Ray-uh]), my grandma (Roselind Elizabeth--my middle name is Elizabeth), and my uncle (Raymond). I still hate my name.

It wasn't so bad in elementary school--for some reason, I was the only Rachel in my grade. This made life fairly easy. For whatever reason, though, no one could ever spell my name right. It was always "Rachael" or "Racheal" or whatever the alternate spelling that I don't use is.

Well, I'm a Rachel Elizabeth, and I usually like it but can I ever identify with your spelling woes. I am NOT Rachael. I am NOT Racheal. (I hope NOBODY is Racheal. That's just wrong.) And lastly, I am NOT EVER GOD HELP YOU IF YOU CALL ME Rach. I HATE that!

I haven't run into too many Rachels, though at one point I believe there were two others in a class with me. Funny thing, out of the Rachels I have met, exactly ONE didn't have dark hair.

As far as I know, my parents liked the name. I'd much rather have a normal name than some of the oddities mentioned in this thread. Any kids I have will not have creative names. Then there's my brother David. I like THAT name, too, but do you know how many Davids there are out there?

Then there's my cousin Jenny. That name has already been discussed.

[CrazyCatLady]

When DrJ was doing peds rotations in med school, one of his attendings told him there was often a direct correlation between the "cutesiness" of a name and the amount of time a kid had spent in the neonatal ICU. Names like Precious, Angel, Darling, and Cutesy-Wootsie Poopsie (okay, I made the last one up) are quite common for preemies, apparently.

As for Cash Money, I've seen a lot of pit bulls with such names, but never humans. Hmmm, I wonder if the puppies and this kid belong to the same people.

[SciFiSam]

Parents definitely do experiment more with boys' names than girls', which is why we still have a fair few Michaels and Davids being born, but not many Sandras or Muriels. You also get 'old-fashioned' names repeating in cycles of about sixty years, as people realise that their Grandparents' names are now uncommon, and they want to honour their Grandparents, so we get a fresh rash of Henrys and Mauds (and the names become common again). Guess in another twenty years or so we'll see babies called Janet, Roger, Derek, and so on!

Naming a child requires a lot of detective work.

How popular is this name? Do you want a popular name or not?
Are there any tragic or embarrassing stories associated with this name?
Any famous people you might not want associated with your child?
How does it sound with the desired middle name and surname?
How does it sound with the surname alone?
Do the initials spell anything undesirable?
Do you or the father have a bad history with that name (heart broken by a Daniel, for example)?
Is the name so unusual that the kid might get picked on?
Is it easy to spell and pronounce?
How does it look written down?
What is the etymology of the name?
How about the nicknames, do you dislike any of them?
How does the nickname sound with your surname?
What do your friends and family think?
Does the name have any connection with your family history? (Do you want it to?)
Lastly, do the parents BOTH like it?

It's not surprising so many people give up and go with what's popular.

I ended up with a little Juliette Georgia. The middle name is after my Grandfather (it's also a more common name if she decided that she hated Juliette when she was older). Juliette sounds good with my surname, and I was writing a thesis about Shakespeare at the time. It's not common but it's not weird either. If I'd had more time I might have chosen differently (she was ill at birth and I had to name her quickly), but it quite suits her. I had planned to give her a second middle name at a naming ceremony, and I might still do that.

The most common names among her friends are Sophie, Chloe and Emily for girls, and Jack and Joseph for boys. Harry's also pretty popular, as is Alfie and Alex and Josh. Quite nice names really, this generation is faring better than the Tracys and Darrens of mine.

Btw, for a boy I liked the name Gabriel, but when I said that to a couple of my friends they burst out laughing. Would that really be such an odd name for a boy these days?

[Achernar]

I think Gabriel is a sweet name. If I knew I was going to have three boys, they'd be Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. But I admit for a long time, Gabriel sounded like a girl's name to me.

[austen]

I love the name Gabriel. I've known two Gabe's in my time, and both were great people. Use it. Gabrielle is a girl's name - I guess it depends on how it is pronounced.

[Beckett]

Beckett. Proves irksome a lot, but what's a girl to do, break her mother's heart?

[AllShookDown]

My grandmother was never named by her parents. Everyone always called her "Pet". Note that this is not the same as being called "Blanket". "Pet" was term of endearment back then. When she was old enough to go to school she had to have a name so she named herself Rachael. I don't know if anyone ever called her that though.

My mother had the combination name Ruth Alice and was called that by all her relatives. Her sister had a combination name too. Because my mom hated it so much she didn't give my three older sisters middle names.

I have the plainest name of all (Jane) and I like it fine. Some close friends call me Janie and that's fine, too.

I don't intend to have children but if I was doing any naming they'd be sensible names like John (Jack), David and Suzanne.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Originally posted by SciFiSam
Are there any tragic or embarrassing stories associated with this name?
Any famous people you might not want associated with your child...
Is the name so unusual that the kid might get picked on?


Tragic/embarrassing things that can happen after the fact. I know someone who changed her 5-month-old son's name from Marc David to Shane after a person named Mark David something-or-other shot John Lennon. (In Colorado you can do this without too much paperwork in, I think, the first year.)

Ditto with people getting famous.

And I had one of the most common names in grade school, in fact there were three of us in a row on my street (some interesting kind of name tic-tac-toe) and it didn't stop me from getting picked on!

the person formerl;y known as Suzy

[ShibbOleth]

Originally posted by House
Crap, I didn't know that! Thanks alot, you just ruined that name for me.:D

Here's the original (fabled) Lorelei (http://www.loreleytal.com/loreley/). It's not a Styx thing. Heck, they didn't even invent Styx, just appropriated it. Hmm, maybe Charon would be a good boy's name? ;)

[asterion]

Originally posted by ShibbOleth
Here's the original (fabled) Lorelei (http://www.loreleytal.com/loreley/). It's not a Styx thing. Heck, they didn't even invent Styx, just appropriated it. Hmm, maybe Charon would be a good boy's name? ;)

Well, thanks. Now that song makes even less sense than it did before.

[ShibbOleth]

Originally posted by asterion
Well, thanks. Now that song makes even less sense than it did before.

Oh yeah? Try this one: The Sails of Charon (http://worldlyric.com/html/scorpions/the_sails_of.html) by Scorpions.

[interface2x]

Worst one I've ever heard comes from the neonatal ward in the hospital where my stepmother works. I still can't believe it ... the name is pronounced sha-thee-id. How is that spelled, do you think? Give it some time. Then see below.

Shithead. Yes - Shithead.

[Gazelle]

Trendy names annoy the Hell out of me, too.

A friend is naming her son Kaden. What the Hell is that?

But then I try to remember that all words were made up.

All words.

[Gazelle]

Originally posted by Achernar
People, I have a request.

Someone's name can be a very personal thing, so please don't make fun of anyone's name; you might as well be making fun of how they look.

If you're not fond of a name, that's fine, and by all means say so. But saying, "Bleeech!" or "What were her parents thinking?!" or even "I hate that name. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!" is being insensitive. Some of the posts to this thread I consider offensive, but they're confined (for the most part) to the first page or so, so hopefully they're out of everyone's system.

Thank you. :) Whoops, read this after I lambasted "Kaden."

I hear what you're saying, Achernar and I would never tell my friend I don't like the name. I don't think she posts here... If she does, I'm sorry. It's not awful, just not a name I would choose.

::slinking sheepishly away::

[Quasimodal]

Just a general question about names that has been irking me for awhile now. I understand when shortening names you usually take a derivative of the first syllable (Jonathan becomes Jon, Raymond, becomes ray, etc)

How come Elizabeth turns into Betty? And how does Richard turn into Dick?

Just curious.

[belladonna]

Dick I'm not so sure, but Elizabeth--->Beth--->Bette--->Betty
also Eliza, Liz, Liza, etc.

For another "nickname" that seems completely out of the blue, how about "Penny" from Margaret? That's one I've come across quite a few times in older women.

[sirkle]

My parents managed to get four fairly good names four my siblings and I. Well, for my three siblings at least. I was named after my father, but rather than be called Junior, or Little Eric, they called me Hoss. (The origins of me being called this are lost, everyone I've asked has a differant reason.) I went by Hoss until I started elementary school, at which time my mother informed me that they would probably call me Eric at school, and asked if that was OK? I just thought it was really cool that I had a differant name, so, jumped on it, and wanted everyone to call me Eric. After a while I got sick of it, and wanted to go back to Hoss, but once someone has it in your midn that that's your name, that's what it is to them. The result, I pretty much go by both. However, at college the only people who call me Hoss are my friend from HS.

My siblings names, Bodie Shane, Jentre Jan, and Josey Leesa (the Leesa being a combination of two of my aunts names.)

Names I like: Abbigail, Gabbriella, and Jaqueline for girls, for boys, Cortland, Floyd, and Matterych.

[Green Bean]

Originally posted by Achernar
People, I have a request.

Someone's name can be a very personal thing, so please don't make fun of anyone's name; you might as well be making fun of how they look.

If you're not fond of a name, that's fine, and by all means say so. But saying, "Bleeech!" or "What were her parents thinking?!" or even "I hate that name. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!" is being insensitive. Some of the posts to this thread I consider offensive, but they're confined (for the most part) to the first page or so, so hopefully they're out of everyone's system.

Thank you. :) Achernar, please meet me in the Pit (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=179019). Thank you.

[HoviBaby]

Ive been trying to convince my wife to go with warlord/despot/dictator/conqueror names for our children. Ive suggested (and I am serious)

Alexander
Hussein (this ones getting tougher tosell every minute)
Evita (Madonna made her pretty!!!)
Hannibal (no chance)
and my personal favorite: Napoleon.

If I had my way, my children would be picked on for the rest of their lives. Makes um tougher.

Go back about your buisness

[Agrippina]

Originally posted by Ceejaytee
My son is Aaron George, a nice old-fashioned name. If we could just get past all the people who think his name is "Erin" we would be set.

That's strange. My name is "Erin" and growing up everyone thought it was "Aaron". I still get that. When someone is writing down my name they ask, "A-a-r-o-n?" and I have to correct them.

I have strange tastes in boys' names. I like "Leif" , "Wolfgang", or "Augustus". If I had to pick more traditional I would pick "Alexander" or "Benjamin". For girls I like "Clarice" or "Eleanor".

As for nicknames, I always thought the nickname "Corky" for "Charles" was kind of bizarre. A neat nickname for a kid, but kind of odd for an adult.

[Agrippina]

Originally posted by HoviBaby
Hannibal (no chance)

I think Hannibal would be an awesome name, except of the new stamp of infamy it's had for the past twelve years. You wouldn't want your kid to be called a "Cannibal" on the schoolyard. :D

[benson]

Originally posted by Gazelle
A friend is naming her son Kaden. What the Hell is that?


My aunt and uncle named their son Kadin. Our last name sucks too so he's going to have to spell his whole name for everyone his entire life. Last year my step-grandfather died and the obituary listed all of his surviving relatives, including step-grandchildren. Kadin was listed as "Katie". :rolleyes: They had another baby in January, and named her Marlies Jamena. Marlies is my aunt's middle name so I'll give them that but Jamena? Huh?

The little boy I take care of goes to some playschool thing with about 12 other kids. THREE of them are named Connor.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Originally posted by bean_shadow
I think Hannibal would be an awesome name, except of the new stamp of infamy it's had for the past twelve years. You wouldn't want your kid to be called a "Cannibal" on the schoolyard. :D

Hannibal is destined to be rhymed with Cannibal, references to popular culture notwithstanding.

[Rick]

Originally posted by Podkayne
[Sean Connery]We named the dog Indiana![/Sean Connery]


We did! Our dog is Indiana Bones or Indy for short.

Our son is Christopher (named after his grandfather) and our daughter is Jennifer Lynn. In my defense Lynn is my wife's middle name.
::: Hangs head in shame:::

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Okay, this thread is getting huge, and it's irksome names for CHILDREN. Why are we irked by what other people are naming their children?

Some people clearly WANT their children's names to be irksome! River? Picabo? Madonna? Dweezil? and I mentioned Twist in a previous post.

SDMB, a great choice if you're looking for an irksome name. But if you really want to annoy people, make the name up!

[istara]

Originally posted by Avarie537
This is all reminding me of my freshman dorm floor ...

Very small college (about 2500). TWELVE rooms on our floor - about 20 girls. And we had: Kristie, Krista, Kristin, Kristen, and Christina. w00t!!
Your college must be the one that spams my hotmail account with all that Hot College Girl Free XXX Webcam Action spam. They are always called "Kristy" (or "Kristi". And Bambi and Tiffani).

I agree with nearly every comment in this long thread re bad names. I *loathe* surname names. Save for naming the heroes in a Mills & Boon, they should never see the light of day.

Right now I hugely like Amberin as a girl's name. I believe it's Turkish, at least that's the country where the only person I know called it is from.

[Ludo]

I highly recommend Logan as a name for any child. I've only met one other Logan in my 21 years, and I even get the occasional "neat name" remark.




The only problem is with the select few who have seen Logan's Run...which is where my parents got the name from(if they'd waited another year, I'd be a Luke...bleeech)

[LifeOnWry]

Hm. Logan, aged 21.... your middle name isn't Rose, is it? If it is, I think I knew your dad (not in THAT way, I mean I think I was acquainted with him.)

[LifeOnWry]

Oh, duh. You said you'd be a Luke if you'd been born a year later. That probably should have been my clue that you're male, huh?

Please disregard my previous post. But I did know of a Logan Rose once, and she'd be about your age.

[teemingONE]

not caring what any of you may think, I will be naming a daughter of mine Syndel/ Sindel or Soda. Or I might just name a son Soda. (it stuck with me after reading The Outsiders, I think thats the name)

[Marley23]

That's great, Shirley, my neighbors have a dog named Bailey.
The last name-first name thing is something I make fun of a lot, which is very stupid of me given that my name actually is Marley. Oh well, there are a LOT of these last names passing for first names now, and if I can say so, many are less creative. (Of course, a great number of first names started life as surnames.)
To get more to the point, why are so many people naming their kids Mackenzie these days?
Some names are just way too popular. I think everyone here went to school with at least 15 Matthews, Johns, Jacobs, and Christophers, right? ;) I like some of the popular girls names, but the good ones are getting overused. At school, I live in a dorm of 118 people, and there are FIVE Katies (four Katherines, all spelled that way, and one Kathleen). I've been meeting a ton of Emilys lately, too, including my girlfriend.
When naming kids - and obviously have none, so here goes nothing - the #1 thing to avoid is a currently trendy name. Some of the 'classics' are constant; there will always be Marys and such. But right now, for example, Dylan is WAY too big. I like the name, but enough is enough. Tyler - and I have a brother named Tyler (my parents lamented that they didn't know EVERYBODY was going to name their child Tyler that year) - also needs a rest. K/Caitly/in (I also have a friend with this name) needs a break, Ashleigh/y/ley, Brit/tany/ey, Taylor (wtf?)...
Last thought: anybody naming their kid Britney is making a HUGE mistake. The famous Britney will be gone soon, and the name will linger as a joke identifying stupid parents who can't spell Brittany right. =P