I knew a Candida. She changed her name to Mildred.
There was a USAF general named Richard Head.
I worked with a nurse once, years ago. Her name was Malena. A truly unfortunate name for a nurse.
I think I’ve posted this one before, but the worst-spelled name I’ve ever seen was a boy a year below me in high school whose name was Stevephen.
I guess they couldn’t decide between Steven and Stephen, so they went with both? It was pronounced “Steven,” but it sure as hell looks like “Steve-uh-vin” to me.
My middle name is Barbara Ann. However, I was born in the mid-80s, so it wasn’t used by my classmates to tease me. They used damn near everything else though 
I hate hate hate quirky or cute or original names. It didn’t used to bother me, but now it’s one of my top 5 pet peeves. I think my hatred of it has grown because there are just too many. When there was just the occasional non-traditional name, it would be kind of cool. Now it seems like a contest as to who can come up with the worst possible thing. They’re everywhere and they’re multiplying.
When I take my kid to the park or activities, I literally have to turn my head sometimes to bust out a laugh or an eye roll.
I think original spellings piss me off even more than made up names or appropriations.
The name I went on a tear about yesterday was “Rylan”. It’s not even that bad of a name, but now any made up Cabbage Patch Kid name to me is like nails on a chalkboard.
Rylan isn’t a new or made up name. It’s Irish/English, and became popular here over 20 years ago.
ETA: Some charts have it appearing in the mid-1960s.
I gave my kids Hebrew names:
Avraham
Chaim
Tzivya
The boys (the first two) have middle names that are common enough among Orthodox Jews, but my daughter’s middle name is uncommon even in that group – Machla (with the “ch” pronounced as in the German “ach.”)
Zev Steinhardt
Meaning…?
Which is probably one of the oldest fucked-up names out there to begin with; being a typo or mistake on Walter Scott’s part when writing “Ivanhoe.”
The real name’s Cerdic, not Cedric.
It’s actually Biblical. It was the name of one of Tzelophchad’s daughters. See the last chapter of Numbers.
She was named after my grandmother and Lisa’s grandmother.
Zev Steinhardt
Meh. Naming a baby these days is too complicated. You want, of course, something classic. But definitely not something in the top 10, or the top 20. And there is always a fresh round of “classic but not overplayed” names that are perpetually breaking through to the big time. So we end up with parents agonizing over if their kid is going to be the 3rd Holden or Amelia in class, forever unable to hit the always-moving popular-unpopular sweet spot.
Screw it. Like a name? Is it a word you can say on television? Go for it.
Ah cool. For a second there I thought the root was same as for “machala”, and did a double-take. But then, Christians have Dolores, so why not.
Hey, I love the meaning of Dolores. I actually liked the name way more after I learned its meaning (before that I just vaguely thought of it as an old lady name, since my gramma had a friend named Dolores).
Heh, my grandma is a Dolores and so are two of her daughters (the eldest who died and the youngest) and my cousin. Grandma has a superstition against giving the name of living people to a child so she always makes it very clear that she named her children Dolores because she likes it, not because it’s her name.
I know people who upon hearing of Candida Albicans (which in Spanish is pronounced the same way) asked “why is it called white/innocent?”; the infection is called candidiasis. The name has the masculine Cándido as well: the current Secretary General of Spain’s biggest union is called Cándido Méndez (which also gives rise to its share of puns because, really, an innocent politician/union leader?).
Marciano/a is quite an old name, the Marcial variant is more common for boys. It’s actually from Latin, “of Mars” as in the god not the planet.
If Hispanic, most likely short for María Elena, could also be a Magdalena. Why unfortunate? I’m missing the reference.
Mulva?
“These are my kids. Say hi, Timberly and Kimothy.”
Heh. My niece was bemoaning the fact that she’ll never be able to get pre-made stuff with her kids’ names on them because she gave them both oddly-spelled versions. Oh well.
Admittedly my own child will have the same problem but she just has a moderately-obscure name (and one that has gone out of fashion in its country of origin, I’m told), although she shares it with a well-known US celeb. I didn’t need to add three Ys and an extra Q to give it character.
Was’nt there a Confederate general called “States Rights” something?
I saw a “Kali” once. Named after the goddess. Its also used about the same way as “negress”.