# Don't name your child after a JOKE in a TOM HANKS MOVIE! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896 "2002-09-04T01:08:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/281 "2004-04-28T00:44:38Z")
I’m not sure who I feel the most sorry for in that story. Thaddeus Scheel? Ouch. Place names are an old thing… the first settler child born in Roanoke was named Virginia Dare. ---
**Author:** ![The\_27th\_Evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ebca7d/32.png) [@The\_27th\_Evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_27th_Evil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/282 "2004-04-28T03:35:36Z")
Some of you might like this site: [http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames](http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames) It’s called “Baby’s named a bad bad thing” ---
**Author:** ![htns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/283 "2004-04-28T04:08:15Z")
Good thing I’m named James Edward…good old traditional British names (first and middle names). ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/284 "2004-04-28T04:27:04Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > "A “Ciera” is a car. I hope he doesn’t name his third child “Corolla.” (Hope I didn’t mess that quote up.) I may have mentioned this some time previously in a different thread, but I came across someone who named their kid “Lexus Mercedes” for her first and middle names. Without going into details which might get me in trouble, suffice it to say that the context in which I came across this person suggested that she had just about as much brains and class as you might expect from a person who’d do this to their daughter. (BTW, that is **NOT** a dig at Ciera or her parents.) For those who think Tiffany is bad, how about “Tiffanee”? Then there are those people who think it’s cute to name their twins something like “Darrell” and “Darryl” or “Darrelle.” Smart move, folks. Hope for the children’s sake that one of them doesn’t end up with either a bad credit record or a police record, or the other one will be saddled with all kinds of trouble down the line. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/285 "2004-04-28T11:56:41Z")
How about Holly? Could I name my hypothetical girl Holly? ---
**Author:** ![htns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/286 "2004-04-28T12:06:12Z")
Dunno if I mentioned this or not, but **DeLorean** would make a great girl’s name. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/287 "2004-04-28T12:12:43Z")
There’s a well-known French horse trainer called Cricket Head. She’s the only Cricket I’ve heard of. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/288 "2004-04-28T12:26:19Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > I know a Kayla who’s probably 50 or 60 years old. Anecdotal, I know, and I have no idea how her family came up with it. But I thought I’d drop it in the mix here. I know a Kaila whose father is Indian-South African and the kids were all given Indian names - just throwing that into the mix as well. Also I always thought MacKenzie was a _surname_. At least all names beginning with Mc or Mac here are surnames and they come from the same derivatives. Irish and Scots-Gaelic are quite similar. On another note my cousins are the big followers of US trends even though they’re Irish. One named her daughter Madison about 2 yrs ago. Another named her daughter McKenna (no family connection with that name and no precedent in family of naming kids with surnames like this either). Another named her kid Kate-lyn and another was called Ashley (girl). My Aunt and Uncle lived in San Francisco for about 10 yrs when they were first married and now it seems like the whole family thinks they’re American even though the youngest _six_ of them were born and bred in Ireland 😃 BTW Keira/ Ciera is a real name - I think they’re anglicised spellings of the common Irish name Ciara (which is the feminine form of Ciarán, sometimes spelt Kieran - though to be extra-pedantic the name should be pronounced Keerawn) As regards funny names seen recently in the Irish Times Births section how about ‘Mungo, brother for Rafferty’ (a blasted surname again!). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Achilles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dc4da7/32.png) [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/289 "2004-04-28T12:39:01Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > Middle name? Micheal. Not “Michael”…“Micheal.” > > **shudder** There’s nothing wrong with the name “Micheal” - it’s Irish for Michael. As for “Michela” (and the other spellings) - it’s just the Italian feminine form of Michael. - cf. “Maria” and “Mario”, “Angela” & “Angelo”. “Michela” as a name is c. 1500 years old. Some of you people are quite ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/290 "2004-04-28T20:51:04Z")
Well, my nickname is Kricket and my given name is Kristine. I go more by my nickname than my given and I wasn’t given that nickname by my parents but a friend, and not even like Belladonna said, it was random. 😃 I get alot of people ask how I got the name, or they ask things like “Cricket from that soap opera?” or “where is Buddy Holly?” Maybe the people that Silver Serpentine was talking about named their child after the soap opera? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/291 "2004-04-28T21:40:39Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > How about Holly? Could I name my hypothetical girl Holly? Yes. Holly is acceptable. Provided: a) Your last name isn’t something like “Bush” or “Branch.” b) Your last name doesn’t begin with an H and end in a y. She’s going to be called Holly Hobby no matter what you do, but don’t give her a name that _begs_ for it. c) You aren’t Jewish. Holly is a name that evokes Christmas, and I, personally, think it sounds totally weird for a Jewish person to have a “Christ-y” name. Noelle Cohen? Yikes. (How long will it take for someone to declare that their child’s name is Christopher Rosenberg and _it’s just beayootiful!_) ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/292 "2004-04-29T14:12:48Z")
I knew people with the names Steele Beam, Crystal White, and April May. Guess I’m more of a traditionalist. I don’t mind unusual so much, but some people really are WAY out when they choose names. I hate “cutsie” spellings designed to make other people look stupid when they spell the name in the usual manner (OK, that’s how it seems, anyway!). And for pity’s sake, your child isn’t supposed to be the target of your need to be clever! Just ask people like Robin Banks and Snow White how much fun _that_ is. BTW, my kids names? Charlotte Nicole Jason Nicholas Sheila Marie ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/293 "2004-04-29T14:52:39Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > As regards funny names seen recently in the Irish Times Births section how about ‘Mungo, brother for Rafferty’ (a blasted surname again!). 😃 St. Mungo is the patron saint of Glasgow. You can blame "Blazing Saddles for it’s comedic effect 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/294 "2004-04-29T14:54:28Z")
> [@htns](#): > > Good thing I’m named James Edward…good old traditional British names (first and middle names). I suggested James to my… aquaintance when she was pregnant, and she declared that it was a “poofy” name, and that anyone named James would turn out gay :rolleyes: Later, she asked me what I thought of O’Neill. I took pleasure in telling her that it was wanky as a given name, as it is a surname. I could not call someone O’Neill without feeling like I was taking the piss. I don’t care what she thinks, I absolutely love the name James. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896/295 "2004-04-29T15:48:51Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t doubt that “Madison” rising to #2 on the list is herding instinct, but it was in fact started by “Splash.” Its appearance in 1990 precisely coincides with when people who were kids/teenswhen “Splash” came out would first start naming their own kids. That would also explain the Samanthas and Tabithas out there. I thought the same about the boy’s names, Angel and Connor, which were in the top fifty for last year. I forgot to check on the rankings of Willow and Xander, though. > [@RickJay](#): > > A “Ciera” is a car. I hope he doesn’t name his third child “Corolla”. I thought it was a creative spelling of the Celtic name, Ciara, which is roughly pronounced KEER-AH. But if it’s a creative spelling of Sierra, then it’s just too-too twee. I actually knew someone who named their child “Sobriety Renee”. This was back when I was active in AA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-name-your-child-after-a-joke-in-a-tom-hanks-movie/126896.md?page=14)