# First names: the good, the bad and the fugly **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423 "2015-08-21T12:34:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/21 "2015-08-21T15:57:57Z")
Beulah - just not a pretty name ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/22 "2015-08-21T16:04:11Z")
My wife talked me out of naming our baby boy Dexter. I thought it was different (it has an ‘x’ in it!) and unique. Then a few years later Showtime had a series named … _Dexter_. He became Gregory instead. I had an Aunt Gladys and an Aunt Esther. To me they’ll remain names from a much older generation. My mother was Alice, which I hear is picking up in popularity in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/23 "2015-08-21T16:05:28Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What about people who never use first names? Like “J. Rondolph Blatz”? If they dislike their names, why not change them? Family stuff sometimes. A friend was named Thomas Donald and went by T Donald but insisted on being called Don. The basic story is he was named for a “beloved uncle” who he totally despised. To actually legally change it would have caused a family fight; doing it the way he did/does he can claim its to keep people from confusing him with his uncle. As for me, I’m glad that Vsevlods and first names that are basically letters (Jay, Kay) have faded since my generation. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/24 "2015-08-21T16:07:54Z")
My grandmother was named Bathsheba and my grandfather was Usher Mordechai. She was called Bessie and he Morris or Moish. All those can be discarded. I knew a couple who named their first son Hilsdane Hrothgar. They can be retired. My son wanted to name their youngest, if a girl (they chose to remain ignorant), Hazel, but my DIL balked. I think that is a pretty name. In the event, it was Noah. Once I spent a year at a school who had two secretaries with the same last name (they were in fact MIL and DIL). The younger was named Mary and the older Janet. To me this was cognitive dissonance since in my generation Janet was a girl’s name and Mary an older lady’s name. Whoops, Janet was from my generation. Names do cycle. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/25 "2015-08-21T16:27:18Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#): > > Beulah - just not a pretty name I had a great aunt Beulah. Now, come on. I know it was a different time, but how could you ever sit around thinking of baby names and go, “Beulah…Beulah…yes, that’s perfect!” Same (or worse) with Gertrude, Hortense, and Dorcas. Those are just plain ugly, I don’t care how popular they were at the time. Hortense: I mean, _really_ now. It sounds like a noise coming from a barn. Agree with Mildred. Ick. I have an aunt with the middle name of Millicent, and that’s pretty heinous, too. Millie is kind of cute, but there are cuter Flapper-era names you could go with, if that’s your thing. Esther isn’t bad, I agree. Ethel, though, please don’t. George. Alvin. Elwin. Dwight. Orville. Arthur. Arnold. Herbert. Marvin. Melvin. Norman. Irving. Virgil. Vernon. Hubert. No no no no no. No. Oddly, I don’t mind Hugh. It’s more gentle; you say it with a sigh. Maude, too – that elongated vowel sound can be said in a pleasant way. That’s my litmus test, I guess. Can you imagine this name being spoken in a tender, loving voice, and have it sound good? I can imagine cooing to a baby or sighing in a lover’s ear, “_Hugh_,” and being okay with the sound, but “_Hubert_” is just dire. “Oh, _Ashley_” – Scarlett O’Hara proved this works. “Oh, _Lindsey_,” doesn’t have the same mellifluousness. Its vowels are too compressed. Tiffany, Whitney, Brittany have the same problem. Despite the glut of -ayden names, that phoneme is pleasant to my ears. My name is Regina, which I’ve always hated because of that soft G in the middle. The Spanish “Reina” is much better for omitting the G altogether. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/26 "2015-08-21T16:30:54Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Or starting with “Kay-” > > I wanted to name my daughter “Misery” but was talked out of it. I still think it’s pretty and kinda fitting too. I like “Sorrow” for a name, myself, but outside of a novel about Puritans it shouldn’t be given to a person. Maybe my next cat… ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/27 "2015-08-21T16:51:24Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I had a great aunt Beulah. Now, come on. I know it was a different time, but how could you ever sit around thinking of baby names and go, “Beulah…Beulah…yes, that’s perfect!” > > Same (or worse) with Gertrude, Hortense, and Dorcas. Those are just plain ugly, I don’t care how popular they were at the time. Hortense: I mean, _really_ now. It sounds like a noise coming from a barn. > > Agree with Mildred. Ick. I have an aunt with the middle name of Millicent, and that’s pretty heinous, too. Millie is kind of cute, but there are cuter Flapper-era names you could go with, if that’s your thing. Esther isn’t bad, I agree. Ethel, though, please don’t. > > George. Alvin. Elwin. Dwight. Orville. Arthur. Arnold. Herbert. Marvin. Melvin. Norman. Irving. Virgil. Vernon. Hubert. No no no no no. No. > > Oddly, I don’t mind Hugh. It’s more gentle; you say it with a sigh. Maude, too – that elongated vowel sound can be said in a pleasant way. > > That’s my litmus test, I guess. Can you imagine this name being spoken in a tender, loving voice, and have it sound good? I can imagine cooing to a baby or sighing in a lover’s ear, “_Hugh_,” and being okay with the sound, but “_Hubert_” is just dire. > > “Oh, _Ashley_” – Scarlett O’Hara proved this works. “Oh, _Lindsey_,” doesn’t have the same mellifluousness. Its vowels are too compressed. Tiffany, Whitney, Brittany have the same problem. Despite the glut of -ayden names, that phoneme is pleasant to my ears. > > My name is Regina, which I’ve always hated because of that soft G in the middle. The Spanish “Reina” is much better for omitting the G altogether. You had me up until Maude. I cannot hear this in my head without it being said in Mr. Ed’s voice. Hugh is a bit awkward to me also (do you suppose Donald Trump pronounces it “You” ?). ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/28 "2015-08-21T18:34:47Z")
I had a whole family full of gawdawful names. On both sides. I was told my parents wanted to name me after a family member. Here were some of the choices: Mathilda, Heike, Gertruda, Berthe, Irma, Mildred, Millie, Bettinka, Marvlin Thankfully I had a great-grandmother with a fairly ‘normal’ sounding name. I really dodged a bullet name-wise. I rather like the convention of giving children last names as first names, if the last names lend themselves to that. Here at work in the younger generation we have a Sterling, a Taylor, and a Wilson. One of my oldest and dearest friends is a musician married to another musician. They named their daughter Echo, which I think is lovely. I think the name Stella is very pretty, but I wouldn’t name a child that due to its association with cranky old women. I also like the name Lenore, which is having a mini-revival. But other kids might not be kind to a child with that name. I purely hate cutsie pie names like Tiffany and Princess. Someday these babies will grown into mature women who will hope to be taken seriously. Who will do that with such names? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/29 "2015-08-21T18:37:19Z")
I always like “Algernon” or “Aerfwulf”. Or how about “Sholto”? ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/30 "2015-08-21T18:52:43Z")
Thanks for the education on the name Nimrod. Interesting, and I’ll try to remember that if I ever meet one. Nobody’s mentioned the name Buford, which I think sounds like the noise you make praying to the porcelain god after drinking too much. My great grandmother’s name was May Belle, which I always thought was beautiful. Not Mabel, which is ugly… May Belle, with a slight pause between the syllables and emphasis on the bell. Makes me want to serve her a Julep. Oh, just for laughs… on a holiday tour a few weeks ago our group visited Inverary castle in Scotland. One of our group could NOT say the word without hearing it 3 seconds before she attempted it, and for the entire week-long trip our guide would pop-quiz her. She kept trying Iver… Iamary… Invem… Toward the end of the tour, the guide teased her by suggesting her daughter have a baby girl and name her Inverary and that way Gramma would HAVE to learn how to say it. After a yummy whisky, I piped up and said, no you should name the baby Mary Inverary, and the music of that made us all die laughing. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/31 "2015-08-21T19:11:07Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I had a whole family full of gawdawful names. On both sides. I was told my parents wanted to name me after a family member. Here were some of the choices: > > Mathilda, Heike, Gertruda, Berthe, Irma, Mildred, Millie, Bettinka, Marvlin > > Thankfully I had a great-grandmother with a fairly ‘normal’ sounding name. I really dodged a bullet name-wise. > > I rather like the convention of giving children last names as first names, if the last names lend themselves to that. Here at work in the younger generation we have a Sterling, a Taylor, and a Wilson. > > One of my oldest and dearest friends is a musician married to another musician. They named their daughter Echo, which I think is lovely. > > I think the name Stella is very pretty, but I wouldn’t name a child that due to its association with cranky old women. I also like the name Lenore, which is having a mini-revival. But other kids might not be kind to a child with that name. > > I purely hate cutsie pie names like Tiffany and Princess. Someday these babies will grown into mature women who will hope to be taken seriously. Who will do that with such names? _Bettinka_? _Marvlin_? At least I’ve heard of the other ones. I mean, they aren’t good but I’ve heard of them. I agree with Stella and I like Estelle and a combo of the two - Estella. I think I generally like names that end in the short “a” sound, such as Laura, and not in the “ee” sound, such as Shari (my name). I like Sharon but not Sheryl, Caroline but not Carolynn and Catherine but not Kathleen. For males names, I seem to not be attracted to ones in end in “ard” such as Howard, Willard, Leonard, Edward, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/32 "2015-08-21T19:16:48Z")
I knew an Ashley once. She was wonderful. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Does anyone name their daughters Agnes any more? Well, if nothing else, there’s [Agnes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLDj7Is-3wo). ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/33 "2015-08-21T21:10:18Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > _Bettinka_? _Marvlin_? Bet(t)inka is a Slovak variant for Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/34 "2015-08-21T21:25:23Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I like “Sorrow” for a name, myself, but outside of a novel about Puritans it shouldn’t be given to a person. Maybe my next cat… You could always go for Dolores. Meaning sorrow. I once knew a Dolores. Light of my life, fire of my… no wait, that [wasn’t me](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita). ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/35 "2015-08-21T21:26:08Z")
My personal opinion is that any name that includes ‘retch’ should be banished. [ul] [li]Gretchen[/li][/ul] Also: [ul] [li]Mertle[/li][li]Gertrude[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/36 "2015-08-21T21:28:18Z")
Hari Seldon: > [@](#): > > My grandmother was named Bathsheba and my grandfather was Usher Mordechai. … All those can be discarded. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/37 "2015-08-21T21:33:17Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Gretchen It’s a [hypocorism](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypocorism) (there’s your fancy pants word of the day that I just learned two seconds ago) for Margaret. I don’t like it either, though, but that’s because I don’t like any diminutives or cutesy versions of names used as full names. Call your kid snugglymuffins all you like in private, but at least give her/him a proper, big name on paper. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/38 "2015-08-21T22:16:29Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > You had me up until Maude. I cannot hear this in my head without it being said in Mr. Ed’s voice. Hugh is a bit awkward to me also (do you suppose Donald Trump pronounces it “You” ?). I suspect opinions on “Maude” will split into two camps, depending on whether the name evokes Tennyson or Bea Arthur. > [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I had a whole family full of gawdawful names. On both sides. I was told my parents wanted to name me after a family member. Here were some of the choices: > > Mathilda, Heike, Gertruda, Berthe, Irma, Mildred, Millie, Bettinka, Marvlin > > Thankfully I had a great-grandmother with a fairly ‘normal’ sounding name. I really dodged a bullet name-wise. Slavic names generally sound harsh and grating to me, but some Czech and Slovak names work really well: Marek, Jiri, Jan, Pavel. > [@](#): > > One of my oldest and dearest friends is a musician married to another musician. They named their daughter Echo, which I think is lovely. She’ll end up with a narcissist, mark my words. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/39 "2015-08-21T22:34:13Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > My personal opinion is that any name that includes ‘retch’ should be banished. > [ul] > [li]Gretchen[/li][/ul] > Also: > [ul] > [li]Mertle[/li][li]Gertrude[/li][/ul] Ha, my great grandmother Gertrude named her first daughter Myrtle 🙂 Anyway, we also need to ban any containing ‘dence’ or ‘dense’. I’m looking at you, Kadence and Prudence (kids we knew through kinder). ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423/40 "2015-08-21T22:58:25Z")
[QUOTE= Slavic names generally sound harsh and grating to me, but some Czech and Slovak names work really well: Marek, Jiri, Jan, Pavel. She’ll end up with a narcissist, mark my words.[/QUOTE] I have two female second cousins names Jolana and Pavia. That’s how you do a female slavic name properly. Very soft and lilting names. As to Echo, she’s grown up to be a lovely young lady. She’s an elementary school music teacher. And, speaking as her godmother, I’m happy she didn’t marry a young man whose last name was Locater. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fugly/728423.md?page=3)