And I just remembered that his mother pronounced it, and I am not making this up, “Duh-wayne.”
My wife (a Southern person without an accent) finds it funny how Southerners can find two syllables in a one-syllable word. My name has three letters. Her dad says it with two syllables. Well, this woman to whom I referred seemed to think there was an extra vowel between the D and W in her son’s name. It drove me up the wall. Not only could she not spell it, she couldn’t pronounce it, either!
My real name is Maverick and I love it. I am surprised that it is on one of these lists simply because it is so unusual that I have never met another one.
Here is an annoying first name that was given to one of my mom’s niece’s kids: Josiah.
I just can’t stand it.
Actually, Elizabeth is sort of what I consider to be the default middle name nowadays. May I ask how old you are? I’m 20, and it seems as though every girl in my classes had the middle name Elizabeth, including me. Of course, I had an excuse - Elizabeth is also my mom’s first name. 
As for names I hate - anything trendy and/or that shows up on “Baby’s Named a Bad, Bad Thing.” I roll my eyes at overused names that have mangled spellings in an attempt to make them yooneek (MaddyCynn), but I especially loathe names that obviously do not correspond with the child’s heritage. I find this most with upper-middle class women who give their kids Native American names (“We’re 1/128 Cherokee, you know”) or Welsh/Irish names (which are fine if you’re actually from Wales or Ireland, but if you’re an American you look pretentious and your child sounds like a character from The Lord of the Rings).
That should read “upper middle class white women.”
I have lived too long, if that last statement is true.
When I was in high school, every other girl was named Debbie/Cindy/Pam. So I guess these things go in cycles. Twenty-odd years ago, we thought we were being creative in naming our son Nick, but now you can’t swing a cat without hitting a 20-year-old Nick.
And (to whoever it was, I can’t find the post) – for what it’s worth, probably 90% of Americans don’t realize that Prudence is a noun.
I live in Texas and know at least 4 Mavericks.
The clean-cut young evangelical couple over the back fence have a Josiah. He’s the cutest baby ever, though, which kinda makes up for the name.
This has been an extremely popular middle name in England since, oooh, about 1953. I couldn’t imagine why 
There is a hysterically funny piece floating on the internet – someone took all the high school seniors who signed Letters of Intent to play college football (last Feb 1), and pointed out the particularly absurd names with humorous commentary. I’ll see if I can find it.
I was reminded today of a horrible name someone I know named their baby. (Reminded because I try to block this persoon out as much as possible)
Anyway, the name is Cowen.
Hysterical!
Really bad part is, they live in Colorado, south Denver. Cheyenne is what? a three hour drive away? They know how it’s spelled. Bastards. And they call her Shy-Shy, just because kids need nicknames, ya know. Then wonder why she’s reserved around adults. :rolleyes:
We’re hoping she goes by Anne when she’s older, as well.
Back in my day (child of the '60s), lots of parents wanted their kids to be individuals, too, but they didn’t all give them ridiculous names (unless they were Frank Zappa). Some of the most singular people of my generation are Lauras, Roberts, Elizabeths, Jameses, Michaels, Carolyns.
Names are an expression of the common culture, fashion, and parents’ hopes for their children and the future. This latter aspect has really taken a beating, which is something a cultural critic might wish to chew on. The “individual” names of today are more childlike than before, suggesting a “cocooning” instinct and a turning inwards, away from the world - except perhaps from the world of fantasy that TV brings into the home, which makes one wonder how “individual” the parents’ hopes and wishes really are.
Just saw another one on TV that I really don’t like: Cress. Is that supposed to be short for Watercress?
At the sumer program where I work, there’s Wolf, Tiger, Major, and General. All in different classes, of course, but there’s abviously some kind of masculine theme.
Maybe Cressida? Which in and of itself would suck.
I read “Jaramiya” in a news article a couple days ago. Took me a little while to figure it out.
I’ve never met a Jodie with an IQ above room temperature, and I’ve met a glut of developmentally disabled little boys named Jacob, Justin, and Joshua, so I don’t think I’d ever use any of those four names on a child I liked. Other “J” names, maybe, but not those.
In general, I don’t like Kre8ive spellings, place names (except Paris- which Ms Hilton is tainting- China and oddly enough, London) or last-names-as-first-names-for-girls.
What I do like are names that end in “n”, much like my own. 
Oh, the ShyAnne reminds me of something…somewhere in this state there’s a cute little girl named Brookelynn. Well, I asume she’s still cute, but I haven’t seen her in about 5 years.
When I was in high school (late 1990s) I worked in a coffee shop. One afternoon a woman came in with an adorable baby boy and I asked what his name was.
“Atticus” she said
“Oh, what a nice name. To Kill A Mockingbird is such a wonderful book.”
“Oh… yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever read that one… just liked the name…”
Where else would you come up with the name Atticus?
I find all of these comments about “unique” spellings to be very interesting. My friend’s niece is named “Juliana” but spelled with several extra vowels in there. Poor kid. My own name (given in 1983) is Emilee. I think its a pain in the butt, but at lease it is phonetic. And I can just say “Emily, but double e at the end instead of a y,” without having to explain silent 'h’es and whatever else. Are there different levels of uniqueness, some of which are acceptable? Is Emilee really on par with Mykynzy? (Which, come to think of it, really reminds me of Kyrgyzstan).
My sister spells her name “Lizz.”
Why?
No, really. Why?
I hate my middle name. Frances…ICK.
Horrid name name.
To all those hating the Irish, Scottish names…my son’s name is Callum. His father was Scottish. Ok or wanky?
I love it but I always like to know if I am wanky 