# Given Names -- What were they thinking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759 "2012-04-14T14:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/41 "2012-04-14T17:42:15Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Couldn’t they have simply spelled it Shen&doah? > [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > The ampersand don’t be silent! This has got to be the best so far! Maybe we need to work on some others like &ru Alex&r ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/42 "2012-04-14T17:42:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I have a son, I’m going to name him something traditional. Like &rew or R&y. “Rampersandy” made me giggle. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/43 "2012-04-14T17:58:01Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I’m pretty sure that is a story from the 1982 remake of the film “Cat People.” And an episode of Cagney & Lacey… There’s a woman in England with kids called Truth and Justice. No news on the arrival of American Way, but it’s early days yet (yes the parents’ are comicbook addicts) ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/44 "2012-04-14T18:09:27Z")
We have friends who named their two sons: Fisher and Hunter. I am waiting for them to have a third and name him Gatherer. Or maybe Farmer. Also - a person who works with my husband named: Elvis Mom ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/45 "2012-04-14T18:20:08Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I encountered a young woman whose first name was Shennon. Her middle name was Doah. Apparently, her parents thought Shenandoah was just too long for a first name. I’ve never seen a cite for it, but I once heard the granddaughter of the guy who founded Leer jets has a first name of Crystal & a middle name of Chanda; if it’s true, I bet she’s illuminating. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/46 "2012-04-14T18:39:33Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > [William #stone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Poundstone) > > Or would that be pronounced William Octothorpestone Hashstone, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/47 "2012-04-14T18:47:33Z")
Nitpick: it’s Lear jets; the founder was Bill Lear. I remember a MAD TV sketch where someone asks a kid how his name is spelled, and he says something like “q u e a v e _apostrophe_ a n” “and how is that pronounced?” “Kevin” ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/48 "2012-04-14T19:04:17Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Nitpick: it’s Lear jets; the founder was Bill Lear. > > I remember a MAD TV sketch where someone asks a kid how his name is spelled, and he says something like “q u e a v e _apostrophe_ a n” > > “and how is that pronounced?” > > “Kevin” Reminds me of [Myq Kaplan](http://myqkaplan.com/) (pronounced Mike Kaplan - I know… a strange way to spell Kaplan) ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/49 "2012-04-14T19:25:06Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > As a side note (as opposed to a spinoff thread) I always enjoy coming up with name combos like: This reminds me of some friends of my grandparents. Their names were Phillip and Priscilla, but they went by _Phil and Prill Rothermill_ I’ve posted before about the couple I went to school with, who went to Paris for their honeymoon, and she became pregnant on that trip. So naturally, they named their son Eiffel. Which you could argue isn’t so awful - except that their answer to “what an unusual name” is “Oh, we just love Paris. He was conceived in Paris.” Gah!. Really “we love Paris” is all the information anyone who wasn’t present at the conception needs. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/50 "2012-04-14T19:26:32Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Thankfully (we must hope) they skipped over Clitoris! I have often wondered how much thought Cloris Leachman’s parents gave to her name. > > By now everybody must have heard of the kid named Shithead (pronounced Shuh-Theed). 😃 My sister claims that not only is that story true, but the poor kid was in her class! (She used to teach in LA County.) ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/51 "2012-04-14T19:30:34Z")
> **[Is This Child's Name for Real?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/le-a/)** > > The tale of a mother who names her child 'Le-a,' which she insists be pronounced 'Ledasha.' ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/52 "2012-04-14T20:35:19Z")
I once substitute taught in a school in which a child’s name (first and last) was Pepper Salt. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/53 "2012-04-14T22:03:01Z")
> [@Crab\_Rangoon](#): > > We have friends who named their two sons: Fisher and Hunter. I am waiting for them to have a third and name him Gatherer. Or maybe Farmer. > > Also - a person who works with my husband named: Elvis Mom Can’t tell you how much I detest those names. I always have to bite my tongue to keep from asking if “Hunter” has a sister named “Plumber”, or perhaps “Market Researcher”. Fads suck, but people think they’re being so original. I remember the days of 14 Tiffanys in a classroom and 10 Tanyas. Now every other boy is either Hunter, Fisher, or Chance. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/54 "2012-04-14T22:39:57Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I know it’s the parents’ (or maybe the agent’s) fault for these things happening, but how would you like to be strapped with a name like [Hilaria?](http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/jaunt/alec-baldwin-fiancee-hilaria-thomas-pack-pda-rome-230014454.html) Actually, in Italy, Ilaria is a standard name - not the most common, but it definitely wouldn’t be considered at all weird. Hilaria (or Hilary) is just the Anglicised form of that. If her parents were Italian, they may have been giving her a fairly standard name that turned out not to cross the culture border as well as they thought. The Seriously Weird Names thing doesn’t seem to have taken off here the way it has in the US. Yet, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/55 "2012-04-14T22:44:07Z")
> [@Crab\_Rangoon](#): > > We have friends who named their two sons: Fisher and Hunter. I am waiting for them to have a third and name him Gatherer. Or maybe Farmer. It’s their daughter, Prostitute, who’s really had the burden. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/56 "2012-04-14T22:46:19Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Actually, in Italy, Ilaria is a standard name - not the most common, but it definitely wouldn’t be considered at all weird. Hilaria (or Hilary) is just the Anglicised form of that. If her parents were Italian, they may have been giving her a fairly standard name that turned out not to cross the culture border as well as they thought. > > The Seriously Weird Names thing doesn’t seem to have taken off here the way it has in the US. Yet, anyway. Thanks for pointing out the way to interpret her name. At first glance all I saw was “hilarious” which would be good for a stand-up comic. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/57 "2012-04-14T23:05:51Z")
Yeah, at first glance I just saw ‘Hilarity’, which would mainly be good for tedious puns about hilarity ensuing… The other one I’ve noticed that doesn’t seem to travel well is Aidan. Here (Ireland) that’s an old standard, classic to the point of verging on boring. It’s like naming your kid Daniel, or Matthew. But in the US, it seems to come across as ridiculous makey-uppy trendiness - probably because it gets lumped in with Jayden and Kayden and Braiden and blah blah blah. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/58 "2012-04-14T23:11:02Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I’ve never seen a cite for it, but I once heard the granddaughter of the guy who founded Leer jets has a first name of Crystal & a middle name of Chanda; if it’s true, I bet she’s illuminating. Close. Her given name is Shanda. She was born in 1944. Lear’s offspring are named Mary Louise, William, Jr., Patti, John, **Shanda** , David, and Tina. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/59 "2012-04-14T23:20:21Z")
I saw a picture of a tombstone with the name _Increase Clapp_. Perfectly normal in the olden days but damn funny now. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/60 "2012-04-14T23:21:12Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Actually, in Italy, Ilaria is a standard name Ilaria makes me think of malaria…which reminds me of the people I know who named their kids Sam and Ella. (Salmonella.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759.md?page=4)