# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/121 "2012-04-15T13:21:22Z")
double post ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/122 "2012-04-15T13:22:37Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Alas, no. Mystic came to watch her friend’s lessons all the time, they were of an age where sleepovers were A Big Deal. Nice kid, but very woo-woo new agey parents, apparently (according to student’s mom). It must be so disappointing to have a friend with a comic book hero name and yet no supernatural gifts at all. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/123 "2012-04-15T13:25:33Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > My ex-wife’s friend, who was a social worker in L.A, swore she once had to deal with a family with a daughter called Latrina. It’s perfectly possible that she was simply a Trina, but her family would stick the article in front when talking about her among themselves; we often do that to indicate “Trina as in ‘the first Trina you think of when you hear that name’”. _La Garbo_ = Greta; _la Lola_ = Flores; _la Rita_ when not speaking to my mother = Hayworth; _la Rita_ when speaking to my mother = her best friend. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > **Melena** is the black, tarry stool found in newborns that indicates internal bleeding. It’s also the Spanish word meaning “long mane”, so? Melina means “honey-like”. One of my last bosses was a Melina (called Meli); she was expecting a Melina-bis which we refered to as Melita (sounds like an Italian brand of coffeemakers). ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/124 "2012-04-15T13:45:29Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Amandla is not like the other names in your list. It’s a Zulu word for “power” and was a common refrain of the anti-Apartheid movement. So in that way, it’s actually kind of cool. It’s awkward only because of its similarity with “Amanda”. As someone who has a name that’s always confused with another, I find this more problematic than it’s exoticness. There’s always a name that’s not like the others on these lists. In fact many of these names are standard somewhere. it may be OK to point out that a name sounds funny to you but how about knocking off all the comments about implied ignorance, stupidity and lack of class. You’re only showing yourselves up. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/125 "2012-04-15T14:48:18Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > 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.** I have a Facebook FOAF whose kid’s named Kaydance. Since I can’t see their pics I can’t tell if it’s a boy or girl but either way I pity it. ---
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/126 "2012-04-15T14:55:34Z")
A man who worked with my aunt decades ago: Donald Dick Admittedly, he was born before the creation of Donald Duck, but it was still pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/127 "2012-04-15T15:37:45Z")
There was a cashier wearing a name tag with the name “Maleria”. I had to ask her to pronounce it- she said “Mallory, but it looks funny, don’t it?” ---
**Author:** ![SuperSmartAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@SuperSmartAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperSmartAlex)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/128 "2012-04-15T17:05:06Z")
I used to know someone who was called “Princess”. Her parents must have thought a lot of her, but it is a difficult name to live up to. I Roald Dahl’s autobiography “Going Solo” he wrote that he met a person called U.N.Savory. ---
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/129 "2012-04-15T18:31:25Z")
I think the “Nosmo King” stories come from the Ramona Quimby series, in which the title character (a young girl) tries to make a “No Smoking” sign but it ends up being split between lines as “Nosmo King”. Later, her father asks who this “Mr. King” is. I used to live across the hall from a family with a little girl named Miracle. I also knew someone with the first name Evans (not Evan, but Evans). I saw a Lewaynia and a female Dominek back when I lived in Detroit, amidst many other similar names. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Freakin\_Back\_Is\_Killing\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@My\_Freakin\_Back\_Is\_Killing\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Freakin_Back_Is_Killing_Me)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/130 "2012-04-15T20:40:14Z")
The funniest name I have encountered was on a TV show featuring the media liaison for the Miami, FL police dept. (I think that was his position) named…DaIrish Moss. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/131 "2012-04-15T21:25:37Z")
My coworker’s baby-daddy’s fiancee (got that?) name her baby girl Divine, because that’s her stripper stage name! ---
**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 15, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/132 "2012-04-15T21:43:48Z")
I went to school with a girl named Sandy Rhodes. She said her father went by “Dusty”. There was a set of red-headed twins named Jack and Jill, which I thought was downright cruel. In the Navy, I knew Darryl and his brother Ferrell; don’t know if he had another brother Ferrell. I worked with a guy in the State Department named Field Cooper. Nothing wrong with that, but his brother was Forest Cooper. I asked him if his sister was “Stream”, but he wasn’t amused. ---
**Author:** ![Pops1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@Pops1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pops1963)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/133 "2012-04-15T22:01:29Z")
Could be apocryphal but I have heard of ESPN pronounced es-PEN ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/134 "2012-04-15T22:01:44Z")
There was a kid at my son’s kindergarten named [Anzac](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC). ---
**Author:** ![BTEzra04](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@BTEzra04](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BTEzra04)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/135 "2012-04-15T22:08:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I went to school with a girl named Sandy Rhodes. She said her father went by “Dusty”. I had a teacher in high school who was called Dusty, and yup, his last name was Rhodes too. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/136 "2012-04-15T22:17:37Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I had a coworker whose last name was Winters, and she named her daughters Stormie and Summer. Maybe it’s just me, but those names screamed _stripper_ Reminds me of someone I know who had a maiden name of Destiny Love. I also know someone who named his daughter Misty Mountain Ayer, though I never thought that was too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/137 "2012-04-15T22:49:02Z")
One of my daughter’s classmates was named Princess. I work with a woman named Stormy. I’ve known a man named Eunice, and a woman named Mazola. I’ve known women named Fairy,Fairybelle, Dimples, Dumpling and Giggles. I’ve known a man named Lotus and one named Elver. Parents can be cruel. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/138 "2012-04-15T22:57:19Z")
I’ve mentioned this in similar threads in the past, but my FIL’s name is Bobbie - that’s what’s on his birth certificate. Not Robert. Not Bob (altho that’s what he goes by.) I’m sure it’s caused him no end to misery in his professional life. And I’m sure his mother gave him that name because he was an adorable child and Bobbie suited him. However, at 82, it is a tad silly… Even odder to me - his middle name is a perfectly acceptable adult name. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/139 "2012-04-15T22:58:02Z")
The local radio station used to have one of those “todays birthday” things where you could send in someones name & they would get read out on-air. One morning there were the twins; Korben & Leeloo. Parents were big \*Fifth Element \*fans I guess. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759/140 "2012-04-15T23:11:40Z")
> [@Terra1041](#): > > I think the “Nosmo King” stories come from the Ramona Quimby series, in which the title character (a young girl) tries to make a “No Smoking” sign but it ends up being split between lines as “Nosmo King”. Later, her father asks who this “Mr. King” is. Possibly, though there was a [British music hall comedian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Vernon_Watson) who went by the name Nosmo King from the 1930s, so it not likely there’s just the one source. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-what-were-they-thinking/618759.md?page=8)