Dude, a kid with a ‘boring’ name will live to thank their parents one day. Trust me on this.
I have thanked my mom for my nice, run-of-the-mill boring name. Honest, swear to Og. I like my name.
I meant above that creativity in general is all right, but when it comes to names, I’d avoid it. Or at least confine it to a middle name.
This name is spelled “Zachary.” Not Zakary, Zackary, Zakkary, Zakaree, or Rumplestiltskin.
There is no reason to take a normal name and give it a made up spelling. It’s pointless and stupid, and will inconvenience your child for the rest of his life. What matters with a name is how it SOUNDS. The spelling should be whatever the commonly assumed spelling is.
Terrible. Sounds old.
Terrible, bordering on child abuse.
Atrocious. A random arrangement of letters.
Ridiculous. These sound like Star Trek characters.
This is okay.
Absurd.
Ugly, difficult to pronounce, and ostentatious. Your child is not a fucking fashion accessory or a knickknack. It’s a human being.
I am assuming most of these are jokes. Surely you do not actually believe these are nice names. They’re comically stupid.
Ha! My husband tried to pull that one on me. Wanted to name our boy Wombat (some rugby player).
We settled on William Anthony, both family names. We call him Will and hope he’s the nice kid on the playground that everyone likes.
I’ve skimmed through really quick. He’s left out a little bit of detail that I think might be relevent. My family is Iranian. I want to have a Persian name for the child. Or at least something middle eastern. Not all of the names listed are ones I like, not all of them are ones he likes. I have no idea why Xerxes is even included.
As for my thoughts on the names
Zakary- This is my first choice in boys names. As for the spelling, it doesn’t really matter to me.
Milo- He kept suggesting for a girl. I said no way for either gender. It’s an old man’s name
Ajax- His brother wanted to name his own son that, but luckily he never had a boy. I just wanted to see what some people thought. I would never be that cruel.
Tymaz- It’s a Persian/Azerbijani name. When I was young I had a friend named that. Nickname could always be Ty
Lela- This is my all time favorite for a girl. It’s a form of Layla, an old Persian name. It’s short, simple, easy to say yet not very common.
Jasher- This is not going to happen at all. Neither me nor my mother would allow it.
Darya- Persian name meaning ocean. It’s actually pronounced Dar Yaw with the a in Dar similar to the a in cat. I know that it would end up being pronounced as Dar ee ah but I’m fine with that name too.
Keira- We found this on a list of names claiming to be Persian, but something tells me that it’s not accurate. When we mentioned it to my mom she said that Keer means something similar to dick and that she’d be embarrassed to introduce her grandchild to her friends.
Erlyn- I’m only considering this as a middle name for a girl if I get to have Lela as the first name. If she ever complains about it, I’ll tell her to blame her father.
Xerxes- Again, I don’t know why this is in the list.
Some of them are not entirely serious.
Kiera, which I like, has the unfortunate problem of being very close to the word for “Cock” in farsi.
Xerxes, is a joke. Though we did get married in the Parthenon (replica, in Nashville).
Jasher, I like. She gave me a website with a big ol’ list of supposedly Persian names, that’s the only one I liked. It means “immortal.” She and her mother both insist it’s Arabic.
Tymaz. Persian name. I agree with everyone that says it’s not a name so much as a random assemblage of letters.
Ajax. Would be for my brother’s sake. He can’t convince his wife, either.
Erlyn. I do kinda like this name, but it becomes a joke (or a flask) with our last name.
Darya. Cartoon character, cha-cha-cha.
Zakary. I actually liked this name (with a -ch-) until I realized she was naming the kid after J.D. from Scrubs.
Lela. Another cartoon character. Or, incorrectly, the 5th element. Or, incorrectly, the Eloy girl from the Time Machine (her name is Weena). I don’t like this name. I find it simultaneously grating and sing-song. I cannot imagine a woman named this… unless it was a woman who complained often about being treated like a child and not taken seriously.
Milo. I don’t know why I like this name. It came out of a random name tossing session and I liked it… for a girl, BTW.
Considerations:
- Ideally, consists of phonems common to both English and Farsi. Otherwise, is not too mangled when mispronounced.
- Doesn’t mean anything odd or offensive in common languages.
- No family names.
- No names of people we know, didn’t like, and/or dated.
Something that would probably work is some name that could be shortened to Lela.
Zakary - Spelt Zachary, it would be acceptable. I personally don’t like the name but that’s because my father used to say that only ugly babies were named Zachary - “his face looks zachary like his butt”. Ha. Ha. Yeah, that’s become a rather negative association for me.
Milo - Is the name of a very popular milk drink here in Australia. Milo conjures up images of a skinny, wimpy dweeb for me.
Ajax - Is the name of a cleaning product.
Tymaz - Sounds like the name of a pill to help ease the symptoms of PMS.
Lela - Lila or Leila would be better
Jasher - Isn’t that one of Santa’s reindeer?
Darya - Daria is a bit more name-like and less robot-from-the-future-like.
Keira - I like.
Erlyn - I don’t like. Sounds hick.
Xerxes - :rolleyes:
From your list of names I can only conclude that you are the sort of person who loves to make a sensation and seeks attention through outrageous behavior. I urge you to take the high road and give your child a decent, functional name that will not draw attention for all the wrong reasons. People will find a child with a name like Xerxes memorable but not for any talent or positive attribute he has - first and foremost he will always be the kid with the weird name and he’ll have to work twice as hard to get his work noticed.
Suggestions:
http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/namequiz.html
Select the name you like most (or hate least) on each line to get a list of other names that might be to your taste.
It sounds lke Zachary is a winner.
I like Layla. Of course, everyone would think she was named after the Eric Clapton song, but I don’t see where that’s a problem. It’s a great song.
Oooh, gotcha. (Gotcha ya!) 
You can also be creative with nicknames…
While I agree with alternate spellings being more trouble than they’re worth, I don’t know why you’d give someone life, only to brand them John or Mary or Jennifer or any of these common labels.
As for those recommending a less usual middle name: I don’t know about you, but really the only time I ever hear last names mentioned are when people are griping about how ridiculous theirs is. :smack:
I’d say to go with a name that’s not too ordinary, but still readily pronounceable. This list has some good ones, including my own, Seth, which I’ve often been complimented on. :o
I’m glad to see parents with foresight. 
Thanks!
Heh heh. My first thought was “I wonder what would be the most horrible common last name to go with little Hummer.” So far my list includes:
Hummer Long
Hummer Black (or White)
Hummer Bush
Hummer Somer
Hummer Swift
Hummer Sweet
Hummer Moore
Hummer Jones
Hummer Needmore (I know someone with this last name & it’s beautiful if you can imagine it called last name first)
[Bart Simpson]
I’m looking for a Ms. Needmore. First name, Hummer
[/Bart Simpson]
Yeah, I say go with Hummer for the sheer entertainment of it! 
One of the names my parents considered for me was Julie. I have been eternally grateful they didn’t call me that: every second girl born in the UK in my generation seems to have been named either Julie or Debbie. I got Louise, which is fine.
My sister, who couldn’t pronounce ‘r’ or ‘th’ for several years, is called Ruth. We grew up in Italy, where the ‘th’ sound doesn’t exist. She was often asked as a child why she had such a peculiar name. She lives in the UK now, and is finally reconciled to it.
My daughter is called Anna: my sister made me swear that my half Italian child would have an easily pronounceable name; I think it’s beautiful, easy to say and spell in any language; although it’s a common Italian name, it is very uncommon in her generation. Needless to say, she hates it, and complains that it’s an old-lady name, but she prefers it to Anushka, which is what she’s called at home.
My nieces are Eva and Isobel. When asked her name, Isobel (aged 7) always specifies that she is “Isobel with an ‘O’”.
My nephew is Oscar(!)
I can sympathize with the desire to give your child a Persian name, but my advice would be to choose one with a recognisable spelling that is easy to pronounce.
There are a lot of Persian names that translate easily into English. My mother picked my name (Maryam) because she knew it would blend in a bit more. It is a very common and classic middle eastern name. I used to hate it, preferring my cousins’ names, Shadi and Roxana (which explains the screen name). Now I’m proud to have it. The only thing that bothers me is when people don’t bother to pay attention and assume my name is either Mary or Mary Ann.
Persian girls’ names are easier to translate. There are some that I like, but he doesn’t care for. Some examples:
Avva- the As are like father. It means voice. She would end up becoming Ava.
Farah- the first a as in cat, second as in father
Sussan- soft S. Unfortunately it would become Susan
Boys names aren’t that easy. The ones that translate easily I’m not too fond of.
I know better than to name the child with a th sound. No one in my family with exception to my mother would be able to say it.
And for the record, I didn’t pick the name Zachary/Zakary because of Zach Braff.
Well, in that case, here are my picks that would at least work in the US from this list:
Girls:
Ava - voice (as in Ava Gardner, perhaps)
Farah - joy (might be safe now that Farrah Fawcett’s getting older)
Gita - song (sounds vaguely Italian)
Iman - faith (beautiful model married to David Bowie)
Leila - nocturnal (nice choice)
Lila - lilac (similar to Leila)
Lili - the flower (though it will be misspelled)
Mariam - tuberose (not very different thank miriam but just)
Mina - lapis lazuli (I had a female cat named Mina. No idea where I got it.)
Mona - name of a goddess (acceptable in Western society, but not too common)
Rana - elegant
Ravan - soul, spirit (very cool, but the spelling could give you fits & Raven is becoming passe IMO)
Roxana - light (I think you could get away with alternative spelling here since you’re only deleting duplicated characters not adding them)
Sara - pure (again perfectly acceptable in Western society)
Tara - star (even better, but will remind people of Gone with the Wind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This was my first choice when my firstborn came, but alas, she was a he.)
Zari - silk brocade (this I really like, not too complicated, just unique enough but not freaking weird beyond belief. Easy to pronounce, relatively easy to spell. A good name.)
Boys (harder):
Arman - inspiration (kind of like Armand. As in Assante. Mmmmmm… I got your inspiration right here, baby.)
Pasha - lord (I like this one amazingly. Easy to spell/pronounce. Different.)
Reza - will (kinda sounds like it could work for either gender.)
Sam - character in Shahnameh (I’d definitely go with Sam even though it breaks one of my rules.)
Good luck and congrats BTW!
Hah, I see you’ve already nixed a couple of my choices. And you already have a Roxana in the family. And the girl’s name list is now shorter. How convenient! And yeah, persian boys’ names are more difficult. Here’s hoping you have a girl!
Keep in mind that in farsi there is no long I sound. It becomes a long E. That’s where I got Lela from. I picked the spelling to avoid confusion with the name Lila with a long I which is becoming very popular.
Gotcha. Since I’m obviously not up-to-snuff with farsi, I’d like to know if I’m pronouncing Zari correctly. Does the first syllable rhyme with car or pear? I get the last syllable is a long e. Anyway, I think that one is my favorite.
Oh yeah, don’t forget to check the initials. It’s always interesting to see what your initial spell. I think there’s a thread here somewhere. I was formerly JAL (Japan Airlines). Mr. Cinnamon is JKS, which always makes me think he’s ‘just kidding’!
My first thought when I saw the OP’s list was that it sounded like a good list of names for Dungeons and Dragons characters :).
Well, I don’t know much about Persian names, but I went to college with a guy named Sina (pronounced Seena), and I’ve always liked his name. He told me that it’s an unusual name even in Iran, and, IIRC, it refers to Mt. Sinai.
Do kids get beat up on the playground for unusual names these days? I know that my daughter’s second-grade classroom is much more diverse than mine was, and there’s such a variety of names. My daughter’s name is unusual, and she’s never, ever mentioned being teased for it. OTOH, my name is rather common, and I was teased quite a bit…not really for my name, but my name was often used in teasing because it’s easy to rhyme.
Lela was a Star Trek character; she was the Dax symbiont’s first host. [/geek]
Also, for the love of Og, please check what happened in that lovely Greek myth of yours. Remember, Cassandra is a lovely name – but sooner or later little Cassie will discover that the original model was a prophetess who foretold the doom of Troy, only nobody listened, and she ended up raped and murdered for her troubles.
Most A sounds in farsi are going to sound like the A in cat or father. That includes when it is followed by an R. As far as I know the “air” sound doesn’t exist, but I could be wrong.
Zari is pronounced with the cat A.
As for initials- I don’t have a middle name. On a lot of my school documents they always put NMN for no middle name. Why they couldn’t leave it blank I don’t know.
My maiden initials were MT (sound it out). When I got married the joke was I was becoming MNMNM. My husband is DAM.