[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
What does Rayden mean in Japanese?
[/QUOTE]
It’s a take on Raijin, god of thunder.
According to my wife Raijin is not really seen as benevloent and is really not the kind of thing you would/should name a kid.
And I see John Mace beat me to it 
I dated an Arwen years ago. I have since been surprised to find out how many of them there actually are out there.
I don’t get it. If he’s so embarrassed by his middle name, why doesn’t he leave the initial off his nametag? 
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
I went to a political fundraiser last night and was introduced to a 30-year-old man whose nametag read “Thorin O. [Common lastname].” I said, “Your middle name isn’t by any chance ‘Oakenshield,’ is it?” He smiled - a little wearily - and said that it was.
[/QUOTE]
(Bolding mine) I’m surprised he would put his middle initial on his name tag.
ETA: Great minds, Manduck.
There is an older man at my local tire centre named “Gawain”. I had “The Mists of Avalon” in my hand while talking to him, looked at his nametag, then did a doubletake. I refrained from commenting.
I know of an Arwen who’s three years old (friend of a friend’s daughter.)
My job also exposes me to a lot of names and I recently came across a “Strider” and a “Taz” as given names.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
I knew a girl called Lórien, after Tolkien’s forest.
Lovely name, I think. That would have been first-time-around hippy-type Tolkien geekery, as she’d have been born in 1968.
[/QUOTE]
I knew a guy named Lorien, born in 1967. Mom = hippy, not surprisingly.
[QUOTE=Pochacco]
My wife once knew a woman whose parents were big Star Trek fans. The named her “Trelane”. Didn’t even get the gender right!
[/QUOTE]
Continuing in the Trek universe, friends of our named their daughter Jadzia. It is a pretty name. They were considering Dax for a boy. “That’s a strong name,” said the dad.
There was a guy in my high school class whose middle name is Mithrandir. I was a little bit jealous.
I had a professor who named her daughter Arwen. I’m not surprised there’s a lot of them out there, it’s a pretty name that doesn’t sound too far out there.
[QUOTE=whiterabbit]
I had a professor who named her daughter Arwen. I’m not surprised there’s a lot of them out there, it’s a pretty name that doesn’t sound too far out there.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. “Arwen” sounds almost normal, whereas Tinuviel is, shall we say, a bit odd sounding. Thorin Oakenshield, even with “O” as a middle name is downright cruel. Name your dog that if you must, but not your kid. Sheesh.
I went to high school with a girl named Evenstar, and have met a few Loriens.
[QUOTE=Manduck]
I don’t get it. If he’s so embarrassed by his middle name, why doesn’t he leave the initial off his nametag? 
[/QUOTE]
I wondered that, too. It’s possible he didn’t write it himself - it was one of those sticky-backed nametags that say “Hello, my name is _______.” If he wrote it himself, it might have been because the Tolkienesque connection so often goes over people’s heads that he’s not constantly on guard against it.
[QUOTE=Manduck]
I don’t get it. If he’s so embarrassed by his middle name, why doesn’t he leave the initial off his nametag?
[/QUOTE]
He’s not. I mean, he has to play it off like “<sigh>…yes, the ‘O’ does stand for '‘Oakenshield’…it’s ever so bothersome”, but if he didn’t secretly dig it, the “O” wouldn’t be on the name tag.
[QUOTE=John Mace]
I agree. “Arwen” sounds almost normal, whereas Tinuviel is, shall we say, a bit odd sounding. Thorin Oakenshield, even with “O” as a middle name is downright cruel. Name your dog that if you must, but not your kid. Sheesh.
[/QUOTE]
I think Thorin would be pretty cool as a name (not too far off from some names that are popular in the family), but Oakenshield is taking it a bit too far.
elfbabe is happy she didn’t end up getting named Idril Celebrindal.
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
elfbabe is happy she didn’t end up getting named Idril Celebrindal.
[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t she the daughter of Celebrex?
[QUOTE=Typo Knig]
Continuing in the Trek universe, friends of our named their daughter Jadzia. It is a pretty name. They were considering Dax for a boy. “That’s a strong name,” said the dad.
[/QUOTE]
Still continuing the Trek theme, a friend in college had a girlfriend named Tepring.
[Bill Cosby] My father confused me. From the ages of one to seven, I thought my name was Jesus Christ![/BC]
[QUOTE=Scuba_Ben]
Still continuing the Trek theme, a friend in college had a girlfriend named Tepring.
[/QUOTE]
Purposefully misspelled from “T’Pring”? (Also the name of a British pop group, a one-hit wonder for “Heart and Soul”).
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
Purposefully misspelled from “T’Pring”? (Also the name of a British pop group, a one-hit wonder for “Heart and Soul”).
[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t it T’Pau that made “Heart and Soul?”