# Irksome names for children **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434 "2003-04-13T15:04:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![TJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@TJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/262 "2003-04-25T12:24:07Z")
Is Tyler a very common name in the US then? My eldest son is called Tyler (or Ty), and I don’t know anyone else with that name. My youngest son is called Jay, and that doesn’t seem to be a very common name in the UK either. I’m a Rebecca, and my mum (whose name is Sylvie) said she thought it was really unusual when I was born, but by the time I got to school there were 4 of us in the same class! My brother’s name is Toby, named after a tortoise (!) my mum had when she was little. My husband is Greek, so everyone in his family have lovely names - my nieces are Liana, Toula, Sofia, and Amara, and he has aunts with wonderful names like Electra, Pelagia (pe-la-hee-a?), Lemoni, Morphea etc. My father-in-law is called Aristides, which is our eldest son’s middle name. So all these wonderful Greek names, and what name did my husband get? Mark! It’s about as common as you can get round here! I would say, judging by the names of the kids at my son’s nursery, that Jordan, Lewis and Harry are the most common boys names in our area at present, and Ellie, Erin and Yasmin are pretty common for the girls. Just remembered something that made me laugh - a woman I saw while out shopping, she was really scruffy and greasy-looking. She had a boy and a girl, and she was screeching at them “Giorgio! Armaaaaaaani! Get your bums over here now!!!” Well, it amused me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/263 "2003-04-25T15:48:22Z")
I think Tyler was ranked the #9 most popular (used) boys name in the 1990s. If I recall, I found the stat on [behindthename.com](http://behindthename.com). My youngest brother as born in that period. It’s certainly become popular here, yes. I recall two other Tylers, and perhaps three or four Dylans, in his Little League a few years back. I’ve never been mistaken for another Marley, since I’ve never met one - though occasionally problems arise; at school I work with a Molly - and the middle brother, Jonah, doesn’t often get that problem either. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/264 "2003-04-25T17:29:15Z")
FWIW, here are the names from my daughter’s soccer team (in alpha order): Aisha Alexis Allie (short for Allison) Arielle Carly Emily Jayne Jenny Maddie (short for Madeline) Megan They are all six and seven years old. A lot of As, no names I would consider to “weird”, and no repeats. Don’t know all of the names on my sons soccer team yet, but there is an Asher, which is a pretty interesting name. Every time I hear it I think of the song “Brim Full of Asher”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/265 "2003-04-25T21:17:59Z")
The only time I’ve seen the name Asher is in the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry… It’s a pretty name, although uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/266 "2003-04-29T12:00:40Z")
Sorry to resurrect this after it’s long sleep, but I thought [this site](http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html) might prove amusing for those of us who are amused by horrible baby names. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/267 "2003-04-29T12:03:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > \*\* Don’t know all of the names on my sons soccer team yet, but there is an Asher, which is a pretty interesting name. Every time I hear it I think of the song “Brim Full of Asher”. \*\* 1. I knew a kid named Asher who played soccer when I was a wee SpazKitten. His father was the pastor of the Lutheran church across the street, so all his kids had Bible names (Asher, Luke, Silas, and Grace.) 2. Actually, the song is “Brim Full of Asha.” Fatboy Slim did a good remix of it. Better than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/268 "2003-04-29T14:54:29Z")
Isn’t there a Chaim Potok book called “My Name is Asher Lev?” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tsubaki \* > \*\*Ko (unfortunately, so do most girl’s names which were popular thirty years ago!). Interesting. I’m 31, and among the girls I grew up with (in the U.S.) were an Akiko, a Masako, and a Hiroko. Are those common Japanese names? ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/269 "2003-04-29T15:14:10Z")
Star. A couple of jobs ago I had to call and ask for Star all the time. Worse, her last name was alliterative with her first, so it was like “Star S…”, weird. Also, any name where I’m required to violate normal pronunciation rules according to how it’s spelled, like Sade is pronounced Sha-day. I hate that. ---
**Author:** ![MoronosaurusRex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@MoronosaurusRex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoronosaurusRex)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/270 "2003-04-30T01:19:05Z")
Look on the bright side – in a country where English is spoken by almost everyone, there are people called Typewriter, Coins, Cloudy, Foreach, Grammar, Headache, Horsegrine. Morelight, Simplicio, Wireless, Okay, Astonishment, Duty-first, Editor, Newline, Climate, Stylish, and – I shit you not – Notagain. The names were collected over the years by a friend who spent the long hours at the annual graduation ceremony hunting for interesting names in the list of graduates. You can google up the above names for the full list. ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/271 "2003-04-30T11:56:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\*Interesting. I’m 31, and among the girls I grew up with (in the U.S.) were an Akiko, a Masako, and a Hiroko. Are those common Japanese names? \*\* Yep. My MIL’s name is Masako (so is the Crown Prince’s wife), and I know two Hirokos in my close circle of friends. On another topic…my female cousin is called Asha. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434.md?page=13)