# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/121 "2003-04-15T14:32:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Indygrrl \* > \*\*My mom says I’m not allowed to make fun of kids names since I named my daughter, Nico Blue. \*\* So, if she marries Fred Patch she’ll be a Nico Patch! If she marries George Thien, she’ll be Nico Thien! ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/122 "2003-04-15T14:36:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \* > \*\*(although according to Jamie Fraser of the Outlander books, it’s actually BREE-ahna.) \*\* Actually, no such name would have been known to the man, had he existed. It was invented in the 20th century. True gaelic girls’ names do not end in “-a”. That’s not a feminizing ending in the Gaelic langauges. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/123 "2003-04-15T14:42:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissla Lissar \* > \*\*A friend of my husband met a small girl named Shithead. The mother pronounced it “Shith- heed” and thought it was pretty. Aagh. \*\* Did your husband actually see the name written down? For all you know, the name might not be English at all and was spelled “Siathid”. ---
**Author:** ![Intrinsic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9a140/32.png) [@Intrinsic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intrinsic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/124 "2003-04-15T14:54:41Z")
I suspect that “Shitonya”, “Ima Piggie”, “Lemonjello”, “Nosmo King” are of the urban legend variety. Over the years I’ve encountered school teachers who always seem to know of students with these names. It’s probably an ongoing joke in many a teacher lounge. I’ve heard more than one person swear that they know of a Shitonya or Shithead. I’ve also heard the tall tale about Baby “FE-MAH-LEE” spelled “Female” since the mother looked at the baby’s ID band and came up with the name. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/125 "2003-04-15T15:03:15Z")
My brother and sister-in-law told us that when they have children, a boy will be named Connor Cahill (my mom’s maiden name), and they’re considering Delaney for a girl. I can’t wait to think what horrid nicknames I’ll come up with for them. “Connie! Laney! Come give Aunt Kendra a kiss!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/126 "2003-04-15T17:12:20Z")
I have a second cousin who would have named her child Michael Jordan Vacanti, if it had been a boy. She had a girl, so they gave her a sensible sane name instead. Jordan Michael Vacanti. :rolleyes: I have a cousin on the other side of my family who told me he and his wife were naming their little girl Reilly. I said, that’s not a girls name, and besides we’re not Irish. He said, we can name her whatever we want, and besides, it’s not Reilly, it’s Ryleigh. So I don’t really want to hear what anybody in my family is naming any of their kids anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Serendipity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Serendipity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serendipity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/127 "2003-04-15T17:17:35Z")
> [@](#): > > quote:Originally posted by LifeOnWry > (although according to Jamie Fraser of the Outlander books, it’s actually BREE-ahna.) > > Originally posted by Dogface > Actually, no such name would have been known to the man, had he existed. It was invented in the 20th century. > True gaelic girls’ names do not end in “-a”. That’s not a feminizing ending in the Gaelic langauges. The name “Brianna” was picked out by his 20th century English wife. (He had wanted her to name their child Brian – after his father – but, oops! the baby was a girl instead of a boy.) [sub]No, I’m not a Diana Gabaldon addict. Really. ;)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/128 "2003-04-15T17:46:40Z")
Trendy names aren’t so bad, the worst crimes are : 1. Cruel joke names, or names that will be turned TOO easily into cruel jokes. Fine, maybe you revel in the fine old family name of “Hogg”- but don’t name your kid “Ima”. Or like on Baby Blues- “Hammie”. Why would you do this to your kids? Don’t you love them? 2. Androgenous names. Studies have shown these can give a child a indenity complex. 3. “jr.” “II” “III”. No- don’t do it. I don’t care even if you are John Smith V. All his life he will be plagued by problems. If you MUST, then do the same first name, but different middle name. Legal problems, tax problems, credit problems. I have only the same first name (and last, of course) as my Father (dead some 10 years) but his info still shows up in them ail, on my credit report and otherwise. One company even refused me credit as “you are deceased”. I guess better than the many who keep offering my dead father a “low interest credit card” & other such junk mail. NO. STOP. DON’T DO IT. REALLY. 4. Weird spellings. Not as bad as the other 3, but remember- all their life they will have to spell it out & correct the pronunciation. Oh, and Dogface- “Caitlin” IS “Kate-lin”. By many girls who have that name, and phonetically. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/129 "2003-04-15T17:56:36Z")
Thanks, **Serendipity**. **Dogface** - once you can accept that the man’s wife was born 200 years after he was, that she traveled back through time, was nearly burned as a witch, traveled FORWARD through time carrying his child, went to medical school then traveled back through time yet again, the choice for his daughter’s name is pretty easy to live with 😃 And to be totally fair, Jamie’s first reaction to the name is, “What kind of name is THAT?” ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/130 "2003-04-15T18:08:34Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich \* > \*\*Something I think is cool, but which no one seems to do anymore, is to give a kid someone else’s full name: the first name becomes the kid’s first name, and the last name becomes the kid’s middle name. > Of course, maybe people never really do this on a widespread basis, and baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander, inventor George Washington Carver, and M_A_S_H doc Benjiman Franklin Pierce are more exceptions than rules. Still, I think it’s nice. \*\* Of course one of my favorite books was written by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. I’ve gotten such a kick out of this thread. I live in a house with three teenage girls and love to hear the litany of names going through the house… ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/131 "2003-04-15T18:24:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\* > I’ve gotten such a kick out of this thread. I live in a house with three teenage girls and love to hear the litany of names going through the house… \*\* Lemme guess: Amanda, Alex, Katie, Brittany, Jessica, Molly, Taylor and Samantha. And they all have boyfriends named Brad, Brendan, Brett and Tim, right? ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/132 "2003-04-15T18:49:57Z")
Isn’t Shithead (Shi-theed) a semi common arabic name? Crap, [I guess I fell for that urban legend too.](http://66.165.133.65/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/133 "2003-04-15T19:10:02Z")
KACK! **LifeOnWry** , even hearing that list makes me groan. Myself, wife and daughter all have names that sound fairly normal but, both in reading the lists of their “popularity” and just in rea life, don’t seem very normal. I am Nathaniel, my wife is Dawn and our daughter is Autumn. I have never met more than two people besides us who actually have these names. In high school, I knew 2 other Nathaniels, but I have never met another in the years since. I worked with a woman named Dawn, but never anywhere else, and I met only one single person in my entire life named Autumn - she was a waitress whom I never saw again. They all seems moderetely normal, but really aren’t around very much. And besides, I often go by “J” for our last name, and we usually call the baby “AJ” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/134 "2003-04-15T22:21:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > \*\*Oh, and Dogface- “Caitlin” IS “Kate-lin”. By many girls who have that name, and phonetically. \*\* Nope. “Caitlin” is phonetically pronounced “cauch-LEEN” or “cauch-LIN”, depending on how close to Ulster one is. It’s a slender “t” but the preceding vowel structure is the “ai” diphthong. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/135 "2003-04-15T22:31:41Z")
Dogface, I’m sure some girls pronounce it the way you say. But most girls (in America at least) pronounce it ‘Kate-lin.’ It’s their name, they can pronouce it anyway they want. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/136 "2003-04-16T00:06:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Obsidian Flutterby \* > \*\*When you look over my cousins names you can often see the fads… very few are actually ‘original’ names that aren’t heard very often. In order (oldest to youngest or thereabouts) > > Boys: Jonathan, David, Aaron, Cody, Lucas, Alex (Alexander), Rhys and Ewan > > Ewan is actually named after my Grandfather (Hugh, Ewan is the Gaelic(?) version of it) and both my Brother and I were named after our Great Grandfathers, and Grandmothers respectively.\*\* Well, I will be damned . . . another Ewan. How old is he? This is the first time I’ve ever seen my baby son’s name show up outside of a cast list of “Trainspotting”, or Tony Blair’s son–which is kind of funny, since my last name is also Blair. (I was hoping for a good Scottish name.) From what I’ve read, “Ewan” is a variant of “John”, similar to “Ian” or “Owen”, but definitely not a common name in America. \*\* > [@](#): > > Surprisingly enough I’ve seen my name turn up in this thread a few times as a good name. I have only met maybe a handful of Claire’s (or Clair or Clare) in my life and the majority of them are related to me.\*\* I wanted to name a daughter Claire, but given my last name, you can see this would border on child abuse. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/137 "2003-04-16T00:41:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > \*\*Trendy names aren’t so bad, the worst crimes are : > \ > 2. Androgenous names. Studies have shown these can give a child a indenity complex. > \ > \*\* Cite, please. Gender issues and myths really get me tied in knots. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by XJETGIRLX_ > **I think we need a club for those of us whose previously unusual names have become the nom du jour and are now accustomed to turning around every time a mother calls out to her toddler with our name.** Amen, sister. My name is Emma and everyone thought it was a musty old name that deserved to languish with Mildred and Ethel and Bertha back in the trendy 80’s, when I was born. Of course, at the end of the ultra-trendy “so uncool it’s cool” 90’s, every damn person named their daughter Emma. I work at a fast food joint. Sometimes I’ll hear a woman’s voice snapping my name while I’m clearing tables and I’ll think it’s my supervisor trying to get me back to my till to serve a customer. It’s just some Mum dragging her child away from the display case, where the little one has been making fish faces against the glass, and I have had a coronary for nothing. And for the record, I was named after Emma Goldman, a turn-of-the century author and lecturer who advocated reproductive choices for women, gay rights and women’s lib. Of course her experiences working in sweatshops made her a Commie and blew her credibility, but whatever. At least she stood up for what she believed in. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/138 "2003-04-16T01:17:25Z")
Apparently those names are a lot more popular than we realize, if we are to believe these accounts: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=12851](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=12851) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7755](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7755) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20125](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20125) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27486](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27486) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=45287](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=45287) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=79940](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=79940) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=91928](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=91928) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59247](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59247) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=109977](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=109977) ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/139 "2003-04-16T01:34:16Z")
In my son’s preschool class, of the 10 of so girls, 2 are named Claire. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434/140 "2003-04-16T01:35:17Z")
My grandmother’s name was Emma & I planned to name a daughter for her, but had only the one & had already chosen Elizabeth. I had lovely girls’ names ready for the next four (all boys) & plan to lean heavily on the people who become pregnant with my grand-daughters. Beg to differ with **DrDeth** : constantly having to spell one’s name rates a higher annoyance number than 4. In the south, where I live, people give girls their father’s or grandfather’s given name, or their mother’s maiden name, preceded by Mary. I know dozens & dozens of women named Mary Douglas, Mary Christian, Mary James, Mary Howard, & so on. Sounds like you’re at a convention of nuns. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irksome-names-for-children/168434.md?page=8)