# Let's help people choose unusual baby names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665 "2008-05-17T17:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/61 "2008-05-18T20:45:53Z")
I have a great-uncle named Delano. His twin brother, of course, is Franklin. Once met a kid named Xsan. Pronounced “Shawn”. In my hometown, there’s a chick running around named Babygirl. Her best friend is Princess. Went to school with a Sohaila (not sure of the spelling). I think it’s pretty, though. It’s better than “Babygirl”. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/62 "2008-05-18T20:46:58Z")
I knew a Dallas too, fortunately a little boy. I’ve since heard it for a girl, which is icky. I’ve also known: Odin Talon Steeple Barsha (I understand this name is Indian. She isn’t.) Rokia (Also white. Her parents were in the peace corps prior to her birth) I only met one of the kids, but there was a family with five kids named Quark, Zenith, Road Runner and two other names just as odd that escape me at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![bookbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bookbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bookbabe)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/63 "2008-05-18T21:04:26Z")
I have met or worked with a: Velvita Lotus Isla (pronounced “eye-la”) Max Ego I was once at an outdoor concert and the D.J. offered a prize to the person with the strangest name, verified with their driver’s license. The person who won was named Gaye Parrot. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/64 "2008-05-18T21:14:04Z")
Isla is an unusual name? I’ll tell that to the three I know, then 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/65 "2008-05-18T22:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=bookbabe] I have met or worked with a: Velvita [/QUOTE] Like in Velveeta? Ugh. Grandma’s neighbor was Germania (pronounced ger MAIN ya). Friend of ex-hub was Jemma. Personally know Peter Johnson. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/66 "2008-05-18T23:01:55Z")
When I was growing up, I knew a girl named Kateri. I’ve never met another one and I think it’s a pretty name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/67 "2008-05-18T23:11:43Z")
[QUOTE=bookbabe] Velvita [/QUOTE] That reminds me of a girl who went to my high school named Velvedena. I’m not sure of the spelling on that since it’s been awhile. To my little 14/15 year old self I thought it was gorgeous and wanted to name my own daughter Velvet someday. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/68 "2008-05-19T01:07:50Z")
I work at DPSS and have encountered some unusual baby names. Some that stick in my mind are: Anakin - Dad was a Star Wars fan Dadinirt - that boy’s father was named Trinidad and just wrote his first name backwards on the birth certificate Kobe - after the Lakers’ Bryant Neo - not after the Matrix guy; his mom’s first name was Noemi, the Spanish version of Naomi, and apparently rearranged a couple of letters in her name and got rid of the last two. Princesa - Spanish for princess Neveah - “Heaven” backwards I have also encountered an “Ever,” I think the parents are from somewhere in Central America. My sister’s friend named her daughter Cambria, after a town on the California coast she visited during her pregnancy. The child in question seems OK with her name. I think it’s pretty, myself. BTW what’s wrong with “Amelia?” I know “Melena” is Spanish for mane. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/69 "2008-05-19T02:13:05Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Not sure what they mean, but one name you see every so often is Alexia, which means “an inability to read.” [/QUOTE] To answer people’s questions on Amelia and Melena, I googled it. amelia: Medical term for the congenital absence or partial absence of one or more limbs at birth. In medicine, melena or melaena refers to the black, “tarry” feces that are associated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Neither of these things seem to be all that pleasant from a medical perspective. In googling Melena, the medical definition/description pages took up the entire first page. Is this an actual name somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/70 "2008-05-19T02:34:58Z")
I used to go to church with a couple who named their first son Dozinger. In my (entirely white, Amish country) high school, we had lots of kids with unusual names: Piper, and her sister Westie Freedom (boy) Silver (girl) Michaela (girl, pronounced “mi-SHAY-la”) Sonny After Noon (his brother had the less-cool name Mark David Noon) My daughter’s name is Justyce (Just like in the pledge, different spelling.) She’s in shool now and knows two other girls with her name, but theirs is spelled with the traditional “i” so hers is still special. Her first grade teacher insisted that her name was REALLY Jessica, and even wrote that on her report card!! That wasn’t a fun year. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/71 "2008-05-19T03:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] Like in Velveeta? Ugh. Grandma’s neighbor was Germania (pronounced ger MAIN ya). Friend of ex-hub was Jemma. Personally know Peter Johnson. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I personally know a Peter Jackoff, and he’s a minister. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/72 "2008-05-19T03:32:57Z")
No mention yet of Osama? I am shocked? Other names I would find odd: Rupert I actually know someone named Calliope, as in carnival organ. How about Vaginia? ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/73 "2008-05-19T03:33:14Z")
The mother of a classmate was named Harvienne (har-veen) after her father. I don’t know if her twin sister Kate was named for their mother. I’m not totally sure of the spelling there. I think Isla is just old, not strange. It was my grandmother’s name, and it seems to be making a bit of a comeback. Small bit, at least. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/74 "2008-05-19T05:14:37Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] I actually know someone named Calliope, as in carnival organ. [/QUOTE] In fairness, probably Calliope, as in Muse of epic poetry and mother of Orpheus. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/75 "2008-05-19T05:43:49Z")
I met a Calliope once too. I think it’s an awesome name. I know a guy who swears his actual, given name is Radley. Like Bradley, but no B. He’s in his 40’s. How did his parents know how cool that would sound 30 years later? I also knew a guy (and when I say “guy”, I mean “pond scum”) who insisted on going by the incredibly hubris-having nickname of Gandalf. I mean, call yourself Trismagistus or Ged or something, but Gandalf! So, I ALWAYS thought of his name in my head as Gandolph (rhymes with Randolph), just to annoy him. (I made a point of telling him that.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/76 "2008-05-19T07:45:26Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Oooh, I’ll have to tell my neighbor there’s another Ginevra in the world – different spelling. She said she’s never known another and she doesn’t know where her parents got the name. She goes by Ginny. Is Alease pronounced like Elise? Pretty name. [/QUOTE] The Spanish version of Jennnifer/Guinevere/etc is Ginebra. Without the capital G it means gin… Sorry, I promise we don’t do it on purpose 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/77 "2008-05-19T11:02:04Z")
I know a Zyenda, named by her Dad she was the last of 11 kids, 10 of them daughters. Sulayne Joesi Nevaeh (this one is popping up everywhere now, Heaven spelled backwards) I heard that Drea deMatteo (Sopranos) named her baby that she had with Shooter Jennings, Alabama Gypsyrose. I kind of like that… ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/78 "2008-05-19T11:42:32Z")
Before my son was born, we refered to him (at least I did) as “Tumor.” ---
**Author:** ![Tamryne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tamryne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamryne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/79 "2008-05-19T13:01:04Z")
I’m in the midst of doing a genealogy record for my mothers family and these are the interesting names I’ve found so far: Hyman (nicknamed hymie) (male) Rae Wyne ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/80 "2008-05-19T13:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Tamryne] Hyman (nicknamed hymie) (male) [/QUOTE] Not at all uncommon among older, Jewish males. (Hymie or Hy could also nickname Herman.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665.md?page=5)