# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/101 "2008-05-20T22:17:21Z")
I’ve just remembered a couple of WW1 related names from people born in that era: Edith Cavell Dardanella Verdun ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/102 "2008-05-20T22:28:33Z")
I know a Yalta. Also, one of my son’s fellow students is called “Sir William”. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/103 "2008-05-20T23:21:03Z")
How about odd and unusual spellings. I have had students named Aliceson, Leaha, and Mariha (I always want to pronounce them phoenetically!!). One of my co-teachers is about to become a grandmother to little Myrrhandah. They want Myrrh like in the Bible and think an extra h at the end will be pretty. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Tamryne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tamryne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamryne)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/104 "2008-05-21T00:00:32Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Rae is my middle name. It’s in honor of an uncle, a truck driver who died in an accident. I’ve always liked it. [/QUOTE] My aunt Rae (well, second aunt) was one of my favorite aunts when I was a kid. Ive always loved the name too, but put it up here because she was the only one I’d ever met who’d had it. And it turns out Hyman isn’t too strange either, going back 3 generations I’ve already found five of them! Aie! ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/105 "2008-05-21T00:05:10Z")
[QUOTE=Lucky 13] Neveah - “Heaven” backwards [/QUOTE] I see this a lot, and it always makes me snicker. It’s not “heaven” backwards. It’s “haeven.” Heaven backwards would be “Nevaeh.” When it’s supposed to be Heaven backwards but your mom just couldn’t handle backwards spelling, it becomes pure advertised dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/106 "2008-05-21T00:09:48Z")
My boss’s name is MD. Not initials, that’s this entire first name. Drives people crazy for a while - they always want to know what it stands for. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/107 "2008-05-21T01:03:07Z")
Shela - originally from Ecuador so I thought it was something that was common there. Nope, her dad just misspelled Sheila on her birth certificate. Everree - named after her grandmother who never would give up the secret of where it originated from. Incidentally, her last name was a compass point. So we always joked that her middle name should be “Buddy Go” Kirby - A female in her mid 20s. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/108 "2008-05-21T02:48:00Z")
Encountered a **Tiaja** today. My sister-in-law gave one of her daughters the name **Rahel**. And I used to have a boss called **Sithiporn**. Which is apparently not all that unusual in Thailand, where he was from. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/109 "2008-05-21T03:38:08Z")
Thought of another one. Hubby went to school with a guy named Aireo. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/110 "2008-05-21T03:42:50Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] I see this a lot, and it always makes me snicker. It’s not “heaven” backwards. It’s “haeven.” Heaven backwards would be “Nevaeh.” When it’s supposed to be Heaven backwards but your mom just couldn’t handle backwards spelling, it becomes pure advertised dumb. [/QUOTE] Nevaeh – the “correct” spelling (of the stupidest name ever) is huge right now – it ranks #31 in the US according to the Social Security Administrations annual top 1000 list (and has made the list since 2001). Neveah, on the other hand, broke into the top 1000 last year, and ranks at #891 this year. I once saw a Nevayah (or some other horrible trying-to-be-phoenetic spelling, I don’t remember for sure) in my local birth announcements. GAH! Just hate it. Going through that list you often see the oddest names, and wonder just where anyone finds them. Of course, if you google the name half the time you find out it’s some athlete or singer or other famous person (for example, Miley debutedaround 270-280 this year – with alternate spellings like Mylee and Mylie also showing up). ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/111 "2008-05-21T06:09:30Z")
[QUOTE=Always Brings Pie] Shela - originally from Ecuador so I thought it was something that was common there. Nope, her dad just misspelled Sheila on her birth certificate [/QUOTE] If we’re including parental unintentional misspellings, I know a Valarie whose mom just can’t spell. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/112 "2008-05-21T07:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] I see this a lot, and it always makes me snicker. It’s not “heaven” backwards. It’s “haeven.” Heaven backwards would be “Nevaeh.” When it’s supposed to be Heaven backwards but your mom just couldn’t handle backwards spelling, it becomes pure advertised dumb. [/QUOTE] Bwah! Reminds me of a sketch by Armstrong and Miller (can’t find it online) about a man styling himself as Satan (and continually dropping not-so-subtle hints to anyone he met that he was the prince of darkness) - calling himself Dr Levid (nudge, nudge, _turn it round backwards_), until it was pointed out that Levid, backwards, is Divel, not Devil. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/113 "2008-05-21T10:39:35Z")
I feel like foreign names are cheating a bit, but I know of a kid here named “Qui Connait”, or “Who knows”. They wern’t too sure who his father is. I’ve known an American Merlin. [QUOTE=Marlitharn] In my hometown, there’s a chick running around named Babygirl. Her best friend is Princess.. [/QUOTE] Both of these are relatively common among Anglophone Cameroonians. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/114 "2008-05-21T11:04:01Z")
[QUOTE=ENugent] If we’re including parental unintentional misspellings, I know a Valarie whose mom just can’t spell. [/QUOTE] We have a Meloudis, pronounced Melodious. ---
**Author:** ![SpinyNorma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SpinyNorma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinyNorma)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2008, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/115 "2008-05-25T09:08:54Z")
I’m coming into this late but I have a few unusual names. Through work, I knew a woman named Vinyl (pronounced Vin-yell) and an older man named Sweetpea. My parents were both from Alabama and we have some odd names in the family tree. My maternal grandfather was named Arl. I suspect someone couldn’t spell “Earl” but he did pronounce his name Arl. One of my aunts had the first name of Willa but she went by her middle name. My mom had a cousin of some sort whose name was Pleas (pronounced Plez). Somewhere in the family there was a woman named William Harriet, named after the preacher and his wife. This isn’t a unique name but there’s an unusual story behind it. One of my mom’s aunts was named Mildred. That wasn’t the name her parents had picked out but the doctor didn’t care for that name so he chose Mildred instead and wrote it on her birth certificate. No, I don’t know what the original name they’d picked was. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665/116 "2008-05-25T10:54:44Z")
I know a Willa - not sure if it’s her actual name or whether it’s short for Wilhelmina or something. A late relative married a Hungarian Jewish refugee in the 1940s, and her story goes something like this: when the (British) registrar asked for her name, she gave her Hungarian name\*, and he said “oh no, can’t have that - does it mean something in English?” she said “Dawn”. He shook his head and said "dreadful name, Dawn. How about… Violet? And thanks to a bureaucrat’s whim, she’s been known as Violet to this day. 🙂 \*which I can’t remember off the top of my head - maybe a Hungarian-speaking Doper can fill in that gap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-help-people-choose-unusual-baby-names/449665.md?page=5)