My biology teacher’s first name is Celestinus. Apparently his parents were uneducated and dirt-poor, and wanted to give him a very classical sounding name. Everybody who knows him on a first-name basis just calls him Buddy.
Ngaio is Maori, pronounced Nigh-o - it’s a suburb in Wellington NZ, and not an uncommon name in NZ - although personally I’ve never met anyone called that.
I taught a kid called Merlin - previous to that only the character out of the Arthur legends and my cat were called Merlin.
Also know a kid called Griffin, but I guess that may be more common - and my ex’s boss named her kid Aragorn (before the LOTR movies came out) - bet it’s more common now.
There’s a fairly major character called Ginevra in Charlotte Bronte’s Villette. That’s the only Ginevra I ever heard of until very recently.
I know a girl named Treasure and a guy named Ori.
A Google search on Ginevra reveals that this is Ginny Weasley’s name! (She’s a major character in the Harry Potter books, in case there’s anyone left in the world who doesn’t know.)
I once knew someone whose first name was “E”. It didn’t stand for anything; that was it; just “E”.
Asenath and Eliphalet
Those are actually Biblical, but how many do you know?
Curtisteen
When I was in second grade, my teacher told me my mother’s name could not be Curtisteen, because it “wasn’t a name.” She took my paper, crossed it out, and wrote Christine. My mother sent her a note and signed her full name. The teacher apologized. To her, but not to me.
Lebee
Broadus
Bennen
J’Nai
Soda!
That happened to a friend’s daughter. Her middle name is Skeie, pronounced Shaya (it’s Norwegian) and her teacher insisted she was spelling it wrong.
Another friend had the same problem with Siobhan.
I once knew a ‘D’. He went by his middle name.
She’s the other one I meant, and I was incredibly confused the first time she was referred to that way.
I once met an elderly man named “Cephus” which is Hebrew for rock. His last name? “Melon”*. His parents did it for a joke.
*rockmelon = canteloupe for the mercans.
I saw a woman calling after a daughter named… well - I have no idea how she spelt it - but she was calling the kid “Ayn-gee-ah” Aingea? Ayngia? (it wasn’t Angela, that’s for sure)
I worked with a woman whose husband was named “Mach.” I’ve lost touch with them, but I’ve always wondered if they had sons whether the first would be named “Mach II”. Dad would be “Mach I” and the ensuing generations could be “Mach III,” “Mach IV,” and so on, with increasing speed, no doubt.
This is a little convoluted, but my husband’s ex-wife’s sister (got that?) is named Itka. Apparently her father dreamed the name.
My grandmother’s name was Rowena Wadena Hand.
My mother’s name is Ethelyne, which I’ve never seen anywhere else.
Since I work in education, I have seen a lot of unusual names. Some winners this year are: Zakiyyah, Hyshyna, Oriyunna, Erijontae, Stevevontae, Dra’Quiesha, Thadneisha, Dequjuan (pronounced de-quan), Ever (who is a Jr!), Everyell (av-ry-ell), Natiuska, Antwanique, Undrasia, Uqulvia, Brykael, X’Lanna, and Dywone (di-juan). They are all in the 6th grade.
Best original name I think I have ever seen for a girl is Saber.
Worst combination of first and middle name: Justin Tyme
I have an Aunt Eunah and an Aunt Wellma. I have an inlaw named Cleone. I’ve never meet anyone else with those names.
Someone posted Ocean and Dakota, these were sisters I knew in elementary school. I also went to highschool with a woman named Honey.
Lulubelle
Eugenia
Tasker
Thais (pronounced Ty/ees)
Osean–a female, who says her parents misspelled a male Irish name and gave it to her. (pronounced O/sheen)
Tyranny–she has a sister named Liberty.
Fola–Nigerian nurse
Yaa–Ghananian (?) nurse
Bobatunde (pronounced bob/a/tune/day)–not sure of country of origin.
Bevelyn, my back-door neighbor, named after her mom’s two best friends, Beverly and Evelyn
Velinda, my co-worker…when I ask her about her name, she shrugs and says her folks are hillbillies
Quasar, a former co-worker…said her parents are hippies
Jonva Sabrina…classmate in high school…
Petreena…another classmate…
Those are just people I actually know…in my job, like the teacher above, I come across a lot of original and unique names…most unpronounceable or with punctuation in strange places or with letters that are silent or pronounced oddly…
I’ve had people “correct” the spelling of my middle name (Finnish version of Eileen) and my surname (bastardized Ellis Island Slavic name) on forms so often that I automatically write my full name in block letters on anything official. It didn’t prevent me from having to have my voter’s registration corrected three times because of the spelling when I first got it, though.
My Icelandic family has a lot of relatively common Icelandic names that are anathema to just about any English speaker who views or hears them. It’s always “fun” when dealing with people who’ve never been exposed to Scandinavian names beyond Sven and Ingrid. :rolleyes:
Growing up, I knew two girls who were sisters whose names I’ve never come across since: Starshika and Zharisma.