# Most-regretted baby names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2023, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730 "2023-07-07T13:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/141 "2023-07-09T08:02:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > My wife morphed into a Casey when her first and middle initials got into some junk mail list as KC, and eventually someone translated that to ‘Casey’ and the entry propagated through other lists. Not a person but the felid member of the household was dubbed Casey which is long for KC which in turn is short for Kitty Cat. This was all before we knew his sex and subsequently _fixed_ it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/142 "2023-07-09T12:10:28Z")
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/5023) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/143 "2023-07-09T15:04:36Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > > [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > > > I’d say that’s actually a darn good name for a judge. Assuming s/he lives up to it, of course. > > [He](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_Hand) did OK. Yes, indeed, he sure did. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/144 "2023-07-09T15:06:18Z")
Fighting ignorance since forever. Still taking longer than we thought. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/145 "2023-07-09T16:46:46Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > _Ashley_ is one of a group of names that were historically masculine, but over the course of time became gender-neutral, then feminine; _Tracy_ and _Leslie_ are also in this group. You can still find occasional male bearers of some of these names, like Leslie Nielsen and Stacy Keach; but other names of this class like _Ashley_, _Vivian_, and _Beverly_ have become either completely feminine, or faded away altogether. I know of a male Beverly. He’s a client where I work and I was kind of surprised to see he was 40-something. I figured he’d be much older at first. One of my uncles is named Leslie but he’s always gone by Les. All the other Leslies I know are women. My older niece has a very creative spelling of a name that already has lots of different variant spellings. I’ve never seen anyone else with this name spelled the way hers is. My sister has said that if she had it to do over again she would have gone with a less creative spelling. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/146 "2023-07-09T17:44:16Z")
Well, that might be why they use single-letter first names. All I know is that there are a lot who do! And yes, there ARE such names–but never count on IT using logic. Same as many sites that require more than a single letter for a first name. In this lady’s case, I was predicting that she’d use “Kay”, since that’s easy and not confusing. But, as noted, it hasn’t come up. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/147 "2023-07-09T17:47:50Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > hypercoristic I have to admit that I’ve never understood the phenomenon of naming someone the short-form/diminutive of a name. It seems like it does little but cause the sorts of problems your brother faced, as well as not quite letting him be “Lawrence” if he so chooses when he’s older. I mean, why name someone “Chris” instead of “Christopher”? You can always call them Chris if you want. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/148 "2023-07-09T19:53:17Z")
A friend of mine was going to name her first son Oliver Joel until someone pointed that would mean he would ‘O.J.’ I said no one would remember OJ Simpson by the time he was grown up. Turns out I was wrong. They settled for calling the first one Oliver and the second one Joel. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/149 "2023-07-09T20:09:16Z")
There are ways of letting a girl know that her father really, really wanted her to be a boy. Like naming her Floydene Earlene. I saw that name in the records of a National Guard unit I did work for, ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/150 "2023-07-09T20:34:26Z")
Mr.Wrek had an uncle. He married first a lady who named her kids normal names of the time. Think John and Edward, Rose and Mary. His second wife had 5 boys. They were (spelling??) Buddy, Bittie, Teensy, Nubbin and Roy. I often wondered how Roy felt. (I’m sure those were nicknames, but I swear I never have known the real names) He also had an Aunt Sister. She wasn’t a nun. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/151 "2023-07-09T21:15:13Z")
It’s like a line from _A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_ – “Sounds like four dogs and a parrot.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/152 "2023-07-09T21:45:33Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > > [@Folly](#): > > > > Yeah, you name a future judge something like Learned Hand… > > I’d say that’s actually a darn good name for a judge. Assuming s/he lives up to it, of course. Very few parents these days, even if they anticipate a future jurist, will name their child Kenesaw Mountain. ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/153 "2023-07-09T22:23:25Z")
No, you probably did not. > **[Is This Child's Name for Real?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/le-a/)** > > The tale of a mother who names her child 'Le-a,' which she insists be pronounced 'Ledasha.' ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/154 "2023-07-10T00:07:09Z")
Google tossed this up: > Born the sixth of seven children on November 20, 1866 in Milville, OH, Landis received his colorful name from **Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia** , where his father, Abraham Landis, had been seriously wounded during the Civil War. Ya gotta wonder why the kid would be named for a place with such bad memories. Wikipedia expands upon the naming process thusly: > Abraham Landis had been wounded fighting in the [U.S. Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army) at the [Battle of Kennesaw Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kennesaw_Mountain) in Georgia, and when his parents proved unable to agree on a name for the new baby, Mary Landis proposed that they call him Kenesaw Mountain. At the time, both spellings of “Kenesaw” were used, but in the course of time, “Kennesaw Mountain” became the accepted spelling of the battle site.[[2]] ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/155 "2023-07-10T00:44:57Z")
A lot of people must’ve had the same idea. There are so many Kadens/Cadens/Caydens out there. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/156 "2023-07-10T01:00:14Z")
Well, if you say so. But I get bonus points for my vivid memories of the paperwork & discussions, 'k? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/157 "2023-07-10T01:17:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I know at least 2 male Connie’s. I’m thinking nicks for Conrad or Conner. Another possibility is Cornelius, the given first name of basketball star Connie Hawkins as well as longtime baseball manager Connie Mack (whose surname was shortened from McGillicuddy). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/158 "2023-07-10T01:58:58Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > He also had an Aunt Sister. She wasn’t a nun. That sounds like a Southern thing. My grandfather’s name was Jesse, but he and his brothers were all prefaced by _"B’ "_, pronounced _“Buh”_, short for _“Brother”_: _“B’Jesse”, “B’Willie”, “B’Arthur”._ He had sisters, too, but of course, they weren’t called _“Brother”_; no, they were _“Sis’Pearl”_ and _“Sis’Mary Alice”_. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/159 "2023-07-10T02:16:20Z")
Looking at that list, at least 1/2 of the regretted names are spelled correctly (and Michael was on both lists) I suspect quite a few of those were in the same situation my brother was in: his given name at birth was firstname middlename, but he was called by his middle name all his life. Eventually he legally changed middlename to his first name ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730/160 "2023-07-10T02:35:21Z")
My former step-grandfather used to go by Bunny. Which was weird, until you found out that his actual given name was Adolf. Not too many German Jews like to go by Adolf anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-regretted-baby-names/986730.md?page=9)