# Names you loathe... and why! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991 "2010-04-13T21:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/221 "2010-04-18T06:28:20Z")
No poor kid should ever be named “Prescott,” that’s just wrong. Knew a girl in school named “Mohogany.” That also sucks, you ask me. “Winnifred” and/or “Winnie” = also horrible. Ditto “Terry” for both genders. Action needs to be taken agains these names ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/222 "2010-04-18T12:25:19Z")
I hate the last name = first name thing as well I hate when people give girls names that are “gender neutral” so that their little girl can grow up and be judged on her ability not on her sex. Of course these people fail to realize that there are THOUSANDS of women with names like Martha (Stewart) who grow up and do well in business with traditional women’s names as well as completely ignoring the fact, once you give a “gender neutral name” to a bunch of girls, people who have boys consider it a girl’s name and quit naming their boys’ that. I hate ethnic names that are given and shortened. I had a co-worker and she gave all her kids “African” names. Fair enough, you can be proud of your heritage. But never ONE TIME did I ever hear her or anyone else call them by their “African” names. She had shortened her kids names to Kiki, and DeeDee, and Boo. If you’re not going to use them what’s the point? I hate clever spellings. I knew a girl named “Brian.” Honest to goodness, she’d say “No it’s pronounced “Bree-Ann” I felt like telling her, “You spell your name ‘B-R-I-A-N’ so I got news for you, you’re parents named you BRY-IN” and you can pronounce it anyway you like 'Mrs Bouquet” it’s still ‘Bucket’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/223 "2010-04-18T13:44:28Z")
Any parent that names their child after whatever celebrity du jour has named their spawn receives my distain for eternity. Brooklyn Preston (GAG) Anything off a reality show creature. Jaiden and any variation But, if you want to get my goat, the Unholy Trinity of Evil is Tiffany, Amber, Brittany (and all the variational spellings therein.) With a Destiny, Jasmine, Austin and Hunter thrown in just for spite. Also, since I’m in fine form, there needs to be a CEASE FIRE on naming girls EMILY or HANNAH. We have reached saturation point and it is making me stabby. Paisley as a name is right up there with say Taffeta or Organdy. It is a material. Why not name her baby Bluebell Madonna ( like the dipshit spice girl who named her daughter this) and be done with it. Someone above is right, it is getting harder to pick a stripper name because the parents are taking all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/224 "2010-04-18T15:54:33Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Also, since I’m in fine form, there needs to be a CEASE FIRE on naming girls EMILY or HANNAH. We have reached saturation point and it is making me stabby. Advice to parents-to-be: before choosing a name, check the [SSA names database](http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/) and see how popular each name under consideration is, and particularly whether it shows a trend of rising popularity. You, your child, and your child’s teachers will all be better off if you avoid these names. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/225 "2010-04-18T20:09:35Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > I have a boring name. It’s Duncan. That’s what my daughter would have been had she been a boy. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Uhhhh…Herbert? > > Anyhoo, I hate the name Skyler. It’s the only thing about ‘Breaking Bad’ that rubs me the wrong way. Mean Mr. Mustard wins the prize! Also, my husband’s cousin named his son Skylar. And got REALLY pissed when there was a girl in his class with the same name. Dude, a simple Google search would have let you know that you were naming your son after a female porn star… I forgot the worst ghetto name I’ve ever seen…I found it, sadly, in a news article about a woman who was murdered in a drive-by in front of her two children…one of whom was named Cash’Monae. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/226 "2010-04-18T20:30:28Z")
I worked with a woman whose daughter’s name was Destiny. Destiny’s best friend was Chaos. A good friend named a daughter Misty Dawn (but she’s not pole dancing). The hippiest woman I ever met named her son Noah Makepeace and often dressed him in girls’ clothes. I worked with a guy in the late 60’s who named his son Panama Red (a variety of marijuana, he said) and more recently with a guy who named his son Harley Davidson. I guess those are sorta the opposite of ghetto names – cracker names? I went to school with Jerrilea and Jalois (Ja-LOYCE). I always envied them for having unique names, among all the Pams, Judys, and Lindas. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/227 "2010-04-19T00:22:02Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I forgot the worst ghetto name I’ve ever seen…I found it, sadly, in a news article about a woman who was murdered in a drive-by in front of her two children…one of whom was named Cash’Monae. You gotta be shitting me… ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/228 "2010-04-19T00:35:15Z")
I’m totally naming my kids Ma’lawn and Cash’Monae 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/229 "2010-04-19T01:00:17Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > This website rates Paisley as a 2 out of 5 > > [Nickelodeon Parents | Printables, coloring pages, recipes, crafts, and more from your child’s favorite Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows.](http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Paisley.html) According to that site, more babies are being named Paisley than my own name, Carol. There’s something wrong with a world that has more Paisleys than Carols (no, I’m not a Paisley fan. Love the pattern though!). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/230 "2010-04-19T01:11:22Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > New York City borough names. Don’t name your kid Brooklyn or Bronx, please. > Having said that, Richmond (the county name for Staten Island) wouldn’t be so bad. But I’ve never seen it as a name. My Dad’s middle name is Richmond. Orley Richmond. God. (he goes by ‘‘Rick’’) > [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t like the spate of unisex names. No boy should have the following names: > > Tracy > Leslie > Adrian > Ariel > Jaime > Ashley > Kelly > Courtney > Frances > > \ > > And speaking of pretentiousness, the worst names are ones with Jr., the second, third, etc. in them. What kind of ego-maniac names their kids after themselves? Those parents are assholes. The boy I crushed on from 7th grade through senior year of high school was named Kelly. Ohh, dreamy Kelly. I just wanted to jump him in the hallway. I think Ashley and Frances are also hot names for boys. By the way, my Dad is also a III. So if I had been born with a Y chromosome, I would have been a little hillbilly white trash kid named, I shit you not, Orley Richmond IV. I’m sorry, I don’t think even Starquasha can top that. My personal horrible name list is pretty short. Eugene – for personal reasons. Also, it’s a terrible name. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/231 "2010-04-19T03:12:10Z")
I don’t like names that are gender neutral. I realize that many masculine names can be a woman’s name and vice versa but those aren’t the names I’m talking about. I am talking about names that you hear, and you have no clue whether the person is male or female. Shannon, Terry, Chris, Pat, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/232 "2010-04-19T03:53:10Z")
for the Worst Ghetto Name category: LaTrina my sweetie swears he knows a couple who gave that name to their daughter. Guess neither had been in the military… ---
**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:** [April 19, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/233 "2010-04-19T05:36:03Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > ILet there be more and more Shaniquas, beautiful and smart and strong, and may they be the ones owning businesses that look at applications and judge them on the skill set of the applicant. May there be more and more Shaniquas and Shaquilles and Oprahs and Condeleezas and god please, no Rolexuses but maybe a few Deshawns. I hope they keep coming until it gets really awkward for us to judge folks by their names. Because while sharing a laugh over an obvious urban legend like Orangello is hilarious to me, hearing folks putting down a name like Jamal is making me cock a curious eyebrow. (the above paragraph should be read over the strains of We Shall Overcome) Thank you for saying this so well. Covering it up with “I’m just thinking about the children” is a pretty lame dodge. Walk into any traditionally black university, and it will quickly become apparent that African-American naming conventions are in no way unusual or strange. They are a living and beautiful part of a different culture. They are no different than any other cultural name- from Rajiv to Liu Min. Is it good to teach people that the culture of their families is something to be ashamed of, something to hide? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/234 "2010-04-19T07:31:29Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Ethel, Bertha, Mildred, Edna, Horace, Stanley. All these sound ugly to me. AMEN! I always think about the parents of these women and wonder how they could have looked down at an angelic newborn and come up with Hortense, Gertrude, or Winnifred. UGH. No wonder so many of these people have nicknames like Buffy, Skip and Minnie. Beats the hell out of the alternative! Also count me in as one who dislikes the trendeigh spelling and spate of other trendy names thing. I actually like Kiesha and Aisha, but then the whole “eesha” thing just got NUTS, Loquisha, Ponoquesha, Takaneskeesha, Sasquaneesha, Chipsansalsaguaceesha… GAAAAH. 😃 The whole Britney/Tiffany/Whitney/Chelsea set is also annoying. The Irish names trend is starting to get a little on the irritating side too. It didn’t end with Caitlyn, it seems to just be getting warmed up. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/235 "2010-04-19T07:43:39Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > I was looking at my dad’s high school yearbook and was amazed by some of the names therein that you don’t see anymore, like Eunice and Edwin. > > ETA: And along with Agnes, I think Agatha is a terrible name. Sounds like someone yacking up a furball. > > **Cat:** ::hork, agatha, agatha, agatha, hork:: DAMN IT! You made me, (I’m quite sure) frighten my downstairs neighbors half to death! I’m sure they could hear me laughing, VERY loudly, out loud. But yes, I agree totally! All of those hideous old lady names must die with that generation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/236 "2010-04-19T08:22:33Z")
I, too, like **Nzinga’s** thinking on that issue. > [@](#): > > **Markxxx** : I hate clever spellings. I knew a girl named “Brian.” Honest to goodness, she’d say “No it’s pronounced “Bree-Ann” I felt like telling her, “You spell your name ‘B-R-I-A-N’ so I got news for you, you’re parents named you BRY-IN” and you can pronounce it anyway you like 'Mrs Bouquet” it’s still ‘Bucket’. It’s a good thing you kept this to yourself. Her parents apparently chose to _spell_ her name B-R-I-A-N, but they determined that the pronunciation would be Bree-Ann. They _could_ have decided that the pronunciation would be Bree-ton or Ry-an if they wanted to. There is no one and only correct way to pronounce a proper noun. By linguistic tradition, people are allowed to pronounce their names however they choose. I know very well-respected, well-educated brothers, now deceased, who pronounced their last names differently all of their adult lives. > [@](#): > > **Long Time First Time** : Siobhan - impossible to spell. Sounds NOTHING like is looks. Worst. Name. Evah. It sounds nothing like it looks unless you speak Gaelic. Doesn’t everybody? **missred** , you know all of my mother’s friends! There was Miss Freddie, Miss Willie, and my aunt whose first name was Jimmie. Yep. She was named for her dad. But I’ll bet you didn’t know a woman named Gilford Earl (first and middle names). One of the most beautiful women I ever knew. I knew a male Doris and a male Florenz. And Aunt Jimmie had a half brother named Leslie. Finally, I knew one really good looking guy back home that was named Shirley. **Drain Bead** , the spelling is off by one letter, but [Hennesey](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052473/usercomments) was a television show in the late 1950s that starred Jackie Cooper. I had the impression at the time that the name was Irish. > [@](#): > > \*\* needscoffee\*\*: …Stanley I felt the same way until I developed a friendship with a woman whose first name is Stanley. That has changed my entire perspective! > [@](#): > > \*\* DMark\*\*: Or imagine shaking your head and pitying that poor little girl in the back row oddly named Oprah… I can promise you that no one was feeling sorry for her by the time she was in high school! And you never hear anyone say, “Oprah who?” > [@](#): > > **Terra1041** : Any name ending in a 2-syllable “oe” Any name that sounds like a terra-ist threat and ends in a numeral. Take that back! 😛 I really don’t like the name {b]Hortense\*\*. That’s the worst one. Do I need to explain why? Okay. It reminds me of Horehound’s candy which is just foul. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/237 "2010-04-19T13:52:42Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Is the phrase ‘fight the power’ supposed to be some kind of mockery that would shame parents into not naming their kids those names? I don’t think it’s gonna work. I’ve known a few Shaniquas and more than a few Jamals, and I don’t think their parents were ‘fighting the power’ so much as indulging in their own brand spanking new culture\* of being Black and free in America. > > \ > > \*the culture is brand new compared to most cultures. My daughter has 2 Black girls in her class whose names are “made up” by kind of smooshing together Dad’s first name and Mom’s first name. They’re each actually beautiful, while slightly unusual, names. I know a woman whose name is Kylee, and her parents named all 3 of their daughters names that start with K and end in -ee. Her sister’s name is Kortnee. Yes, spelled that way and everything. Just last night I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who is a midwife. Most of her patients are immigrants and she was telling me about trying to do some gentle, subtle name interventions when a mom has an idea for a name which is an english word that she thinks sounds nice but actually makes a terrible name. (Kidney was one such example). ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/238 "2010-04-19T14:59:55Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > The one that I have been disliking lately is Avery for a girl. I hate super-pompous white names, stuff you’d only expect to see in the upper middle or upper classes. They make my skin crawl. Avery, Sophie, Emma, Ella, Phoebe, Madison, Isabella, Ava, and so on. An old friend had a girl in one of his biology classes named Nky. Short for Nicole, normally Nikki, right? Nope. Nky. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/239 "2010-04-19T15:03:00Z")
I know a baby named Paislee. Not only is she named after a fabric pattern, it’s spelled wrong. Maybe someday she’ll have a little brother named Plaid. Or Playd, rather. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991/240 "2010-04-19T15:12:13Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > If you’re a white man, and you want to challenge gender stereotypes, change your own name to Sue, if you want. But don’t name your son Sue in an attempt to overthrow gender stereotypes, or name him DeShawn to challenge racial stereotypes. He’s a person, not a symbol. +1 My mother fought tooth and nail with my father to give the kids names that were neither Indian nor Kashmiri nor Cuban. My name is Russian, one brother’s name is Scottish/English, and the other’s is Irish. They’re all probably the top 200 of most common US names, so people have heard of them before, but they don’t come with preconceived notions like an a name from one of our ethnicities would. I consider my name the _best_ thing they’ve ever done for me, and they’ve paid in full for my college education. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-loathe-and-why/535991.md?page=13)