# Poor little me: My parents gave me a stupid name
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 1, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023 "2006-06-01T15:43:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/21 "2006-06-01T18:38:27Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> Not common? Really?
>
> I had no less than 8 close friends named Mark. One of my best friends is named Mark. I’m 27.
I was wondering much the same thing, unless we are talking a non-Christian country Mark is going to be a permanently common name like John, Simon, Paul, and Mathew.
I think Piper is quite a reasonable name, even has a cute diminuative Pip. We have a guy called Dove working with us, now that must have been somewhat awkward to grow up with.
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### Author:  [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/22 "2006-06-01T18:41:13Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> One that’s bugging me is a new trend-name: Nevaeh. Looks like a New England pronunciation of “never,” but it’s really “heaven” in reverse, and pronounced as Neh VAY uh.
Yeah, I hate that one too. What will people with Nevaehs do if they have a boy, name him Lleh?
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### Author:  [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/23 "2006-06-01T18:44:15Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> One that’s bugging me is a new trend-name: Nevaeh. Looks like a New England pronunciation of “never,” but it’s really “heaven” in reverse, and pronounced as Neh VAY uh.
I just became aware of this one a few weeks back, through a newspaper or magazine article in which it was mentioned that a woman named her newborn this … _concoction_. I’m sure some people will think it’s so clever. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/24 "2006-06-01T18:50:07Z")
My neurotic sister wanted to name her daughter Jazzelin, but it didn’t stick because my bro-in-law couldn’t remember it. The eventual name the decided on was still made up, but oh well. I’m just glad this one didn’t stick.
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/25 "2006-06-01T18:57:49Z")
I like the name Piper.
It would be even sweeter if her middle name is Cub. And the parents were pilots.
On to a girl named Michael. There is a newscaster in Mid-Michigan out of Bay City whose name is Michael Anne. I always liked it, the name and the station. Little depressing news about Detroit.
I met a 30 something year old woman named Kyle. I felt sorry for her. That, too me, is a guy name.
One of my former coworkers name is Danni-Anne. Which I have always liked.
The name Beverly use to be exclusively a male name, then around the turn of 1900 or so, it started becoming a girls name.
Florenz/ Florence use to be a mostly guys name. Florence Ziefield and my Grandpa’s middle name. ( Mine too.)
Peyton use to be a guy’s name as Avery too.
Dorcas, which is a welsh girl’s name is old and lovely. I have heard of a black male teen named it and I felt terribly bad for him.
Jocelyn use to be exclusively a guy’s name. Now it is rare.
I have to have the dullest female name that ranks up there with **Nurse Carmen** and is the sister to his name. **Joan** just is phfffffffft. (and I have a brother John. How very …below average.
Then there is the Carrie/Karrie/Carey conundrum.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/26 "2006-06-01T19:16:42Z")
The big problem I see naming a kid Piper is that you’re dooming somebody to a lifetime of getting hit in the face with a pie, because everybody thinks they’re the first person ever to be that witty.
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### Author:  [@davmilasav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davmilasav)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/27 "2006-06-01T19:28:03Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#):
>
> That’s actually not all that rare. I think John-boy’s mom is a Michael.
Michael Lerned, in fact
\*\*MY \*\* name is Mikel. Mikel Lynn, in full. It’s pronounced Michael and in fact is a shortened, phonetic spelling of the Italian name, Michaeleane. Since I’m 37 I can get away with blaming it on Hippie parents but I’m actually named after my great-grandmother.
As for having rotten things happen, the worst that I had to put up with was being assigned to a guy’s dorm back in college. 😃 Oh, the horror! That only lasted half an hour. I guess my boobies gave me away.
Damn.
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/28 "2006-06-01T19:35:33Z")
Michal for a girl isnt bad, I have a friend named Michal-Anna. but the fact was, she also got a masculine middle name too, Ray. My thing was she wasn’t given another name that she could go by if she preferred. Meh, I guess my :dubious: -o-meter is a bit off.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/29 "2006-06-01T19:52:07Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> The name Beverly use to be exclusively a male name, then around the turn of 1900 or so, it started becoming a girls name.
Actually, many common y-ending girls names were orignially male names…they are English in origin, I think…Beverly, Lindsay, Ashley…even Shirley! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/30 "2006-06-01T20:00:37Z")
OK.
Some of you don’t think Piper is so bad. But it does suffer from the “Is that a girl or a boy” syndrome.
And combined with the “How do you pronounce this?” \*Gaby \* makes it even worse.
But hey, it’s no T9C, I’ll give you that!
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### Author:  [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/31 "2006-06-01T20:16:23Z")
I have a sister whose first and middle are Sidney Storm and a niece named Mondae. I like both, but my sister’s name was a bit unique in the '50’s.
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/32 "2006-06-01T20:31:02Z")
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Why should we all have the same names?
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### Author:  [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/33 "2006-06-01T20:47:01Z")
I don’t think we should all have the same names, I just wish people would name children, not babies. Cutesy names look pretty silly on 40-year-olds. Nowadays, you’d probably be better off naming your child John or Elizabeth, rather than having one of four McKennas or Tylers in a class. FTR, I don’t think Piper is bad, but I think I’d like it better as a nickname for a more formal name.
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### Author:  [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/34 "2006-06-01T20:48:27Z")
Oh, for stupid. What I meant to say, of course, is that I wish parents would name people, not babies/children.
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### Author:  [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/35 "2006-06-01T21:04:46Z")
I’m increasingly coming to enjoy weird names. I mean, I enjoy creativity in other capacities, so why not this one?
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### Author:  [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/36 "2006-06-01T21:11:09Z")
Speaking of stupid spellings - I met a girl a few months ago who named her baby Jaykub.
This woman is educated, smart, and appears quite normal. Her husband insisted on the name Jacob, as it is a family name. She agreed but wanted to distinguish her son from all of the other Jacobs.
So she spelled it JAYKUB. That poor poor kid.
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/37 "2006-06-01T21:16:40Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> On to a girl named Michael. There is a newscaster in Mid-Michigan out of Bay City whose name is Michael Anne.
If she makes a simple dessert, would that be Michael Anne Jello? 😃
I couldn’t resist! Don’t hurt me!
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/38 "2006-06-01T21:23:18Z")
Oops, wasn’t done. There’s an Indian movie star called Dimple Kapadia, and when she had a sister, her parents wanted a rhyming name, in ultra-cute fashion. So what did they settle on?
[Simple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Kapadia). I kid thee not. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if she had had yet another sister… there’s only really one option left which rhymes.
I’ve struggled with having a very unusual first name myself, which also happens to be very similar to a common girls’ name. I often get double-takes when I tell people my first name, and it occassionally gets “corrected” by well-meaning busybodies on forms. The number of times I’ve travelled by train under the other name are far too many to count. However, since they never bother to really check, it doesn’t bother me - except in some deep, nit-picking sort of way.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/39 "2006-06-01T21:24:48Z")
His name is spelt Jaykub but it is pronounced Dyslexia.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/40 "2006-06-01T21:55:03Z")
> [@Stainz](#):
>
> Speaking of stupid spellings - I met a girl a few months ago who named her baby Jaykub.
>
> This woman is educated, smart, and appears quite normal. Her husband insisted on the name Jacob, as it is a family name. She agreed but wanted to distinguish her son from all of the other Jacobs.
>
> So she spelled it JAYKUB. That poor poor kid.
You do know that other cultures sometimes have alternative spellings for names, right? Jakub is a common enough Polish name, for example. Not sure about that mysterious Y, but…
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