# 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:** 3
### Author:  [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/41 "2006-06-01T22:05:22Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#):
>
> Actually, many common y-ending girls names were orignially male names…they are English in origin, I think…Beverly, Lindsay, Ashley…even Shirley! 🙂
Although it doesn’t end in -y, I believe Meredith was also once an exclusively male name. I think it has it’s roots in the Welsh language.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/42 "2006-06-01T22:42:09Z")
> [@Antigen](#):
>
> 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…
I think people who want unique spellings of common baby names should look to these, rather than making up a spelling on their own.
My sister is due with her first child at the end of the month (I’m going to be an aunt! 😃 ). If it’s a girl, they’re thinking of naming it Evelyn. In addition to being, IIRC, another girl’s name that used to be a boy’s name, it was my grandmother’s name. She wants a unique name for her baby, but is going to old-fashioned names rather than making up a different spelling for a currently common name (for example, Jacob is the most common male baby name for 2005).
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/43 "2006-06-01T23:01:37Z")
Piper Gaby, huh? So her folks watched Charmed then Desperate Housewives every Sunday, too… If it had been a boy, and they’d prefered Wednesday night TV, maybe they’d of had Sawyer Russel:p
Speaking of names, I read recently that Jack is the most popular baby name in the UK currently. POTC probably has some part in that, but what I’m wondering is the boys’ name is really Jack on their birth certificates, not Johnathan like most Jacks in the US? I have an uncle Don (legally, not Donald) so I know it’s sometimes done, but for something normally a nickname to be the most common boy name surprises me.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/44 "2006-06-01T23:20:45Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> for something normally a nickname to be the most common boy name surprises me.
It’s happened before- the name Nancy supposedly started out as a diminutive of Anne, and Nancy has been the more popular of the two names in a number of years. There are almost certainly other examples.
> [@davmilasav](#):
>
> 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.
I’ve heard of females with gender-ambiguous names getting nasty notes from Selective Service, reminding them to register. I don’t know what’s involved in convincing the government that you’re actually female…
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### Author:  [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/45 "2006-06-02T00:29:01Z")
I used to work with a girl named Piper about 15 years ago. She said she was named after a plane.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/46 "2006-06-02T00:33:27Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#):
>
> I’ve heard of females with gender-ambiguous names getting nasty notes from Selective Service, reminding them to register. I don’t know what’s involved in convincing the government that you’re actually female…
Probably no harder than mailing in a notarized copy of a birth certificate or passport.
And the strip search, of course.
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/47 "2006-06-02T00:40:32Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> What I find funny is what happens with name trends.
>
> The Nephew is a Mark. SIL chose it among other reasons as a name that’s not very common yet not weird.
>
> “The hunk” in a very popular TV series is a Mark. We already know of 5 other Marks born within months of The Nephew.
My name is Mark. I know 4 or 5 other Marks. When I was in I believe 4th grade, there was 4 Marks in the class. If you look [at this site,](http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html) Mark has been a relatively common name, especially in the mid 50’s when I was born.
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### Author:  [@WishIHadACoolName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WishIHadACoolName)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/48 "2006-06-02T00:42:44Z")
I met a little girl recently named Cadence.
My son’s class this year included 3 Taylors. Two boys and a girl.
Last week, I met a boy named Hawk. Today, the goofspelling Charals for the perfectly normal Charles. I’ve also met Merile (male) and Geronimo. Then there are the brothers…Dakota and Lakota.
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### Author:  [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/49 "2006-06-02T01:12:56Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#):
>
> Probably no harder than mailing in a notarized copy of a birth certificate or passport.
>
> And the strip search, of course.
It’s harder than that. My sister, who has a strictly female name, got a letter from the Selective Service when she was 21 telling her to register. (The SS doesn’t waste time, huh.\* :rolleyes: ) She had to get _ahem_ confirmed by a doctor. That must have been rather awkward.
- For non-Americans: all U.S. males (and only males) must register for potential military drafting soon after turning 18.
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### Author:  [@BrattiAtti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrattiAtti)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/50 "2006-06-02T01:16:21Z")
> [@hawksgirl](#):
>
> 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 -o-meter is a bit off.
Last year, a female applicant for one of our programs at work/school (college) was named Michael Gene Something. It really threw me off the first time I called to speak with “him”.
I’m guilty of the trendy name sin. When my friend J was pregnant at 19 (and I was 17… I’m blaming this on the young & dumb theory) we decided that Kyrsten [Keersten] would be a cool name for the kid. K grew into the name (my pet name for her [in my own mind, not out loud] is fireball demon from hell) and those who can’t say it just call her Krissy.
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### Author:  [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/51 "2006-06-02T01:26:56Z")
My parents told me about their friends the Bottomlys. They named their son Rocky.
I don’t know how they died.
Tris
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### Author:  [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/52 "2006-06-02T01:51:09Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#):
>
> If it’s a girl, they’re thinking of naming it Evelyn.
I offered my daughter $20 to name her dog Evelyn, but she wouldn’t go for it. Even though she likes Frank Zappa.
I’ll wade in here and take my beating: we named said daughter Tasman Elizabeth. So far (first 10 years) she’s taken virtually no shit for it and has had a lot of compliments. And we gave her a very versatile middle name if the need arises.
I have a very good female friend (50 years old) named Kevan. Lest there be any doubt regarding her gender, her middle name is Lee. :rolleyes:
Overall observation: Even John will be a girl’s name someday. All the rest are.
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### Author:  [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/53 "2006-06-02T02:01:29Z")
As far as “potential playground problems” go (as one baby-naming guide I saw a few years ago ranked things), there are fully grown men playing Major League Baseball named [Coco Crisp](http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6983) and [Milton Bradley](http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6406)…
What gets me isn’t so much the “creative” naming of children (particularly girls) after various nouns (“Lexus”), adjectives or place names (“Brooklyn” is apparently an increasingly popular, but surprisingly enough, not “Weehawken”), but “creative” spellings of names, generally featuring K’s for C’s or Y’s for I’s, doubling N’s or L’s, and the like. So you like a name but thought it was too common, so decided just to change the spelling to stand out? Stand out how… on tax forms and lunch bags?
To me it all seemed to start with _Caitlin_, a traditional Irish form of the name Catherine with an English pronunciation-correct form of Kathleen (like Shawn for _Sean_). Frequently mispronounced as “KATE-lin”, it became particularly popular with the funky-spelling crowd in 5 or 6 different forms: Catelyn, Kaitlyn, even Kaytlynn… Arrggh!
Some friends of mine adopted a girl a few years back and named her not Katrina… But _Catryna_ (pronounced the same). And my wife’s sister named her daughter not Kira, but _Kyra_. (Which always makes me think of _Kyocera_, the cell phone manufacturer). Are these girls expected to grow up to become **[wymyn](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/womyn)**?
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### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/54 "2006-06-02T02:22:49Z")
I have a friend whose 15-year-old daughter’s name is Stevie Rae.
Not Stephanie Rae (which I think would have been beautiful), using Stevie as a diminutive, but Stevie.
That’s a cold shot, baby.
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/55 "2006-06-02T04:10:28Z")
I’m pretty sure that Kyra is currently a \*more \* popular spelling than Kira. I don’t know a lot of women with that name, but the few I know all use the y.
On the other hand, anyone who names their kid “Lexus” should know that when that child kills them in their sleep, no jury will convict them.
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### Author:  [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/56 "2006-06-02T04:23:20Z")
My 6-year-old neighbor is named Denver. Not too bad, he’s actually named after his grandfather (or great-grandfather, I’m not sure). Other kids at his school:
Wolf
Tiger
Gryphon
Nautica
Halle Wood
General
Major
Talon
King Butcher (my current favorite)
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### Author:  [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/57 "2006-06-02T04:26:54Z")
My godson is named Dear, pronounced De-air. I bought him weights for his 5th birthday last month.
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### Author:  [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/58 "2006-06-02T04:38:44Z")
I always wanted to marry someone with a last name such as Wood and name my daughter Holly. Or Hills, Beverly.
Eventually, there will be a backlash or the oddly named ones naming their children John and Mary, which will seem avant gard!
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/59 "2006-06-02T04:48:50Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#):
>
> I have a friend whose 15-year-old daughter’s name is Stevie Rae.
>
> Not Stephanie Rae (which I think would have been beautiful), using Stevie as a diminutive, but Stevie.
>
> That’s a cold shot, baby.
I’m sure she’s their pride and joy. :rolleyes:
When my son, Charles, was born, we had two close friends also have children around the same time. Both named their sons Caleb. The didn’t know each other and both thought they were being unique and totally not trendy. When my son was 4 there were 4 Calebs in his preschool (of only 40 kids or so), plus the two we were friends with. Funny how names just sorta become trendy.
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### Author:  [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-little-me-my-parents-gave-me-a-stupid-name/359023/60 "2006-06-02T04:50:55Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#):
>
> I have a friend whose 15-year-old daughter’s name is Stevie Rae.
>
> Not Stephanie Rae (which I think would have been beautiful), using Stevie as a diminutive, but Stevie.
>
> That’s a cold shot, baby.
**HAW!**
Best one-liner I’ve heard all day…
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