You’re very kind to say so. We’re Americans, but she has three generations of Australian ancestors and (TMI alert) was conceived in Oz as well. It seemed like the right thing to do.
Did we go to school together, 5que? Because I also went to school with Merry Christmas Trees, who had male family members Pine Forrest Trees and Jack Pine Trees.
My cousin, in a fit of insanity, named a baby she gave birth to (who died a few hours later, I’ve often insisted due to his name) after two dear family friends. That’s right, she named the poor thing Bracken Waxy Ball.
And since nobody else in the thread has mentioned it yet, there’s always the classic Baby’s Named a Bad, Bad Thing.
Oddly, my World of Warcraft (completely fictional) character is “Nivea” from naja nivea, the cape cobra. Not that I’d name a child that, but there you are. I thought it was geeky in a herpetological kind of way, but not stupid sounding 
Wow, there are some really stupid people on that site. And I don’t mean the people coming up with wierd names for their kids. Someone on there is complaining about the name “Harrison,” for Christ’s sake!
You’re kidding. My friend Andrea’s new grandson is a Talon… at his Daddy’s insistance. We thought Andrea’s son was both unique and out there. Apparently he’s just out there.
Other kids I’ve met over the past few years:
Brook lynn
Dallas
Odin
Stormy (male)
Qwest
Zenith (Qwest’s sibling, ftr. There are 3 more kids in the family, but I forget their odd names. All also named after products)
Are Kyra and Kira supposed to be the same name? I’ve heard each spelling pronounced a different way. OTOH, I didn’t realize until this thread that there was any possible gender ambiguity to the name Piper, which I’ve only seen used for girls.
I forgot to mention earlier: The name Piper gives me a little shudder. I’m associating it with someone really bad, but I have no idea who. Is there an eeevil Piper?
Piper Laurie played the psycho religious mom in Carrie, maybe that’s it?
I saw the name “Starletta Goodwine” the other day. Tell me that’s not a stripper name.
I don’t have too much experience with bad names, but bad initials seem to be some kind of family curse. My brother’s initials are EGG which is bit odd. My cousin recently had a son whose initials are GAY. Yep. I’m sure that kid isn’t gonna have any problems as a result of that.
I read that there are quite a few kids with the name ESPN. There are even two schools of thought on the pronunciation. Some parents say E .S. P. N. and others say Espen.
Probably a good thing that I’m no longer an active swimmer in the gene pool …
My wife won on both our daughter’s names:
First born - Amber Lynn
Second born – Necia Lynn (pronounced Nee-sha)
My choices:
Calamity Jane
Bonnie Parker
Had they been boys I would have held out for
Hitler Adolf
Judas Iscariot
I often wonder why no one asked for my opions about names for the grandchildren.
[curses, foiled again - someday I will get my revenge!]
Lucy
I had a young married couple as tenants a few years back, Robin and Tracy. I was forever getting them confused and they always looked insulted when I did. I still can’t remember who was which.
My cousin just named her son Rohan, which is a perfectly acceptable Indian name, but I couldn’t resist telling her that everyone will assume she got the name from LOTR.
Nisha is pronounced that way, too 
Aparently it doesn’t mean the same thing, though. The Nisha I knew during college is in fact Indian, hence the spelling.
“Keersten” is actually my sisters name, but it is spelled Keirsten. She doesn’t know where it came from, and neither do I.
On the Michael/other phonetic spelling - I worked at a school with a little girl named Mykal. I think it was a family name but I did not know and quit before I found out much else.
I’m glad I got a decent name…Brad…and not bradley or anything, just Brad…
The morning show on one of the local radio stations has a daily ‘Birhtday List’ where you can ring in & get a persons name read out on-air.
I almost drove off the road when they read out 1st birthday wishes to a local set of twins: Korben & Leeloo :eek:
Yeah, those kids will have a fun time at school.
I spent my youth doing a lot of spelling and pronouncing. My first name is Michelle - it’s amazing how many folks can’t spell it, and I’m not talking just 1 l vs. 2. My last name was an unusual Polish name that didn’t end in -ski * - maybe once or twice in my life did people get it right the first time. My dad’s name was Thaddeus. My mom’s name is Loretta, and her maiden name was another Polish non-ski * name. We lived on Amuskai Road (pronounced a-MUS-kee).
My point is, you don’t need a super freaky name to spend a lot of time spelling. Heck, even now, with a 4-letter last name, people have to verify: “Like the direction?” Life is hard enough without making it harder with weird names. I’ve already informed my daughter that my future grandchildren will not have weird names. We’ll see how that goes…
My twins were born on Christmas eve, so naturally they are Noel and Eve. :eek:
Just kidding. I’d be a dead man before they got out of elementary school.
I like classic names and no funky spellings.
Trendy names? Like this is new? Like Praise-God Barebones. And his son who he named If Jesus Had Not Died You Would Be Damned Barebones.
Those darn trendy 17th Century Prostestents.
You see, it could be worse.
At my kids last school there was a little girl named So’Unique. Her nickname? SoSo. What a mixed message. I went to school with twins Apple and Cherry.
My sister is really named Rebel. We think Mom just went nuts. Not even a cool middle name to fall back on, it’s Lee. My Uncle begged her to name me Yankee but she didn’t thank goodness.
I’ve recounted this before, but my ex named her daughters Shannon and Jordan. I said to her “if you have a third, will you call it Nile?” She had no idea what I was talking about. (I also suggested Thames and Shatt-al-Arab but then she started to get pissed off so I shut up.)