# Stupid Baby Names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273 "2009-07-07T23:45:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/21 "2009-07-08T01:03:06Z")
Should we only slap the women who pick out stupid names, and not the men? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/22 "2009-07-08T01:05:03Z")
What’s wrong with Gage? I wouldn’t choose it myself, but in a world of Cadens and Mykkahleahs, it’s refreshingly normal. > [@Ruby\_G](#): > > I work with a woman named Rotunda which I think is hilarious as she’s not even fat. I went to school with a kid who’s last name was Blob. (He was skinny, fortunately.) He and Rotunda should totally get married. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/23 "2009-07-08T01:16:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Gage has been a fairly common name since the 1970’s, possibly inspired by John Gage, the popular character from “Emergency” who was always called Gage. > > According to this website [http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi](http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi) it was the 144th most popular name given to male babies. > > As far as the word “gage” it’s a common alternate spelling for “Gauge” (according to this website, [Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/spelling/?view=uk) “gage” is the American spelling of the word. Correcting myself - Gage became popular around 1990, a bit later than I thought, which correlates suspiciously with a character by that name in the 1989 movie “Pet Sematary.” BTW, I know someone born in the 1920s with the middle name Gage - and his father had the same middle name. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/24 "2009-07-08T01:17:05Z")
[I’m getting really sick of guys named Todd.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohXn8WKpYaA) ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/25 "2009-07-08T01:40:04Z")
How is nevaeh pronounced anyway? I’ve never been able to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/26 "2009-07-08T01:41:13Z")
> [@IGotNothin](#): > > I think we should be able to slap women who pick out lame ass names and stupid spellings for their babies. How badly do they hate their children and want there asses kicked in middle school? For example, there is a girl that I’m friends with that is going to name her baby Gage. First of all my ex named his DOG Gauge and she didn’t even spell it right! Her sister named her baby boy Boston Keoni. What the hell is that? People are freakin’ retarded and I feel they should be punished for passing their stupidity onto there off spring. Another great user name / post match. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/27 "2009-07-08T01:49:41Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > Should we only slap the women who pick out stupid names, and not the men? Apparently the fathers only contribute sperm, and then wander off in a fog after that. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/28 "2009-07-08T01:52:17Z")
I was going to make jokings about Gage coming from the character on _Emergency!_, only to find out that it’s all too true. My son went to preschool with a kid named Ghavynn. My wife knew someone named Shemal, with an accent over the e, which would have been merely unusual except that instead of pronouncing it SHAY-mal as the accent would seem to indicate, it was actually pronounced Sha-MAL. That took it into a whole other realm. I bet she lost count of the number of times someone called her “She-male”. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/29 "2009-07-08T01:52:28Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > How is nevaeh pronounced anyway? I’ve never been able to figure it out. I dunno, I know one woman who named her child that but I haven’t heard her say that name (or don’t recall her saying it). I’ve always assumed it’s “Nev-ay-uh”, short e for the first syllable. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/30 "2009-07-08T01:57:39Z")
There was a guy at my high school named Gage. He would have been born in the 70’s. Of course, being that my high school was in Minnesota, there was also a guy named Bjorn. And about a billion guys named Justin and Jason. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/31 "2009-07-08T02:05:16Z")
A friend of a friend just named their daughter [Corallus.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corallus) Yes, they are hobbyists. I wonder how their girl is going to feel when she finds out she was named after her father’s pet snake when she grows up. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/32 "2009-07-08T02:06:08Z")
I dunno, some people seem to thrive in spite of their odd monikers. One word: Condoleezza. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/33 "2009-07-08T02:13:48Z")
> [@IGotNothin](#): > > For example, there is a girl that I’m friends with that is going to name her baby Gage. I have a friend named Gage. She’s a vice president at a major university. I think this little girl isn’t going to have too many problems because of her name. I do think when giving a child a “trendy” name, one should go with an old standby for the middle, so that they can be N. Caroline Smith, JD. instead of Nevaeh the lawya. I had a few classmates at Harvard with… interesting names. One was named Delight and one was named Precious. I wonder if the capital accrued by an elite education negates the issues emanating from their given names? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/34 "2009-07-08T02:16:49Z")
Gage is a real name that has nothing to do with the word gauge, even though they are homophones and almost homographs. It’s really not one to complain about. Boston’s also probably not going to stand out at school at all. I doubt they’re even the kind of names (like Neveah) that would be any kind of class marker. Neveah’s never caught on in the UK, perhaps because of a well-known brand of moisturiser called Nivea. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/35 "2009-07-08T02:28:54Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Neveah’s never caught on in the UK, perhaps because of a well-known brand of moisturiser called Nivea. Unfortunately that didn’t work here - Nivea is a well-known brand in the US as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/36 "2009-07-08T02:33:40Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Neveah’s never caught on in the UK, perhaps because of a well-known brand of moisturiser called Nivea. Give it time. It’s chav-tastic and WAG-esque. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/37 "2009-07-08T02:36:11Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > The word that rhymes with “sage” is written “gauge”. “Gage” isn’t written to sound like anything. Isn’t a gage a kind of plum? At any rate, I was with the OP up through the first sentence, but… “Gage” is your worst example of a “stupid baby name”? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/38 "2009-07-08T02:38:58Z")
Moved from The BBQ Pit to Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share. **Gfactor** Pit Moderator ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/39 "2009-07-08T02:39:12Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Unfortunately that didn’t work here - Nivea is a well-known brand in the US as well. Oh dear. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273/40 "2009-07-08T02:52:55Z")
I believe I mentioned, in a previous “unfortunate baby names” thread, the case of young Courvoisiervalentino and his older sister Hennessy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-baby-names/502273.md?page=3)