Nevaeh is pronounced nuh-VAY-uh.
I work in juvenile court. We get some doozies. The law clerks keep a running list in a document called Names for our Future Children…let me check it.
There’s Africa, pronounced A-freak-a. Starquasha. Alpacino. Bonjovi. Three sisters named Precious, Princess, and Passion. Twins named Rage and Bravery. Trebreh, whose dad’s name was Herbert. Ma’Lawn. Fashion. Preciouserenity. The list goes on.
I think teachers and health care workers get to see the idiocy of parents more than others. As a teacher, I’ve seen Tiger Love, Jamisha, Biaz…but the kicker has always been Jimandi. I pronounced it “Jim-andy”. Nope. It’s pronounced “Jim-and-I” as in “Jim and I produced this child.”
This was my first thought, too.
Then again, I once knew a woman named Latrine. She pronounced it Latrine-ah, though.
I keep threatening to name our baby Secretia or Excretia, but somehow I don’t think that’d fly.
A couple of our friends named their kids Luke & Leah. Not bad names at all by themselves, and if they’re lucky, their children’s peers will never catch the reference, but the parents are clearly die-hard Star Wars fans.
Thank you. I was waiting for someone to mention this. On a related note, I used to work with a guy (who was in his 60s, at least) named Church.
My friend’s sister-in-law named her baby Cambrian. I’d kind of like to slap her for that.
My niece named her daughter Aegwyn (pronounced Egg-win). For those who don’t know (and I had no idea), it’s from World of Warcraft.
Then she named her son Graeme, which she pronounces “Grame” rather than the more usual “Gram” or “Graham.”
Another niece is expecting any minute now and she’s decided on Ugo for her son.
I am no one to talk, though. Thirty years ago I named my daughter Montana, and this year she named her son Jaxon.
Funny thing, genetics. 
My son wanted to call his first born Jewel.
His wife didn’t, my granddaughter is named Sarah.
phew
Are you Penn Gilette’s daughter?
I ran into a Temple at the bar this weekend. After my initial quizzical look she put her hands together and said “You know with a steeple”. I have to wonder how many times she’s had to give that explanation.
Sadly, I think I might win this thread. My last year as an undergrad, the girl I was dating was doing her student teaching (elementary school level.) She had a pair of siblings, both girls, named:
Kotex and Clitoria
The first was pronounced “COT ex” and the second was “CLIT or ee ah”
I don’t think the mom realized that you’re not supposed to eat the crack pipe.
:o We’re in deep doo-doo if that girl grows up and has a son she names Medivh.
(That character from the game unknowingly had a demon’s spirit inhabit her and lay dormant, and then possess her unborn child, Medivh. He grew up, the demon took hold, and then he summoned legions of demons to take over the world.)
RickJay Ruairi is the perfectly sensible Irish spelling, of the Irish name, that is pronounced in English as “Rory”. Like Diarmuid is Dermot and Ciaran is Kieron. They didn’t actually make that one up.
I went to school with a Binky and a Diva and my sister went cross-country running with a LaSagna.
Sometimes it is a matter or taste…sometimes you really do have to wonder…
I went to school with a Temple – but he was male.
I used to work with a lady named Rainey Day.
I know a family that has a son named Anakin. His brothers have more conventional names.
As for Nyeli, I have seen it spelled Nayeli. It’s a common name among Latinas, but I’m not sure which country it’s originally from.
If you look at the credits of old movies you can see some real beauties. The guy who did something–choreography?–for all those Busby Berkeley musicals was Hermes Pan. What kind of name is Hermes Pan.
And there is a guy (I think) whose first name is Babalu. Seriously. Babalu. I think he was listed as a producer.
These people are all high achievers, they’ve got their names in the credits.
I used to know a guy from a very rich family whose first name was Shakeley. He was crazy nuts. As you would expect from someone named Shakeley. His achievement was to become a legendary dope dealer.
A pair of Shakeley’s customers got married and started a jewelry business which they named Passion. They also named their first kid Passion. The second one was Comfort. Neither one of these names plays particularly well with their last name, which I guess I probably shouldn’t mention, having said more than enough.
And last but not least, I used to know a girl named Rosemary. After college she changed it, legally, to Moonstorm. Ya never know…
[Clint Eastwood] Get off Ma’Lawn.[/CE]
I went to school with the Wilson brothers, Major and Lou. We found out later on that their dad was an über gung-ho ex-Marine Corps General and the boys names were actually Major and Lieutenant.
Yesterday I ran across the name Mary Mee. I think it’s kind of cute.
You do really need to take a look at origins before going off on “strange” names and spellings. There are a lot of American Indians near here, so names like Sunshine, Walking Deer, and so forth don’t throw me a bit. People raise their eyebrows here in the U.S. at very traditional spellings of Celtic names (Dyfed, Iain, Sean, Arawn…), and I’m sure it’s the same with other ethnicities, too.
That said, there’s a regular customer at my store named Honey (yes, that’s the name on her driver’s license). She’s been coming in since she was about 14, and I’m always uncomfortable addressing her by name in front of people who don’t know her for fear they’ll think I’m a dirty old man coming on to this little girl.
How much flack would I have gotten here if I named a daugher Finola? (Finola Murphy)
The Greengage plum is named after either the Reverend John Gage or Sir William Gage.
It’s Greek. The choreographer shortened his surname from Panagiotopoulos.
There’s a Babaloo Mandel who co-wrote many Happy Days episodes. His real first name is Marc.