# Weird, pretentious, or bizarre names... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566 "2014-08-26T16:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/241 "2014-09-18T02:35:12Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > It explains why tattoos with the kids names on them are so popular. Imaging trying to remember them! > > ‘Now! Kaydin, Schanayaa, Willeaugh, and’ _(checks forearm)_ ‘Mersyna! Come in for dinner!’. Obligatory _Simpsons_ link: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2nFjgm6Ac](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2nFjgm6Ac) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/242 "2014-09-18T09:39:26Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > \ > Å, dæven! > \ _groan_ ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/243 "2014-09-18T12:52:37Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I think you’re thinking of Denmark. I don’t believe Switzerland ever had such a law. Or it could be the classic Switzerland/Sweden mix up. I’m completely on the fence regarding the law. I come from the UK where there is no law (well, there’s a couple of regulations IIRC but nothing like in some places) and so came here with the view that it was NANNY STATE GONE MAD. But then I read about people like these idiots wanting to call their kid Stålman (Superman): > **[BBC NEWS | Europe | Swedish MPs in Superman name row](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3701802.stm)** > > MPs call for the law on babies' names to be changed after a woman is denied permission to call her son Superman. And then I change my mind. There is no way a kid named that isn’t going to be bullied to Hell and back if he isn’t buff as fuck. So, basically, there’d be no need for rules if people weren’t fucking idiots. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/244 "2014-09-18T12:53:39Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > He wouldn’t happen to be of Scandinavian ancestry? Around here, neither “Sigurd” nor “Thor” (nor the more common spelling, “Tor”) would as much a raise an eyebrow. This part of the world, those are fairly common and normal names. > > “Sigurd” was really popular around 1900, with about 2% of the male population answering to that name. Nowadays, a little more than 0.5% of the male population are named “Sigurd” > “Thor” was most popular around 1940, around 0.7%. These days, it’s around 0.1%. > “Tor” peaked around 1950 with almost 1.5% of the population. Today, the popularity is down to some 0.2%. I always thought “Torbjörn” was the manliest name of all time. It means “Thor Bear”. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/245 "2014-09-18T12:59:27Z")
Ed Wood’s [Tor Johnson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426363/?ref_=nv_sr_1) has spoiled the name Tor (or Thor) for me. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/246 "2014-09-18T14:56:03Z")
The other day I saw an FB post from a mom on a group I’m in. Her kid was named Kaiser. …is his middle name Wilhelm? Or Franz perhaps? Did she waffle between naming him Caesar or Czar or just plain Emperor? Probably she’s never even heard of the German or Austro-Hungarian kaisers and pronounces it Kay-zer and figures it’s really original. But it sure gave me a :dubious: moment. Kind of like somebody I saw named Malicia. I mean, you might as well name your kid Cruella deVille and be done with it… ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/247 "2014-09-18T15:12:57Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Kind of like somebody I saw named Malicia. I mean, you might as well name your kid Cruella deVille and be done with it… I would love “Anathema” as a name. I just love the word (pronounced Uh-NATH-eh-ma," not, as some people like to guess, “Anna-THEE-ma.”) I’m never having kids and even if I did I’d never saddle a poor girl with that name, but I do plan to use it for a goth character in a novel some day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/248 "2014-09-18T15:30:25Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > The other day I saw an FB post from a mom on a group I’m in. Her kid was named Kaiser. Sadly, she probably met someone with a German Shepherd named that, and didn’t realize why-- just thought it was an uncommon name, and filed it away. It’s also possible it’s a last name that got repurposed-- I have known a couple of people with that name (one was an older couple who I swear to the spaghetti monster were named Dick and Jane, and they spelled it Kiser), and the parents didn’t think about the implications. People are shockingly ignorant. I read some comments by a couple who had named their son Zachary, and their last name was Taylor. Father was a junior, but they had not made Zachary a III, because they wanted him to have a name that was “all his own,” not named after anyone. I wish I had cut that article out and saved it. For non-Americans, there was a president named Zachary Taylor. He rather famously died in office of food poisoning, back when it was a lot easier to die of food poisoning, and was exhumed around 1990 to determine whether he was deliberately poisoned (which would have made him the first assassinated president), but the results were negative. I don’t expect people to know exactly what years he was in office, who he ran against, or what his foreign policies were, but I do expect Americans to know simply that there was a president named Zachary Taylor. I don’t even expect Americans to recite all the names of the presidents in order, or identify their portraits, but I do think Americans ought to have passive knowledge, to the point at least of name recognition. [/soapbox] ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/249 "2014-09-18T15:41:09Z")
Somewhat apropos: [my favorite Facebook post](http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y372/rivkahchaya/jesus_zpsb7e38f50.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/250 "2014-09-18T16:45:51Z")
> [@naita](#): > > _groan_ _grin_ …and for the benefit of everybody else who for obvious reasons didn’t get it: “Å, dæven” is a slightly-above-average vulgar Norwegian expression, usually signifying a certain degree of surprise. It’s pronounced almost, but not quite entirely unlike the name “Odd Even”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/251 "2014-09-18T18:40:57Z")
One of my co-workers once ranted to me about taking her kids to Kaiser; she was pissed that when they called her son to come into the office the nurse pronounced the kid’s name wrong. The kids were Cameron (no problem there) and Cyle. The nurse pronounced it ‘cycle’ rather than ‘Kyle’. I had a hard time not laughing. Plus, the kid was only 3 or so when this happened and I have no doubt he’s going to get this throughout his entire life, all because mom wanted her sons to have the same first initial. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/252 "2014-09-18T18:56:58Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > One of my co-workers once ranted to me about taking her kids to Kaiser; she was pissed that when they called her son to come into the office the nurse pronounced the kid’s name wrong. > > The kids were Cameron (no problem there) and Cyle. The nurse pronounced it ‘cycle’ rather than ‘Kyle’. I am of the firm opinion that if you choose to give your kid a “Y’ooneeque” name (either by spelling a regular name oddly or just making something up), you give up any right to be miffed when other people don’t automatically connect with your mind and immediately know the proper way to pronounce and spell it. Suck it up, buttercup. You named your kid “Cyle” or “Klowee” or “Jaiceson”…you made your own bed. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/253 "2014-09-18T20:10:19Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I am of the firm opinion that if you choose to give your kid a “Y’ooneeque” name (either by spelling a regular name oddly or just making something up), you give up any right to be miffed when other people don’t automatically connect with your mind and immediately know the proper way to pronounce and spell it. That’s my problem with the trend too, and parents do seem to get awfully miffed-- a lot more so than people from foreign countries, or people with complicated last names. When I make this very specific complaint about parents copping an attitude, as opposed to complaining about the names themselves, I seem to get a lot of people telling me that parents have a right to name their kids whatever they want. I have never claimed anything else-- just that they have no right to expect people to read their minds. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/254 "2014-09-18T20:51:01Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > One of my co-workers once ranted to me about taking her kids to Kaiser; she was pissed that when they called her son to come into the office the nurse pronounced the kid’s name wrong. I skimmed this at first and thought of that horrible Jenelle girl on Teen Mom who named her latest baby “Kaiser”. Of course her first kid didn’t get a full name, just “Jace”. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/255 "2014-09-18T21:21:21Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > One of my co-workers once ranted to me about taking her kids to Kaiser; she was pissed that when they called her son to come into the office the nurse pronounced the kid’s name wrong. > > The kids were Cameron (no problem there) and Cyle. The nurse pronounced it ‘cycle’ rather than ‘Kyle’. > > I had a hard time not laughing. Plus, the kid was only 3 or so when this happened and I have no doubt he’s going to get this throughout his entire life, all because mom wanted her sons to have the same first initial. I read it at first as “cycle,” too. Even if my brain hadn’t added the second “c” I think I would have pronounced it as “SILE,” rhymes with “PILE.” 'Cause that’s how most English works. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/256 "2014-09-18T21:35:12Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I would love “Anathema” as a name. I just love the word (pronounced Uh-NATH-eh-ma," not, as some people like to guess, “Anna-THEE-ma.”) > > I’m never having kids and even if I did I’d never saddle a poor girl with that name, but I do plan to use it for a goth character in a novel some day. 🙂 The wonderful \*Good Omens \*by Gaiman and Pratchett features a character named Anathema Device. If I ever have a son I will call him [Robert’); DROP TABLE Students;–](http://xkcd.com/327/) And, since I am thinking of the names of Pratchett characters, there is of course Bestiality Carter\* - The Carter parents were a quiet and respectable Lancre family who got into a bit of a mix-up when it came to naming their children. First, they had four daughters, who were christened Hope, Chastity, Prudence and Charity, because naming girls after virtues is an ancient and unremarkable tradition. Then their first son was born and out of some misplaced idea about how this naming business was done he was called Anger Carter, followed later by Jealousy Carter, Bestiality Carter and Covetousness Carter. Life being what it is, Hope turned out to be a depressive, Chastity was enjoying life as a lady of negotiable affection in Ankh-Morpork, Prudence had thirteen children, and Charity expected to get a dollar’s change out of seventy-five pence – whereas the boys had grown into amiable well-tempered men ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/257 "2014-09-18T22:07:36Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > I read it at first as “cycle,” too. Even if my brain hadn’t added the second “c” I think I would have pronounced it as “SILE,” rhymes with “PILE.” 'Cause that’s how most English works. :rolleyes: I know some people think English doesn’t have spelling rules, but it does, and one of them is that a C before a Y is a soft C (ie, an “S” sound). A C before an A, O, or U is a hard sound (ie “K”). Also, a C before a consonant (not a Y acting as a vowel) is a hard sound. Think of “encyclopedia.” C is soft only before a Y, an E or an I. Exceptions are going to be loan words that retain their foreign spelling-- like when you see the word “garcon,” or “acai” in English, without the cedilla, because a lot of people just don’t have that character on their keyboards, and don’t know how to produce it. So, if you want to cre8tively call your kid Kyle with a C, good luck. Maybe “Cuyle.” Also, all those people who tried to spell “Lisa” with a C. :smack: Maybe “Liceh.” Of course, that looks a lot like “lice.” Maybe just call your kid something normal. A lot of people have done quite well with ordinary names. I saw someone with a nametag that said “Chastady” once. I have no idea if it was “creative,” or her parents were just lousy spellers. That’s another risk you take. Rather than appreciate your special efforts, people just think you are ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/258 "2014-09-18T22:20:40Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > If I ever have a son I will call him [Robert’); DROP TABLE Students;–](http://xkcd.com/327/) Why isn’t Randall Munroe the MOST FAMOUS person in America? [Here’s my favorite](http://xkcd.com/628/). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/259 "2014-09-18T22:37:38Z")
I love this thread. Today I saw in a picture on a friend’s Facebook profile, “Here’s to all the kids who never find their name on anything in souvenir stores.” Made me think of this thread. Related: when I was at the Toronto aquarium looking at the souvenir keychains with names on them, I was looking at the section for J names. One row each of more “traditional” J names like Jacob, and two whole rows of Jaden. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566/260 "2014-09-19T03:04:33Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I know some people think English doesn’t have spelling rules, but it does, and one of them is that a C before a Y is a soft C (ie, an “S” sound). A C before an A, O, or U is a hard sound (ie “K”). Also, a C before a consonant (not a Y acting as a vowel) is a hard sound. Think of “encyclopedia.” C is soft only before a Y, an E or an I. Exceptions are going to be loan words that retain their foreign spelling-- like when you see the word “garcon,” or “acai” in English, without the cedilla, because a lot of people just don’t have that character on their keyboards, and don’t know how to produce it. Serious question – how is “Cillian” pronounced? I want to say silly-uhn, but then I can only assume it is supposed to be the same as Killian? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pretentious-or-bizarre-names/696566.md?page=14)