# What were you almost named? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2002, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142 "2002-08-03T06:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/42 "2002-08-03T19:22:50Z")
Well, my grandma really wanted me to be named Belinda - I’m sort of glad I wasn’t - I’ve only known one Belinda, and she was really mean. (Apologies to any nice Belindas out there). My brother, on the other hand, was going to be either Clint (my mom liked Clint Eastwood), or - get this - Haggus as in, the nasty Scottish dish (OK, if prepaired correctly, it’s not too bad, but it’s pretty hard to find it preparied correctly in Canada). So, Haggus or Clint. Thank the Baby Jesus that he just wound up with Bob. (and No, I’m not kidding. ) ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/43 "2002-08-03T19:36:39Z")
Well, I don’t know what my parents would have named me had I been a girl, but I know they were seriously considering Morgan at one time for me, and I’m very grateful that they changed their minds. Not to offend any Morgan’s who are male here, but it just doesn’t do it for me. They eventually changed their minds and named me Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/44 "2002-08-04T00:07:32Z")
I was almost named Jennifer, but friends of my parents had a kid a few weeks before me and named her Jennifer. So, instead, I ended up with merely the 2nd most popular girl’s name the year I was born, my parents’ other choice. If I had been a boy, Brandon was the top choice, followed by Michael and Christopher. My parents didn’t go much for unusual first names. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/45 "2002-08-04T00:36:07Z")
I was positively, beyond any shadow of a doubt, supposed to be a boy (when the doctor said, “Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby girl,” my mother responded, "Are you _sure_?), in which case I would have been Brian. I don’t like the name Brian at all. Since I was a girl, my mother really wanted to name me “Honey” after a friend of hers. My father put her foot down and they chose a nice, old-fashioned name…that is unfortunately viewed as a nickname by most folks. I can’t tell you how many people have asked, “What’s your real name?” Sigh… But wait! There’s more: My father’s name was Louis and my mother’s Katherine. So my sister got stuck with Lou as a middle name and I got stuck with Kay. (My mother was a wonderful woman but she had zip imagination; she actually named a dog of ours ‘Spot’.) And it gets better–or worse, depending on your pov: my mother’s family is Russian. One time I pouted about not having a great, dramatic name like one of my cousins: Tatiana, Anastasia, etc. Whereupon my folks pointed out that “Anastasia (insert definitely German last name) would have sounded really stupid!” Had to give them that one. My cousin Alexander Nicolaievich married a non-Russian-descended woman. When they had their first child, a baby girl, his wife wanted to name her Tanya. In Russian Orthodox tradition, you can’t baptize a child with a nickname. It’s Tatiana or no baptism, sez the priest. The wife objected. Poor Tanya went for weeks without being baptized until Cousin Sasha–the stereotypical tall, barrel-chested, bass-voiced, dark-haired Russian male–finally said, “You’re never going to win an argument with a priest. Her name’s Tatiana.” ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/46 "2002-08-04T00:46:51Z")
Being born in December, I came _very_ close to being a Holly or a Noelle. I think I might’ve actually preferred that, though. You wouldn’t believe the way people mangle my name. ---
**Author:** ![zephonith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@zephonith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephonith)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/47 "2002-08-04T01:32:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squish \* > **I was positively, beyond any shadow of a doubt, supposed to be a boy (when the doctor said, “Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby girl,” my mother responded, "Are you _sure_?), in which case I would have been Brian.** Same thing happened to my mother. She was meant to be a boy so when the doctor came out and said “Congratulations, you have a girl!”, my grandfather said “Could you check again?” :smack: Of course, my parents claim they almost named me Usagi (Rabbit in Japanese) because I was born in the year of the rabbit. I really hope they were joking. I’m glad they went through the Esperanto dictionary to find a name which is easy to pronounce for most people and spelt phonetically. And I found out recently that it means good things in other languages as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/48 "2002-08-04T01:54:50Z")
I was going to be named Cecila if I was a girl. Luckily, that was averted. They also briefly considered Rosario after my father, but luckily, I was named after my fathers brother instead, my older brother already had Rosario as the middle name. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/49 "2002-08-04T01:58:29Z")
I nearly got called Merewinna. Yick. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/50 "2002-08-04T03:45:44Z")
I was going to be “Jonathan,” because the doctor had told my mom she was going to have another boy. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/51 "2002-08-04T04:23:29Z")
I woulda been Britt if I’d been a girl, too. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/52 "2002-08-04T04:38:19Z")
Okay, that made no sense…I mean, I would have had the same name if I’d been a girl. ---
**Author:** ![bowler\_girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bowler\_girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bowler_girl)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/53 "2002-08-04T04:44:11Z")
I was going to be named Jennifer Lynn or Jeffrey Allen, but apparently my mom got some really good drugs during labor because she briefly flirted with naming me Cherry. Combined with my last name, I would have been well on my way to a career in stripping. Luckily, she reconsidered. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/54 "2002-08-04T07:11:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zephonith \* > \*\*Of course, my parents claim they almost named me Usagi (Rabbit in Japanese) because I was born in the year of the rabbit. \*\* Good thing they didn’t; you’d constantly be confused with a really lame comic book character. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/55 "2002-08-04T07:22:42Z")
Had I been born a girl I would have been named Martha Corrine after a character on The Waltons. My father was a strange man at times, but since I’m 6’3" and my sister is 6’… I probably would have made a good sturdy Martha. ---
**Author:** ![zephonith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@zephonith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephonith)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/56 "2002-08-04T08:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squish \* > \*\* > Good thing they didn’t; you’d constantly be confused with a really lame comic book character. 😛 \*\* But my name still creates problems. [ul][li]It’s the name of an [anime character](http://www.kerris.com/anime/kodocha/characters/sana.html) [/li][li]A porn star[/li][li]A [Pakistani actress](http://filmichackar.hypermart.net/gallery/sana/) (which means I get lots of teenage Pakistani guys trying to contact me on icq… :rolleyes: )[/ul][/li]There’s more, I just can’t think of any right now… ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/57 "2002-08-04T09:59:26Z")
My grandparents wanted me to be named Gertrude. I’m so happy my parents didn’t listen. Dad wanted Kimberley and Mum wanted Sally. Neither would budge. They finally decided on my name, Cathy, because while they didn’t particularly like my name, neither of them actively disliked it either. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/58 "2002-08-04T12:02:53Z")
My parents were going to name me Jessica, my younger sister’s name, had I been a female. And if she had been male she would have been Timothy. Thank goodness she was female, I rarely get along with Tims. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/59 "2002-08-04T13:36:07Z")
Had I been a boy, I would have been a Charles-Alexandre. I still got the hyphenated name (translate my username into french, flip the names, n’ you’ll get it!)… bah. It’s a good name. Most people call me Elly anyway 🙂 Story goes, though, that my dad’s suggestion to call me Geppetto or Geppetta was shot down by my mother who quickly realized he was pulling her leg. Elly ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/60 "2002-08-04T18:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zephonith \* > \*\*\[li]A [Pakistani actress](http://filmichackar.hypermart.net/gallery/sana/) (which means I get lots of teenage Pakistani guys trying to contact me on icq… :rolleyes: )[/list][/li]There’s more, I just can’t think of any right now… \*\* Whoah! An _extremely_ attractive actress… and her photos prove that ya don’t have to be naked to be sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142/61 "2002-08-04T18:52:45Z")
Oopsie. Forgot to relate the story of my boyfriend’s name. He has no idea what he would have been named if he’d been a girl, but he does know that the family dog at the time of his birth was named Jack… so all his life his parents have told him he was named after _the dog_\*. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-almost-named/122142.md?page=4)