Years ago I dated a man whose parents were named Merle Eugene and Pearl Pauline. They were incredibly nice people, but the rhyming names were just too much.
My great-grandmother was Ragna. (Her sisters’ names are Genevieve, Gertrude (Gertie), and Agnes. Genevieve is a pretty cool name, I think.) My great-grandpa was Olaf.
My grandparents: Alma Gladys and Valentine Harold (I really don’t mind Alma, actually).
My other grandpa’s name was Gail (sigh. poor man.), and my other grandma is Helen (which is a perfectly good name).
I really like some of the names in my family, particularly Mathilda (my great-grandma), Lillian, and Eleanor (my great-aunts).
my granpa’s name is Cecil 
We don’t have any truly awful names, but nearly everyone in the family (except my brother, bless my parents) is named Jr. So we have Jimmy, Jimmy Jr. etc. That is to say–it’s not even that one is called Jimmy and the other James. Nope. They will be forever Jimmy and Little Jimmy. Yes, even when Little Jimmy is 80. (I have a cousin Little Billy who is 25 years old and about 6’5". We have Charlie Boy, Billy Boy, etc. They are all in the 50s and 60s.)
Personally, I think it takes a real lack of imagination to a. name your kid after yourself and b. not even give different nicknames, and instead just tack “Little” or “Boy” on the end. Sheesh!
My ex-stepgrandfather is a Jew of German origin named Adolph. Needless to say, he uses a nickname. But why does his nickname have to be Bunny?
While many of the names mentioned so far in this thread are noteworthy, none are quite so, uh, unusual as the one I found when researching a friend’s genealogy.
There is a Penissa dangling from one of the branches of his family tree.
And yes, it’s a girl’s name. :eek:
Unusual names are somewhat plentiful in my family (from West Virginia):
great-grandpa: Kenna Beniah
great-uncle: Burns Edward
great-aunt: Jacqueline Betty (not bad names, but an awkward combo)
brother: Roderick Kenna
Other family names: Alma, Delphi (pronounced “DELL-fee”), Dot, Velma, Orva (she’s called Orvie), Obediah (went by Obie), Homer (d’oh), Minnie Lee, and Charla.
However, I think the most hideous names is one of the most recently bestowed (and solely based on its spelling) : ** Jazzmyn .
And as far as repetitive names go, a friend of mine is named ** Thomas Thomas Thomas II.
My great-grandmother’s name was Berl. She sounded like a wonderful lady, but I’m not sure what my great-great-grandparents were thinking.
My Grandmother’s name was Bendine. Everyone called her “Betty.”
There was a great, great uncle named Granville, as well. Oh yeah. Linius. Not Linus, but Linius.
On my mother’s side:
My poor mother got saddled with my great-grandma’s first name, ** Edna **
(If that’s not bad enough, Mom’s middle name is Dolores). Fortunately, Mom didn’t continue the tradition and name me after Grandma (whose name is nice, but is quite old fashioned and reminds everyone of nuns.)
Other females:
Omega (great aunt) [this one must be for biblical reasons
Alice Countess (great-great aunt)
Lutitia Frances (cousin)
Lorene Florence(cousin)
Males:
Neberchanezer (great-great-great uncle)
Lazarus Cyprus Demos Pilgrim Program :eek: (cousin–and Lutitia and Lorene’s father) [interestingly enough, after his wife died and he remarried, the other kids had more “common” names]
Just a nickname, but my Great-Great Uncle James (who was named after his dad) was nicknamed “Jim Booty”.
My father’s family:
Despite having a similar rural Southern background, my father’s family hasn’t quite managed to traumatize as many children, but…
Females:
Missouri Elizabeth (my great-grandmother) [no wonder everyone called her Patsy instead.]
Males:
Rodney Andrew (my 19-year old cousin) [Needless to say, he goes by Andrew.]
Charles Booker Taliaferro (great-uncle) [Yes, it was the 1910s, and Booker T. Washington was a hero among the small black middle class…but still.]
I have a great aunt Flossie. It’s not short for anything. Just Flossie. Odd.
My grandpa’s name was Romeo. Yes, he had a sister named Juliette. He was from a family of 12 kids, and they started running out of imagination by the end!
My aunt is Ghislaine. We call her Gigi, which isn’t too bad.
I’m going to go digging for more. There have to be worse ones out there!
My dad had some double cousins (his mother’s brother, Herman, married his father’s sister, Lucy) with terrible names. The oldest boy was named Luan (I’m not sure of this spelling, but it was pronouced ‘Loo-un’ – for Lu[/]cy and Herman*. One of his sisters was Hermalu.
Maynard and Muzette stand out in our family.
And my mom’s aunts and uncles (there were 11 of them) were all Elmer, Minnie, Herman, and I can’t remember the rest. They used to crack us up when we were kids.
i have a great-aunt flossie too. also a great aunt twila, an aunt deltha, cousin rada, grandpa arlin (nice name but not heard very often) grandmother dortea and my mother gwynnaedd. yes, we’re welsh.
sorry bout no caps, arm in sling. 
Wow, I can’t top a single one of those. My parents (named Michael and Michele, by the way, how corny is that?) chose the single most popular girls’ name of 1975 for me, which I’m actually kind of grateful for, given that our last name is so … amusing … that just about any first name is overshadowed.
One of my grandmothers is named Anne Smith, the most nondescript name ever. My other grandmother is actually named Polly Anna.
I can top a couple of these
Darlynn
Zelma
Donnetta and Bonnetta (twins)
All sisters. Darlynn is my mother-in-law. It feels really woogie to call her by her first name, especially since that’s about that last thing I want to call her. There are a couple of other sisters that have rather, er, unique names also, but darned if I can’t remember.
Fairly tame compared to most of these others.
My parents picked normal yet uncommon names for each of their children. But they did come within a hairsbreath of naming me Harvey Rosemond LastName, after two of my great-grandfathers. I’m very grateful to them – had they not changed their minds at the last minute, I’d probably be in prison right now for parricide.
I did have an ancestor who was a very independent woman and refused to take her husband’s surname when they married. Even passed on her maiden name to their children. Probably a good thing in the long run, as her husband’s name was Hess.
Hm, let’s see. Maternal grandparents - Gertrude Lillian K(maidenname) and Melvin Teodor R. Have a great-granddad named Hartley who married Nellie, and a great-grandmother named Hilma. Melvin’s parents were Clas and Wendela, but they came over from Sweden so it’s not that strange.
Further back, though, we get some strange ones. There’s a Submit (last name Abbe[y]), a Hezekiah, pretty sure there’s a Patience too. Oh yes, a Desiree. All from the 18th century. One branch of the family had an Asher R. with a brother William Henry Harrison R. (spent time in Andersonville but didn’t die there), and an uncle President Merritt R. That one always threw me. Wishful thinking during a presidential campaign?
My grandfather’s name is Elue–which although is a weird name (I have no clue where it came from), he has a brother, Don and two sisters, Sue and Mary Anne.
WTF?