Holy crap! I’m not the only one named after the chick in The Thorn Birds? Small world … though my spelling’s one letter closer to the one in the book. 
My great-grandmother Ethel was rather miffed, when she passed away, that no-one had named any children after her. I guess no-one had the heart to say “But … your name’s ETHEL!”
Incidentally, I’m also the first woman in four generations of my mother’s line not to have an androgynous name (Evelyn, Terry, Marty, me).
My father wanted to name me Nicholas Aaron, after his homie Nicholas Aaron VanBoro who had gone to 'Nam and returned home a hero. Then it turned out that Mr. VanBoro was an asshole, but since time was short my parents decided to just switch the names around and name me Aaron Nicholas.
I rather like having a non-threatening Biblical name. It would suck to be something like Zephaniah or Habbakkuk.
Also, I read somewhere that the Hebrew “Aaron” (or one of its variants) means “exalted.” My last name is a Middle English word that more-or-less means “hitching post.” Therefore my name means… Exalted Hitching Post. :rolleyes:
My name is Alexander, chosen because that name popped in to my Dad’s head shortly after I was born. I am the younger of two boys, but my parents had just assumed that their second child would be a girl to balance things out, so they hadn’t prepared any boy’s name. Dad’s first suggestion was Benjamin, he said that he always wanted a Benjamin, but Mom vetoed that, and it ended up being my middle name. There are no previous Alexanders or Benjamins in my family.
Lindsey Alison - my first and middle names, respectively. No real rationale, except that my parents liked those names… they got drawn from a fishbowl at my mom’s baby shower. I’m not sure if they amended the spelling or not - convention would seem to spell it “Lindsay Allison” - but Dad says, “If we’d meant to name you Lind-SAY, we’d have spelled it that way. This way made more sense.” (No offense to any Lindsays out there on the boards, though )
My real name is Brenda-Lee. Hyphenated because my dad has a think for hyphens. Jo-Ann and Olivia-Ann were to be my sister’s names, but mom put a stop to that before it was put on the birth certificates. They are now JoAnn and Olivia. Unfortunately they didn’t have a girl name picked up when I was born. They thought I was going to be a boy. When it came time to name me, my father suggested Brenda Lee after the country singer. It could’ve been worse. His other favorite singer at the time was Loretta Lynn.
Christina Dawn Olsen
Mum named me after my dad’s granmother Christina
Don’t know where Dawn came from…
People ask me if I am related to such and such Olsen and I look at them and say hell if I know its my husbands name!
And I sympathize with the Terry(i)s on the board. I use Kris for everyday and it is pretty androgynous. My husband loves telling telemarketers that MR Kris Olsen doesnt live here :rolleyes:
My birth name means “From the dark water” in Irish. I was named after my father.
…since I don’t really get along well with my “Parental Biological Units” [as somebody earlier called them], I invented the name I casually use now–Ash Tarquin.
Ashley because it’s a soft, androgynous name, and Tarquin after the black knight who dueled Sir Lancelot.
I’m a Junior.
I picked my first and middle names to be ambisexual. The last name was picked to be relatively generic, and probably just a bit to give me consecutive initials (yes, I know, silly). I am pretty certain that the similiarity to a well-known actress is entirely coincidental (I don’t think I had run into any of her stuff before I chose the name, although it is remotely possible).
Okay, I usually say this all in one breath, so here goes.
When my mom was a teenager there was an actress Joan Leslie and mom decided that if she ever had a little girl she’d name her Leslie but then she met my dad Leslie Alfred so they named me Lesley Ann but have always called me Ann.
Whew! Poor Mom! She also thought that since Ann means “noble lady” she’d get a tall, gracious, Grace Kelly type. Well, I’m dark blonde and 5’6" but I’m a complete tomboy! I spend most of my time hanging out with creepy critters or fishing with my guys. I have to admit my sons got “song” names-Daniel, from the Elton John song and Joshua, courtesy of his Aunt Cathy, from a Dolly Parton song. As it happens, at twelve and fifteen they were both a bit ahead of the main pack. Those names are WAY to popular now!
I was named after the Phantom of the Opera. My sister was named after the girl he falls in love with.
Mine is kinda cool. Charles Steven. Charles, is the name of both of my grandparents, so there is some family value there. Then there is Steven, the name of my father.
[sup]This going to MPSIMS, or is it just a hunch?[/sup]
My real first name is Maverick. I get compliments on it all the time and I really like having an unusual name. My mother always wanted to name her first-born son Maverick so she did. I have never met another Maverick before.
Lee - named after my grandfather.
I used to work with a woman who named her son Maverick. Maverick Birmingham.
As for me, I was born right before Christmas, so I wound up being called Chris. My last name is Austrian, and translates into “person who lives by a stream”. Too bad the closest I ever get is when it rains really hard and the water cuts through my backyard. 
I’m a III
The first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this thread was the scene in Top Secret! where Nick and Hillary are discussing their names:
Hillary: “What does ‘Nick’ mean?”
Nick: “I don’t know. My dad thought of it while he was shaving.”
I’m named for my grandfather, Peter.
My name is Erin. I was named that for a couple of reasons:
I was named an ‘E’ name because my uncle and my great-grandfather’s initials are ESJ, and therefore, so are mine. I dunno. My parents said that if I were a boy, I would have been named Justin.
and…
I was supposed to be born on March 17th; St. Patrick’s Day, hence “Erin”. Mom claims she named me Erin also from the girl from The Waltons.
My mom has always loved the book “Little Women.” She named me after the two youngest girls in the book, Amy and Beth.
Hey, me too! I’m a III, but I’m named after my grandfather, who died a month or so before I was born.