I read somewhere, that Elian’s name was a combo name. His mom took the first half of her name (Elizabeth) and the last half of his father’s name (Juan) and put them together to make Elian.
No, I don’t think he did, really, although Barrie’s use of it would have popularised it somewhat. However, as a pet name for “Gwendolen” or “Gwendolyn”, I do think it existed before Barrie.
Didn’t Shakespeare invent a name or two ?
From your cite, no, he didn’t invent it; he popularised it.
I had the same thought, but the Oxford Dictionary of First Names, which is fairly good about this sort of thing, credits Barrie. Apparently it’s a derivative of “friend” — via baby talk and reduplication (friend > fwiend > fwendy-wendy > Wendy). The resemblance to “Gwendolen” is coincidental. (Oddly, they don’t have an entry for “Shaniqua.”)
Jonathan Swift invented “Vanessa,” but as a nickname; I don’t know who bore it first as a given name.
Oh goodness gracious! Latinos are horrible at creating names. Mashup names are very common for both genders (often with unfortunate results) and the first generation of victims of mashup names is already having babies and giving then mashups of their mashups.
Now they are just making them up. Girl names tend to have Y’s all over the place (a very uncommon letter in the spanish language). And then there is the new trend of names that are not pronounced according to normal spanish rules for pronounciation. The latest trend for boys’ names are A*iel where * could be any ridiculous combination of consonants not commonly found in normal spanish.
And then there is the US inspired names which include the names of medications used on the mothers during pregnancy and delivery. Usmail and Usnavy are also seen around (for both sexes). English family names (e.g. Washington) are also used for boys first names.
I don’t think any other culture is as unkind to their offspring as the Latino when it comes to inflicting names on them.
Interestingly, some European countries (I know Hungary & Germany for sure, but also some other ones IIRC) don’t allow made-up names or divergent spellings. Names have to have established precedent and have to be gender-specific and not offensive. One can petition to have a new name, but I don’t know how easy it is, and I think it’s often up to the name registration official. Generally, not on the list = not allowed.
It is difficult for me to think I am in any position to judge the “quality” of a name bestowed by people of a culture not my own, on their own children.
Also, cites would have been nice in this post.
-FrL-
Correct. The Master Speaks: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpeterpanwendy.html
Hey! I know that czarcasm is a pretty intelligent, witty, spiffy kind of guy, but calling him “Master” is a stretch. 
*[sub]The link goes to an excellent staff report by Czarcasm[/sub]
Right you are! I should have looked more closely at the author’s credit.
What Sapo said, with the addition of such treasures as Niurka and Cesimarys (seh-see-MA-deess, more or less). I’ve met a bunch of Caribbean chicas with crazy names none of which I can recall right now – other than Cesimarys.
Correct. Germany has a registry of names. It is illegal to use a name not on that approved list.
Leave it to the Germans… :roll eyes:
Cartooniverse, who is 1/2 German 
I think the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, recently implemented that same thing.
Which accounts for all the Mexican babies named Dieter and Brunhilde.
The Latino culture is my own. I am born and raised in Venezuela and currently living in Puerto Rico. So I get the right to make fun of them. I will soon convert to Judaism and marry a polish girl so I can make all the inappropriate jokes I want.
I am aware that names are mostly a matter of taste and parents are free to chose whatever sounds pretty to them. As said before, some like unique names, some like them common and there is no guarantee that their children will be of the same persuasion.
Still, it seems a bit cruel to me to condemn a child to a lifetime of spelling his name. English speaking kids might be stuck to that anyways, but for languages where pronounciation follows spelling, chosing a name with a non-conventional pronounciation makes for a life of botched legal documents, ucomfortable public announcements and endless clarifications and explanations. Kinda like being named “Peter” but insist that it be pronounced “John”.
I am not sure what cites you were expecting. I have lived here long enough (and working in schools where you get to see lists of kids names on a daily basis)to have witnessed the evolution of girls names from “Maria” to “Aryuleyzis” (pronouced like “Are you lazy?”) and then seen boys names follow suit.
At any rate, it was meant to be a light hearted post to address **erie774’s ** concern about African Americans and Hollywood having a monopoly on name creation. I would bet that any Asian or Arab or whathaveyous dopers could come up with their equivalent examples of new name trends in their languages, and I would love to hear about those.
Some other odd names: Abcde and Shi-thead.
Bertie Wooster warned about getting involved with girls who spelled their names “Gwladys or Ysobel or Ethyl or Mabelle or Kathryn” instead of Gladys, Isabel, Ethel, Mabel, or Catherine. And several of these spellings, which Wodehouse apparently considered goofy, are now unremarkable.
I think these kinds of laws are pretty common in Western Europe – France and Denmark also have name laws. So it seems a bit unfair to call the Germans out for this. In fact, I seem to recall that my objection to this form of regulation was the subject of one of my first forays into the S.D.M.B.
I don’t know the context you mean that in, so just in case, it’s meant to head off the rash of all of the Anglo names that are becoming so popular – all of the Jennies and Bruces and whatnot. If I recall correctly, it’s the first name has to be from an approved list, but the second name can be one of those Anglo names.
Oh, I get it now… yeah, I’m thinking they’re not going to use the German list!