# Why do people give kids names they never intend to use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2000, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364 "2000-01-23T04:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@Zulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/41 "2000-01-27T04:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I know a Trey. That’s French for three. Um, actually, “trois” is French for three. Isn’t “trey” Spanish? ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/42 "2000-01-27T04:35:00Z")
Rose: we have niece, Amanda. To my ear Amanda is a nicer word than Mandy.I wonder if she minds.We call her Amanda. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/43 "2000-01-27T04:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > This is a great post. My friends are having a child and naming it Grayson (first name). Can you imagine a 2 year old named Grayson ?? The kid will either be a butler or the next Robin (Batman reference). Either way, I am thinking he is gonna get his butt kicked when he starts school. I fully intended to name my child Grayson Trevor if she’d been a boy. We’d have shortened it to “Gray” for common usage most likely. Grayson is an old family name. All the first sons have Grayson as a middle name, but to be a little different (read: since I’m female and in _ **my** _ family not considered to have a right to pass along the name in that context) I was going to use it as a first name. My daughter ended up with “Trevor” as a middle name - mostly because my husband didn’t want us to ‘jinx’ ourselves by giving her the middle name “Eloise”. She likes it. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/44 "2000-01-27T05:50:00Z")
“Tres” is Spanish. * * * This drive-by posting brought to you by **SterlingNorth** ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/45 "2000-01-27T05:52:00Z")
“Tres” is Spanish. * * * This drive-by posting brought to you by **SterlingNorth** ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/46 "2000-01-27T06:13:00Z")
My daughter’s name is Samantha. We chose that name for her knowing full well that we would rarely, if ever, call her by it. Mostly, we call her Sammi. We did this for two reasons: 1. Neither my huband nor myself have names that can be shortened to a diminutive…and we both hated it. We just wanted her to have an _option_. 2. ‘Sammi’ isn’t a name you see in a Fortune 100 CEO. We wanted her to have an _option_. Whether she goes by Sam, Sammi, Samantha or Ms. President…she’s still my little peanut. * * * A woman needs four animals in her life: A mink in the closet, a Jaguar in the garage, a tiger in the bedroom, and an ass to pay for it all. —Zsa Zsa Gabor ---
**Author:** ![Brightmoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Brightmoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brightmoon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/47 "2000-02-01T01:11:00Z")
I’ve got a brother named Seamus William. 😃 * * * Whatever!!! Just don’t screw up my life with your wicked stupid ideas! ---
**Author:** ![UppityWoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ee7513/32.png) [@UppityWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UppityWoman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/48 "2000-02-01T08:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by sunbear: > **Someone at work named their kid Bentley. Sounds like a butler or a car.It is a car!** Friends of mine named their son Everest. They don’t call him that, mind you. They call him “Boo”. Most people try to call him “Ev”, but the parents don’t allow that (they hate it). Currently, people other than his parents call him nothing; they just look at him when they talk to him. Something there is that makes it impossible to call a two-year-old Everest with a straight face and “Boo” brings Boo Radley to mind (how charming, right?). On the other hand (though it may be an urban legend), I have heard of a woman naming her daughter Placenta because she liked how it sounded. So maybe Everest isn’t so bad, after all, but why don’t they call him that? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/49 "2000-02-02T22:09:00Z")
To answer whoever said, “if you want your child to be called Betsy, name her Betsy,” I know two people whose given names are Tom and Jenny. These names are on their birth certificates. They are constantly having to explain that they are NOT Thomas and Jennifer. The two most unusual names I have personally encountered: A name which was pronounced “My-EEK,” spelled “M’ilk” And one which was spelled “Syringe” and pronounced “Serena” ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/50 "2000-02-02T22:28:00Z")
I know a girl named Candace but she pronounces it Can-daisy. Weird. My SO’s dad and uncle got together and decided to give their sons the middle names of “Rolls” for one and “Royce” for the other, therefore one of my SO’s middle names is Rolls, his uncle has no children. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/51 "2000-02-02T22:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > And one which was spelled “Syringe” and pronounced “Serena” [Adam Corolla mode] "Naming your kid syringe. Perfectly normal, Perfectly healthy. [/Adam Corolla Mode] ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/52 "2000-02-02T23:00:00Z")
Our baby’s name is David. We call him MR David. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364/53 "2000-02-02T23:56:00Z")
I like the options that nicknames or diminuitives provide. When I have a daughter, I’ll probably name her Kathryn and call her Kate. “Kate” is a nice, familiar name, but Kathryn sounds more professional, which is something she’ll probably appreciate as an adult. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-give-kids-names-they-never-intend-to-use/13364.md?page=2)