# You're naming your baby what!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 29, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202 "2004-11-29T20:06:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/1 "2004-11-29T20:06:55Z")
I know it’s none of my business what someone chooses to name their new baby. I’m not contributing to its raising so I should just shut the hell up.
But why do new parents do this to their kids? What’s the matter with a name that actually means something, like a family name, or something that reflects the child’s heritage?
Here’s a list taken from a nursery website, babies born in the past couple of months:
Halee
Keeli
Kaden
Dagen
Acacia
Tayler
Damian (oh no, he won’t get teased)
Alexya
Yesenia
Kiele
Zabiah
Kailean
Mattison
Chivanna
Jaycie
Kharter (!!! better tattoo that on his forehead)
Trenten
Jadyn
Ladira
Alekki
Rainee
Sienna
Leiden
Why do parents do this? Their child’s gonna be plenty special without having to go through life with a name that no one can spell or pronounce, and that doesn’t identify you as male or female.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/2 "2004-11-29T20:15:48Z")
“Leiden” is German for “to suffer,” apparently.
(Then again, we still have “Dolores”…)
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/3 "2004-11-29T20:16:13Z")
Yeah! And while we’re at it, why don’t we do something about them damn furriners? Coming over here with their hard to pronouce names trying to take our jobs! Why can’t they just go by Joe or John or something else equally American?
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/4 "2004-11-29T20:16:19Z")
Maybe the name does mean something to them, or maybe they just like the way it sounds. I also don’t see why people discourage people from choosing a name from a different heritage. If you are going to give a kid a traditional name, it would be nice to spell it in a traditional way, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal if you don’t. If a name isn’t obscene, then there shouldn’t be a problem.
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### Author:  [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/5 "2004-11-29T20:17:53Z")
Yup. That seems to be the way many parents are going these days. I meet a lot of kids with names like Keely, Kayla, McKenna, Savannah, etc. Not to mention the boys all being named Parker, Carter, Taylor. . . AAAHHH! It’s like Cabbage Patch Kids come to life.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/6 "2004-11-29T20:19:14Z")
Considering most first names come from common stuff, would you prefer:
Right Hand Son (Benjamin)
Jailor (Bailey)
Big Valley (Bradley)
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/7 "2004-11-29T20:20:19Z")
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with “Halee” when it’s spelled correctly (EY instead of two Es.) In fact, it’s the most beautiful name _ever_.
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### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/8 "2004-11-29T20:23:27Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#):
>
> Hey, there’s nothing wrong with “Halee” when it’s spelled correctly (EY instead of two Es.) In fact, it’s the most beautiful name _ever_.
Yeah, yeah: whatever you say, Gertrude. 😉
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/9 "2004-11-29T20:23:34Z")
[Damian, the first Third Generation Doper](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=282128&highlight=damien)
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/10 "2004-11-29T20:25:04Z")
Damned submit key gets real big when you’ve ODd on caffeine. Oh Well, saved you from the obnoxious long list. My point is, few names carry their original meanings any more–so why should we limit ourselves to to one list of meaningless names when we can also just make stuff up? At least then we have a pretty good chance of giving the kid something unique. Or at least letting them know where they were conceived (Camry, Sienna, Lincoln, Serta…).
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### Author:  [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/11 "2004-11-29T20:27:21Z")
What gets me is when parents name their children with one of the ‘cursed’ names.
I’ve known 3 Electra’s and 4 Casandra’s.
Why would you do that?
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### Author:  [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/12 "2004-11-29T20:28:22Z")
Oooh! Is it time for another bad names thread? Perfect timing!
I was recently at the web nursery for a local hospital, and I discovered some very interesting names.
One child is named “Mirolqui”, which I find remarkable in that it’s a name that gets _zero_ hits on google. Bet you can’t say that about yourself, **auntiePam**!
Another child was named “Inalyze”, which sounds to me more like a dot-com or a biotech firm than a child.
Then there’s “Trice”. Maybe the labor was very short?
I’m sure that the parents of “Jaxon” thought the spelling was very clever. But all I can think of when I see his name is “Jaxon, Jaxoff”.
And finally, perhaps my personal favorite. On October 26, 2004, “Amethyst-Sky” was born. Perhaps mom couldn’t think of any names and stole the name from her Mary Kay lip gloss?
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/13 "2004-11-29T20:28:53Z")
I like some unusual names as long as they sound nice and aren’t spelled in a stupid way that nobody would think to write it.
If I had a boy, I might name him Dakota (but that’s some influence from my Native side).
For a girl, I REALLY like Aralynn. It just sounds lovely.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/14 "2004-11-29T20:31:25Z")
Julia Roberts just named her twins Hazel (love it!) and Phinneaus (um, holy shit).
A friend of mine has nephews named Canyon, Granite and Lake,and there were siblings at my kids’ school named River, Sage and Lotus.
But the cake-taker is Spitfire, my friend’s niece.
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### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/15 "2004-11-29T20:31:59Z")
it is inevitable that online handles will merge with real life ones eventually. perhaps their measure of a good name is something that you can register at Yahoo without the need for numbers? 😛
also, i read somewhere (perhaps from here), that it is the the adults that have a problem with these names, fearing name calling and such; whereas the children have no problems with it, especially since it is common to have these ‘weird’ names.
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### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/16 "2004-11-29T20:32:02Z")
> [@Alias](#):
>
> AAAHHH! It’s like Cabbage Patch Kids come to life.
Well, maybe this is it, really. I seem to recall the current crop of Vannas and Krystles are all children named for TV characters. Is there any study that shows popular toy or TV names show up a short generation later as baby names?
I’m trying to recall what manly characters were popular when I was in my early 20s…MacGyver? Remington? Blake? What was the first name of Magnum PI? Are there a bunch of kids with those names?
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### Author:  [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/17 "2004-11-29T20:32:38Z")
Let’s look at this from a non US (read, more EU orientated) perspective.
Male:
Kaden
Dagen (possibly from Dagobert)
Tayler
Damian (French: Damien)
Kiele
Kailean (this can come from the feminine Kaila)
Mattison
Kharter
Trenten (Trente is a city in The Netherlands)
Jadyn (this can also be a bastardform of the feminine Jade)
Alekki (from Alexis)
Leiden (this is also a city in The Netherlands)
Female:
Halee
Keeli (from Kaila?)
Acacia
Alexya ( can be a bastard femine of Alexis)
Yesenia (from Yessica?)
Zabiah (this could also be male)
Chivanna
Jaycie (from Joyce?)
Ladira
Rainee (this can also be a bastardform of the French name René, feminin: Renée)
Sienna (this can also refer to the Formula 1 champion Aarton Sienna)
There are a few I never heard but there are also quite a few you could encounter in one form or an other anywhere in Europe, I suppose.
Salaam. A
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### Author:  [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/18 "2004-11-29T20:33:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What’s the matter with a name that actually means something, like a family name, or something that reflects the child’s heritage?
How do you know that that is not the case with the names you listed? Terrible names annoy me too, as in names that will get the child teased unmercifully, but spelling your name is a fact of life for most people. I always spell my name, first and last, to any business person on the phone, and it’s not a tricky name. Even the
most “common” names have multiple spellings. (John/Jon, Geoff/Jeff, Sean/Shawn, Eric/Erik, etc.) Who cares if you can’t tell if the person is male or female? A friend of mine with a name that could be either signs her name Ms. (first)(last). And “hard to pronounce” is a very relative term, as others have pointed out.
I like the following names from your list and I, FWIW (not much), don’t think they’re hard to pronounce:
Kaden
Acacia
Yesenia
Chivanna (I assume the “Ch” is a “sh” sound and the “i” is a schwa - pretty)
Jaycie
Trenten
Jadyn
Sienna
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/19 "2004-11-29T20:37:38Z")
Chivanna? Is that a bastardization of Siobhan? Which came off of my list because so few people would be able to pronounce it! It’s pronounced “She-vawn” BTW.
We named the dog Angus instead of our son because it was a lot of name for a kid to carry around!
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### Author:  [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/20 "2004-11-29T20:37:49Z")
Sorry, made a typo there: Sienna could refer to Senna, yet it can also refer to a colour. That is why I classified it under feminine.
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