# 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:** 11
### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/201 "2004-12-01T18:09:09Z")
[QUOTE=faithfool]
Um, not to speak for **wring** here, but I took that to mean (as someone who’s read snopes for a long time) that it sounded an awful lot like a UL about another parent that wanted to name a child after a urinal. I think. Can anyone help me out on the specifics? And I also know, that using my mother as an example, she’ll tell almost _any_ story from the perspective of either having gone through it or it legitimately happening to a FOAF. For sure. Without a doubt. Even when it’s been proven untrue, she unwaveringly won’t change a thing. No matter what. So, that’s what I took from what she said. Jus’ sayin’ in general, is all.
[QUOTE]
I too took it to mean that it sounds like an urban legend. Lots and lots of people claim that something or other happened to them or their brother and it didn’t. It just makes the story sound better.
I have heard at least three other stories (one on this board) about some nurse talking someone out of naming a baby Chlamydia or some variation thereof. It’s never Gonorrhea or Papiloma, it’s always Chlamydia. That’s what makes me think the story isn’t true either.
Just because someone claimed it happened to them don’t make it so.
---
### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/202 "2004-12-01T18:31:57Z")
And I’m not saying anyone is a liar so no need to jump on me. Just that I too think it sounds like an urban legend. If you don’t like my opinion, fine with me.
As for names:
> [@](#):
>
> Gorgeous, Adorable, Lovely, and Precious.
I went to high school with two sisters named Luscious and Precious. They had a couple sisters more with unusual names but I can’t remember them. I believe their brother was Benny or Bernie. Guess he lucked out.
I have a brother named Chris and a sister named Chris. No, they aren’t twins.
---
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/203 "2004-12-01T18:47:51Z")
hey! **Clemedia** is a nice name!
---
### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/204 "2004-12-01T18:54:35Z")
Yeah, screw y’all. If I ever have kids, I’m naming them Demosthenes, Leonidas, & Xenophon.
And that’s just the girls. :duck & run:
---
### Author:  [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/205 "2004-12-01T20:20:25Z")
> [@davmilasav](#):
>
> The US Gov’t can’t handle spaces either. When I took the ASVAB test I wrote my name correctly and the proctor insisted I either put in a hyphen or use part of my first name as my middle name. I told her, “I’m 24 years old. I think I know how to spell my own name.” Her replay made is clear that the USG begged to differ. :wally So all my government docs forevermore hypenate me against my will.
> Thanks, Mom.
Another good reason I skipped the ASVAB. 🙂
Social Security office can handle it just fine. I hope the passport office can, too.
---
### Author:  [@general\_hubbub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/general_hubbub)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/206 "2004-12-01T21:52:22Z")
I have a not-so-common name for a girl myself. That’s because it is a boy’s name. For the first few years of my childhood, I _HATED_ my name, and not only my name, but I hated that whenever someone heard my name, they repeated it and then added, “but that’s a boy’s name” after it. Around 5th grade, I decided that I no longer hated it and so I embraced it with open arms. I love my name, and I have only heard of maybe 3 or 4 other people having the same name, but they don’t live near me, so I am always the only one in the room.
The only times I ever truly had a problem with it were in 10th grade and my sophomore year in college. In 10th grade, my drivers ed teacher couldn’t say my name (or even anyone else’s name either for that matter) so he just called me Audi for the semester. He called my other friend Fiesta (after the Ford, not the party), so Audi wasn’t so bad.
In college, on the first day of class, the professor said out loud, “that name is a boy’s name. I will not refer to any young lady by a boy’s name, so I will call you Eve” (which is nowhere near my real name) To which I replied “if you can’t call me by my name, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer you” From that point on, when he wanted to ask a question, he would call me Eve 3 or 4 times, then he would give up, make a loud ‘huff’ sound, and call me by my ‘boy’ name. After I gave an answer, he would follow up with a “Thank you Eve”
but whatever…
I also had a friend in high school. (actual person that I know, not just AFOAF) whose father was going to name him 'firstname middlename lastname, Jr. or II, but couldn’t decide if he wanted the Jr. or the II after his name, so he just named him Two. That’s right, his name was Two. no middle name, no real first name, just Two.
---
### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/207 "2004-12-01T22:04:28Z")
> [@Mynn](#):
>
> Was it Quasar whose slogan was “Out of our Minds and Into your Hands”? Or was that Minolta?
>
> Why not 2.0 and 2.1?
>
> Or Alfred John Jacob Jinglehammer and Bradly John Jacob Jinglehammer?
>
> Or name one twin after the mother, and one after the father?
>
> Or swap out the names:
>
> Jacob John Jinglehammer
> John Jacob Jinglehammer
>
> or
Well, I have a friend whose name is (slightly changed to protect the innocent) Robert Edwin lastname Jr. When he had a son, the son was of course named Robert Edwin lastname the third. The kid has been known as R.E.3 since he was a toddler.
Sounds kindof like a Star Wars character 😃
---
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/208 "2004-12-01T22:20:51Z")
> [@Ca3799](#):
>
> Possibley the worst name I’ve run across was a girl in my daughter’s class named Melena. I guess it Sounds nice, unless you know it means the black, tarry stool passed with gastrointestinal bleeding.
Like Amelia: a perfectly normal name that unfortunately is the same as the medical term for a birth defect in which the infant is born without limbs.
> [@Fionn](#):
>
> My brother knew a woman named Caiman, because she was conceived on the Caiman Islands. Naming a child after the place of conception has always seemed odd to me. Is fucking in an exotic place that much of an accomplishment?
Huh. If that had been my case, I would have been named Halifax. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
---
### Author:  [@dancefan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dancefan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/209 "2004-12-01T23:07:47Z")
Working in a hospital I have come across several odd first names. The worst was for an toddler who came in for x-rays: Shithead–pronounced shith-EED. I honestly don’t understand why the parents could legally name him with that explicit word.
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/210 "2004-12-01T23:17:47Z")
> [@dancefan](#):
>
> Working in a hospital I have come across several odd first names. The worst was for an toddler who came in for x-rays: Shithead–pronounced shith-EED. I honestly don’t understand why the parents could legally name him with that explicit word.
[Heads Up!](http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.htm) **wring** will be along shortly to call you a liar.
---
### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/211 "2004-12-01T23:25:18Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#):
>
> [Heads Up!](http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.htm) **wring** will be along shortly to call you a liar.
If you’re joking, fine.
however, if you’re not- you, too, can share in the “FUck you” I gave out the last time some one (falsely) claimed that I’d called some one a liar.
---
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/212 "2004-12-01T23:42:31Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#):
>
> 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.
I thought I gave a character a unique name, but then I found out it meant something. In Dutch. Apparently “Daden” means “Deeds.” It works, so I kept it that anyway. (oh, and I’ve got another named Jacey, which I like a lot)
> [@LilyoftheValley](#):
>
> Does Spitfire have a little brother?
>
> “Bane” was born August 4, 2004. Is there anyone out there who will defend this name?
Bane is a great name! Well, for a [sim](http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/lot_detail.php?asset_id=36137&asset_type=lot&user_id=934) born just before Halloween whose mother is a witch.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/213 "2004-12-01T23:44:48Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> “Kaitlyn” sounds hyperfeminine and twee - it just doesn’t evoke the kinds of things I’d hope my daughter grows up to be.
Besides which, if one wants to be really picky, “Kaitlyn” (or rather, _Caitlin_) is simply the traditional Irish Gaelic spelling for my name-Kathleen.
---
### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/214 "2004-12-02T02:01:52Z")
> [@general hubbub](#):
>
> In college, on the first day of class, the professor said out loud, “that name is a boy’s name. I will not refer to any young lady by a boy’s name, so I will call you Eve” (which is nowhere near my real name) To which I replied “if you can’t call me by my name, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer you” From that point on, when he wanted to ask a question, he would call me Eve 3 or 4 times, then he would give up, make a loud ‘huff’ sound, and call me by my ‘boy’ name. After I gave an answer, he would follow up with a “Thank you Eve”
:eek: I’d have told him that as long as we got to pick what we called each other, I would be referring to him as Professor Silly-Pants. And every thanks would have been followed up with “You’re welcome, Prof. Silly-Pants” until I was thrown out of class.
I don’t expect it would have taken long.
---
### Author:  [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/215 "2004-12-02T02:41:06Z")
> [@general hubbub](#):
>
> I have a not-so-common name for a girl myself. That’s because it is a boy’s name. For the first few years of my childhood, I _HATED_ my name, and not only my name, but I hated that whenever someone heard my name, they repeated it and then added, “but that’s a boy’s name” after it.
How about having an actual girl’s name and still having people say, “But that’s a boy’s name.” My name is “Erin”, which is a girl’s name. But people like to spell it “Aaron” or say “that’s a boy’s name, isn’t it?” The last straw came when I had an account somewhere and they said, “We can’t find your name.”
“It’s 'E-R-I-N”.
“Ohh. OK.”
Now I spell my name whenever someone wants to write it down. I also used to hate my name as a child but have grown to like it because it seems that very few people have the name.
---
### Author:  [@Farmwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmwoman)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/216 "2004-12-02T04:28:52Z")
I don’t begrudge parents the right to pull names out of their asses. What I do mind is the trendeigh spellyng of perfyktlie ordenairrey naymes. It’s just dumb.
Mother to Jonah and Yael
---
### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/217 "2004-12-02T04:44:47Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#):
>
> Her brother is named Jean-Luc Patrice- after the captain on Star Trek and his grandmother. Their little sister is named Chani Paris- after the character in Dune and the city where she was concieved!
I AM NOT ALONE!!!
My wife wanted to name our daughter Losira–that’s the name of the “I am for you, Mr. Sulu” character from TOS–she was the first female starship captain.
My mom hated that name, so we named her after a character from an Anne McCaffrey novel instead.
Our son’s named Teague, which is kinda funny–stuck him with a 6-letter name with 3 silent letters in it…
However…
> [@](#):
>
> You’re naming your baby what!
That’s the best idea _ever!_
“Okay, what’s your name?”
“What!”
“What?”
“What!”
“What?”
---
### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/218 "2004-12-02T06:06:03Z")
> [@Farmwoman](#):
>
> I don’t begrudge parents the right to pull names out of their asses. What I do mind is the trendeigh spellyng of perfyktlie ordenairrey naymes. It’s just dumb.
>
> Mother to Jonah and Yael
Beautiful names! I love Hebrew names. And they all have great meanings so that if you translate them into English it looks like an American Indian name. Awesome.
---
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/219 "2004-12-02T10:37:15Z")
> [@general hubbub](#):
>
> … In college, on the first day of class, the professor said out loud, “that name is a boy’s name. I will not refer to any young lady by a boy’s name, so I will call you Eve” (which is nowhere near my real name) To which I replied “if you can’t call me by my name, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer you” From that point on, when he wanted to ask a question, he would call me Eve 3 or 4 times, then he would give up, make a loud ‘huff’ sound, and call me by my ‘boy’ name. After I gave an answer, he would follow up with a “Thank you Eve” …
oh my goodness, is that common?! how can an educator be so prejudiced? :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202/220 "2004-12-02T10:53:34Z")
> [@Farmwoman](#):
>
> Mother to Jonah and Yael
My sister was supposed to be called Yael, until my parents found out there ws no way any of their American family members would be able to pronouce it (Grandmother: "You’re calling her _Yale!?_). They opted for Talia instead.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202.md?page=10)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-naming-your-baby-what/277202.md?page=12)