To: A certain parent

[amphrite]

I hope you realize that you daughter was near tears the first day of lessons when we did attendance and she had to tell me her name was ETHAN. She also almost cried when she had to tell the girl covering my class one day. It is a good thing you can afford to send her to a private school, because that means you can probably afford the therapy she will need later on because you a: Wanted to be clever, or B: decided not to hide that fact that you wanted another boy.

[Kogarashi]

I sense someone will be filling out name-change forms come their 18th birthday.

::looks over at Baby:: Hey, I gave you an okay name, right? Right?

[Geek King]

I hope you realize that you daughter was near tears the first day of lessons when we did attendance and she had to tell me her name was ETHAN. She also almost cried when she had to tell the girl covering my class one day.

Poor kid. I have a name, that until recently, I had only ever met two other people that had the same name, both female. Fortunately, it was so rare to hear the name, that most people didn't know. Otherwise, it would have become just one more thing for me to hate classmates over in Jr. high.

Giving your kid a unique name is fine, but please try to remember your kid has to live with it.

[Andara Bledin]

Anne Rice's birth name was Howard. When she went to school for the first time, however, she told her teacher that her name was Anne, and her mother didn't say otherwise.

Some names are cool, either way, but some names need more consideration.

Ethan? What kind of a name is that for a girl?

^-.-^

[Plaidman]

Geek King, anyway we can know the name?

As for me. Birthname is William. However the entire family has called me Driver for my entire life. That is no joke. Quite funny to see my mom pissed off at me and shouting Driver instead of William.


As ya can tell, in High School I realize the hatred of /difference/ so I went by my birth name. Now adays I prefer Driver, but no-one belives me.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

All the Ethans I've ever been aware of are guys.

[Kogarashi]

Same here, IPF. I have a cousin (male) named Ethan.

Worst I encountered in high school wasn't poor choice of naming so much as sucky attendance sheet software.

One of my classmates was a guy by the name of Brendal. Not a bad name, if you ask me, though I wouldn't give it to one of my children. But no one thought twice about it or joked about it or anything.

Except when we had a substitute teacher. You see, on the attendance sheets, names are printed last name first. So Brendal would've been Surname, Brendal. Unfortunately, that was one letter too long for the software.

Sure enough, the teacher would call for "Brenda Surname," and Brendal would have to endure the class's snickers and the teacher's disbelief as he raised his hand and corrected them.

Of course, I've had at least one teacher give me the Look of Disbelief when I got a haircut. Apparently I look like a boy when I have short hair, and my first name is very feminine. By that time, though, I'd gotten used to being mistaken for male.

[Sheldonrs]

And I thought it was bad being named Sheldon. HATED the name growing up.
I like it now though.

[NotSoInnocent]

Gah.. I got -tons- of teasing in school for my name. "Autumn".... jeez! "Where's the rest of the seasons?", "Have a nice trip. See you next FALL!" and on and on and on.

This is why my children have very normal names. "Angel"-girl, "Alicia"-girl, "Annalise"-girl, "Alexander"-boy.... I refuse to give their classmates more ammunition than they will come up with on their own.

What made my name worse (in my mind) was that it wasn't chosen because I was born in the fall (close, but not quite)... My mother named me after a Madame in a romance novel that she was reading when she went into labor with me!

[Primer]

This is why my children have very normal names. "Angel"-girl, "Alicia"-girl, "Annalise"-girl, "Alexander"-boy....
The only problem I foresee with that, is when they get old enough to start receiving mail, and it's addressed to "A. Surname."

Both of my brothers have the same first initial and it caused quite a few arguments.

[Rine]

I knew a girl named Michael. She seemed okay with it and so did most of the other kids. I guess after the first day, everyone got used to it. If anyone teased her, she'd ignore them or tease them right back...once she even beat someone up about it.

It was a well known rumor/fact that her dad named her Michael because he wanted a boy and all he got was three girls.

Ethan is a nice name...I could see it as a girl's name, but would I name my girl that? Probably not. I feel for that little girl and wonder why the parents decided to name their girl that. However, she shouldn't be ashamed of her name.

[CaroPhoenix]

The only problem I foresee with that, is when they get old enough to start receiving mail, and it's addressed to "A. Surname."

Both of my brothers have the same first initial and it caused quite a few arguments.

My sister and I have the same first and middle initials! Yeah, my mom and dad were weird. :lol:

Also, my daughter and her 2 cousins (on her father's side) all have the same first initial (fortunately, they all have different middle initials). Whew.

[tropicsgoddess]

Sure it sucks for the little girl to be named Ethan,but it's better than some crazy name like...Apple (Gwenyth Paltrow's daughter).

[Cyphr]

Of course, I've had at least one teacher give me the Look of Disbelief when I got a haircut. Apparently I look like a boy when I have short hair, and my first name is very feminine. By that time, though, I'd gotten used to being mistaken for male.

I have a friend that seriously enjoys being mistakable for a guy - says it means only people who know her well are going to ask her out.

[myswtghst]

Sure it sucks for the little girl to be named Ethan,but it's better than some crazy name like...Apple (Gwenyth Paltrow's daughter).

And really, that's nothing. Shannyn Sossamyn named her son Audio Science. Which is not a name. :rolleyes:

I always liked my name (Leslie) because it's relatively unique, but not completely unheard of. I'm glad I didn't end up an Elizabeth, like I was meant to be, as it's much more common - I actually had to be renamed as, shortly before I was born, a neighbor of my parents had a daughter and named her Elizabeth. I kind of feel like I should have thanked her for being born first. ;)

[ShinyGreenApple]

I took a good amount of teasing and taunting over my name, seeing as I was raised in a Baptist church setting.

"Grace, grace, God's grace!"

"Amaaaaazing Grace!"

Har har. Of course it was a bit different when the nice young men started referring to me as that and singing to me ;)

And often times customers would look at my name tag and ask "Where's Will?!"

I know a couple whose son ended up with the initials "G.A.S." They thought it was funny. And someone else who had a son called Asher and a daughter Hosanna. I don't even want to think about how they must have been picked on.

I'm glad I didn't end up an Elizabeth, like I was meant to be, as it's much more common

Mom actually wanted to call me that but dad didn't like it. Thanks, Dad! ^_^ He really, really wanted to call me Marie, but Mom hated that one. Dunno why, it's quite nice actually. Funny fact - I'm adopted, and my birth mother always called me Angel. Then when my adoptive family first had me (Didn't know they were going to keep me), they called me just plain "Baby".

Eh, sorry about rambling, but names fascinate me.

[Umingmaq]

The book 'Freakonomics' cites the case of a child being named Sha-teed.




Spelled Shithead.

I'm kind of a pacifist/coward, but some people should be eliminated from the gene pool because their end of it has obviously dried up.

[Kogarashi]

I've got worse than the rest (though "Sha-teed" comes close).

Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K
Weather'by Dot Com Chanel Fourcast Sheppard (this kid lucked out and his father won the court case to rename him to Samuel Charles)
Millionz A'Dollaz

Those poor children.

The only problem I foresee with that, is when they get old enough to start receiving mail, and it's addressed to "A. Surname."

That's how we could always tell someone calling the house didn't actually know us and was likely a salesman of some sort. Two sisters and I all have an A as our first initial. Our father also has A as his first initial, but he actually goes by his middle name (which begins with D), so anyone asking for "Alton" was barking up the wrong tree. Worse were the people calling for "A. Surname." Our response: "Which one do you want?" Yeah, we kids were that cheeky.

[BarbieGirl]

:ashamed: mine's Elisabeth, *sniff sniff* Although I never went by it, Always go by Liz, and people keep asking me if I spell it Lis, um no... My dad, sister and I all had the same initials, at least til my sis and I got married.
My sister-in-law is Grace and her older brother is Will, they had a hard time in highschool.:p

[Difdi]

When my mother told my father he was going to be a father, and that his to-be-firstborn was going to be a son, he was ecstatic. He went out to his favorite bar after work to share (and celebrate) the good news.

After much celebrating, the denizens of the bar, who were very Norwegian, held a contest to pick the best name for me. My father, in his much-celebrated state, loved the winning entry so much, he decided then and there to scrap the plans he and my mother had previously come up with and go with the winner.

Knowing my mother, if he had picked such an appallingly Norwegian name for me, she would have put her foot down and *insisted* they follow her side of the family's custom for naming boys.

Luckily for me, she managed to talk him down after he sobered up, and they compromised on naming me for both of my grandfathers. One of whom bore a very traditional family name (at least one man in every generation for the past 800 years).

What I wound up with was bad enough come elementary school. But it could have been much worse:

I could have been named Thorvald Topaz. :eek:

[Ghengis51]

One of my guildmates in WoW had the most god-awfull name I've ever personally run into. Harold Richard Head. . . think about it. . . think. That's right, his parent's named him Harry Dick Head. Man had the most twisted sense of humor too. :)

[myswtghst]

:ashamed: mine's Elisabeth, *sniff sniff* Although I never went by it, Always go by Liz, and people keep asking me if I spell it Lis, um no...

Oh, I've got nothing against the name, I just find it's rather common in the area I grew up in, whereas I haven't met too many others with my name.

Granted, thanks to various relatives and coworkers, I respond to Lauren, Lindsay, and multiple other "L" names anyhow. :rolleyes:

[Andara Bledin]

This is why my children have very normal names. "Angel"-girl, "Alicia"-girl, "Annalise"-girl, "Alexander"-boy....

You're like me with names. All those a's. I had a crush on a guy in high school, and named our fantasy daughter Angellica Aphrodite Armstrong. And I had toys named Alicia, Alexander, Andromeda, etc, etc. I named myself Andara, which turns out to be a traditional Celtic name.... for a boy.

Sure it sucks for the little girl to be named Ethan,but it's better than some crazy name like...Apple (Gwenyth Paltrow's daughter).

Apple is not so bad a name. I think it's better than Ethan. At least Apple is somewhat feminine.

On the topic of seasonal names, I have a co-worker named Winter. Her daughter has an unusual name, too, but pretty and not unheard of.

I could have been named Thorvald Topaz. :eek:

Aw. Don't you think it would have been cool to go by the name Thor? :p

^-.-^

[Anriana]

Meh, that's the common pattern of some names: start off masculine, become feminine. See: Ashley, Courtney, Brittany. That little girl has a lot of other problems if she almost bursts into tears telling people her name.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

One of my guildmates in WoW had the most god-awfull name I've ever personally run into. Harold Richard Head. . . think about it. . . think. That's right, his parent's named him Harry Dick Head. Man had the most twisted sense of humor too. :)

Hey, when I used to go to the dirt track every weekend with my dad when I was a little Irvling, one of the race car drivers was named Richard Hed.

[Boochan]

Got a normal name here, but I've had head-desk moments when my College has royally screwed their databases and accidently changed my enrolled first name to Veronica, when I'm a guy. That was 3 straight weeks of correcting, and I made sure they got a huge complaint from myself for not fixing the keying error and just leaving it as it was.

Regardless, my name is normal. The names I have as ideas for names for my children are probably a bit exotic, but they are gender-appropriate. Thats the most important thing.

[CaroPhoenix]

My sister & I had the same initials until we got married too (A. D. K.) Now, I'm a bunch of advertisements (A.D.S.) :D Yeah, I know, my sense of humor is bad, but I've only had 1 cup of coffee so far! :roll:

I do like unusual names (like my daughter's middle name), and I did name my daughter Kelly (which still is used as a boy's name). But I'd never call my daughter Ethan or Richard, though I did toy with the idea of Michaela (spelled just like that, and no, I wasn't a fan of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman", I just liked the name, heh).

[Boozy]

My husband was almost named Tark.

Quiz:

Is Tark:

a) The sound one makes when choking
b) The sound one makes when gagging
c) The sound one makes when vomiting, or
d) A good name if you want to grow up to be the title character in a 1950's pulp paperback novel called: "Tark Adams: Space Ranger!"

[Geek King]

Ok, I'm wierd. Thorvald and Tark sound like good names for people tired of all the Robs, Bills, and Bruces. Hell...they sound like a webcomic when said together. :roll:

[draftermatt]

I worked on a job with a guy named Richard Johnson. Dick Johnson eh?

I have a very, very biblical name - Matthew Joseph. My mother wanted to name me Kenneth Matthew but go by Matthew since my father's name is Kenneth. But my Dad refused because a) he hates it when people plan on going by their middle names (which is ironic considering that my mother goes by her's) and b) he is Kenneth Raymond Jr. so growing up and even till his father died he was "little Kenny" and he hated it.

The worst I ever got was because my last name starts with M so I'd get "Hey M & M".

I understand people not liking their names (A Boy Named Sue) but why cry over it? I know of girls named Harley, and they're proud of their name...

[Sparky]

All I've got to say is that, since it seems to bother her so much, little Ethan needs a nickname.

Right.

Now.

I suggest:
Sunshine
Daisy
Darlin'
Peaches
Blossom

Pretty much anything girly and positive.

[Norton]

I got -tons- of teasing in school for my name. "Autumn"

I came very close to being named "Cheyenne Autumn", due to my ex-hippie mother. Thankfully my father didn't let that happen. My dad insisted I have a nice Russian name... so he came up with Nicole. :confused: Firstly, Nicole is more French than anything, and secondly, we're not Russian at all.


I worked on a job with a guy named Richard Johnson. Dick Johnson eh?

That happens to be my father's name. Thankfully, he always goes by "Rick" or "Richard".

[Shironu-Akaineko]

My dad wanted to call me Jennifer. There were like a bazillion Jennifers already where I lived (well, marinated in mummy's tummy).

My mom wanted to call me Melissa Sue. :( No.... so very noo....

When I was born she called me Melissa Sue for 8 days, then took a good look at me and went :"....No. Sharon."

And it stayed. :)

apparently a fat, cross-eyed baby looks like a Sharon. :lol:

[Sylvia727]

All three of my birth names were religious. When I was baptized, the bishop even made a point of announcing this to everyone, and I got so sick of patronizing adults telling me what a good little religious girl I was going to be. When my parents got divorced, I went with my mother's (perfectly bland) surname and never once regretted it. To make things worse, my first name means something like "God's soldier"... and I'm no longer a follower of their God. :doh:

I had a friend in high school named Kevyn, with a really husky voice, and certain stereotypically masculine habits and attitudes. Caused her no end of grief...she now goes by her middle name of Nicole.

My roomie's name was Raine, from the French for "Queen", but her classmates still chanted "Raine, Raine, go away," and if she trips, out come the rainfall jokes.

So yeah, I'm a huge proponent of "think before you name your kid". But I'm still going to name my kids something unusual, mostly because I hate sharing a name with at least three other people in the room. I think names like Apple or Autumn or Melody are just fine, though. Kids being kids will find a way to torment their classmates no matter what. I got my share of grief from a name that's been in the top 100 girls' names for at least the last 30 years.

[TTAZ]

My name is a common-enough girls name, there's just a million and a half ways to spell it. I was named after my mohter's sister (have no idea why, they hate each other) who was the only other one of this name in the family. However, on my dad's side there's a whole bunch, even though they are all spelled differently. My grandfather got so upset at my mother's gall to add another one of my name to the mix, that he tried to BRIBE her to agree to change my name to Jessica. I am not a Jessica. Just trust me on this.

Mom told him to get bent.

The old man spelled me name wrong on every card, present, list, phone message, etc. unitl I was 16.

And my dad wonders why I don't visit him.

[AnqeiicDemise]

I'm glad I wasn't named what I *was* going to be named.

Ana Maria.

Mom was fine with it... until she found out that name belonged to my father's ex-fiance. The ONLY reason we stuck with Ana is because that was my paternal grandmother's name and they wanted to honor the Gammy I'd never meet (she passed away three years before I was born.)

Needless to say, I *don't* go by my first name. 1) Too common. 2) constantly mispronounced. (Ah-naw. -twitch-) 3)Childhood trauma that stemmed from that name song. I hated it. 4) having grown up in a very traditional Latin home, its the middle name that has more importance anyway. Imagine my confusion when I first set foot into a classroom and heard "Ana. Where's Ana? Ana? Is she absent? Ana Demise? Demise, Ana? Hmm.. she must be absent." "Um.. -raises hand- may I please be called C----? Its my middle name." "Okay, thank you Ana."

>.<

Yeah. I don't really respond to Ana.

[CaroPhoenix]

My husband was named after both of his grandfathers: Byron Zadok (I doubt most of his friends know his middle name). Byron is his mother's father's name, and Zadok is his father's father's name (he was originally going to be called Zadok Byron, but his father's mother convinced him to rearrange the order). Zadok is a name of one of the Judges in the Book of Judges. When I was pregnant & we weren't sure if we were having a boy or girl, I mentioned I wouldn't mind naming our first born Byron. Hubs actually said no, and this is his reasoning: Too many Byrons in his family. Turns out MIL's father was named Byron (that's hubs' grandfather), then there is Uncle Byron (MIL's older brother), then there is Cousin Byron (Uncle Byron's son) and then there is Cousin Phillip (whose first name is Byron, but goes by Phillip - his middle name). My hubs would have gone by his middle name, if it had been anything other than Zadok.

I was going to be Kimberly. But Kimberly Kelly, in my mother's and father's eyes, would have been too long for a little 5-year-old to learn to write, so I became Amy (after they heard the song "Once in Love with Amy").

I have a friend who has a long Italian last name so her folks gave her a short first name. My married last name is long too (10 letters in length), so we went with a name with 5 letters in it. My daughter's middle name is Iraina (pronounced as it's spelled - E-rain-ah). She was named for Irene (pronounced E-rain-ah) Adler - the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes (and first mentioned in "A Study in Scarlet"). One day (whilst snowed in), we were watching my Sherlock Holmes DVDs of the TV Show (with Jeremy Brett), and they called her E-rain-ah. I fell in love with the name immediately (I also thought her name was pronounced Eye-reen). So that's how Kelly got her middle name. :)

My mother was named after Marlene Dietrich (the movie actress whose name is pronounced with an "a" at the end and she was my mom's father's favorite actress). She never went by her first name, as a matter of fact, the only time, she ever heard her first name was when she was in trouble as in: <First Name> Marlene! You get over here! So she hated the name.

I had a best friend named Mary Elizabeth. Mary always thought her first name was Mary & her middle name was Elizabeth. Until she was like 11 or 12 and was at the dentist office and they called for Mary Elizabeth <last name>. Then her mother informed her that her first name was Mary Elizabeth and she had no middle name! :eek: How about that? :D

[Evil Queen]

I rather like my name. Plain. Normal. Everyday and kinda dull. It's a bland name with little to no personality in it which is why I'm such an insane character! :D

Of course my name starts with an A. My sibling and our last name is an S so put up together... and we're A. (&) S. S. :rolleyes: Thanks Mom and Dad.

Hey, at least that poor child's name wasn't Moon Unit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Zappa) or Dweezil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa). I mean, how high does your parents have to be to name you that??

[AdminAssistant]

One of the most common female first names in the 80's: Ashley
One of the most common female middle names in the 80's: Nicole

I was supposed to be Ross, then I was born and it was discovered that I didn't have the right anatomy. My folks got desperate and picked what I think is the most common first/middle name combo in the world. Ashley Nicole. sheesh. At least I have an interesting last name (which I typically go by).

[spookysonata]

This made me literally LOL. Unreal.

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

In other news, I had a college textbook authored by one "Dick Hymen". Ouch.

[Titi]

A little off-topic but I got asked by the school district (my daughter is going to start kindergarten in the fall.) when I corrected them on how to say her first name, if they had a typo and when I said no, they asked me if I had spelled it wrong! Um I think that I would know if I spelled my daughter's name wrong.

I got the spelling of my daughter's name (which is Danisa, but pronounced Danisha) from one of my best friends whose name is Kisa, (you can obviously guess how it is pronounced.) who was there for me so much through many things in my life.

[blas]

My ex bf and all of his siblings' names start with "Br"

I dated a guy whose name started with a T, as did all 5 of his brothers and sisters, but sometimes I think parents need to get a little more creative than to have a pattern like "Br" for all the kids.

My parents purposely gave my brother and me very short first names because of how long our last name is. I don't have a problem with my name, except for everything that rhymes with it.

[Andara Bledin]

I know of girls named Harley, and they're proud of their name...

But Harley is a real name. And falls among the either way gender type. Practically any name that ends in a "lee" sound can go either way.

Hey, at least that poor child's name wasn't Moon Unit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Zappa) or Dweezil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa). I mean, how high does your parents have to be to name you that??

Actually, they both like their names. There was an interview with either Frank or one of the kids, and part of it was to mention that they got more crap about being Zappa's children than they ever did for having weird names.

My brother likes his name, although everybody and his cousin has it. Literally. He's named David. As is our dad. As is our dad's dad. As is one of our cousins. As was one of his best friends who was known to nearly everybody as BD (short for big Dave).

Nekojin has another super-common name, but he was at the forefront of the popularity wave this time around. He's named Jason. While at a party, once, we had three people, all named Jason, sitting side-by-side on a couch.

^-.-^

[Kogarashi]

One of the science teachers at my high school was named Richard Payne. Yep, the students joked with that one.

I'm convinced that kids can make an insult out of just about any name. Just try to avoid giving them obvious material to work with (like the aforementioned Richards).

I'm named after both of my grandmothers. My middle name is Jean, which just happens to be the middle name of both grandmas.

Hubby decided we were going to actively try to give our kids different-sounding names with different first initials for each, largely because of my family. Two sisters and I have names that begin with A, and those two sisters, a third sister, and I have names that also end with A. So if you say our names in quick succession, they sound a lot alike (but are broken up by the fourth sister's name which doesn't have an A in it at all).

I agree that poor little Ethan needs a cute nickname.

Oh, and I think Apple is kind of cute and could work.

[Bagga]

When deciding on the name of our firstborn, I had to keep discouraging my wife from her favourites - mainly because our surname is pronounced "doors"

Katherine Louise? No way. cat doors. loo doors. cat-loo doors.
Stephen? nope. stevedores.
John? Nope. jackdaws.

We named our second son David, and both sides of the family praised us for naming after Uncle David, or Granddad David, or someone. None of whom we had ever heard of - we just liked the name David.

[tamezin]

I see nothing wrong with gender swapping names. Unfortunately in society today, and of course kids have always been and always will be evil, it is better to customize a favorite name to take on a masculine or feminine (sp) spelling depending on the gender of the child.

My daughter's name is Joey (short for Joanne) , named after a favorite aunt, but she actually chose to continue going by Joey rather than take on the more feminine version of her name.

Ethan would be a little harder to manipulate, but with a little imagination, I am sure it could be done. Perhaps the parents were lacking in that area as well as sensitivity.

[Andara Bledin]

Ethan would be a little harder to manipulate, but with a little imagination, I am sure it could be done. Perhaps the parents were lacking in that area as well as sensitivity.

Oh, no. With even a smidge of work, you can change Ethan to Ethanne. Same exact pronunciation, but I'm willing to bet that the change in spelling would make all the difference.

And if she really hated it, she could just go by Anne.

^-.-^

[PaRaGaS]

My daughter's middle name is Iraina (pronounced as it's spelled - E-rain-ah). She was named for Irene (pronounced E-rain-ah) Adler - the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes (and first mentioned in "A Study in Scarlet"). One day (whilst snowed in), we were watching my Sherlock Holmes DVDs of the TV Show (with Jeremy Brett), and they called her E-rain-ah. I fell in love with the name immediately (I also thought her name was pronounced Eye-reen). So that's how Kelly got her middle name. :)

I have a hunch (I have no knowledge of Sherlock Holmes whatsoever) that this "E-rain-ah" is properly spelled "Irena". The east-european variant of "Irene". But Iraina is a nice twist :)

[CaroPhoenix]

I have a hunch (I have no knowledge of Sherlock Holmes whatsoever) that this "E-rain-ah" is properly spelled "Irena". The east-european variant of "Irene". But Iraina is a nice twist :)

Thank you and you're probably right. We spelled Iraina just because, to us, it looks like how it's supposed to be pronounced. That's our thoughts in case she wants to go by her middle name instead of her first name.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Ana Maria.

I know someone by that name! Or at least a variation. :devil:

Please please PLEASE also look up what the name MEANS. Trust me, It will HELP. I'm waiting for someone to call me Celebrex* or Viagra* any day now.










*Yes, it's true, the meaning of my name is: Resurrection Penis.

[Evil Queen]

*Yes, it's true, the meaning of my name is: Resurrection Penis.
Now, you're misrepresenting yourself a little bit.

Seems RetailWorkhorse's surname (and mine, seeing as we're related) is slang for a certain piece of male anatomy. RetailWorkhorse's real name is greek in origin and means "Resurrection."

Mine is "Graceful"

Our Mothers? "Lost"

And our Fathers... you see where this is going.... is "Beloved"

There. Explained in a painful manner.

[ravenrose]

I changed my name when I was 18, for several reasons.

First off, the story I had heard from my "sperm donor" growing up was that my mother *swore* up and down I would be a boy, so refused to even consider any girl names (I was allegedly supposed to be "Eric"), so when I was born, and they didn't have any girl names, they named me after my mom's OBGYN. Not true. The *real* story is that I was named normally, except for my middle name, which was the name of the woman the sperm donor was having an affair with when I was born. (I inadvertently ended up using my middle name in school, as there were a lot of other kids with my first name.)

Also, there's a weird thing that happened when one put the first initial together with my last name. It became a very not-fun word (not dirty, just not fun for me). That wasn't an issue until high school (although I knew about it before then, just nobody picked on me about it), when a teacher thoughtfully brought it up for the whole class to enjoy, and then when some school pictures came out.

So when I turned 18, I took my step-dad's name (as he is my *real* daddy, and always has been). I shortened the name I had been using already (which also happened to be the feminine of my dad's name) that is an unusual spelling of the name (Jayne, if you must know :wave:), my middle name comes from a form of his mother's name, and I took his last name.

I love that my name now is so unique. It's fun, and since I deal with total strangers from other countries, it's fun when I meet someone with my spelling :D)

[worddork]

I know that with our surname, my brother and I have started a list of names he can never name his children. Our surname is Ashe (pronounced ash, like the tree) however when said quickly it sounds like Ass.

So here's the list so far:
Jack
Rosie
Harry
Peter
Richard
Annie
Mary

You can see what an issue it will be when my brother starts having kids.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Whether or not you like your name totally depends on personality. I'm a big fan of giving kids 2 or 3 names, with at least one very normal one and one unusual one so that they can choose as they get older which they'd prefer. My parents gave me an unusual given name and a very normal nickname, and I hated it. Then they gave my little sister a very normal given name and an unusual nickname, and she hated that. We have opposite personalities, and that's what preference comes down to.

My Parents named me Anastasia Nicole, and my Mother called me Stacie as a child. I grew up hating the name Stacie and I reverted to my given name at about 15 years old. It's pronounced Ah-nah-stah-SI-ah. I personally love it, and I love the unusual pronunciation. But I get that some people can't pronounce it properly, so I tell them to call me Tas.

Its meaning is usually given as 'resurrection', which pisses me off, because it's a cop-out. I took Greek in college and tracked down the etymology of my name. Ana is a preposition which means 'back up' or 'up again'. Stasia is the future form of the verb 'histemi', which means 'to stand or to rise'. So the actual meaning is 'She who shall rise up again'. Because of its meaning, it became common to give the name to Catholic children born around Easter time, and that's how it got it's association with the Resurrection.


I agree with whoever above said that if the child is that upset over being named Ethan that she's nearly in tears telling someone, then she's got some other kind of problems she's dealing with.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Now, you're misrepresenting yourself a little bit.

Seems RetailWorkhorse's surname (and mine, seeing as we're related) is slang for a certain piece of male anatomy. RetailWorkhorse's real name is greek in origin and means "Resurrection."

Mine is "Graceful"

Our Mothers? "Lost"

And our Fathers... you see where this is going.... is "Beloved"

There. Explained in a painful manner.

I didn't misrepresent myself. You even spelled it out for us.

[Becks]

Maybe by the time she's grown up, the girl named Ethan will have grown to like her name.

If not, there's always the option of legally changing it.

However, for now, I feel sorry for her. Children can be so very cruel.

:ot: Can anyone tell me what Rebecca means...really? I've heard "bound", "tied" and my personal favorite, "captivating".

[Custard Chick]

I honestly love masculine names for girls and am currently trying to convince my boyfriend to name our first girl (whenever she may come into being) Elliot, calling her Elle or Ellie. As odd as it may be, two of my favorite TV characters are named Elliot (Elliot Stabler from Law & Order: SVU and Elliot Reid (a girl) from Scrubs), but she never needs to know that her name was conceived by an Irish Catholic SVU detective and a neurotic, commit-a-phode doctor.

[Andara Bledin]

:ot: Can anyone tell me what Rebecca means...really? I've heard "bound", "tied" and my personal favorite, "captivating".

Sorry, but everybody seems to agree that Rebecca is most likely of Hebrew origin for "to bind" or possibly "snare". Supposedly it's to indicate chastity in marriage or somesuch.

I like the "captivating" interpretation, though.

^-.-^

[Becks]

Yeah, I'm sticking with the "captivating" interpretation. :D

[Broomjockey]

A lot of people of a certain age group quote a certain movie line when they hear my last name, so that's a downside in addition to being stupidly common. Then my middle name is for my raging asshat of an uncle who I haven't talked to in a couple years.

My first name is dirt common, the name of an (arch-?)angel, and boring. I've highly considered changing my name. I've been looking at a lot of Celtic and Nordic names, too. I keep flipping around on what I'd like to change it to though. So until I can find something I like for more than a week, I'm holding off.

[RetailWorkhorse]

:ot: Can anyone tell me what Rebecca means...really? I've heard "bound", "tied" and my personal favorite, "captivating".

Hebrew, meaning "Snare".


My first name is dirt common, the name of an (arch-?)angel, and boring.

Gabriel or Micheal?

[Becks]

Hebrew, meaning "Snare".

Hmmmmmm, yes, I knew that one, too. Thanks for reminding me, though.

[CaroPhoenix]

When I grow up and start to publish my works (either novels/stories or poetry), I'm going to be going by a pen name. So there. However, I "wrote" a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine back in the 1950's - 20 years before I was born! :p



(For those who don't get that - there is a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine written by one Amy Kelly. Amy's my first name & Kelly is my maiden name. :p )

[Evil Queen]

Gabriel or Micheal?
More then likely Michael, (slightly different spelling but the same name) because he's Jack's Evil Twin.

Personally, I would have voted for Azrael, but that's only because I finished reading "Good Omens" and that was one of the names of the characters. That and "Azrael" was the Archangel of Death.

[Bella_Vixen]

My first name is SUPPOSED to be very common (Elizabeth), and my middle name is hopelessly old fashioned, but I've grown to like it. Hell, I like it enough, I might name my second daughter (a slight variation of) it, since my first daughter will be named after Becks...if I ever have kids.

Last weekend, one of my nephews discovered my middle name and laughed. Hysterically. For a full 5 minutes.

He hurt my feelings. He REALLY hurt my mother's feelings.

I was born 3 months premature. My mother named be after strong Biblical women, knowing that I'd need that strength to make it.

Elizabeth has been a common name in my family for generations: it was my great-grandmother's baptismal name, my mother's middle name, my first name, one of my niece's 2 middle names (her middle names are for my mother), and one of my other niece's first name (SHE was named for her mother in reverse).


For what it's worth, I HATE being called Liz. I don't even like my family calling me that, much less strangers, and even still less people whom I've made it clear that I do NOT want to be called Liz.


One of my friends at work was telling me that her sister "named" her daughter A**** S**** S*****. I told her they SERIOUSLY need to rethink that combo. They did.

People need to think long and hard about what they are naming their child. Kids are cruel enough, without the ammo being handed to them.

[Broomjockey]

More then likely Michael, (slightly different spelling but the same name) because he's Jack's Evil Twin.

Not sure I follow on this. Enlighten?

[Rine]

My first and middle name are common. My nickname as a kid was Stevie, for my dad is a Steve and I was supposed to be a boy. :lol: It's my last name that's unique.

My sisters are have unusual middle names and sometimes I get jealous because I was stuck with common names.

So, I say give little Ethan a nickname, like the others said. Poor gal, I do feel for her, but I wish she wouldn't be so ashamed of her name.

[Sylvia727]

I have a great aunt called Sammy. I forget her real name, but it's something common from the '20s like Dolores or Ruth. They called her Sammy because the little boy down the street was named Sammy and her parents were always teasing her that they were going to make a trade. The nickname stuck. She was in her late 80s when she died, and all her friends knew her as Sammy.

[Sharsarannon]

When you name, think of the KID!! Please.




If it has to have a ( ) after it to tell people how to say it, it's a bad name.

If the initials spell something embarassing, it's a bad name.

If the nickname is also a crude word, or the name becomes one joined with your last name, It's a bad name.

If you can't tell what gender the kid might be, It's probably not a very good name. Make statements in your personal writings or on a t-shirt. Not where someone else will suffer for it 18 years.

If you made it up yourself, odds are good that it's a bad name.

If it's longer than one or two syllables people will nickname the kid. You have very little to no control over what they will call her or him. No matter how much you like Ricky, your son might hate you for naming him what turns into Dick, for instance. Eisenhower's mom wanted a name nobody could 'nick', so she picked Dwight. The american people liked 'Ike'.

If it's something you didn't check the real meaning of, It's a bad name.
Cheyenne is not 'a pretty name reminiscent of the Wild West'. It means Dog. The french trappers had a low opinion of the native americans they met and nicknamed them according to that opinion.
(if your name is Cheyenne, well now it means You, so you're scot-free.. Just please don't name your daughter that if she ever plans to visit French speaking places)

If it's an overly Kreeyaytyve spelling of a common name, it might not be a good name, unless you love having to correct people and are certain your kid will too. Example: Caitlyn, Caitlin, Kaitlin, Kaytlen, Kaitlyn, Katelynn, Kaitlynn, Caitynn, Kaetlyn, kaetlynn, Caetlyn, Caytlin, Caetlin, Khaytlin, Caietlin, Keitlinn....

All that aside, if you really wanna name your kid Bich Irissiyayanaeai Krysstyl, be my guest. And good luck, you'll NEED it.

For those of us who find this kinda thing Hilarious, as long as we're not the ones cursed with the unfortunate names: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Personally, I would have voted for Azrael, but that's only because I finished reading "Good Omens" and that was one of the names of the characters. That and "Azrael" was the Archangel of Death.

He's also Gargamel's cat. :p

[ThePhoneGoddess]

If it's something you didn't check the real meaning of, It's a bad name.
Cheyenne is not 'a pretty name reminiscent of the Wild West'. It means Dog. The french trappers had a low opinion of the native americans they met and nicknamed them according to that opinion.
(if your name is Cheyenne, well now it means You, so you're scot-free.. Just please don't name your daughter that if she ever plans to visit French speaking places)


See, to me, this statement has a lot of buts and ifs after it.

The vast majority of people in the US don't associate the name Cheyenne with 'French for dog', they see it as a pretty name of an American town. Most people would shrug their shoulders if you tried to tell them if means 'dog', because over here, it doesn't. Here in the US it's just a pretty name of an American town.

This is exactly opposite of the name Candida. In English, Candida is a recent addition---it's the Latin name for a yeast infection. It's a very old and very common girls name in Spain and Italy, though, because of Saint Candida. If you tried to tell some Italian girl that her name meant 'yeast infection' in English, she'd probably just shrug her shoulders or laugh at you.

I knew a girl named Candida. Her parents were from Barcelona, and they had named their daughter after a family member. When they figured out what it meant over here, they simply adopted the nickname Candy for her. Once another girl in high school figured out what Candy's real name was, and gave her crap over it, and Candy gave her an awesome verbal smackdown for insulting her Mother's choice of names.

People seem really paranoid about names. I remember there was an incredible amount of vitriol on the IMDB boards when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple. People were saying she should have her kids taken away from her and shit for 'creulty', which I thought was completely out of hand. I personally, like unique names within reason, and I thought Apple was a perfect 'unique' name---it's short, cute, doesn't have any really negative connotations, and is conventionally spelled.

My parents gave me a long name and then called me by a short, common nickname because they were so paranoid about me being made fun of at school. My fellow students responded by teasing me about my last name. I mean really, kids are going to tease no matter what name you decide on.

[Becks]

I'm thinking of naming my first daughter (if I'm lucky enough to have children) after my Mommy (Helen Elizabeth). Her nickname will be Lennie, and if anyone has a problem with it, too bad.

Last weekend, one of my nephews discovered my middle name and laughed. Hysterically. For a full 5 minutes.

He hurt my feelings. He REALLY hurt my mother's feelings.

Which brat was it? I want to know. Ooooooooooooooooh, he'll be in for a hurting when I come back in Octoberish.

[Bella_Vixen]

Which brat was it? I want to know. Ooooooooooooooooh, he'll be in for a hurting when I come back in Octoberish.


Michael. Little punk.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Her nickname will be Lennie, and if anyone has a problem with it, too bad.


I have a jade plant named Lennie! Actually, I name all my jade plants Lennie. This new Lennie (the 4th) isn't doing too well right now. The sun needs to shine somemore.

[Becks]

Michael. Little punk.

Ah. I guessed.

Tell him he's in for some hurting.

[Gurndigarn]

When you name, think of the KID!! Please.

I've been reading this thread with a certain bemusement. Some names may make it easier for the kids to twist, but no matter what you pick, they'll manage to twist it if that's what they want. As my wife says, "I realized it had nothing to do with the name when one of the girls making fun of my name had the last name of Butts."

If you can't tell what gender the kid might be, It's probably not a very good name. Make statements in your personal writings or on a t-shirt. Not where someone else will suffer for it 18 years.

Gender-neutral names aren't bad. (Though it can get confusing... my family adopted a Chris(topher) after my parents had given birth to a Chris(tene). It's names associated with the opposite gender that cause problems.

If you made it up yourself, odds are good that it's a bad name.

We get compliments on our daughter's names, even the rare and entirely made up ones. The trick is to consider "What will people think when they hear this name?" If the answer is "huh?" or "yuck, what a name", you have problems. If the answer is "Political Statement" or "OK, I see that you're proud of your skin color", you have serious problems.

If it's something you didn't check the real meaning of, It's a bad name.
Cheyenne is not 'a pretty name reminiscent of the Wild West'. It means Dog. The french trappers had a low opinion of the native americans they met and nicknamed them according to that opinion.

Knowing a word's origin doesn't protect you from making goofs in other languages. And there are lots of languages out there, with no real clue which ones will become "important" ones in the next several decades. How many people two decades ago would have thought that Arabic or (various forms of) Chinese would be "hot" languages now? So mostly, just avoid obvious pitfalls in languages near where you live or are likely to live/work. It's not worth the time to do a full detailed inspection of the word's meaning in every language.

(if your name is Cheyenne, well now it means You, so you're scot-free..

And that's why. It's your name; you own it. If you act embarrassed by it, it will become fodder for anyone who wants to. If you have accepted it (good, bad, or otherwise)... it will be annoying when imbeciles who haven't grown up try to embarrass you with it.

And if you have to go to any place where it's going to sound odd, either adapt it, shorten it, or live with the fact that you'll get odd expressions when you first tell it to people.

[protege]

My grandfather's middle name was Winfield. And yes, he hated it. So much, that he never used it. Also, even though his first name was "Albert." However, if you called him "Al," you opened yourself up for an ass-kicking. Nearly everyone in the county called him "Ab" or Abby."

Dad's dad was another story. His name actually was Sharron. Turns out his mother (a real bitch, BTW) really wanted a daughter. Grandpa went by "Bud" for years--can't say I blame him :D

[Andara Bledin]

Dad's dad was another story. His name actually was Sharron. Turns out his mother (a real bitch, BTW) really wanted a daughter. Grandpa went by "Bud" for years--can't say I blame him :D

Sharon sounds like one of those names that was originally a masculine name.

*does a quick search*

Well, according to at least one source, it's one of those either/or names. So, joke's on the sucky mom, there.

^-.-^

[the_std]

If it's something you didn't check the real meaning of, It's a bad name.
Cheyenne is not 'a pretty name reminiscent of the Wild West'. It means Dog. The french trappers had a low opinion of the native americans they met and nicknamed them according to that opinion.
(if your name is Cheyenne, well now it means You, so you're scot-free.. Just please don't name your daughter that if she ever plans to visit French speaking places)

That might be the historical significance of the name, but I am French and it didn't click in my mind that that was what the word meant until you mentioned it. It's spelled differently than the original French word (chienne). I think the other spelling of it is pretty.

Names are like languages in general. They evolve, they change, meanings of words fluctuate... Just think, if you named your kid something like Chair, and that kid goes on to cure cancer or something, the word "Chair" will forever be associated with something completely different. It happens.

[Becks]

Actually, I name all my jade plants Lennie.

May I ask why?

[Zombi]

I have a relatively boring name - Sarah Elizabeth. I was named for my grandmother (dad's side) and great-grandmother (mum's side), but my parents re-established a naming pattern that had been broken on my mum's side. See, all the first-born girls were named either Sarah or Elizabeth. If you were Sarah, you named your first daughter Elizabeth, and vice versa. My great-grandmother (Elizabeth, known as Bessie) broke the pattern by naming her daughters Margaret Evelyn and Lillian Heather. My grandma (Margaret, known as Evelyn) named her first daughter (my mum) Linda, and I was (finally!) named Sarah, which got the pattern back on track. So, in theory, my hypothetical daughter should be named Elizabeth. :p

My mum originally wanted to call me Catherine, known as Katie, but changed her mind for some reason.

[PaRaGaS]

I'm boring too - Mark Peter.
But, seeing as Mark is actually kind of a rare name here in my generation, it's not bad :)

[technical.angel]

My dad wanted to call me Jennifer. There were like a bazillion Jennifers already where I lived (well, marinated in mummy's tummy).

Heh!

I'm Jennifer Lynn.

Everyone I knows is related to someone named Jennifer Lynn.

And, actually, I have a cousin, fairly distant, who is also a Jennifer Lynn, with the same last name as me.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

For those of us who find this kinda thing Hilarious, as long as we're not the ones cursed with the unfortunate names: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

I nearly committed a Rule #1 violation upon reading this exchange. Quoth the letter writer:
What is a nature realated name for a boy? I am pregnant with a boy and I already have four girls. My girls are Summer Skies, Autumn Night, April Shower, and Spring Flower. Please help I am due in November.
Star Light

Quoth the person responding:
Star Light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, let this lady be a mental patient whose "children" are actually straws she stole from the hospital cafeteria.

Actually, that entire site is giving me the LULZ right about now. Some of those names make me thankful for the one my parents gave me: Nicholas Keith. Somewhat unique yet fairly boring.

ANOTHER EDIT: The name Onarada evidently means "fart" in Japanese. This morsel of information has tears rolling my face from laughing so hard.

[Zombi]

Let's just be thankful that it's 'April Shower' and not 'Golden Shower'. :lol:

*is going straight to hell for that*

[Umingmaq]

Modest amount of backstory: in Germany, at least back (mumble) years ago, names had to be from an approved list.

A friend who was a bit unusual on most things (he was/is an actual Transylvanian Count by ancestry) wanted to give his new daughter a Japanese name. IIRC what he wanted was Akiko which I think translates beautifully, but what he went forward with and actually had approved, was Akigo. This however translates as 'Autumn Brood of the Silkworm".

Scholars of the Japanese language may perhaps savage my memory of these names,
but the story itself is quite true.

[amphrite]

For those of us who find this kinda thing Hilarious, as long as we're not the ones cursed with the unfortunate names: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

OMG. Timmy Tinkletop. I laughed so hard I cried. If I ended up Teaching him and had to call his name out, I would have so much trouble frankly.

I have taught a bunch of kids with names on that site. Scary.

Recently I taught a little girl named Ezra, but she was about six, and is not at the awkward "don't look at me stage".

[Evil Queen]

Actually, I name all my jade plants Lennie.

May I ask why?

Because he liked Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order, before he passed away.

[RetailWorkhorse]

May I ask why?

Because he liked Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order, before he passed away.

Lennie Briscoe you are forever in my heart and my mind.

*Silent Moment*

[B&NGoddess]

my name's normal: kelly. although ive been known whap good friends upside the head for calling me "kel." its my nieces and nephew that might have issues. my oldest niece is donovan ophelia (donovan being a family name). her original middle name was supposed to be olivia, but my sister in law was so effed after labor that she forgot and put that down instead. and my brother is an airhead, so he didn't remember either.

my nephew is dawson earl lasee (la-say, after my grandpa who had no boys of his own to carry on the family name) people keep asking if he was named after "dawson's creek." no.

my youngest niece is caldie josephine. caldie was my grandma's maiden name. they wanted to use family names. so they're a little odd, but workable.

[B&NGoddess]

...what he wanted was Akiko which I think translates beautifully, but what he went forward with and actually had approved, was Akigo. This however translates as 'Autumn Brood of the Silkworm".

Scholars of the Japanese language may perhaps savage my memory of these names,
but the story itself is quite true.

depending on the kanji used, akiko would probably be "little autumn" or "autumn+diminutive." japanese uses the -ko suffix a lot for girls. boys aren't immune, though. again, depending on the kanji. those things give the words meaning. (for example, you could pass off akigo as "five autumns" without kanji. better than silkworm :D )

[crazylegs]

A friend who was a bit unusual on most things (he was/is an actual Transylvanian Count by ancestry) wanted to give his new daughter a Japanese name. IIRC what he wanted was Akiko which I think translates beautifully, but what he went forward with and actually had approved, was Akigo. This however translates as 'Autumn Brood of the Silkworm".

In iceland there still is an approved name list, this is for good reason.

There are no surnames, your last name is <name>dottir (if a girl) (I can't remember the suffix for males) So if you have an outlandish name your children would suffer too.

[technical.angel]

(I can't remember the suffix for males)

According to Wiki, it's sson

[crazylegs]

According to Wiki, it's sson

:doh:

As in Magnus MAGNUSSON

Well I feel silly now...

[KellyHabersham]

Speaking of names......my cousin "Robert" and his ex-wife made some rather confusing/odd choices when naming their kids. Their daughter was given the first name "Christy" because she was born around Christmas (even though we already had someone by that name in the family), and the middle name of "Robbiemarie" because "Robert" just HAD to have his kid have some form of his name.
Then when their song came along, they named him "Jason Richard" (after my father) and his nickname was "JayJay".......which happens to be the exact same name and nickname as my brother has, so it makes for major confusion when everyone gets together.

[Zombi]

and the middle name of "Robbiemarie" because "Robert" just HAD to have his kid have some form of his name.

...He couldn't have just used Roberta? That's not bad, as middle names go. :confused:

[KellyHabersham]

Well, their last name ends with an "ee" sound, so I think they were trying to make everything rhyme.

[Lace Neil Singer]

If it's longer than one or two syllables people will nickname the kid.
Or even if it's just one... someone I vaguely know, her mother named her Kate to stop her being given a nickname. Kate eventually discovered Blackadder and ended up nicknamed "Bob". :D

My name is fairly unusual; it's strange in a way that there are two co-workers with the same name as me, when I never knew anyone with the same name as me growing up cept one girl who spelled it differently.

I would have been Andrew if I'd been a boy, and my mother also considered Harriet for me. I would have been happy being a Harriet. :)

[Becks]

Well, their last name ends with an "ee" sound, so I think they were trying to make everything rhyme.

I'm sorry, but that just kinda creeps me out.

Along with people naming their twins rhyming names. I'm so grateful Mommy didn't do that for me and Bella.

[Rubyred]

I've only met one other person in my life that had the same name as me but it was spelled differently. Then theres Hillary Clinton and Hilary Duff and you will not believe the grief I have gotten over the first. I was actually named after one of my mothers friends and waaayyyy before Mrs Clinton ever became known.

Everyone also constantly spells it wrong. The correct way to spell Hillary is with 2 L's but my mom only used one. Even my family gets it wrong half the time.

The names that we have (hypothetically and out of boredom) picked out for our future children are:

Marlee Kathleen
Preston James (for some reason I really dig the name Preston)
Paige Elizabeth
Maxim Valentine (I know I know but it was my great grandfathers name)

I don't think they're too bad. :D

[Kogarashi]

The names that we have (hypothetically and out of boredom) picked out for our future children are:

Marlee Kathleen
Preston James (for some reason I really dig the name Preston)
Paige Elizabeth
Maxim Valentine (I know I know but it was my great grandfathers name)

I don't think they're too bad. :D

I would probably disagree with "Maxim Valentine" (I assume for a boy?), except that it's a family name, which lets it slide a bit more in my book. Just...be prepared for teasing in that department. I must say, though, I love the name Max and will probably suggest it to Hubby if we ever have Boy #3 (we've got names for the first two girls and first two boys already picked out).

I had a friend in HS named Margaret Agnes who always went by "Meg" and made sure the teachers knew that, because she hated how old-fashioned her names sounded and would get teased for them all the time.

[marty]

I have normal first and middle names, but a last name that sounds like a certain P brand dog food with one phonetic letter of difference. I only got picked on once for it. That's when Little Mr. Precious learned what a real smart ass mouth was, and I got told on for being mean :lol:

[Rubyred]

Yeah...I'm not completely happy with Maxim Valentine either but like I said it was my great grandfathers name and I adored him. I'm thinking more along the lines of Maxwell Valentine though.

We actually want 5 so there needs to be one more but it's still slightly earlier than I really want to be thinking about it. (I'm only 22 :rolleyes: )

[Xieg]

Honestly, in my opinion, Maxim Valentine sounds awesome. Then again, I am one for the outlandish.

As for me, my last name is Knight. Quite frankly, I find it to be the best last name ever. And so do most people when the subject of names is brought up.

My first name is the same as my father and his father, and so is my middle name, making me a Third. As a kid, I never liked it much. Today though, I have the utmost respect for it and those who carried it before me. The name itself supposedly means "Great leader." If I ever curse this world with offspring, the first born male will carry the name in full.

Since there were three of us with the same name, my mother determined a nickname for me at a young age. It supposedly means "Great ally." For those with nothing to do, it is shared by two states, an Indian tribe, and a female child actor (Did I ever get reemed for that when she came around.)

As far as Ethan is concerned, she may very well come to like it. When I say I never liked my name, I downright hated it. Again, no idea why, but I did. I've certainly grown into it now though.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I went to school with an Amanda Bang. Yeah...poor girl. And she was on a sports team so when she played well her name would be announced.


What if the principal's office needed to call her down there for something? What if her teachers needed to see her about something? What did they say?

"I need Amanda Bang please! I need Amanda Bang. Thank you!"

[Becks]

I went to school with an Amanda Bang.

Sounds like a rejected prank call to Moe.

I also knew a kid named Cam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam). It wasn't short for anything, he stated he was named for the car part in class.

According to himself and his parents, the man of the household was named after/for Mikey in the LIFE cereal ads.

I'm disturbed.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm sorry, but that just kinda creeps me out.

Along with people naming their twins rhyming names. I'm so grateful Mommy didn't do that for me and Bella.

Gah! Twinsie names. Blargh!

My mother and youngest aunt are twins. Their names have the same initials and the same number of letters. And they used to have the same outfits, too, which annoyed the hell out of them as soon as they were old enough to consider it.

Oh, and to make it even better, they're named for Janus. You know, the god most often depicted as having two faces.

^-.-^

[crazylegs]

I have managed to dredge this one up from my addled memory, I went to infant school with a Kimberley Clark, which is a brand of loo roll/public toilet fittings company.

She must have endured some stick later in life...

[Geek King]

According to himself and his parents, the man of the household was named after/for Mikey in the LIFE cereal ads.

I'm disturbed.

Meh. I was named after a road. The name just caught my dad's fancy. I like to kid that I'm already famous because I already have a road named after me. :p

[Becks]

I like to kid that I'm already famous because I already have a road named after me. :p

Hey, I do that.

In Eagle, WI, two streets are named after my great grandfather, and one after one of my great uncles. (Andrew, Laurence {sp?}, and Schroeder.)

Since Schroeder is my last name (kinda long story, really), I'd tell people that I don't need my own corner--I have my own street. :lol:

I gotta take pictures again.

[FuzzyKitten99]

About 6 years ago, when my husband's now-ex-wife was pregnant with their first child, she was telling us the names she wanted. The one for if it was a girl was Mercedes. I told her that wasn't a bad name, except that they have a cat named Lexus, and well.... make the connection and your own little jokes about it. She got SO pissed at me. I am like "Why? Cuz I pointed out something someone else might have AFTER the kid was born and named? I save you and your potential girl the barrage of jokes and comments about naming your next one Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Honda, or Ford"

They ended up having a boy... and they named him Ethan, lol! Though she did have a girl a couple years later (4 years TBE), and they named her Paris. Yeah. Poor kid. She'll never be thought of without connecting "Hilton" to her name.

My first name is Lea. No 'h'. My grandma named me, but my mom picked the spelling. To this day, I give my mom crap about her being 16 years old and wanting to be a 'trendy/cool' mom. I hated my name for years. I always wanted a cool name like Kelly or Elizabeth, or Jennifer. My name wasn't common (I was the only 'Lea/Leah' in a high school with over 3,000 students), but not unusual. Just the spelling. I have never put an 'h' on my name, and yet people still add it on their own for some reason. As if they think *I* misspell my own name. Even my kids' school does it. I have corrected them several times, and still they spell it wrong. I pretty much have just given up at this point.

My own kids have normal, pronounceable, spellable names. Nathan Jon, and Benjamin Martin.


The names that we have (hypothetically and out of boredom) picked out for our future children are:

Marlee Kathleen
Preston James (for some reason I really dig the name Preston)
Paige Elizabeth
Maxim Valentine (I know I know but it was my great grandfathers name)

I don't think they're too bad. :D

Maxim is the name of a men's magazine my husband gets: http://www.maximonline.com/index.aspx

[Kogarashi]

My first name is Lea. No 'h'. I have never put an 'h' on my name, and yet people still add it on their own for some reason. As if they think *I* misspell my own name. Even my kids' school does it. I have corrected them several times, and still they spell it wrong. I pretty much have just given up at this point.

My own kids have normal, pronounceable, spellable names. Nathan Jon, and Benjamin Martin.

Nathan might have problems with people misspelling "Jon," but other than that those are some rather nice names.

I know a Lia. Pronounced the same as Leah.

As for misspelling, it took 12 years for the school district where I grew up to spell my parents' last name correctly. My parents live within 3 hours' driving distance of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and have the surname of Holyoak. The school constantly misspelled our name to be that of the town. Of course, then there were the random letters we'd get sent to our home with misspellings, some likely due to our own poor handwriting but others due to goodness-knows-what. Like letters addressed to So-and-So Hollindak, or Halycak, or even just Hollyoak (one too many L's). It got to the point where I'd say my last name as "Holyoakholyasinbibleoakasintree" if someone had to spell it.

Then I moved to Utah for University and suddenly everyone could spell it (the majority of my Holyoak relatives live in southern Utah), but nobody could pronounce it (pronouncing "holy" as "holly" for some inexplicable reason).

As for my current last name, there are only two names we can't give our children, ever. William and Gromit. And despite it being a very easy surname, we've still had at least two people misspell it since I married into the family (and apparently none before; I'm cursed!).

[Sheldonrs]

My HS Principal' name was Seymor Hyman. Would have been great if he were a gynocologist. :lol:

[draftermatt]

My HS Principal' name was Seymor Hyman. Would have been great if he were a gynocologist. :lol:

Mine was John Seaman

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah...I'm not completely happy with Maxim Valentine either but like I said it was my great grandfathers name and I adored him. I'm thinking more along the lines of Maxwell Valentine though.


Don't forget to buy him a silver hammer... XD For the record, I think that's a brilliant song so I see nothing wrong with the name Maxwell at all.

[protege]

I save you and your potential girl the barrage of jokes and comments about naming your next one Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Honda, or Ford"

Bonus points if the kid's last name is Prefect or Fairlane... :D

Could be worse though--imagine if your first name was Edsel. Imagine going through your entire life...if your name was tied to one of the biggest automotive failures ever... :rolleyes:

[CaroPhoenix]

As I've mentioned before, my husband's first name is "Byron". We keep getting mail for "Bryon" - I keep asking hubs if he has an evil twin I don't know about named Bryon who keeps having his mail sent to us. Hubs gives me this look: :rolleyes: :roll:

[Geek King]

My HS Principal' name was Seymor Hyman. Would have been great if he were a gynocologist. :lol:

Our assistant principle was F***ing A**hole Jock-Sniffer, but I think that's just what everyone who wasn't on a sports team called him. :angel: