Do your kids have unusual names?

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
My name is a nice mix of common yet not so popular, for my generation, at least. There was only one other ''Laurie'' in my high school, and I''m ''Lori'' so at least the spelling was different.

I believe you''re only a few years older than me, yet I''ve never had less than three Laura, Lauren, Laurie, Laure, etc in every class from first grade through college. Funny! I wonder why that is. I don''t think it''s regional, because I wasn''t born in the city we ended up living in and the girls from college were from different parts of the country. Also, my high school and college classes were only 65-ish people - so that was three with almost the same name out of 65.

 

[oddoneout]

Date: 2/10/2010 4:22:16 PM
Author: geckodani

Date: 2/10/2010 4:20:49 PM

Author: upgrade

Date: 2/10/2010 4:17:59 PM

Author: geckodani

Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.


Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)

26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.


And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

Oh God... it drives me nuts when people don''t consider the initials!!

Me too! I ended up DNR when I got married and was not amused.


I have a friend with the last name Curry. They were going to name their son Tyler, but then realized he would be Ty Curry.

I went to school with someone who had the initials LEG. So yes think of the initials when naming.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
I tend to like ethnic or foreign names best.

I like classic names, as long as they aren''t very popular.

I dislike overused or very popular names.

I loathe trendy names.

So, I suppose I wouldn''t love my name so much had I been born a few generations earlier. My parents chose a good time to use it, as it''s not so popular for my age cohort.

If we have children, DH and I want to name a daughter Famke and a son Rafa.

I have the same tastes as you Haven. The problem I''m finding is that a few the classic names I like are popular and trendy right now. Sebastian and Lucas (family names) are mentioned quite often as are Ava and Isabel (family names).

My name also wasn''t popular growing up but there are definitely quite a few little girls called Alex running around now.

Love the name Famke! It sounds so exotic.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
I named my childhood pups, who still live with my mom. They are Tallulah Mae and Killian Rae. Usually, though, we refer to them as ''The Beasts.''

Sometimes it''s easier lumping all the pets into one name, especially if you have a bunch of them. After a few guppy casualities, we quit naming the guppies and they''re all now called, "the Piggies." Part of the reason we did that was because when one of the favorites died, I felt so guilty, and I couldn''t find a duplicate so I told my son the pet stored dyed him another color and that was why he was now orange instead of yellow. Once we quit naming them, he''d no longer ask, "where is [name]?" I am now off the hook. The fish are not, however. . .

The Bettas are named: . . . Mandarine, Sammy, Blue, Luna, Lilly, and eh, oh, that''s it.

 

[packrat]

MC-Tnedicca was actually a friend of mine''s name! Accident spelled backwards-her dad had quite a sense of humor.

She went by Tenica, and sometimes I called her Ned. It''s pronounced tuh-ned-ih-cah-crazy eh?? She thought I was nuts naming a cat after her haha.

 

[Clio]

I like classic, old fashioned names, and popularity - either among the population as a whole or within my family - doesn''t bother me. My children''s first names are Sarah, Emily, and Thomas.

They also have family surnames as middle names, and that''s what two of them go by. Where we live now, that''s fairly unusual, but it''s quite normal where I''m from.

What I don''t like:
made up or oddly spelled names
surnames-as-first-names that aren''t actual family names
"luxury" items used as names (Chanel, Lexus, etc. Mercedes is excepted, of course)
hippie names (mostly nature related) - I saw waaaaaay too much of this as a child. My parents'' friends epitomized hippie-dippy

I also have something of an aversion to names from one ethnic tradition used by parents of different ethnic backgrounds. I think this is left over from my childhood; I grew up with a lot of whitebread Caucasians with Persian names, and it always seemed kinda silly to me. (we were all American Baha''is)

 

[Haven]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:51:57 PM
Author: CDNinNYC

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
I tend to like ethnic or foreign names best.
I like classic names, as long as they aren''t very popular.
I dislike overused or very popular names.
I loathe trendy names.
So, I suppose I wouldn''t love my name so much had I been born a few generations earlier. My parents chose a good time to use it, as it''s not so popular for my age cohort.
If we have children, DH and I want to name a daughter Famke and a son Rafa.

I have the same tastes as you Haven. The problem I''m finding is that a few the classic names I like are popular and trendy right now. Sebastian and Lucas (family names) are mentioned quite often as are Ava and Isabel (family names).

My name also wasn''t popular growing up but there are definitely quite a few little girls called Alex running around now.

Love the name Famke! It sounds so exotic.

I agree--many classic names are becoming very popular right now.
I love the names Sebastion, Lucas, Ava, and Isabel.

Clio--I agree with you re: "luxury" items used as names. A dear friend of mine was set on naming her future daughter "Bentley" for a long time. Oy.

Another thought about names--I like it when first names and last names sound like they are of the same origin. I don''t dislike when they aren''t, but I think they sound better when they are. Our last name is both a Swedish and German word, and I think it sounds very strange with my very American first name.

 

[tulip928]

Date: 2/10/2010 12:07:53 PM
Author: Ara Ann
About mispronouncing names...my niece''s friend''s daughter''s name is Penelope...they had taken their kids to an in house sitting service (at a resort type restaurant) and when they picked the kids up after dinner, the one ''sitter'' called the little girl, (spelled phonetically) ''Peen-a-lope'' your mother is here!'' The mother was livid and replied, ''Seriously? Do you really think I''d name my daughter ''Peen-a-lope?'' I have to admit, I LOL''d at that one.

That''s so funny - the same thing happened to me with my dear golden retriever named Penelope. We were in the waiting room at the vet and the tech called out Peen-a-lope. It took a few seconds before I realized they were calling out Penelope. It was a good laugh.

Back in 1976, we named our son Noah, which at the time was a very unusual name.

Chandelier is another story, though. My daughter has friends who want to name their soon to be born daughter Calliope.

 

[iheartscience]

I was just watching one of those "I''m pregnant and ______" shows on TLC and one of the women was chased by a bear when she was pregnant, so they named their kid IMAGINE LITTLE BEAR CATHERINE. Yeah. There aren''t enough eye roll emoties in the world!

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 2/10/2010 9:07:39 PM
Author: thing2of2
I was just watching one of those ''I''m pregnant and ______'' shows on TLC and one of the women was chased by a bear when she was pregnant, so they named their kid IMAGINE LITTLE BEAR CATHERINE. Yeah. There aren''t enough eye roll emoties in the world!

That''s horrid! What would make a parent do that?!?!

 

[CourtHorn]

I am totally turned off by crazy names.

I work with a population of people where i hear the craziest names. Nevaeh is a current popular one...Heaven backwards. Lots of luxury names too. Chandelier is awful, as is Tnedicca. (Though it is a cool dogs name)

But---crazy spellings are the worst. Why do you want to subject your child to a lifetime of misspellings and confusion? My friend/co-worker has a son and she screwed him big-time. He is pissed at her for it now that he is getting older.

I would rather have a very common name than a very unique one. That''s just me. My name is not super common, but it is not unique either.

Moral of the story: Don''t make up names for your children!!!!

 

[Haven]

Date: 2/10/2010 8:57:29 PM
Author: tulip928

Date: 2/10/2010 12:07:53 PM
Author: Ara Ann
About mispronouncing names...my niece's friend's daughter's name is Penelope...they had taken their kids to an in house sitting service (at a resort type restaurant) and when they picked the kids up after dinner, the one 'sitter' called the little girl, (spelled phonetically) 'Peen-a-lope' your mother is here!' The mother was livid and replied, 'Seriously? Do you really think I'd name my daughter 'Peen-a-lope?' I have to admit, I LOL'd at that one.

That's so funny - the same thing happened to me with my dear golden retriever named Penelope. We were in the waiting room at the vet and the tech called out Peen-a-lope. It took a few seconds before I realized they were calling out Penelope. It was a good laugh.

Back in 1976, we named our son Noah, which at the time was a very unusual name.

Chandelier is another story, though. My daughter has friends who want to name their soon to be born daughter Calliope.

Isn't Calliope a Greek name?

You should direct your daughter's friends to the book Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. The protagonist is named Calliope, until she becomes he, and then goes by Cal. Awesome book, but the hermpaphroditic angst that Calliope experiences may be enough to turn them off of the name.

ETA: I love the name Noah. The names Noah (male) and Noa (female) are very popular in the Jewish community. Well, they are popular in *our* Jewish community, at least. It's a beautiful name.

 

[packrat]

Ohh Noa for a girl is so lovely! I''ve never head it for a girl before, and I really like it!

 

[waxing lyrical]

Nope. Not unusual.

Grace Elizabeth Katherine
Evangeline Lily Marie
Duncan Lewis Garibaldi
Henry Allen Greyson

I do like names that don''t necessarily fit with the style of our kids'' names. I love Freyja and Willow. I like earthy names, but they don''t mesh well with our naming trend. Had Henry been a girl it was between Annabel Lee Rose and Penelope Anne Rose.

 

[April20]

Okay, so I don''t have kids, BUT....

my sister has a completely made up name. Completely. It''s beautiful, has meaning for my parents and it not really pronounced the way it''s spelled. But it''s a great name and suits her perfectly. But for all of her 25 years of life, she''s gotten a HUH? How do you spell THAT? reaction.

All that being said, if I were ever to have a daughter, I am completely tempted to use my sister''s name as either a first or middle just to keep it "alive". Though I would probably tweak the spelling to make it a little more intuitive. Really, it''s a great name.

 

[onvacation]

Date: 2/10/2010 12:13:53 PM
Author: waterlilly

Date: 2/10/2010 12:00:15 PM

Author: Smurfyimproved

I have a friend who named her son aaxyom (ax-um) and I really love it, I think its such a cute name

Oh my. That''s a perfect example of a name where he will have to repeat several times, spell and pronounce his name to everyone he meets for the rest of his life.

WORD! I just HAD to go digging for this:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1016

 

[charbie]

Date: 2/10/2010 2:46:29 PM
Author: AprilBaby
A young girl I know just named her baby Jezebel. Parents and I were horrified. They call her Bella. Any thoughts?

my sister named her cat jezebel. the name sounds demonic to me. she calls the cat "jezzy" for short.

 

[charbie]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:06:23 PM
Author: monarch64
Also, SO and I have a little thing we do when watching sports or random television. When we hear one of those off-the-wall Apple or hmm, I don''t know, Ocho Cinco or whatever, we look at each other and say simultaneously, ''Ocho Cinco--NOT A NAME.''

he made up that name. Chad "Johnson" Ocho-Cinco is an idiot.

 

[jewelz617]

A girl I worked with had 3 daughters named Diamond, Destiny and Nevaeh (yes, "Heaven" spelled backwards) and all I could think was that they sounded like names a stripper would have.

It''s mean but true

 

[charbie]

My boss'' last name began with a "B"
He REALLY wanted to name his son "Sam Oliver" for the simple reason that his kid would be a "SOB" (son of a...) his whole life.
Luckily, his wife stepped in and said he would be named that over her dead body.

Someone should call social services on him.

 

[charbie]

Date: 2/10/2010 8:10:41 PM
Author: MC

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
I named my childhood pups, who still live with my mom. They are Tallulah Mae and Killian Rae. Usually, though, we refer to them as ''The Beasts.''

Sometimes it''s easier lumping all the pets into one name, especially if you have a bunch of them. After a few guppy casualities, we quit naming the guppies and they''re all now called, ''the Piggies.'' Part of the reason we did that was because when one of the favorites died, I felt so guilty, and I couldn''t find a duplicate so I told my son the pet stored dyed him another color and that was why he was now orange instead of yellow. Once we quit naming them, he''d no longer ask, ''where is [name]?'' I am now off the hook. The fish are not, however. . .

The Bettas are named: . . . Mandarine, Sammy, Blue, Luna, Lilly, and eh, oh, that''s it.

Our two dogs are collectively known as "the monsters."

 

[charbie]

Date: 2/10/2010 2:28:17 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 2/10/2010 2:19:42 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 2/10/2010 1:57:13 PM
Author: charbie
I always knew there were a lot of ''Katherines'' around when I was younger (going by Kate/Katie) so I spelled my name ''Katey.'' Then I went to college and started going by Kate. There was a RIDICULOUS amount of Katie''s in college with me.

I want my kids to have unique but not crazy names. My dream is to have a girl named ''Lily Patrice'' and a boy named ''Wesley Robert''- I know Lily is becoming more and more popular, but I''ve loved that name for as long as I can remember! And is has family importance, which makes it even more special. I have a fairly common surname, but I don''t think there would be a ton of people with the combination of either.

It''s funny- go on facebook and type in your name and see how many people share it- my dad has a fairly common name (Robert) but a not so common surname...however there were 454 people with the same name as him! Crazy!

I''ve always been one of 3 Lauras (or another spelling - Lauren, Laurie, etc) throughout elementary school, high school, and college. Now that I''m adult, my name seems far less common and I don''t meet quite so many, but that''s probably because I have friends whose ages span 10 years. While I love Ava, Emma, Sophia, etc, if they''re still popular when I have kids I won''t use them because I don''t want my kid going through the same thing.

I tried the Facebook thing! Both my maiden name and married name are pretty uncommon, so it was fun. For my maiden name, there are 5 other people with the same first and last name and about 4,000 people with the same last name.

For my married name, I am the only one with my combo of first and last name. For just the last name, there are only 23 results (2 of those are DH and his sister

and a few others are DH''s relatives). It''s extremely uncommon, but at least it''s pretty easy to spell and pronounce. No matter what baby name we pick, our kid will probably have a unique first and last name combo.

Yeah, the whole change your nickname so you''re an individual and so teachers don''t get confused, and that''s how I dealt with it. That''s how I became Liz.

Elizabeth #1= Elizabeth
Elizabeth #2= Beth
Elizabeth #3= Liz
Elizabeth #4 went by her middle name

...le sigh...

ETA: My next door neighbor is also an Elizabeth. She goes by Beth. Her mom was also an Elizabeth, she goes by Liz. Just an FYI, Elizabeth kind of blows as a first name. I went through my elementary and middle school life as ''Elizabet'' on standardized tests...

BTW, we plan on naming a child (daughter), should we have one, something from a combination of our mother''s names...something unusual, but not crazy...

My older sister is an Elizabeth, but she goes by Beth. Middle name is Anne.
My middle name is Marie. My SIL has the exact same name as me (awkward...we now both have the same name.)
My younger sister is Brittany Lynn. We all got our middle names from our aunts (dad had 2 sisters, mom had one...worked perfectly w/ 3 girls!)
Older sister now wants to name a girl if she has on "Katelyn" since it has a part of my name and my younger sister''s...how sweet is that??

I went by Katie in kindergarden, Katie in 1st grade, Katherine in 2nd grade, Katie in 3rd grade, Katherine in 4th grade, and then FINALLY stuck with Katie in 5th grade. I always was the one who offered to go by whatever the other "Katie" in the class didn''t go by. I''ll always be Katie to my family, tho pretty much everyone now calls me Kate.

 

[blingmemore]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:51:57 PM
Author: CDNinNYC

Date: 2/10/2010 7:26:59 PM
Author: Haven
I tend to like ethnic or foreign names best.

I like classic names, as long as they aren''t very popular.

I dislike overused or very popular names.

I loathe trendy names.

So, I suppose I wouldn''t love my name so much had I been born a few generations earlier. My parents chose a good time to use it, as it''s not so popular for my age cohort.

If we have children, DH and I want to name a daughter Famke and a son Rafa.

I have the same tastes as you Haven. The problem I''m finding is that a few the classic names I like are popular and trendy right now. Sebastian and Lucas (family names) are mentioned quite often as are Ava and Isabel (family names).

My name also wasn''t popular growing up but there are definitely quite a few little girls called Alex running around now.

Love the name Famke! It sounds so exotic.

I have an Ava Jade, but here in Australia it was not that common when she was born (2006). People were too busy naming their daughters Mia, because Bec & Leyton Hewitt had just named their daughter that! We actually had a friend reply "Gees thats a weird name, where did you pick that from?!"

Most elderly people always comment on how beautiful her name is and ask if we named her after Ava Gardner.

My son is Kai Xander. I wanted his named spelled Ky, but my husband was adamant he was not naming his son after a brand of personal lubricant (KY Jelly)!

We have a long hyphenated surname so wanted the kids names short, and I also dislike when names get shortened. If I wanted them called by a shortened name I would''ve just called them that in the first place.

My pet-hate is crazy, ridiculous spelling of names. Always reminds me of that episode of "Kath & Kim" when Kim announces her daughters name, Epponnee-Raelene Kathleen Darlene Charlene Craig. Then goes on to say she was thinking of calling her Tiffany spelt T-I-PH-PH-AH-NEE".

My name is Naomi and I have only ever met 2 others, and we all have the same gripe that hardly anyone can spell or pronounce it. Also it has been mentioned to me numerous times mostly by men "Wow! Did you know your name backwards spells IMOAN? Well do ya?!"

Tell you what, that got old REAL fast!

 

[blingmemore]

Date: 2/10/2010 8:57:29 PM
Author: tulip928

Date: 2/10/2010 12:07:53 PM
Author: Ara Ann
About mispronouncing names...my niece''s friend''s daughter''s name is Penelope...they had taken their kids to an in house sitting service (at a resort type restaurant) and when they picked the kids up after dinner, the one ''sitter'' called the little girl, (spelled phonetically) ''Peen-a-lope'' your mother is here!'' The mother was livid and replied, ''Seriously? Do you really think I''d name my daughter ''Peen-a-lope?'' I have to admit, I LOL''d at that one.

That''s so funny - the same thing happened to me with my dear golden retriever named Penelope. We were in the waiting room at the vet and the tech called out Peen-a-lope. It took a few seconds before I realized they were calling out Penelope. It was a good laugh.

Back in 1976, we named our son Noah, which at the time was a very unusual name.

Chandelier is another story, though. My daughter has friends who want to name their soon to be born daughter Calliope.

Are your daughters friends Grey''s Anatomy fans? One of the surgeons is called Calliope, but they refer to her as Cally.

 

[hihowareyou]

When I was studying eduction I came across a paper that talked about the statistical evidence showing that children with unusual names or very particular spelling are more likely to be bullied, be bullies and not be popular with their peers. On the other hand children with names like Lisa, Amy, David, Ben, etc (this was a few years ago so not necessarily the names very popular with new borns now but normal/popular at the time) were more like to easily make friends, much better settled at school, etc. Obviously unusual names don''t guarantee bullying and ''normal'' names don''t automatically make a child popular but that it appears to be a factor.

I''ve always been hung up on the name Cedric but think it might be better suited for a cat for the above reasons.

 

[jewelz617]

When I was in school, the Jessicas, Ashleys, Kristens and Katies were popular, while the Emilys, Emmas, Tessas and other more old fashioned names were not popular. Maybe that was just my school.

I think my daughter''s name is cool, no one will ever mispronounce it. It just doesn''t happen to be a popular name.

I will say that when I was pregnant I almost killed a guy who said "Oh, you''re naming her after the dog?"

No... the reggae artist who existed long before that movie ever did.

 

[missjae]

Date: 2/10/2010 12:07:53 PM
Author: Ara Ann
About mispronouncing names...my niece''s friend''s daughter''s name is Penelope...they had taken their kids to an in house sitting service (at a resort type restaurant) and when they picked the kids up after dinner, the one ''sitter'' called the little girl, (spelled phonetically) ''Peen-a-lope'' your mother is here!'' The mother was livid and replied, ''Seriously? Do you really think I''d name my daughter ''Peen-a-lope?'' I have to admit, I LOL''d at that one.

I''ve heard spanish speaking people pronounce Penelope Peenalope...my sister and I thought it was cute to hear it said that way because it''s an innocent mistake and so it''s kind of a thing with us now...my sister''s Puppy''s name is Heidi but we call her Heidi Penelope or Peenalope...just for fun

 

[FrekeChild]

My new (married) initials are EW.

And I chose my maiden name as my new middle because if I kept my middle name as my middle name, my initial would have been EMW and that is WAY too close to BMW for my taste. So instead I''m EKW.


In a related topic, my BFF from high school''s initials were BMW on purpose. Her mom is an interesting lady.

 

[missjae]

Date: 2/10/2010 10:15:36 AM
Author: waterlilly
I''m not sure why, but I really dislike unusual names. Not uncommon names, but unusual names. I have a couple of uncommon names picked out - sort of ''older'' names that aren''t used much anymore. But, when I see names that are spelled all wacky it makes no sense to me - seems like a way for the parents to grab on to some thread of individuality at the expense of poor child that is going to have to pronounce and spell their name to everyone for the rest of their life.


Trends come and go and it seems like there is this trend now for names that end in ''den'', I cringe every time I hear one!

My brother is named Jaden and when he was born, he was the ONLY Jaden around...no one had heard of the name back then (he is much older than the "Jaden fad" and now it seems to have blown up into a huge trend...it''s so weird because when I think of the name Jaden I think of MY Jaden...when I hear someone referencing another person with the same name it''s like they are saying an entirely different name all together because there will never be another Jaden like our Jaden...everything about my brother is "Jaden" he acts like a Jaden, he looks like a Jaden he just IS Jaden...it''s crazy to think of all the other Jaden''s like Will Smith''s son and Britney Spears'' son and the millions of other girls and boys with the name...it''s getting to be the next "John"....almost...

Anyway I can relate to the incredible "...den" name trend...

My sister and I are identical twins and our names are Jaxon (short for Jacqueline) and Jae (short for Jessalyn). Jacqueline isn''t an uncommon name but she was always the only Jacqueline and only Jaxon and I have always been the only Jessalyn and the only Jae and we don''t live in a small community either

 

[Bella_mezzo]

when my DH was growing up, the pastor in the neighboring town had twin girls names Precious and Luscious. let''s just say, it didn''t turn out too well. They both totally grew into their names