Do your kids have unusual names?

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 2/13/2010 3:12:37 PM
Author: PinkAsscher678

Date: 2/13/2010 2:51:13 PM

Author: jas

I know someone who had a son a few years ago. The parents were huge Catcher in the Rye fans. The son''s name? Why, not Holden, that would be obvious. They named him ''Catcher.''

Wow. That''s like being a fan of Alice in Wonderland and naming your kid ''Wonderland.''

And????

People choose names for any and every reason under the sun, reasons that might seem silly to us but hold value to them. Naming a child after a book or character in a book is no more silly than naming your child after a pot smoking rastafarian.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Just read what transpired after the post I responded to. I stand by my view that it''s mean to insult other people''s names when your name inspires the same feelings in others. The old adage of treat others how you want to be treated fits in well here.

This is a sensitive subject for me right now. I have a very close friend who, when told what our top choices for names were, told us they were too "anglo" and "WASPY" (Grace Campbell, Katharine Fenn, Jack Henry and Aidan Campbell) and a little "Schiksa Princess-ish."

She then proceeded to tell me that our names held no cultural value and therefore were not good enough. I bit my tongue and didn''t respond to her, because while on the surface they might not hold value to someone who''s following the strict naming standards of their religion/culture, to us they do hold cultural value. See, we are Scottish and English and the names are a combination of family names. How anyone can say that those names are not related to our heritage or how our heritage is less important because it''s not the same as another''s is beyond me. Regardless, the inspiration for my child''s name is no one''s business but my own.

And I laughed a little inside when she later was looking for a middle name and her husband requested one that wasn''t so Jewish, but when I pointed out that her child was going to have a more anglo name she said that it was a completely different situation, judging me once again. Gee, as I type this I''m wondering why she''s even a friend...

 

[Lynnie]

Everybody associates any given name to something or someone.

My brother''s name is Bo. I used to make fun of him (the evil big sister days) "haha Bo''s got B.O.!"... but I couldn''t imagine him anything else now.

A distant relative of mine is hugely pro-marijuana.... and gave his daughter the middle name Reefer.

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 2/15/2010 8:40:36 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk

Date: 2/13/2010 3:12:37 PM

Author: PinkAsscher678

Date: 2/13/2010 2:51:13 PM


Author: jas


I know someone who had a son a few years ago. The parents were huge Catcher in the Rye fans. The son''s name? Why, not Holden, that would be obvious. They named him ''Catcher.''

Wow. That''s like being a fan of Alice in Wonderland and naming your kid ''Wonderland.''

And????


People choose names for any and every reason under the sun, reasons that might seem silly to us but hold value to them. Naming a child after a book or character in a book is no more silly than naming your child after a pot smoking rastafarian.

Hudson Hawk, I already admitted that I had been unfair and my daughter''s name and it''s connection with marijuana has already been discussed to death... now it''s kind of getting to the "beating a dead horse" point.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 2/15/2010 9:04:39 AM
Author: PinkAsscher678

Date: 2/15/2010 8:40:36 AM

Author: Hudson_Hawk

Date: 2/13/2010 3:12:37 PM


Author: PinkAsscher678

Date: 2/13/2010 2:51:13 PM



Author: jas



I know someone who had a son a few years ago. The parents were huge Catcher in the Rye fans. The son''s name? Why, not Holden, that would be obvious. They named him ''Catcher.''

Wow. That''s like being a fan of Alice in Wonderland and naming your kid ''Wonderland.''

And????



People choose names for any and every reason under the sun, reasons that might seem silly to us but hold value to them. Naming a child after a book or character in a book is no more silly than naming your child after a pot smoking rastafarian.

Hudson Hawk, I already admitted that I had been unfair and my daughter''s name and it''s connection with marijuana has already been discussed to death... now it''s kind of getting to the ''beating a dead horse'' point.

see later post

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 2/15/2010 9:00:09 AM
Author: Lynnie
Everybody associates any given name to something or someone.


My brother's name is Bo. I used to make fun of him (the evil big sister days) 'haha Bo's got B.O.!'... but I couldn't imagine him anything else now.


A distant relative of mine is hugely pro-marijuana.... and gave his daughter the middle name Reefer.

Ha! Reefer Madness!

ETA: For the record, that's pretty awesome.

 

[Lynnie]

haha... CRAZY movie

My mom likes to tell the story (it's her second cousin that had A. Reefer)... about how they had to talk him OUT of calling her "A. Toker"


**sorry for threadjack** ETA: Nevermind, it's your own thread!!

 

[natalina]

Our daughter is Ellison Lake, so yeah, kinda unusual. We call her Ellie though, which is not unusual at all. We specifically wanted a first name that was a bit formal to grow into an then had a cute nickname for when she is little. We LOVE her name. It does get a bit old saying "Ellison with an E, not Allison", though. And Lake is special to DH and I for various reasons. Plus, I think "Ellison Lake" sounds like a movie star- haha, I am such a dork!

Hudson- just had to say I LOVE "Katherine Fenn" and "Grace Campbell"!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 2/15/2010 9:49:00 AM
Author: natalina
Our daughter is Ellison Lake, so yeah, kinda unusual. We call her Ellie though, which is not unusual at all. We specifically wanted a first name that was a bit formal to grow into an then had a cute nickname for when she is little. We LOVE her name. It does get a bit old saying ''Ellison with an E, not Allison'', though. And Lake is special to DH and I for various reasons. Plus, I think ''Ellison Lake'' sounds like a movie star- haha, I am such a dork!


Hudson- just had to say I LOVE ''Katherine Fenn'' and ''Grace Campbell''!

Thank you! I love Ellison as well! Very classic and elegant.

 

[jewelz617]

Ellison makes me think "elegant" which is definitely a good thing, and Lake conjures up images of Veronica Lake, Hollywood silver screen goddess.

 

[jas]

Date: 2/15/2010 8:53:23 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Just read what transpired after the post I responded to. I stand by my view that it''s mean to insult other people''s names when your name inspires the same feelings in others. The old adage of treat others how you want to be treated fits in well here.

This is a sensitive subject for me right now. I have a very close friend who, when told what our top choices for names were, told us they were too ''anglo'' and ''WASPY'' (Grace Campbell, Katharine Fenn, Jack Henry and Aidan Campbell) and a little ''Schiksa Princess-ish.''

She then proceeded to tell me that our names held no cultural value and therefore were not good enough. I bit my tongue and didn''t respond to her, because while on the surface they might not hold value to someone who''s following the strict naming standards of their religion/culture, to us they do hold cultural value. See, we are Scottish and English and the names are a combination of family names. How anyone can say that those names are not related to our heritage or how our heritage is less important because it''s not the same as another''s is beyond me. Regardless, the inspiration for my child''s name is no one''s business but my own.

And I laughed a little inside when she later was looking for a middle name and her husband requested one that wasn''t so Jewish, but when I pointed out that her child was going to have a more anglo name she said that it was a completely different situation, judging me once again. Gee, as I type this I''m wondering why she''s even a friend...

Yes, this exactly, which is why I felt bad about what I said about someone else''s name choice.

You''re right, Hudson, and I should know better.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/14/2010 10:40:29 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 2/14/2010 2:11:47 PM
Author: Travel Goddess
I''m Elizabeth. I''ve always had kind of a love/hate relationship with my name. When my mom was pregnant, they had narrowed it down to two names. Elizabeth or Rebecca. They were worried if they named me Rebecca, that people would call me ''Becky'' and if they named me Elizabeth, that people would call me ''Liz.'' Since there are a million other nicknames for Elizabeth, that''s what they chose. I went from Elizabeth to Beth to Liz. Now most people call me Liz (to my parent''s chagrin).

My fiancé, one of my sisters and a few friends call me ''Lizzy.'' My folks usually call me ''Liz'' or sometimes ''Libba'' (my nickname when I was a baby). My uncle calls me Lizard.

I was one of many ''Elizabeths'' in my school, and like Freke, my name was always ''Elizabet'' on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Now I like it. I like that I can go by Elizabeth or Liz..... or Bessy or Babette. Haha. Oh, and my best friend''s name is Jessica. So we always fancied ourselves the Sweet Valley Twins.

A few comedians in my life have called me ''Lizbian.''

Hey TG/Liz!

I''ve been preferring Elizabeth lately. Not sure what''s up with that. My little (21 years old) cousin''s nickname for me has always been ''Lizbeth'' because she couldn''t say Elizabeth until she got older, and it stuck. I can''t remember the last time my husband called me anything but his weird nicknames he has for me.

Calling me Lizard is the fastest and easiest way to get on my bad side. I do not tolerate it all all.

What''s funny is that my parents didn''t want me to get the dreaded ''Liz'' nickname either, and my mom was horrified when my oldest friend in the world dubbed me that when we were 5. Eh well, can''t win them all!

I love the name Elizabeth! I would''ve gone by Beth - I always knew tons of Lizzes, but not Beths and I love the name.

One of my best high school friends always went by Elizabeth and didn''t like any nicknames. Of course we had to give her some nickname, so we call her Eliz (Ee-liz). I don''t think she liked it originally, but she''s learned to live with it

 

[jewelz617]

Group hug and move on please!

 

[Clio]

Date: 2/15/2010 8:53:23 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk

This is a sensitive subject for me right now. I have a very close friend who, when told what our top choices for names were, told us they were too ''anglo'' and ''WASPY'' (Grace Campbell, Katharine Fenn, Jack Henry and Aidan Campbell) and a little ''Schiksa Princess-ish.''


She then proceeded to tell me that our names held no cultural value and therefore were not good enough. I bit my tongue and didn''t respond to her, because while on the surface they might not hold value to someone who''s following the strict naming standards of their religion/culture, to us they do hold cultural value. See, we are Scottish and English and the names are a combination of family names. How anyone can say that those names are not related to our heritage or how our heritage is less important because it''s not the same as another''s is beyond me. Regardless, the inspiration for my child''s name is no one''s business but my own.

Oh, I can so relate. I had a colleague once tell me that my family''s tradition of using family surnames as middle names was done so that my people (and others like us, I presume) could perpetuate a class-based, oppressive caste system. Okay then.

 

[charbie]

TG: my parents were deciding between elizabeth and rebecca for my older sister! My mom wasn''t a fan or becky as a nickname, so it got thrown out, and "beth" won over. My mom claims to have stood on our backporch yelling "beth" and "becky" but I can''t figure out why she just didn''t go with becca or whatever.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/15/2010 8:53:23 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
She then proceeded to tell me that our names held no cultural value and therefore were not good enough. I bit my tongue and didn't respond to her, because while on the surface they might not hold value to someone who's following the strict naming standards of their religion/culture, to us they do hold cultural value. See, we are Scottish and English and the names are a combination of family names. How anyone can say that those names are not related to our heritage or how our heritage is less important because it's not the same as another's is beyond me. Regardless, the inspiration for my child's name is no one's business but my own.

That's ridiculous. I don't even think it should matter if they are culturally important names as long as you like them. I know tons of people with kids named Aiden who are in no way culturally Irish/Scottish/English

My favorite names tend to be British in origin, though my family is from continental Europe. You can name whatever you like. That girl sounds like a lousy friend. Especially if she's trying to come up with her own baby names - she should understand how annoying it is when other people bash your name choices that you really love.

For what it's worth, I love the names you've picked! They're very classic and I love classic names.

 

[zoebartlett]

HH -- FWIW, I absolutely LOVE all of the names you''re considering.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

thanks ladies, you''re all so sweet (as usual).

 

[IloveAsschers13]

Date: 2/15/2010 9:49:00 AM
Author: natalina
Our daughter is Ellison Lake, so yeah, kinda unusual. We call her Ellie though, which is not unusual at all. We specifically wanted a first name that was a bit formal to grow into an then had a cute nickname for when she is little. We LOVE her name. It does get a bit old saying ''Ellison with an E, not Allison'', though. And Lake is special to DH and I for various reasons. Plus, I think ''Ellison Lake'' sounds like a movie star- haha, I am such a dork!


Hudson- just had to say I LOVE ''Katherine Fenn'' and ''Grace Campbell''!

My next door neighbor is about to be 6 and her name is Ellison. I have always loved it. Her nickname is Ellie too.. or Elle Belle, or smelly Ellie...

ha only when we are joking around! She has a very large sense of humor.

 

[doodle]

I love how the perception of names is so colored by an individual''s personal experience. Case in point--for me, the name "Marley" made me think firstly of the song "Marley and Marley" from A Muppet Christmas Carol and secondly of the character Harley from my mom''s favorite soap opera (and in case that could be taken as offensive in any way, no PA678, I''m not mocking her name--I love it!). There''s an episode of Criminal Minds that comes to mind with this thread. In I believe the very first episode, Hotch and his wife are trying to come up with names for their son, and Hotch later has a conversation with Gideon about how so many of the names his wife loves immediately have negative connotations for him (as an FBI agent who tracks serial killers, "Jeffrey" immediately makes him think Dahmer, "John"=John Wayne Gacy, etc), but most people wouldn''t immediately have those connotations as their personal experience wouldn''t have been so closely linked to serial killers (well, unless you''re weird like me and have a strange fascination with them, but that''s a whole different story)! It''s funny, too, how quickly and easily those perceptions can shift. I used to HATE the name Caitlin because I went to school with a girl of that name who was the spawn of Satan, but now I love it, and I can only chalk that newfound love for the name up to the fact that one of my best friends from college is named Caitlin, so I associate the name with her now rather than with the beast of my elementary school days!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/16/2010 4:02:30 PM
Author: doodle
I love how the perception of names is so colored by an individual''s personal experience. Case in point--for me, the name ''Marley'' made me think firstly of the song ''Marley and Marley'' from A Muppet Christmas Carol and secondly of the character Harley from my mom''s favorite soap opera (and in case that could be taken as offensive in any way, no PA678, I''m not mocking her name--I love it!). There''s an episode of Criminal Minds that comes to mind with this thread. In I believe the very first episode, Hotch and his wife are trying to come up with names for their son, and Hotch later has a conversation with Gideon about how so many of the names his wife loves immediately have negative connotations for him (as an FBI agent who tracks serial killers, ''Jeffrey'' immediately makes him think Dahmer, ''John''=John Wayne Gacy, etc), but most people wouldn''t immediately have those connotations as their personal experience wouldn''t have been so closely linked to serial killers (well, unless you''re weird like me and have a strange fascination with them, but that''s a whole different story)! It''s funny, too, how quickly and easily those perceptions can shift. I used to HATE the name Caitlin because I went to school with a girl of that name who was the spawn of Satan, but now I love it, and I can only chalk that newfound love for the name up to the fact that one of my best friends from college is named Caitlin, so I associate the name with her now rather than with the beast of my elementary school days!

There are plenty of names I would never choose based purely on bad associations with other people. Lol. Or sometimes, if I''m close with someone of that name, I would feel odd naming my kid the same. I''m not sure why. I guess I feel like it''s their name and I don''t want to steal it or something.

I guess this is why I tend to like more unusual classic names - something everyone has heard before, like Henry, but where I don''t personally know someone with that name

 

[jewelz617]

I always wanted to name my son Edward. Now everyone is naming their children Edward and Bella because of Twilight!













...not that I''ve read it

 

[that_someone_special]

Isabelle was a name I liked... until Bella and Edward. It might become too common for me to use... but I loooooveeee it.

Our poor kids are going to have an awful time trying to spell their last name as it is..

 

[ts44]

I see a lot of names because of my job too and came across this gentleman who had his four children listed out, and they all had the most amazing, gorgeous names. I wish I could remember them! I will have to try to remember to find it again tomorrow. They were classic, elegant, perfect. Grace was in there, as was Henry.

Funny name story - when my mother was pregnant with me, she wanted a daughter so she could name her Jacqueline after Jackie Kennedy Onassis. My father didn''t like it and thought it was too trendy. They argued for months leading up to the birth and finally decided on Christina. Both of my grandfathers'' names are Donald, so they knew a boy would be Donald. Thus prepared, they awaited the baby. Well, my mother went into labor and 20 minutes later delivered...twin girls! My sister came out first so she got the name, but I was "Twin B" for 24 hours as my poor parents had to make a game-day name decision AGAIN. My mom immediately said aha, I get my Jacqueline! But my father put his foot down again, and they hemmed and hawed and finally they ended up deciding to name me Michelle. So, in a roundabout way I did end up sharing the same name as a first lady, just not the one that was originally planned!

 

[Ninna]

I try not to judge baby names, they must have a valid reason to exist hehe. We both Irish so our kids have irish middle names: DD is S. Leigh [An loi or Lee river] Thought we were having another daughter and picked Aidan, surprise-- our son was named W. Aedan [fire] instead.

 

[taovandel]

ts: how did they not know they were having twins! What an amazing story.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 2/19/2010 9:39:25 PM
Author: taovandel
ts: how did they not know they were having twins! What an amazing story.

Taovandel, I''m not TS but I''m thinking that was a pregnancy that took place before the days of ultrasounds, etc. When my mother delivered my brother 36 years ago the doctor thought he was twins. He even allowed my mother to go two weeks past her expected due date because he was so convinced she had two in the oven. she insisted he was wrong, she knew exactly when she conceived (my dad''s birthday). She finally delivered my brother, who was 10 lbs., 11 oz.

Thank goodness for medical advances.

 

[ts44]

Date: 2/19/2010 11:10:34 PM
Author: monarch64

Date: 2/19/2010 9:39:25 PM

Author: taovandel

ts: how did they not know they were having twins! What an amazing story.

Taovandel, I''m not TS but I''m thinking that was a pregnancy that took place before the days of ultrasounds, etc. When my mother delivered my brother 36 years ago the doctor thought he was twins. He even allowed my mother to go two weeks past her expected due date because he was so convinced she had two in the oven. she insisted he was wrong, she knew exactly when she conceived (my dad''s birthday). She finally delivered my brother, who was 10 lbs., 11 oz.

Thank goodness for medical advances.

Sort of this! My sister and I were born 28 years ago, not a terrifically long time but long enough that they didn''t really do an ultrasound unless they thought there might be a problem. Her pregnancy was progressing completely normally, the heartbeat (they only heard the closest baby) was strong and her bloodwork was fine. My mother however is a very petite woman and she said she used to cry that she was going to have a giant ugly baby! Little did she know she had twins in there. She also said that she thought it was weird she would get kicked on both sides at the same time, haha. Ok, threadjack over.

 

[Arkteia]

I like unusual names but I am always concerned that their bearers will be teased at school.
I know a father who named his son Michelob. I can only imagine what school will be for the poor lad.

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 2/23/2010 12:54:23 AM
Author: crasru
I like unusual names but I am always concerned that their bearers will be teased at school.

I know a father who named his son Michelob. I can only imagine what school will be for the poor lad.

I have so many things to say about that but I don''t want everyone to jump my *@& again... but Michelob? Really???