For instance I would never give my child a name that their teacher wouldn't know how to pronounce on the first day of school.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
No one should have to live with a name that has more character than he/she has.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
Pay attention to initials. That's why my daughter Amanda's middle name isn't Rose. (Our last name begins with F.)
And remember that you will at least once stand at your front (or back) door and yell your child's name. Don't give your child a name you couldn't do that with.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Don't give your child a name that's easy to misspell.
Don't give a child a name that's easy to mock. "Richard Edward" is really bad.
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
original is just another word for strange and strange leads to mocking.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
If you're going to have some large number of children, don't name them all with the same initial and then pick at least a few that should never start with that letter.
Example (a family I know, their last name starts with Ch) Kaitlyn Khloe(I haven't seen this one written out) Kaden Kleo Kali Kojack
Posted by Kasie H (Member # 2120) on :
I hear you on the initials thing - my friend was almost Adam Samuel Singer. Until his parents realized the issue; he's now Sam Singer.
And my last name is Hunt...people continually ask me if I have a cousin named Mike.
I mean, seriously. Where is the tact?!?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
They named the kid KOJACK? Ay.
I had a bishop, he and his family were wonderful, but his name was Jay P. Morgan (yes, seriously), and he married Julene, and they named their kids Jared, Jessica, Jamie, and Jennifer. *sigh*
I like the one that the people who compiled the list of "Utah names" made up: All the names already exist. Sorry, you were born several hundred years too late. You don't get to make a name up. Same thing for strange spellings of common names. (Or something to that effect.)
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Yea, It's Kojack Maverick James Ch---. The other boy is Kaden John Wayne Ch---, I don't know the girl's middle names. Their grandfather refers to them as, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Ay. I just noticed they named a daughter Kali, too.
Ay.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
If you must give your child an odd name, make it their middle name, and give them a regular first name. If they want to impress people, or decide to own their middle name and go by that, good for them. If not, they get to have a normal name.
Your name, like your tie, shouldn't be the main thing people remember about you.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
My old roommate from Air Force days had the shortest name, up to that time, in the service; Al Ni. The tag didn't even cover the top of his pocket. He really could have used a bit more.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Nicknames are not names. If you want your daughter's name to be Lizzie, that's fine, but make her legal name Elizabeth.
The time for making up new names is over. Don't try it. The same goes for spellings.
Posted by citadel (Member # 8367) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Nicknames are not names. If you want your daughter's name to be Lizzie, that's fine, but make her legal name Elizabeth.
The time for making up new names is over. Don't try it. The same goes for spellings.
Yes! Yes yes yes!!!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: If you must give your child an odd name, make it their middle name, and give them a regular first name. If they want to impress people, or decide to own their middle name and go by that, good for them. If not, they get to have a normal name.
Your name, like your tie, shouldn't be the main thing people remember about you.
I agree. That's why I'm fine with an unusual (for this country, but traditional and popular in another) middle name for daughter no. two, but wouldn't consider it for a first name. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Interesting how many of y'all are in favor of blending in. Shockingly, I'm not. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Interesting how many of y'all are in favor of blending in. Shockingly, I'm not.
Are your kids' names unusual for the community they were born into?
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I love the name Lizzie. But it's ripe for mockery.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen:
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Nicknames are not names. If you want your daughter's name to be Lizzie, that's fine, but make her legal name Elizabeth.
The time for making up new names is over. Don't try it. The same goes for spellings.
Yes! Yes yes yes!!!
My daughter's name is one that has been in my family since the Mexican-American war. In fact, I believe she is the fourth or fifth girl to have this name. Yet, since it happens to sound like a very common girl's name, people think that we just changed the spelling to be cute or something . People who make an issue of it get treated to a history lesson.
--Mel
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen:
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Interesting how many of y'all are in favor of blending in. Shockingly, I'm not.
Are your kids' names unusual for the community they were born into?
Which one?
They, like their mother, are American citizens. And like their mother, will be part of that larger community. And like their mother, do not also have a legal name which is different from their Jewish name -- some of their classmates do.
But you're right. Their names are perfectly average for the community they spend most of their time in.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
Here's a guideline I would suggest: Would you want the first 5 minutes of every conversation for the rest of your life to be an explanation of your name?
Posted by cmc (Member # 9549) on :
Misspelling is relative... Caitlin is Kaitlyn is Catelin is Kaytlin is......... To think it WAS original (well, at least not common) when I was named...
I say just make sure you wouldn’t mind having it as your own name, there's a 'short-cut' so when you don't use it your kids know you mean it and random nouns typically do not a good name make. ; )
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
My personal rule was to not use a name that sounds familiar and then rearrange the spelling just so it can be "different". I just think it's unnecessary. I don't know how many times I've heard people say things like "We want to name her April, but we're going to spell it with a Y. Apryl." They want to be clever, but it just means a lifetime of people misspelling the poor child's name.
(I know this is a popular trend right now, it just ... isn't for me.)
I also made sure each of my kids had at least one name that either had scriptural or family significance. I like to be able to tell them more of a story about their name than "I just liked it."
Posted by DSH (Member # 741) on :
Odd spellings drive me nuts! My wife used to joke that we should name one of our kids Bob but spell it "Baughb".
Good thing she was joking. That's grounds for divorce in my book! Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Interesting how many of y'all are in favor of blending in. Shockingly, I'm not.
I'm with Rivka.
If you personaly know more than five people with a specific name, then that name is too common to give children.
Well, at least too common to give my children.
Posted by cmc (Member # 9549) on :
The random vowel placement and strategic consonant usage gets me, too. Especially with Caitlin. ; )
Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
I agree with rivka and mph. I know so many Johns, Davids, Michaels, and Jennifers that I would never give my children any of those names. Where's the fun?
I have a name that people generally mispronounce, but I adore it. I only find it irritating when they say it wrong after I've corrected them a few times. I don't think having a hard to pronounce or commonly mispronouced name is really the curse that a lot of people seem to think it is.
My suggestion is to give a child a name with a story. I wouldn't like telling everyone that my parents chose my name by picking one out of a book, but I love telling them that my parents named me after a superhero.
Posted by cmc (Member # 9549) on :
I'm piping in to say that I agree with having a reason, a story, a glimpse into your parents minds before you were around are very cool parts of a name.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Oh, the horrors.
Family names are not always the way to go.
Consider, for example, the ancestral name of Aganetha. Which my mother adamantly wanted to name me. Which my father then threatened divorce over. And won. Which is about the only good thing my father ever did, but still.
Combine that with the last name I was born with. It's impossible to both spell and pronounce at the same time unless you've either grown up with someone who had that name or you've been given extensive training in spelling and punctuation for that name.
Either way, I was cursed.
I am so glad that legally changing names is possible and, for that matter, easy. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Consider, for example, the ancestral name of Aganetha.
I love it. Your father robbed you.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Porter, I'm pretty sure I at one point knew four girls with the same name as one of your daughters.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I like the name "Bob" for one main reason.
From the original Newheart show. Bob and his wife attend a meeting of a High IQ club. One man bounces around bragging about his singular gift, the ability to automatically say anyone's name backwards.
So Emily becomes Ylime.
He then turns to our hero, who unlike his wife, was not smart enough to join this club. He says, "And what's your name."
"Bob."
A beat of time as it sinks in, followed by audience laughter.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Porter, I'm pretty sure I could kill you for that comment. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:The time for making up new names is over. Don't try it. The same goes for spellings.
I disagree. I think a lot of very reasonable names (spelt in a straightforward way) are still waiting to be invented, or reinvented, or plucked out of some obscure novel- considering it's highly likely that someone's had your name before.
What you really want is a name that seems totally ordinary, but when they think about it, nobody's ever heard it before, or only very, very rarely.
Like Aerin. Or Yula. or Jessa.
I "invented" Gavriel when I was little only to find it was a fairly ordinary (if not at all common) varient of Gabriel. If I saw these names I wouldn't think "weird" because there's only one way of pronouncing them- they seem fairly ordinary.
Spellings I agree on. Apryl is just pretentious. However, there are ways that make sense, especially for less popular names where the spellings are open to interpretation. After all Steven, Stephen, Stefan has worked out fine. People can handle names which sound the same and are spelt differently.
I think that if you have a fancy/long last name, you should give your children more ordinary first names, and vice versa. Don't end up with a Jane Smith. Or (worse) an Esmeralda Fforkes-Staffordson.
I think that you should not name your children something that's not going to grow with them. 'Peanut' is great for a toddler, but terrible for a grown up. In the same way, names that belong to another, but current, generation- like Edith, Rosemary, Gladys or even Sharon (at the moment, at least in my experience)- are to be avoided in my book because it makes the small child seem dated.
You should also avoid incredibly famous figures who have a singular name, however good they were/are. Your little Gandhi is never going to live up to the original with a label like that.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
In case anyone thinks that comment was in poor taste, which it probably was, it was also entirely - completely and thoroughly - in jest and not even one bit serious. The death threat bit, that is.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:My suggestion is to give a child a name with a story. I wouldn't like telling everyone that my parents chose my name by picking one out of a book, but I love telling them that my parents named me after a superhero.
Unless that story is a harlequin paperback.
quote:SHANNA is a captivating tale by master romance storyteller Kathleen Woodiwiss. Finding herself in situation where she must marry before her father's return, Shanna goes to a prison to find herself a doomed man to marry to appease her promise made to her father. She selects Ruark Beauchamp; a man set to hang and in return promises him her body. They marry and she quickly reneges on her promise, leaving Ruark to return to his cell. However, Ruark finds himself purchased to work in the Caribbean where Shanna has also returned to live. Working on the very land her father owns, Ruark is thrust back into Shanna's life. Their passionate embraces haunt them both and Ruark is determined to collect on the promises made to him by Shanna.
Thanks mom. *sigh*
She tried to get me a signed copy that I could have as a gift on my 18th birthday, but the author refused. I'm certainly not crying about it.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by breyerchic04: Porter, I'm pretty sure I at one point knew four girls with the same name as one of your daughters.
Yeah, well that name wasn't chosen by me. Beverly had just gotten done giving birth naturally, and she said she wanted that name. I was so terrified of what her body had just done that I didn't dare say no.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Whoah. I don't remember seeing you around before, Shanna. And I think I would, as I had a friend in high school with that name.
I wonder if she was named after the same tale.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
THis is just my opinion, but I think you should generally avoid naming your children after inanimate objects. Like, say, Apple. *shudder*
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I really like that name.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:Whoah. I don't remember seeing you around before, Shanna. And I think I would, as I had a friend in high school with that name.
How did she pronounce it?
Mine rhymes with Hannah or Anna. I had a good guy friend in elementary named Shawn so alot of the time I was called "Shawna" by teachers. And there's a few people in my life (high school teachers, professors, family friends) who still call me "Shawna" despite years of my correcting them.
I didn't meet a girl with the same pronunciation til I was 17 and working at a movie theatre with my nametag out for all to see. I've probably met about ten more in the last four years.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:How did she pronounce it?
Mine rhymes with Hannah or Anna.
Exactly like that. She too was always correcting people who wanted to call it "Shawna".
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
I like names that have maybe fallen out of fashion, but are common enough for people to recognise, spell, and pronounce, like Helen.
I also like more unusual names, but you can't expect your child to be in love with it right away. My name is Allegra. I have had a bit of a love hate relationship with it but now I really like it. It was hard as a child and I did get teased, but now I enjoy having a different kind of name. I usually just get compliments, but sometimes I still get allergy jokes. I expected adults not to, but I guess somepeople don't think it is rude.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
A family at our birth class announced the intention to name your child "Keanu".
I don't think we were the only ones who held our breath to restrain ourselves from snickering.
My sister is named Gwynne, the welsh variant of Gwen. I love the name, but you wouldn't believe how it's been misspelled...
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
I went to school (2nd-12th grade, I think) with a Shanna who pronounces it like you do.
Isn't it an Irish name, sort of related to "Shannon"? The Shanna I knew was very proud of being Irish - her birthday is also March 17 and her brother's name is Patrick. But then again, her dad's name is Gus, so maybe they aren't as Irish as she used to claim...I can't remember what her mom's name is. Not that this is at all relevant.
---
My parents gave me an invented name that unfortunately rhymes with several normal names, so I usually have to repeat it several times and enunciate very clearly when I'm introducing myself. Which often results in people emphasizing the wrong syllable, which leads to me having to explain it again, this time with spelling. So most of the time I don't bother make an issue of it anymore - my best friend pronounced my name slightly wrong for years before he overheard me explaining it to someone else and realized his mistake. And then it took him years to train himself out of it, and he still doesn't always get it right.
I don't really mind having a weird name, though, because I'm named after my dad (or his nickname/initials, anyway), so at least it does have a story other than "My parents just thought it was cool."
But I'm sad to say that I probably *would* name a child something just because I liked it. I have a penchant for old-fashioned names like Cecilia and Lucien. And even worse, I first saw "Lucien" in a romance novel ( ), but I wouldn't actually tell the kid about that. Never mind that a boy named Lucien is likely to get beaten up on the playground now.
I also like the idea of using family names, probably in combination with names that I *wish* were in my family.
Posted by crescentsss (Member # 9494) on :
My name is Sahar. And I'm not an Arab, so it isn't a common name in my community. Most people get it right after the first time i correct them, but on the other hand, there are the occasional
"What's your name?" "Sahar." "Oh, Sarah." "No, Sahar." "Oh, you mean Shachar." "No, it's Sahar." "Zohar?" "Sahar. S-A-H-A-R." "Sahar???" "Yes." "Oh, wow. It's a beautiful name!"
But I enjoy that. It cracks me up every time. And besides, it is is a beautiful name and I wouldn't dream of changing it...
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:Isn't it an Irish name, sort of related to "Shannon"?
Yeah, I think its a variant of "Shannon" which is indeed Irish/Celtic. My mother's family has some Irish blood but is predominately German (surname Zeis). She really did just pick it because she liked the book when she was in college. In a baby book she had though, it also listed the meaning of "Shanna" as "small and wise." Since I'm 5 foot 3 and a philosophy major, she wasn't off the mark much.
I have love for simple, biblical names which is odd since I'm the anti-religious black sheep in the family. One of my favorite female names is "Mary." I'm kinda hoping I have mostly boys. In this order, I like: Jacob (Jake), Lucas (Luke), Daniel (Dan), and Matthew (Matt). I'm guilty of the nickname thing since I really don't like Lucas or Jacob and would be content to use the shortened versions as the legal names.
In an interesting dicussion with my boyfriend about the "hypothetical children we might have," he didn't like my choices. I think I remember him mentioning "Mace" at one point for a boy. Don't know how I feel about that.
Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
Is this conversation restricted to first names?
I only have one middle name, but I think I would enjoy giving my children a couple of middle names. If they have a "normal" first name, then maybe they could have an eccentric middle name followed by a Japanese one. They could have their pick when they got old enough to choose. Maybe instead of hyphenating their last names, they can take mine as a middle name. (I have every intention of keeping my last name but taking my husband's name as my second middle one.)
What do you all think? Too complicated?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Nah.
Besides, in some cultures, it's normal to have 6 or more names. Like Fahim. Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
My favorite name story...one woman of limited education, saw some letters written out. She thought she knew what they spelled, and liked the sound of it. Paj, rhymes with Raj as in Raja. Ama, like Ema, but with a strong AH instead of the e.
The result was, the poor kid got stuck with the name Pajama.
Posted by Chanie (Member # 9544) on :
As the owner of an unusual name, I can say I hated it when I was little. But now I love it. Nobody outside my community can pronounce it correctly, but it sets me apart. Nobody else in the airport turns around when my sister yells "Chanie." Although in retrospect, I wish my parents had spelled it with an "H" instead of a "Ch", so it would be a little closer to mainstream English spelling.
I would say to also check and see what names are most popular at a given time and stay away. We had 4 girls named Shoshana in my class of 14 (same class more or less pre-school through middle school). They became Shoshana, Shosh, Shana, and Shoshi. Perfectly clear to us, confusing to all others.
Posted by b boy (Member # 9587) on :
I have a really good friend named Sahar, she's Persian. I think she said the name means "light". I agree it's a beautiful name.
I really sort of believe that your name chooses you. I got to choose my own name recently and the name I chose didn't really catch my attention when I first came across it but it kept coming back to me and now I've really grown into it. It certainly describes me better than my old name.
oh, and about middle names- my nephews have Homer and Kermit as their middle names. It's soooo cute but they're 3 and 1 respectively so we'll see what happens when they reach school age.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
Question for Hatrack: Can I name my son Indigo?
(I know I know, I can name my son whatever I want. But--and especially male persons of Hatrack please tell me--would he be totally crucified at school?)
I read a book where the boy was called Indigo, and it makes such a gorgeous sound in your teeth to say it, and furthermore when he was said we could say, Feeling blue, Indigo? Which would make it so very very worthwhile.
But not if he would be destroyed at school.
Thoughts?
Jen
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:And my last name is Hunt...people continually ask me if I have a cousin named Mike.
I mean, seriously. Where is the tact?!?
I don't get it. I don't understand either why they are asking or why it's a tacky question. I know I'm missing something.
----
I love names that can have half a dozen nicknames. There aren't many, but mine (Katharine) is one of them. What I want to name a daughter (Elizabeth) is, as far as I can tell, the other. Are there any others?
[ August 03, 2006, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Fyfe, my personal opinion is that if you were to name your son Indigo, he would get his butt kicked at school. Then again, kids will be mocked for everything and anything on the playground.
That being said, I imagine that he would also learn to appreciate it as he got older and it would be filed under "intriuging" rather than "weird" as he became an adult.
I also look at the name and have a feeling he would start going by "Indie" in school, which is actually a cool nickname.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina:
quote:And my last name is Hunt...people continually ask me if I have a cousin named Mike.
I mean, seriously. Where is the tact?!?
I don't get it. I understand either why they are asking or why it's a tacky question. I know I'm missing something.
Trust me...you really, really, REALLY don't want to know.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
My naming criteria are simple, and yet so complicated: both sets of grandparents have to be able to pronounce and spell it. That leaves us, like, three possibilities. (A problem if we have more children... )
ketchupqueen, I've been wondering for a while now how you pronounce that name. And for that matter how you spell it - is it anglicized?
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
kat - I was going to ask that too, but I googled the name and now I think it's because if you pronounce the name quickly it's a rude phrase.
I don't know how I feel about having figured that out, if it's true. Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
katharina, it's one of those names that when said together sounds like something else. It's one of those crude little jokes, of which Ben Dover is one of the more tame. This one is much cruder, starts with "My" and is a word that is considered vulgar by most people.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh, jeez!! That IS a tacky question. I'm floored people ask it.
I heard that slang term for the first time in my life about six years ago, where I read it in a book. I think this is a good thing.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Javert:
quote:Originally posted by katharina:
quote:And my last name is Hunt...people continually ask me if I have a cousin named Mike.
I mean, seriously. Where is the tact?!?
I don't get it. I understand either why they are asking or why it's a tacky question. I know I'm missing something.
Trust me...you really, really, REALLY don't want to know.
Oh crap.
Until you posted that, I wasn't getting it either. I wish I still weren't. Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
I didn't name Aerin to be different - I prefer the pronunciation to that of Erin ("Err-in" - Aerin is "Air-in"). I haven't gotten any looks or comments, so I think she's okay.
One of my personal baby-naming rules is that I have to be aware of a real person with the name if I've read it in a book. Of course Aerin is the heroine of the Robin McKinley books, but Aerin Lauder (VP of Estee Lauder, best dressed woman in NYC) spells her name like my Aerin.
I also gave Aerin a Hebrew name that I love and wouldn't mind if she decided to go by in the future. I was limited in my choices, because it is an Ashkenazi Jewish tradition to name a child after deceased relatives and we named her after Andrew's aunt, Stephanie, and his grandmother, Shoshana. (Her Hebrew name is Sela Shoshana, which is the full name - we wouldn't ever call her just Sela).
I think it's one thing to give a child an unusual name, like Aerin, and quite another to give a child an outlandish name, like Moxie Crimefighter or Audio Science.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
quote:I didn't name Aerin to be different - I prefer the pronunciation to that of Erin ("Err-in" - Aerin is "Air-in"). I haven't gotten any looks or comments, so I think she's okay.
If there's a difference here, it's got to be pretty darn subtle as I 'pronounce' them the same in my head.
Posted by b boy (Member # 9587) on :
quote:I think it's one thing to give a child an unusual name, like Aerin, and quite another to give a child an outlandish name, like Moxie Crimefighter or Audio Science.
Aww come on, how cool would you be if you had a name like Moxie Crimefighter??? and it would totally be DJ Audio Science of course. HEY! If they were brothers, they could be DJ Audio Science and MC MC (Moxie Crimefighter)! Brilliant! You're guaranteed to have a pair of meth-snorting, candy-rolling, PLUR-ridden jungle kids!
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:Question for Hatrack: Can I name my son Indigo?
I'm female, but I think that Indigo is actually a pretty cool name for anyone, although, obviously, by giving your son a colour name you are opening him up to more name problems than you otherwise might have. It does sound a bit like Inigo but as long as your last name is Montoya I think you might be okay on that score .
Just my opinion, though.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
No matter how much I try, Erin and Aerin come out the same. Maybe it's an accent thing. ??
Posted by Chanie (Member # 9544) on :
Ah, another important point: If you are thinking of moving to another country, make sure the name is not some dirty word there. I had a friend whose name was fine in Israel, but not so fine here...
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
I had an "unusual" name as a kid. Not really, but I was a very self-conscious kid, so when the teacher would pronounce Marcia as Mar-see-ah or Marcy, or when people would spell it Marsha and I would have to decide between letting it be spelled wrong or timidly raising my hand and saying, "uh, it's with a CI", I decided I would not do that to my kids.
So of course they are now saying that they won't give their kids "common" names like Daniel and Emily, because there were a dozen in each of their grades, and poor Chris even has a stepbrother who shares his name...
We don't want to commit the crimes of our parents; I think often we just repeat the crimes of THEIR parents. That's the true cycle of life.
Edit to add: So I grew up and "rebranded" myself as Marsh, and it's working out much better. In fact, my sister named HER child March and said she was named after me. March will grow up to name her children Mark and Susan, of course.
[ August 03, 2006, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: Sharpie ]
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
Those who are having trouble with the difference between Aerin and Erin -- do you pronounce merry and Mary the same way?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:But--and especially male persons of Hatrack please tell me--would he be totally crucified at school?
Your kid's going to be crucified at school anyway. Children are cruel.
People always say that kids with odd names get picked on more, but that has not been my observation. Kids that are easy to pick on get picked on more, regardless of the name.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I actually trained myself to not respond when I heard my name (Chris), because there were so many of us in school.
In elementary school I was in class with three Chris's, and three of us had M as our last initial.
Posted by b boy (Member # 9587) on :
I agree with mr_porteiro_head. If you teach your kid to not let people get under their skin, they probably won't get picked on as much as other kids who react to teasing.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Indigo as a name, may lead to a depressed child. He'd be blue all the time.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
The more I think about Indigo, the cooler it gets. Indy for short ("No my name's NOT Indiana Jones") and then "Hi, my name's Indigo."
Awesome.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Fyfe, you also need to realize that if you name your child Indigo people will assume his parents are hippies. I'm not passing judgement on that, but it's gonna happen. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sharpie: Those who are having trouble with the difference between Aerin and Erin -- do you pronounce merry and Mary the same way?
Yup.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
I had a moment of amusement not long ago when asked, after three pronunciation demonstrations, if my name (top three the year I was born) is a common one in my country. The guy looked very distrusting when I said yes, it is.
For once! I'm unique! Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
A lot of us hear a significant difference between merry and Mary. The 'e' in merry is closer to the 'e' in bell. Like meh . So it's like saying eh rin, rather than air in.
I'm sure there are regional differences. Accent does play a part.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
I can do the difference between Erin and Aerin ... but I don't, unless I'm really concentrating on it. They naturally both come out as Aerin.
I'm another one who was given a slightly unusual name - there were a dozen Jennifers in school but no Jennas - and hated it as a kid, but now I like it. As a child I could never find anything with my name on it. Now suddenly there are all these Jennas everywhere. And it kind of bugs me. Go figure.
But I gave my kids perfectly normal names, although I tried not to use ones that were VERY common - my girls' names are a couple of hundred down the list of most popular, but my boys names are pretty popular. In fact my oldest's turned out to be the #1 name in the year he was born - and yet still, somehow, we don't know any other kids with his name and he has never been in a class with another one. Lucky, I guess.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I have a sister named "Erin". Her name, and everyone else's who is spelled that way, has always been pronounced "Air-in" by everyone I've heard say it.
I would not name a child Indigo.
quote:ketchupqueen, I've been wondering for a while now how you pronounce that name. And for that matter how you spell it - is it anglicized?
What name now?
rivka, I was speaking more to sub-community, I guess. For instance, I know several Teancums. Teancum is not a name you meet every day, but many people who are frequent readers of the Book of Mormon don't bat an eye when they hear it. So it's more normal within the sub-community we live in. There may not be acceptance of it at school (although the youngest one I don't think had any problems, he went to such a heterogeneous school that there were a lot of names more unusual than his), but at least one group in the child's life will find it pretty normal, and it provides kind of a sense of cultural pride. (I've also known five Moronis. Personally, I think that's a little too teaseable-- just drop the "i" and you've got "moron." *winces*)
I have mostly had my kids' names, at least the first names, picked out since before I was married. (Yes, I talked them over with my husband.) In Emma's case, I had it picked out since I was 14. I was peeved when it became the number 1 or 2 name for girls for, like, the three or four years surrounding her birth, but decided not to change my naming preferences just because it got popular (like I didn't stop listening to old-timey and bluegrass music when O Brother came out just because all of a sudden half the country decided it was cool.)
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
Another crude name story... My mother teaches 1st grade and she once had a Vietnamese girl in her class named Phoq Wen (spelling may be wrong but it is close to that), pronounced as a curse word in English making the phrase even worse. My mother tried to pronounce it differently but was repeatedly corrected by the parents who just didn't know any better.
I named my daughter a classic name we love (Julia) and her middle name (Ellen) after my grandmother. We are now trying to have a second child. We will name a boy my maiden name (a common first name) but we are stuck for a girl. Her middle name would likely be Virginia which is a family name but not one a particularly like or would use as a first name. Contenders are Annabel, Claire, Eleanor, Madelyn, Laura, and Charlotte. I would prefer not using another J name or even the J sound so Jacqueline and Georgia are both out even though I love them (I would NOT use the mn Virginia if I used Georgia anyway). Caroline, Katharine, Sarah and Meredith are also out since they have already been used in my family. Any other suggestions?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Another rule that's very important to me:
Never name your child before you've met them.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
See, I don't think that certain names "fit" a certain child, although there is usually some changing of the middle name some time in the third trimester.
I was always resentful that I got my mom's last name for a middle name (although by HS I felt better about it and even liked it.) The result is all my girls get pretty middle names. No last name middle names for them! (I wouldn't be opposed to it for a boy. I don't think that boys usually use their middle names for fairy princess names in their games.)
Posted by b boy (Member # 9587) on :
quote:I don't think that boys usually use their middle names for fairy princess names in their games.
Says you.
Posted by Demonstrocity (Member # 9579) on :
My favorite girls' names all seem anachronistic these days: Penelope, Cynthia, Katharine (NOT Katie, Kat or <shudder> Kitty), Lynn, etc.
I also LOVE Japanese girls' names: Sayuri, Akina, Hana, Yumeko, etc. Sayuri is my favorite, but I doubt I'll ever put it to use as a first name given the American tendency to butcher pronunciation of any Japanese word involving an R.
Middle names: Anything that isn't Hawaiian. I used to want to give my future child a Hawaiian middle name to incorporate a part of my cultural heritage into their life regardless of where we end up living, but it's way, way overdone and people tend to be unable to even approximately pronounce Hawaiian middle names.
I have no favorite boys' names. Any future sons I have will be named practically at random, or by their mother.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Demonstrocity, I want a Maggie (Margaret), but my husband thinks it's too old-fashioned.
How is Sayuri pronounced?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I love old-fashioned names.
I wanted to name my daughter Wilamina.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
KQ, I have a good friend whose daughter is named Maggie, only it's Magdalene. I really liked that.
Sometimes they call her Mags, which is even cuter.
About the old-fashioned names: when I was a young single woman, "Emma" was such an old-fashioned name. I had a senior citizen friend named Emma and that's what I always thought of. "Emily" was the hot name. But a few years later I had 2 friends name their babies Emma, and later that same year Rachel (Friends) named her baby Emma, and now it's like #1. So you never know which names are going to keep sounding old-fashioned and which are going to become new again.
Posted by Demonstrocity (Member # 9579) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Demonstrocity, I want a Maggie (Margaret), but my husband thinks it's too old-fashioned.
How is Sayuri pronounced?
I'm ok with Maggie, although Margaret is too unfeminine sounding a name for my taste.
Sayuri is pronounced, approximately, Sah-YOU-ree; the important part is the R and the way the American accent overblends consonant & vowel sounds. The "R" is a Japanese R; short of actually verbalizing it, the closest approximation I can give you is that it's pronounced similarly to the first R in "Ricardo" in Spanish or the R in "Rotoli" in Italian. Even that doesn't quite capture it correctly, but it's as close as I can get to explaining. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I know some Maggies that are Magdalene or Magdalenas, too. I want a Margaret.
Maybe I'll convince my husband the same way I convinced him of Ciaran for a second boy. Hmmm... Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Demonstrocity, that's how I was pronouncing it in my head. Okay. Posted by Demonstrocity (Member # 9579) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Demonstrocity, that's how I was pronouncing it in my head. Okay.
+1,251 awesome points.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I love my grandmother's name, Evangeline, and her friends usually shorten it to Angie. If one day I get married and have kids, that's the name I want for a daughter.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: See, I don't think that certain names "fit" a certain child, although there is usually some changing of the middle name some time in the third trimester.
I had chosen the name Amber for my first daughter, but decided when I was two weeks overdue that I didn't like it and chose a different name. The night before my second daughter was born, my sister called and asked if I had another girl (this was back in the day when you didn't KNOW what it was going to be) if I'd name her Amber. I told her I didn't think I would. But when she was born, she just LOOKED like an Amber. She had strawberry blond hair and the name just "fit".
It still fits... she's the amber-est person I know.
That year and the several around it were big years for Ambers though. She always had 2 or 3 Ambers in her classes, and her younger sister's two best friends were both named Amber. Mine was the only one with amber colored hair though.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Natalie's name changed at the last minute, she was supposed to be Emily but when she was born on Christmas Day when wanted something to comemorate that without being too cutesy with something like Christy or Carol. We got down to Noel and Natalie, and I just liked Natalie better.
So, when my second daughter was born we gave her the name Emily because we still loved it. And yes, it's very popular and there's lots of Emily's around, but gosh darn it, it's the perfect name for her. Her name came from Emilia, Iago's wife in Othello - my favorite Shakesperean play.
We went to Biblical names for the twins, and while Abigail has certainly gained in popularity, she's the only Abigail we know that is called Abigail. The rest are Abby's. Daniel is the only Daniel we know in our circle of friends, church, and neighborhood. Odd. I would have thought there would have been more Daniel's.
At any rate, middle names, except for Emily's, were all family names. Natalie's middle name is the same as mine, Daniel's is Wesley for his father, Abigail is Abigail Rose for her great-grandmother Rosa. Emily's is Catherine simply because I loved the way they sounded together.
One thing that I've noticed with popular names is that when there's more than one kid with that name, they usually either call each other by the last name or make up nicknames. There are two Emily's in her gymnastics class, and the coach calls her Ward, or Happy. Ward because the other Emily's last name is a lot longer than ours, and Happy because Emily never smiles. She says it's because she is busy concentrating.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
My name is pretty unusual. I have never met anyone with the same name as me. I have never seen my name before actually. In high school, we watched a movie on the Doner party and one of the Doners quoted had a similar name and my friends were so all excited because this was the closest to my name they had ever seen (they decided I must be named after her and teased me for a while after that). But my name also has a relatively common shortening, so I can choose how to introduce myself. I have always been pretty happy with this.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Belle, I still love Emily. I've wanted to use that name since I was seven. Funny, I had two girls and neither of them ended up being "Emily" - it just wasn't right. But I love that name.
And I didn't know "Natalie" was a Christmas name. (Although I do have a couple December friends named Noel and Holly.) Could you explain?
Oh - someone up there mentioned Peanut - I do have a Peanut! Not his legal name, though. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Natalie to commemorate the Nativity, JennaDean.
As for names fitting after birth, I know some people feel that way, and I can picture it happening, but just not to me. I have gotten strong feelings both times about what will or won't fit during the pregnancy, usually toward the end. Bridget was going to have a not-Gaelic middle name, but I started feeling really strongly that I wanted this child's name to honor my Irish heritage. She ended up with Niamh, and she seems to have all the "Irish-looking" genes-- reddish, curly hair, very very very pale skin (not skin that immediately tans like her sister's), blue eyes that are getting bluer instead of darker, the list goes on. So as I wrote the other day, we seem to have given the right child the Irish name-- but I chose it while I was pregnant, I had a very strong feeling that it would be right for her. I dunno, it just seems to work that way for me. I don't know if the name fits the child or we see the child the way we want to to fit the name. *shrugs*
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Oh ... duh. Thanks.
quote:I have gotten strong feelings both times about what will or won't fit during the pregnancy
Me too, every time.
Although with my first, I had a dream near the end that we had the baby and started to name him what we'd decided and suddenly I felt like, "My goodness, that name is entirely too long for such a tiny person! What were you thinking?" Fortunately that went away when I woke up. Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Another rule that's very important to me:
Never name your child before you've met them.
That's an important one to me too. I still don't understand why so many people were surprised that we hadn't named Lego before he was born. We were asked a couple of times what we were going to do about the birth certificate. I guess they figured that if we hadn't decided already, then we weren't going to decide before leaving the hospital, either. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Don't name your boys Taylor. Its not that I don't like the name, but you are basically going to have a "Tyler" if you do. Its worse if your lastname is a valid first name like mine is. Teachers wanted to call me Tyler or Brad my whole life, but never Taylor.
Normal names mispelled (like in Utah) just annoy me to no end. There are plenty of GREAT names that just are not used as much. Then again I might not be the best judge of this, I think "Fyodor" is an awesome name.
The Russians have some great and some not so great names. I'm going to give all my kids secondary Chinese names too
As for Japanese names I know its a last name but I think Inoue is my favorite.
Posted by Demonstrocity (Member # 9579) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Don't name your boys Taylor. Its not that I don't like the name, but you are basically going to have a "Tyler" if you do. Its worse if your lastname is a valid first name like mine is. Teachers wanted to call me Tyler or Brad my whole life, but never Taylor.
Normal names mispelled (like in Utah) just annoy me to no end. There are plenty of GREAT names that just are not used as much. Then again I might not be the best judge of this, I think "Fyodor" is an awesome name.
The Russians have some great and some not so great names. I'm going to give all my kids secondary Chinese names too
As for Japanese names I know its a last name but I think Inoue is my favorite.
Inoue is also a first name. Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
We are doing Chinese middle names, American first names. Middle names will be selected some astrology thing that my husband's grandma does. The weird thing is, my husband and I agreed to this when we got married five years ago. Now that I am pregnant and asked somebody to remind Grandma that I would need her to do that (I am not Chinese and can not speak the language and grandma only speaks Chinese), my mother in law is in absolute shock that I am still doing it that way. Surely being pregnant I would change my mind.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Demonstrocity:
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Don't name your boys Taylor. Its not that I don't like the name, but you are basically going to have a "Tyler" if you do. Its worse if your lastname is a valid first name like mine is. Teachers wanted to call me Tyler or Brad my whole life, but never Taylor.
Normal names mispelled (like in Utah) just annoy me to no end. There are plenty of GREAT names that just are not used as much. Then again I might not be the best judge of this, I think "Fyodor" is an awesome name.
The Russians have some great and some not so great names. I'm going to give all my kids secondary Chinese names too
As for Japanese names I know its a last name but I think Inoue is my favorite.
Inoue is also a first name.
I am set! Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:The Russians have some great ... names.
I named my first car Vladimir Cliff, or Vlady for short. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:Never name your child before you've met them.
I agree. My parents always had a bunch of names that they had lined up, ready to give once we were born and I think that's a good way to do it.
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
I swear my name is not a purposeful misspelling. My mother sincerely thought that this was how you spelt Amelia. She offered to have it legally changed for me once when I was in high school, but by then I had long since stopped caring how people spelt my name. And I rather like it now: Amilia has a rythmn and symmetry to it that Amelia does not have.
Either spelling, though, it is not a common name. I am starting to run across a few Amelias every now and again, which is very fun as I was in my twenties the first time this ever happened.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Teshi:
quote:Never name your child before you've met them.
I agree. My parents always had a bunch of names that they had lined up, ready to give once we were born and I think that's a good way to do it.
Yup. That's what we did too.
quote:I "invented" Gavriel when I was little only to find it was a fairly ordinary (if not at all common) variant of Gabriel.
*amused* It's the original Hebrew, not really a "variant."
Posted by Risuena (Member # 2924) on :
quote:Originally posted by Teshi: You should also avoid incredibly famous figures who have a singular name, however good they were/are. Your little Gandhi is never going to live up to the original with a label like that.
Speaking of Gandhis... I know two guys named Gandhi, another named Mahatma and apparently one of the Gandhis once dated a girl named Indira. And they're all from the same city in Mexico.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Amilia, my best friend in elementary school was an Amelia.
She got a lot of "Amelia Bedelia." So one year she dressed as such for Halloween. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Amelia Bedelia? It means something other than a really bad rhyme?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It's a children's book character. There's a whole series.
Posted by Demonstrocity (Member # 9579) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Amelia Bedelia? It means something other than a really bad rhyme?
It's a series of kids' books!
Edit: clearly, idling on the post reply page is no good.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:She got a lot of "Amelia Bedelia." So one year she dressed as such for Halloween.
I wish I had thought of that back when I was being called Amelia Bedelia! It's not too late, though. I can still do it for this Halloween. :-)
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
quote:
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ketchupqueen, I've been wondering for a while now how you pronounce that name. And for that matter how you spell it - is it anglicized? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What name now?
I'm sorry, did you not mention on the first page that your daughter has a middle name that is "unusual (for this country, but traditional and popular in another)"? I meant that name. You mentioned some time ago what the name was, and I've been wondering since then how you spell and pronounce it, since the correct spelling and pronunciation would be difficult for Americans (as in, strangers). This, of course, assuming I am remembering correctly. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Ah, Niamh. It's pronounced kind of like "Neeve". It was on our short list when we were using babynamesofireland.com (where you can hear it pronounced by a native speaker) to help us think of Irish, preferably Gaelic, middle names. After trying out all the names and all the initials, we decided on Niamh, which happens also to be the name of one of my favorite singers (so I actually already was familiar with the name and its spelling and pronunciation.) I believe that Neve Campbell's name may be an Anglicization of it. But we didn't name the baby after her. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
My sister as far back as I can remember had a doll she named, "Mary Katherine." She said one day she would have a daughter and her name would be Mary Katherine. She never said anything about it through her post doll days, and one day after she was married, she found out she was pregnant and that it was a girl. She named her Mary Katherine, and almost all of us had totally forgotten she had made that declaration as a little girl.
I like the name but more than a few times she has had to tell people not to call her daughter Mary or Katherine but to utilize the full name Mary Katherine. Though she is ok with us calling her MK. It sounds really cute in Italian, "Maria Katerina"
Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :
quote: Demonstrocity, I want a Maggie (Margaret), but my husband thinks it's too old-fashioned.
kq, I have a Margaret that we call Maggie. Margaret is a family name but we only call her Maggie or Maggs. I love it. People often think we're calling her "Meggie" though so I try to pronounce it clearly.
I'm all for different names as I have one myself (gasp, it's even made up). I was adopted and my parents each gave me half of their names and I always liked that I really am a part of them.
My children have family names or meaningful names and I like how they have loved to hear stories about the people for whom they are named.
Posted by Seatarsprayan (Member # 7634) on :
Rules:
Don't take a regular name and spell it weird. That's just CRUEL.
Don't name your child one of the top 10 names. Name them something so that they have a really good chance of not having the same name as someone else in their class at school.
You don't want something that people can't pronounce or can't spell though. Your child will have to be spelling his/her name for the rest of their lives.
I agree not to name your child before you meet them. If you have names picked out, do not discuss them with anyone else.
If you're wrong about the sex of the child, don't tell the child the other name you had picked out. If you think it's a girl and it turns out to be a boy, don't tell Mike (or *anyone else*) that his name would have been Emily Anne. The story *will* get out.
"If you name a kid Rita, you have a good chance of getting a slut." --Richard Mulligan
Don't name a child after a celebrity.
Know what the name means. Make sure it means something you agree with. Don't name your child Anastasia if you don't believe in the Resurrection.
If you want to call your child Bobby, name him Robert and call him Bobby. Don't put Bobby on his documents. He'll just have to correct people his whole life.
Save the *really* unusual names for middle names. The child can then choose which to use.
Don't name a child Martha, or Bertha. They're just not attractive names. That could be my own prejudice.
Don't name a child Rosemary. It's a beautiful name, but someday she'll have to endure "Rosemary's Baby" jokes.
Think of the initials. They might want something monogrammed someday.
For girls, remember she may change her last name. If her name only works as a whole unit, consider that it may not work as well with another last name.
Realize no matter *what* you name your child, they will have their name mocked. Realize that if you use a common name, they'll be able to find bracelets with their name on it, but have trouble standing out as individuals. If their name is uncommon enough so that they can't buy souvenirs with their name preprinted, they will complain about this. Buy them some custom stuff and realize they'll complain about something anyway. Everyone has problems, and the thing they attribute their problems to isn't necessarily really it.
Look at the trends. Don't give your child a name that is becoming used for the other gender. I know a guy named Shannon. He is *not* happy about that.
Don't use unisex names. What if your son Chris marries a woman named Chris? Pick something else. There are too many Chriseses anyway.
Don't be afraid to reuse names from a previous generation. They have the advantage of being already known and also other parents probably won't do it. You get the uniqueness along with no problems with spelling or pronunciation.
Realize that your baby will not be a baby for long. He or she will be a baby for a few years, a child for a few years, and an adult for a lot longer. If they have an unusual name (not an insane name, but just an unusual one) they may not like it growing up. But as an adult they'll be glad not to be one of an endless array of Mikes, Davids, Jennifers, and Ashleys.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Seatarsprayan: Don't name a child Martha, or Bertha. They're just not attractive names. That could be my own prejudice.
HEY!
It seems like a lot of your rules contradict each other . . .
Posted by Seatarsprayan (Member # 7634) on :
Which ones? I don't think they do, I think they are designed to offset tendencies towards extremism in either direction.
On the one hand we have John, David, and Michael. Traditional, normal, but very common.
On the other hand we have Brooklyn or Makenzie. Trendy, and often with horrific spelling changes.
Then we have Galadriel, Moxie Crimefighter, Drudwen, Ceindrych... just far out wackiness.
As someone above noted, we don't want to make our parent's mistakes, so we make *their* parent's mistakes. I'm just trying to inject a little more sanity into the equation.
Posted by JenniK (Member # 3939) on :
My name is Jennifer. Do you have any idea how many Jennifers there are in the US????? I hate over-popularized names and really enjoy names that are unique but not pretentious. My ex-brother-in-law named his new daughter Quanita (pronounced kwaneeta) Lokita Rivera. When I heard it - no joke- I said "chiquita banana woman what?" That poor child has to live with that name for the rest of her life.
I have a love of all things Irish, so my favorite girls name is Cathrionna (Gaelic form of Catherine). I personally don't like to re-use names, so I wouldn't make a son a "Third" named after his dad who is a jr. (I have agreed to give a boy the name Robert James in honor of Kwea's uncle who died on D-Day in Normandy. It is still Robert for the first name, but not the same middle name. I grudgingly agreed to that because it means so much to Kwea, personally I prefer the name Ronan Christopher.) Anyway....that's just my humble opinion of being stuck with a name that is so popular there were 12 baby girls born in the hospital where I was born...on the same day... named Jennifer! Be original, be creative, but don't give the child a name they won't be able to spell by the time they are 7!
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
I know I'm late with this, but I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. Thank you for the pick-me-up, it's been a tough week. Posted by Gwen (Member # 9551) on :
How about: if your last name sounds like a possible first name, don't name your kid a first name that sounds like a last name. I know I knew a few boys growing up whose names always got inverted by teachers and so on at first (doesn't help that roll sheets are printed last name first anyway)...plus it sounds weird. I'm a Jennifer, but it's nice because I have so many nicknames for it, and I've only been in the same class with I think one Jennifer anyway. I second (or third) the injunction against nicknames as first names. Not every kid wants to be a Tom or a Liz or whatever, so open up the choices! Make sure it's pronouncable the first look-through and won't be mixed up with another name easily (my friend Sjahannah got sooo many "Savannah"s). If it sounds more like the name of a horse, it's a no go...including "Apple." Come on. Ooh, Aerin would be a great name. (Angharad, now that I think on it, wouldn't be too bad either; just be prepared for a possible Harry.) I thought Niamh rhymed with "dove"; that's what the Sevenwaters book pronounciation guide said...which I read before reading the book, else she would have been "NEE-am."
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I like my first name: Jaclyn. It was French enough that my grandmother approved (but not quite as French as my mother's Ann-Marie Madeline), but simplier than the more common Jacqueline. I've known very few Jaclyns of either type growing up, and, while I haven't ever been able to find mugs with my name on them, I never get stares for my name or questions on pronunciation. I do occasionally get misspellings, but not enough that it's a bother.
I think potential nicknames should be considered when giving out names. If I gave out a long, flowery name to a girl, I'd make sure that there was first a suitable, possibly more masculine nickname for the time when she wasn't quite big enough to fit her name, or in case she turned out to be a tomboy. Sam or Sammie for Samantha, Chris for Christine, Mimi for my mom's Ann-Marie, etc.
Posted by Dav (Member # 8217) on :
Something I think is odd, but very common, is to name a son after his father. Isn't one the main purposes of a name to designate an individual? Doing that seems to defeat the purpose. And later on don't the son and father start opening each other's mail a lot?
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
When I was in pre-schooled they renamed my name from "Tyler" to "Taylor". That really bothered me.
I have a pretty awesome name- my middle name is Andrew and somehow Tyler Andrew just fits pretty awesomely together. I agree about the no taking normal names and "making them unique" by making them impossible to spell.
I inherited this little predjudice from my mother- but I really don't like one syllable names. A good 2 or 3 syllables is very nice. Except for the name "James" I really like that name....
One kid I met at TiP- his parents were Nigerian (so was he- genetically- pure American though) who we called Tobi- Tobi was short for his full name which was: Oluwatobiloba Oleyemi John Ademola Olufolabi. It took me a while to memorize his name.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:Angharad, now that I think on it, wouldn't be too bad either; just be prepared for a possible Harry.
This is totally what I (secretly) want to name one of my hypothetical children. I'm so evil.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dav: Something I think is odd, but very common, is to name a son after his father. Isn't one the main purposes of a name to designate an individual? Doing that seems to defeat the purpose. And later on don't the son and father start opening each other's mail a lot?
When I was growing up, my parents were close friends with another couple who had children about the same age and my brother and I. The father had been named after his father and was something like George the Second, or Third, etc. He was a doctor so most people who also knew his father, they called him "Doc George." Him and his wife then named their son, George as well. We all called him "Lil' Doc George." I think back now and wonder if that nightmarish nickname is still attached to him.
My parents gave my father's name to my brother as his middle name. I think that's a nice way to keep traditional names in the family and still give a kid his own name.
My middle name "Elizabeth" is also a family name. Its also a tradition for the women to give their girls middle names that start with the letter E. I don't know why, but I kind of think its cute and plan on doing it myself. My mother was "Ellen" for those wondering.
quote:I think potential nicknames should be considered when giving out names. If I gave out a long, flowery name to a girl, I'd make sure that there was first a suitable, possibly more masculine nickname for the time when she wasn't quite big enough to fit her name, or in case she turned out to be a tomboy. Sam or Sammie for Samantha, Chris for Christine, Mimi for my mom's Ann-Marie, etc.
My mother's name is Barbara. She's been "Barb" and now "Aunt Barbie" forever. She absolutely hates it. By the oddity of nicknames, I have three uncles (two on one side, one on the other) nicknamed "Butch." My mother swore her kids would never have named that could be shortened.
However, I wish she had realized sooner that "Brandon" and "Jordan" end the same way and so when she calls for one of them, they both come running.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
Sorry, kq - a Hatrack search tells me that the poster I was thinking of was PSI Teleport. You two strike me the same way, I guess, so I confused you. Sorry about that. Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
quote:My parents gave my father's name to my brother as his middle name. I think that's a nice way to keep traditional names in the family and still give a kid his own name.
I think this is a great idea. I do, however, find it a little bizarre when ALL of the men in a family have the same name. In my friend's family, all of the men are named Jonathan. To avoid confusion, they all go by their middle names.
And speaking of middle names, I love mine. Ayako. It was my grandmother's first name, and I never had the opportunity to meet her. I feel really connected to her for it.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:*amused* It's the original Hebrew, not really a "variant."
Excuse my English-language bias.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
My first name is Kristina, and I've always loved my name, both the spelling and the sound. It's just "me." I was always Kristina, never Kristine, Krissy, or Kristy. Although some of my friends do call me Kris, and that's cool.
My middle name, however . . . my parents named me after my Norwegian paternal grandmother, Bergliot. Pronounced Bairg-lee-ott, not Berzh-lee-oh as some people want to Frenchify it.
I'm in my forties now, and I guess I started to be okay with it about ten years ago. As a very shy child, I was convinced that this middle name was evidence that my parents had lost their minds. I knew they didn't actually hate me, so I figured they weren't trying to make me miserable.
Now I'm to the point where if I ever published a novel I'd probably use it as part of my author name, because I think it would look cool on the cover of a book! ;-) (since I'm not writing a novel and probably never will, this is purely a hypothetical)
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), but I wouldn't actually tell the kid about that. Never mind that a boy named Lucien is likely to get beaten up on the playground now.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
I don't understand either why they are asking or why it's a tacky question. I know I'm missing something. ![[Evil Laugh]](graemlins/evillaugh.gif)