We went through a lot of names before we decided on Sarah. There were a lot more names that we didn't like than names we liked.
The -aden names: Aiden, Brayden, Jaden, Hayden, Zaden, Kaiden, Kaedon, Caden,
Novel spellings: Emily as "Emalie"; Cindy as "Cyndi"
The Scots/Irish Invasion: Sullivan, Kennedy, Rory, Campbell, Cameron, Kieran, Connor
The Flower Girls: Lily, Daisy, Rose
Made-up names but they get angry when you don't pronounce it correctly: Jadrix
Please, no more: Emma, Madison, Isabella, Charlotte, Liam, Jack
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Comments: 68
skye, courtney, paige & molly All are old fashioned with one notable exception.
BTW what is wrong with Jack as well as other traditional names Bob, Joseph and John or Mary, Jill and Jane.
In my case Jack is on my birth certificate but I was named after my grandfather Jacob. That was in English, in French he was Jaques and in Hebrew, Yakov. He spoke both languages fluently.
At my Bar Mitzvah and my wedding I was Yakov ben Hyam.
My own name would probably bother you - it's combination of "James" and "Nell", my parent's names. There's a capitol N in the middle. Personally, I love it!
It is still fairly common in Scotland for people to use the old naming patterns, first son after paternal grandfather, second after maternal g/f. Daughter named after paternal g.mother... then any subsequent children named after father and mother's brothers and sisters. Lots of the same names, every generation. It can get very confusing.
Names in my family include my own, Fiona, Maeve, Catriona, Elspeth, Morag, Seona, Mairi, Margaret. Boys include Alisdair, Ruaridh (Rory, pronounced Roo reee), Torquil, Malcolm, James, Iain.
It's funny my brother and I were just talking about names for his (potential) kids last night he and my sister in law are thinking of Christopher John for a boy and Audrey Elizabeth for a girl. Both very solid, I think.
I used to teach in an inner city secondard school - talk about interesting names. Maybe they were made up or maybe they had an African origin, but they were tough to keep straight - Lateesha, Latasha, Laquisha, Lawanda, Laneesha, etc. Lageesh!
It is Lexie. Not short for Alexis or Alexandria. Just Lexie.
When I was going to order some cutesy poem/plaque thing there was a space on the order form where they wanted a word that rhymes with your child's name. The only word I could think of was "sexy." I didn't order the plaque.
Dearest Lexie
Your eyes are as clear plexi-
glass.
:)
We were going to name our daughter Rachael but a former friend of my wife's stole it.
My wife was in line at a big box store and overheard a woman talking to a little girl who was apparently named Quiana Marie. When our daughter named a cat Izta, after the companion volcano to Popocatapetl, we started calling her Izta Marie when she was bad.
Then there are always those classic combinations of names.
But during my ventures in inner city school, I had it the hardest. You know all these people that wanted the race box left off applications then name their kids Tyrelle and such have always baffled me.
Tyrone, Tyrelle, Tyshawn, Tywan, etc.
Names like "Brittany" and "Tiffany" are bad enough when assigned wholesale (three or four per generation are fine) by when they get cute spellings like "BritNi and "Tyfffany", or when the "i"s get dotted with heart-shaped happy faces, this is when it gets emetic.
About a dozen years ago, when my son Ernie was six, we attended an Easter egg hunt at a local institution of (ostensibly) higher breeding. At its end, the Merecedes and BMWs and Bentleys congregated in the parking lot while parents sought their spawn: "Ashleigh!... Brent!... Morgan!". Then to my delight, a recent acquaintance of mine yelled for his son: "Charlie!". The bestowal of an off-the-wall name is fine if you cannot gain individuality for your offspring by raising them to be individuals. But those names soon become no longer individualistic, but generic. How many eighteen-year-old Jasons and Joshuas and Ashleys are there within a ten-mile radius of your home?
Ernie got my father's given name and my father-in-law's given name as a middle name. But Grampa Steve's father's given name was so wonderfully unusual that we gave Ernie a second middle name: my wife's family are Cajuns, and her grandfather's name was "Superville Landry".
Catriona is another Gaelic form - often pronounced wrongly, even here in Scotland. My sister and aunt squirm at Kat re OH naah... It's Ku tree unnah (the tree is a long syllable) - oh and Fiona is pronounced Fyo naah not Fee oh nah!
To the person above who mentioned Ashley. My step-daughter-to-be is Ashleigh, and I love it!!!! In the family we also have a Cory, Cortni, Starr, and all kinds of other cool names. Also, I find I LOVE A NAME when I love a person who has it.
(praying I never meet a Placenta or a Vagina) Poor kids!!!
I went to school with a kid named Josh Posh, and my Aunt knows of a lady who had the last name Case and named her child Justin. AARRGGHH!!!!
I have known TWO William Williams and a George George. Probably all deceased as it was a long time ago. Josh Posh is more wrong than I can say.
My husband got to name two of the kids. He insisted on Wendy. I insisted on Gwendolyn. No one was harmed during the naming of the baby. lol
The double name thing is a Scottish naming style, too - simply because so many names are used as both forename and surname. I have two in my family at present, a Stuart Stewart (note the subtly of the alternate spelling!) and Alexander Alexander. Both carry the Scottish surname of 'Twice'... which is self-explanatory!
I honestly SWEAR to you that I had a student last year named Vendetta. I thought it was hilarious. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.
And you're right.... it IS stealing culture. I mean 'Fiona Watanabe' doesn't quite sound as 'real' as Fiona MacLeod, does it?!
It often makes me wonder if parents handicap their children's future with ethnic or unusual names, just to fit into "their" community..........
Would you hire a "Placenta"?
Could you look at a fellow worker named "Sequoia" without laughing?
Try saying "LaQuonda, line 4......" without chuckling.
How many CEOs have you heard of with names like the ones we've all been discussing?
No doubt about it, community acceptance is why people name their children what they name them. However, the child has to live with that name. For most of them, they'd better learn to fight with names like these.
Your comments suggest that you lack tolerance. Do we laugh at foreign or ethnic names? What if it was of a more acceptable ethnicity? Is it funny when one is named Jacques, Heinrich, or Svetlana?
I taught college students with a variety of bizarre names, one of which was Vendetta. Yes, I could look at, talk to and SAY Sequoia without laughing if it was her name. LaQuonda is a person not just letters put together. I would hire any of the above if they were qualified to do the job. If I didn't, it would be blatant discrimination bordering on racism. It is a cultural trend that, even if we want to laugh about in private, must also be respected.
And I hardly think your argument about CEOs is compelling. You said "normal life" and I hardly think being a leader of a corporation is the norm.
I just don't think you have any kind of real support for your argument because you made statements that were a complete exageration.
Ishbel,
I do not know a Fiona Watanabe, I was just laughing at your point. I agree with you completely. And watch out for Bret because he will likely laugh at your name.
Please see your inbox for an explanation. I was not criticizing you and I apologize if it seemed so.
a big LOL to the whole thing :)
Are you listening to yourself?
We're on a thread about funny names. You're getting a little too PC here - I just thought you ought to know that. Maybe no one has ever told you that before.
I was simply refuting your comment that the children of names that peeve us don't have a chance at a normal life. It was a totally exaggerated thing to say so I called you on it. End of story.
We just disagree. I think that names are just a calling card. However, when your calling card is ridiculous, no one takes you seriously. I'm convinced this is what happens to the unfortunate children of these obviously oblivious parents.
I honestly do not think it is an overly common name, Isabella. I have not met or talked to anyone by that name in the last 20 odd years or so.
My name is Shawnee Leigh-Anne... and I have had two odd last names during my life. My first name should be obvious. I am American Indian. The rest of my name can just disappear for all I care. Hard to spelll, have to write it down or spell it out for people. Total pain in the butt.
My children are: Linnea Elizabeth, Lorelei Megan, Jordan Tyler, and Isabella Nadine. I figured for Linnea and Lorelei, if they do not like their less common first names, they have more normal middle names to use. My son Jordan was named by his dad, and Isabella was named with my grandmother's middle name as her middle name.
As I was reading through all these posts and thinging about the comments made, it seems to me like you all think too much about other peoples names, and let it bother you when it shouldn't.
Honestly, who cares if John Doe names his kid something you do not like? Or someone uses a name from another culture? I mean some people now have two or three or more heritages they can claim, who says that the white guy with the kid named Ishmael was not born in Africa?
About the only thing that bothers me about names is when someone will not take the time to learn somones name and how to pronounce it correctly.