What's in a name?

[Trekhawk]

LOL - I thought my kids had unusual names but after seeing these I'm thinking maybe not.

[mimitabby]

wow, what great names (awful, I mean)

here at work we have a Wong and Wright.

I went to school with Fern Speer, Holly Green and Olympia Spinuzza.

(sounds like a restaurant menu )

My eyes cross with the most recent crop of kids names where people come up
with a couple (or just one) letters different for a name. So that guarantees
that NO ONE can spell it... and sometimes even pronounce it.

[Bad JuJu]

Regarding the first names that sound like last names, that comes from a long-standing southern tradition, which held that the first child should have the mother's maiden name as a middle name and the next child should have the mother's maiden name as FIRST name, all this regardless of whether the child was a girl or boy.

I don't think the newer crop of Taylors and Carvers and Madisons, etc. are based on any kind of tradition, but that may be where people got the idea.

I've got sort of a personal approach/avoidance complex about kids being named according to tradition or not. My twin brother was named after our two grandfathers--which made him a nice, respectable "James Lee"--while my name was more like an afterthought: "Oh yeah, we've got this girl to name, too!" So I got "Judy" after..........Judy Garland. What were you thinking, mom?

[Haudlady]

I used to know a kid named

Mark Ingpen

[Zen]

I find these names so unfortunate.
My first and last birth name rhymes, which is why I kept my married name.
My first name is a lovely name and I like it but always felt so self concious about the rhyming aspect.

These poor kids. Their parents should be ashamed.

[SouthernBelle]

"Wendy Summer Knight"

[GLC1968]

I went to high school with a 'Candi Lamb'. Poor girl.

I also knew a family with the last name of Wohl. They named their first son Steel.

And I heard a rumor of a girl in the next town when I was growing up whose name was Crystal Leer....her middle name was Chandal. I still doubt that one is for real though...

Oh, and my mom wanted to name me whatever the Sanskrit term for 'moon beam' is (yes, I'm a child of the 60's). Luckily my fathers foriegn sounding last name stopped her, so I was blessed with a beautiful (and traditional) first name instead. Phew!

[eclectic]

I love this thread about names

a young (very young) couple here just named their baby Heaven Leigh
Neaveah is very popular here also.

Re ethnic names. I live in a predominatly Scandinavian settled community so names like Dagny, Berit, Hanne, Thor, Lars, Kristine, Kirsten, Bjorn, Marit are pretty common for all generations and they seem normal here. Last names are Knudson, Tjelveit, Thingstad, Larson etc, etc, etc

My niece is a Hanne (pronounced Hawnna - sort of - just more nasal -not Haaanah) - she will correct you if you say it wrong.

I went to school w/ Beppie (Dutch)
Zillah (biblical)

My best friend from high school named her daughter Ceildgh (sp) pronounced Kaylee. Her son was Aran

I had a female student named Aaron

and who ever referred to Erin Schmidt - I taught her too - a cute little American/Norwegian/German blondie.

I taught a WhiteCloud. We have a strong Native population in the vicinity so this would seem natural but nope she is caucasian.

The one that always throws me is Andrea. I have had 3 or 4 Andreas in one term and they all spelled it the same but pronounced it differently and they would let you know if you said it incorrectly.

Oh well at least they are interesting - a friend's DIL made the comment to her
" all the guys you know have 3 letter names, Pat, Ron, Don, Bob, Cal, Jim, Jon"
That's the 40's and 50's for you!

And to top it off I work w/ a gentleman in his late fifties and yes his name is
D*ck Butts AND he works in a grade 11 and 12 high school. His name is Richard so why oh why didn't his parents shorten it to Rick or Rich ? ? ? Or why didn't he reinvent himself when he left home? ? ?

[sgtiger]

Wow, the things people name their children! It's all too funny.

I went to school with a Forest Green and a Dill Pickles. Though Dill went by another name when I met him. I didn't find out his given name until he was going through the process of legally changing his name when he turned 18. Also I had a friend whose last name was Tope. Her parents were going to name her Isa, but thankfully didn't go though with it.

My ex-neighbor's daughter is named Treasure (Tessa for short). The mother had wanted to name her Precious, but her husband was having none of it. So they compromised on Treasure.

And how about Rosemary for a guy. Their family tradition was to name someone that each generation after a many times great grandmother. When it became apparent that there wasn't to be any girls born to them, he got stuck with it. I always wondered why he didn't change it because he seemed to be very embarrassed about his name.

[abvnx]

my husband works with a guy named Thomas Sawyer. he makes sure people call him Thomas, instead of Tom.

[Wahine]

These are the names of the 5 children of one of my best school friends: River, Rain, Lake, Sunny and Eddy. A little odd but not bad.

My surname is pronounced "knobs" and I come froma family of military men. My father was Major "Knobs" and my brother was "Private Knobs". My uncle was not military but was named Richard and went by D!ck...

One of my good friends nearly named his son Noah DeNault. He didn't realize how it sounded if you say it fast - "no I don' know". Fortunately we helped him out with that.

Finally, I went to school with a native girl named Anita Drinkwater.

Spanish speaking friends don't like to call me by my proper first name because it's pronounced the same way as the word "almost" in spanish....Cassie. So they say Casi-eh instead.

[Mr. Bloom]

My surname is pronounced "knobs" and I come froma family of military men. My father was Major "Knobs" and my brother was "Private Knobs". My uncle was not military but was named Richard and went by D!ck...

Wahine! You absolutely made my night

I am rolling on the floor right now!

My last name has a "plural" sound to it (with body part overtones). Silver's maiden name is the same word (spelled differently) but in "singular".

To protect our identity, I will not put the actual name...but Silver's name would be akin to Jone-Jones (if she hadn't dropped the maiden - fearing that it would sound like she was stuttering!).

[Zen]

[SIZE="5"]
To protect our identity, I will not put the actual name...but Silver's name would be akin to Jone-Jones (if she hadn't dropped the maiden - fearing that it would sound like she was stuttering!).

Or incestuous

[Starfish]

Where have I been? This thread is hilarious!

I had a girl in a class this year named Chardonnay.

I knew an Evan Evans.

I went to school with Shady Lane, and knew a Misty Dawn.

I met a man named Mr. Sansregret (I loved that one!).

One branch of my family was descended from William of Orange, and one matriarch gave each of her many children the middle name of "Orange."

I knew a guy named Falcon. I kind of like some of those names.

I like the names I can actually spell and pronounce, at least for the most part, at first glance.

I CANNOT believe the Abcde's. I mean?????

[LBTC]

I once knew a Dancing Water.

I insured a car for a Mercedes. She was driving something considerably less prestigious.

I had a teacher whose maiden name was Sandy Beach.

In my father's catholic family, all of the boys had the middle name Joseph and all of the girls had the middle name Mary.

I had an Aunty Bunny. I did not know her name was Agnes until she passed away.

My own name is actually misspelled. My parents meant to name me after the beautiful, young, flower loving Saint Therese of Liseux; but instead I am named after the staunch german nun St. Teresa. Darn.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~