Stupid names for a child

[kanne323]

My maternal grandmother came to the US from Canada. She, and the rest of that side of the family, always referred to themselves as French Canadian. On Ancestry we traced them back to France.

Slight variations of names are to be expected: Chris vs Kris, etc.

I'm talking about truly bizarre spellings like Stefany, Alexandre, Jazzmyn, etc. It might seem cute, but parents are simply setting up their children for a lifetime of problems.

Parents need to remember: You're naming a child, not a puppy

Uh... Alexandre is the French version of Alexander. A name can be "truly bizarre" because its origins are in a language other than English?

Like I said in this thread several months ago, before judging a parent's choice, you may want to consider the family's culture and first language. My sister- with her French variation of a common name- has not dealt with a "lifetime of problems." Does she have to correct people sometimes? Yes. Does she get annoyed? Not usually- only when people have been informed and still choose to use the improper version. No Alexandre I've known has had a lifetime of problems, either.

Keep in mind you may not be aware that a family's first language is not English. My father's accent only comes back when he's in his home region or with his family.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

My prep school had two headmasters - Mr. Jeans and Mr. Jones. Headache differentiating between the two!

 

[AppleDumpling]

Does it make any sense that Lana is pronounced Lonna but Dana is not like Donna? Perhaps it was Lana Turner who chose the different pronunciation! There is a woman on TV who pronounces her name Dana to rhyme with Hannah. I know plenty of folks from foreign countries and they often pronounce names differently. They tell you their preference and you use it! I don't get all the angst for a different sounding name.

Well sure, people will use the correct pronunciation once they know it. All I know is Dana wished her parents had used the conventional spelling of Donna, which was a fairly popular name in my generation in the US. And I think many children like having names that fit in, vs. more unusual names that they may come to appreciate more as adults. YMMV.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Just like Dana the same thing happened with the name Kristy because no matter if you spell Kristy Kirsty it is pronounced Kir-stee but Kristy is pronounced like Christie and I think it was actress Kristy McNichol that made that spelling of Christie popular and comedian Dana Carvey made the name Dana popular. But one name that is also becoming popular is Marvel or Marvelle for girls and I bet you guess where and why that name is becoming popular? Another weird thing I noticed about names is they are spelling them weird like for boys if you look at the name Roger you see few boys with that spelling of Roger but instead they spell Roger much like Dodger with an R in place of the D and it's just odd. Lastly why are bird names so popular? Because I have seen Robin and Jay as popular names but who would name a kid Hawk or Dove?

 

[ronandannette]

Uh... Alexandre is the French version of Alexander. A name can be "truly bizarre" because its origins are in a language other than English?

Like I said in this thread several months ago, before judging a parent's choice, you may want to consider the family's culture and first language. My sister- with her French variation of a common name- has not dealt with a "lifetime of problems." Does she have to correct people sometimes? Yes. Does she get annoyed? Not usually- only when people have been informed and still choose to use the improper version. No Alexandre I've known has had a lifetime of problems, either.

Keep in mind you may not be aware that a family's first language is not English. My father's accent only comes back when he's in his home region or with his family.

I think it goes without saying...our society is so much more multi-cultural now. Many names that are ubiquitous in Southeast Asian or African countries sound humorous, cringy or even offensive, given the English meanings of how some of the words are pronounced. That doesn't make them "weird names". And I'm seeing more and more that second-and-third generations of families who immigrated here DO NOT try to anglicize their names like the people probably felt they had to when they first arrived.

 

[fab1976]

I have friends who are sisters: Michelle and Shelley.

My sisters are named that lol. My parents just liked both names as is, so no shortening of Michelle.

 

[georgina]

I remembered the name I was trying to think about writing my last post - a woman from Switzerland introduced me to her adult daughter Amanda pronounced A-mahn-da. It's different, but that's OK.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Aberycusgentylis Balthropp – Yip believe it or not this was actually the name given to some poor child in 1648.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Anice Bottom – Anice Bottom graced the world with her presence in 1837 England.

There's a great archive here: https://mominformed.com/100-terrible-horrible-awful-and-really-bad-baby-names/

 

[Figarro]

Slight variations of names are to be expected: Chris vs Kris, etc.

I'm talking about truly bizarre spellings like Stefany, Alexandre, Jazzmyn, etc. It might seem cute, but parents are simply setting up their children for a lifetime of problems.

Parents need to remember: You're naming a child, not a puppy.

I'm from a non-English speaking country, and there, Stefany is a perfectly acceptable spelling.
I fail to see the problem.
Where I currently live, my name is not common. I just spell it. And people mispronounce my surname, sometimes I correct them, sometimes I don't bother, but never have I had any problem.

 

[DisneyOma]

Seems to be the thing now to give a child a stupid name. Or a name that you can’t tell by the name if it’s a male or female.

Why does someone need a name that identifies gender?

I once worked at a bank and local family, who had a lot of kids, gave all the girls the same first name as the mother and gave indiivdual middle names. No joke, there were like 6 of them. Every time a new one came in to cash a check or whatever we were like "hey look, another firstname."

That's pretty common in families that are Catholic, no? Mary this, Mary that, etc?

 

[DisneyOma]

I know of a family with 3 boys - all have the same first name, and are given numbers to go by.

 

[mjkacmom]

Why does someone need a name that identifies gender?


That's pretty common in families that are Catholic, no? Mary this, Mary that, etc?

No, Mary is for the first born daughter (Irish Catholic here). I remember inviting one girl to my son’s birthday party in kindergarten, Ty, thought it was a boy. Ended up inviting all of the girls after I realized.

 

[DisneyHardin]

No, Mary is for the first born daughter (Irish Catholic here). I remember inviting one girl to my son’s birthday party in kindergarten, Ty, thought it was a boy. Ended up inviting all of the girls after I realized.

I knew a family growing up that all the daughters (I think there were 5 or 6) were named Mary, but went by their middle names.

 

[mjkacmom]

I knew a family growing up that all the daughters (I think there were 5 or 6) were named Mary, but went by their middle names.

We had a Mary in every family. For whatever reason my grandparents named my mom after my grandmother and girl #2 was Mary.

 

[Turn the Page]

That's pretty common in families that are Catholic, no? Mary this, Mary that, etc?

So far as I know, this family wasn't Catholic. Though I could be incorrect.

The first name they all shared wasn't Mary. It was Novice. We didn't ask questions.

 

[Turn the Page]

In high school one of my teachers told us about a family she grew up across the street from. Apparently the parents were big hippies and felt the kids should choose their own names so they gave them letters as their first names. I think M and P were the letters chosen. I asked what the parents called them because surely the mom didn't holler "M it's time to wash up for dinner" across the house. She said they went by their middle names. Well then what was the point?

 

[DodgerGirl]

There was a time when Alan became a popular name and it was usually spelled Allan or Allen but whenever I see the name Alan it brings to mind a handsome gentleman because Alan is one of those names that has a gentlemanly feel to it. But if you have to name a kid Alan I wouldn't recommend spelling it Allen because it will bring to mind Allen wrenches because an Allen wrench is a tool used for fixing things and a kid might get teased. But one name that I haven't seen in boys that used to be popular is Dylan and Dylan was very popular for boys in the 90's. And I think Dylan lost it's popularity when names like Justin Jeremy Adam and Bradley became popular in boys names. But I have noticed that names like Carson and Carter and Harris are now popular for boys now. By the way there is a female version of Tristian called Trista and I believe that name became popular after the debut of ABC's The Bachelorette because the first contestant was named Trista as well

 

[DodgerGirl]

I have also seen double names like John Johnson and I don't know why double names became popular but do you remember on The Price Is Right the first announcer was named Rod Roddy and I found that name funny and I bet you he was named Rodney Roddy but they called him Rod Roddy for short. Another naming trend I noticed is boys names are adding two names like Ian-Michael or Jordan-Marc or John-Paul and I always thought those were neat naming styles

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Egg.

My cousin was named that.