People Who Give Their Kids DUMB Names...

LOL! Just the other day at work a patient came in with his little tiny daughter, who was very cute. My boss asked what her name was, and the Dad said, `Belana' - which I didn't particularly like but didn't think was that weird. UNTIL...after his consult he came out to the desk and I said, `Belana, that's an interesting name, where's it from?'. He answered `Star Trek...I'm not kidding' (obviously that last part was in response to the look of blank incomprehension that must have been on my face). He then went on to say, `Yes, that's why it's spelt with an apostrophe - `B-apostrophe-E-L-A-N-N-A' - exactly like the character on Star Trek. B'elanna. Oh my. I was too incredulous to say anything but kind of smile weakly and change the subject. And as if the poor child isn't going to have enough problems with the spelling of that for the rest of her life, her last name is V##########. Some people really just don't think, do they? My bf changed his name by deed poll to Max last year, and I can see little B'elanna doing the same one day!!

Originally Posted by Julianne

I remeber reading on the internet a while ago about the actress Shannyn Sossamon (or something like that - she was in Knights Tale) called her son "Audio Science"

I did not believe it, until I googled her and found this on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0815370/bio

Can you imagine being stuck with that name?

Click to expand...

What about Frank Zappa kids: Diva, Moon Unit, Dweezil and Ahmet!

When Dweezil was born, the registry people wouldn't allow his parents to register his name, so his Dad named him after his bandmates (Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa). When Dweezil was old enough, he legally changed his name back to what his parents had planned!!

I think you'll drive yourself nuts if you worry about all the things your kids may be teased for--especially their names. Even if it's a "normal" name, it will rhyme with something that can be used to tease your child. I think it's more important to give your children confidence and self-esteem so that something as insignificant as teasing over a name won't traumatize them, than it is to try to keep it from happening.

The fact is that if your kids are going to be teased, it's more likely to be about something other than their names. There are kids who aren't teased, even WITH "weird" names. Confident kids are less likely to be teased about anything, and if your child is well-liked, his/her "weird" name could become every other kid's envy.

I heard someone joke sometime that he was pretty sure with all these dumb names some day he would hear of someone named Felatio.

My dad worked with a guy named Frank Furter. I AM NOT KIDDING. What kind of parent must you be to do something like that to your kid?

Also a doctor in the OR one time told a story about a Vietnamese ER patient he had whose name was Phoc No. ...

Originally Posted by huggles

well DH & I are expecting our first child in just under 4 weeks (sex unknown) and I can guarentee to everyone here that our child will have a "normal" name

Click to expand...

Darn, I guess you didn't like my suggestion of Tim-Tam or Bourbon.

Mary is innocuous, unless paired with - oh - Christmas?

Yes, I met Mary Christmas!

Originally Posted by gemlady

Mary is innocuous, unless paired with - oh - Christmas?

Yes, I met Mary Christmas!

Click to expand...

I dont see that much wrong with Crystal and B'elanna. I think there are far worse names out there. My mother, a nurse, knows a Gynocologist Dr Semen and a plastic surgeon called Dr Basher...

one of my Aunts(surname Kokk...) had a son. Some of the names they were jokingly thinking about were Ophelia(if he had been a girl!), and Everard and Richard...

I worked with a general surgeon here in Gainesville, GA who was Doctor Butts.

Also there is a OB/GYN up here whose name is Dr. Hackett. I always thought that was sounded REEEEALLY BAD!!!

What is worse is the OB/GYN offices located on BEAVER RUIN ROAD!!!

Originally Posted by gemlady

Mary is innocuous, unless paired with - oh - Christmas?

Yes, I met Mary Christmas!

Click to expand...

Oh my gosh! I wonder if it was the same girl I knew in high school? (I was just going to post about Mary Christmas ). I sure would hope that there aren't two sets of parents that cruel!!

The other name I remember was innocuous when it was given. When I was in college, I met a girl whose grandmother's name was Minnie, which was a fairly common name at the time. But once the vernacular changed with the times, the name became something else entirely - with the last name of Boner.

I don't understand why people do that either. Most of the celebrities just make me shake my head. One time at a job I had, there was a problem w/ my paycheck and I had to call a lady named Honey. Why would someone name thier kid Honey?? Our daughter has a normal name, with a slightly different spelling. We both love the name "Allison" but I don't like "son" at the end of it. So we spelled it Allisen, which slightly changes the pronounciation as well. We've gotten lots of good comments on it. Yeah, she'll have to constantly be spelling her name for people, but at least it doesn't sound funny! LOL! But my husband's name is Steven, and he's always got to tell people if it's "with a 'v' or a 'ph'?" So even REALLY normal names sometimes have that problem.

Amber

I always have problems with the spelling of my name, and yet you'd think Clare would be pretty straight forward too. I've lost count of the amount of documents and certificates with Claire or Clair on them - even my boss still can't get it right!


As for names - I once had a dentist called Doctor Payne

Just remembered I had a colleague whose wife's legal name was Sweetheart! That must be embarrassing at times.

I don't like it when famous actresses name their daughter's Apple and Coco!

My sister has a common name but spelled a little different "Allyson"

One thing that gets me is that my name can be spelled many different ways. My real name is "Candice" NOT CandAce. I swear I have nothing but trouble with even co-workers that still can't seem to get it right after 3 years

I like interesting names but some people just go too far.

Jason Lee (from the Kevin Smith movies) named his son Pilot Inspektor.

Poor kid.

There was a special on VH1 showing the worst celebrity kid names. It was actually pretty interesting (and sad lol).

As someone involved with the school, unusual names are a problem, but the biggest problems are the unusual spellings. Sometimes with the unusual spelling, it can make it difficult to pronounce correctly. In my son's grade, there are 2 Alyssa's. The one is pronounce like a-list (minus the t)-a, while the other is pronounced a- lease- e-a. While I know Alyssa is not an unusual spelling, the way it's meant to be pronounced makes things difficult, and I know even for the teachers, it makes it difficult to know which one is which....especially when handing homework back. Kids in 1st and 2nd grades, don't always remember to put there last name or just the initial of their last name on their papers.
But, some of the kids names really take the cake.....we have a Daquain pronounced day-kwan, a Dajorique, which I have to call him D.J., cause I can't get my tongue to work,(and I'm not the only one....almost every adult in the building calls him D.J.) and a Jacquoia pronounced Ja-coy-a.
Then we have the kinda unusual names like Star, Montana, Heaven & Autumn.
While some of the names are not totally unusual, people really need to think that these kids are going to be saddled with these names that the parents think are cute, but other people are going to have to learn how to spell, or pronounce correctly. Not to mention the kid is going to have to deal with that, too. My feeling is this: if you think Peach Blossom, or Audio Science, or any other oddball name is cute/nice, then change your own name to it, DON'T make some innocent child have to live with that name.
I went to school with:
Crystal Shan DeLear
Drew A. Blank
Sam Spade
John F. Kennedy (no, not the president)

My mom works with Nurse Needle. They've had names like (she works in O.B.) Nausea, Justin Case, Sh**onyou (pronounced sha-ton-ya) My ex-fiance's brother's name is Mike Cox. People can be so cruel to their children. That's why we chose Brandon for this little one.

All this discussion reminds me of the opening chapter of Tim Allen's biography - you know, "I am a Dick."

There's no way around a bad surname, but you certainly don't need to compound the problem by giving the child an even worse first name.

I had a class in college with a girl name Crystal Bridges - and I still think it's a cool name!

OK I am going to bring up something that probably won't be the most popular subject. But...

What is it with a lot of the names black people in America give their children? I mean I have heard some contemporary names, but I mean names like Shalonqua, Shaquita, etc. I just don't understand it other than that maybe they want their children to have these "unique" names?

I hesitate to call them African-Americans, because my husband has been to Africa and he said everyone in Kenya he met had a biblical name like Isaac, John, Mary, etc.

I really have always wondered about this and I don't mean to offend anyone, I am just really curious.

What about traditional names?
Some of them get a lot of flak regardless.

Some examples of traditional boys' names;
Sasha
Stacy
Shannon/Seannon

I am glad I got married and got a pronouceable last name. My maiden name was Polish and NOBODY could ever pronounce it, let alone spell it. That's what you get when you've got a last name that contains the letters P, W, Z, & K in the same name LOL!