Names You Will NEVER Give Your Children

[The Accordion]

When I was younger I knew 3 sisters named Melody, Harmony, and Symphony. Also there are many students at my school who are from Islands populated by - well Island types - modern hippies with names inspired by nature including Cedar and Porpoise. That was his birth certificate name.

[Nomad]

I have two distant cousins in South Carolina named....here it comes...MODESTine and PLEASANTine.

Do they rhyme with Clementine or Sweet Mama Stringbean? Enquiring minds want to know.

[danceronice]

The problem is, parents often don't know when a name will become trendy/popular at the time. When my parents picked Karen for me, their parents were all "huh" and "what kind of name is that"? It was only years later that they, and I, found out how popular it was.

Exactly. My mother had no idea how popular "Jennifer" was going to be in the late '70s. She named me after a character from her favorite books as a child (the Jennifer Hill stories--I find the one called "Jennifer Dances" highly apropos now) and had no idea that there'd be so many other kids with the same name.

Oddly enough, though, I haven't met a new Karen for years, even of my age group.

Maybe they all read "The Baby-Sitter's Club" and couldn't stand naming a kid after the bratty little sister.

Or Endeavour. Poor Morse!

There's a reason it took umpteen books/series for him to own up to it...

[rjblue]

When I was younger I knew 3 sisters named Melody, Harmony, and Symphony.

My pet peeve with baby naming is when people have several children and give them matching names. I went to school with Melanie, Melaney, Melina, Melody and Melissa. No one ever knew which one you were referring to. My boss named his sons Darren and Darrell. Same thing.

[numbers123]

Here's a challenge.

Suppose you're about to have a baby. Your spouse/partner says "I don't have strong feelings about the kind of name -- style, length, meaning, nationality, whatever. But I do feel strongly that the baby's name should be unique in this generation and if possible creative."
What name(s) would you suggest -- perhaps invent -- that would appeal to you and meet that criterion?

I might do a variation of my grandmother's name. Her name was (Nora) Maude - she hated Nora and was Maude all her life. It might be Norine or Maudiene. My grandfather's name was Carroll. I might think about using that one. Maybe incorporate with my great=grandfather's name too. Carroll Francis.

What do parents of babies of ambiguous gender (intersexed) do when they are required to give their child a gendered name? I would think a name like Laurie or Pat would be better in that case.

IME parents of ambigouos gender or extropy bladder (where the re-construction might be to make the child female due to the extensive birth defects and inability to create a functioning penis) will often choose a name that could be either or. Like Tracy, Kelly, Jesse.

[mkats]

Don't be so sure. Some of those may eventually come back.

As it is, I am expecting to live long enough to see some names of more recent vintage become "old lady names" -- Holly, Kelly, Wendy, Brittany, and Tiffany, for example.

(((((Hollys, Kellys, Wendys, Brittanys, and Tiffanys on FSU)))))

There's a girl (at least I'm assuming ) in our department who signs her name "Brit-NAY" in all her emails. I say girl but I'm pretty sure she's an adult...?

Oh, I knew a Melody and Harmony sibling set too! Their mother always lamented that she didn't have a third daughter to name Symphony. Years later I met someone online named Melody, and I had this really weird sense of deja vu after she gave a few details about her private life, and I couldn't help but ask if she had a sister named Harmony. She said yes. After a little more discussion it turned out that they weren't the sisters I knew, but she was still chuffed that there was another Melody and Harmony pair out there somewhere

[rjblue]

IME parents of ambigouos gender or extropy bladder (where the re-construction might be to make the child female due to the extensive birth defects and inability to create a functioning penis) will often choose a name that could be either or. Like Tracy, Kelly, Jesse.

Yes, but some nations (in the linked article that began this thread) are making it a requirement that a child's name clearly demonstrate their gender. That seems rather insensitive to me. I wonder if they allow adults who are genderqueer to legally change their names to something ambiguous?

[MacMadame]

A friend of mine named her kids Irish first names (she's from Ireland) and a regular middle name and a wizard middle name. So one has Gandalf for a Middle name and one has Merlin. (I forget their other middle names.) Plus both her kid's names start with F and at first I couldn't keep the straight so I just called them F1 and F2. It caught on.

[Alex Forrest]

[QUOTE=danceronice;3731665]Exactly. My mother had no idea how popular "Jennifer" was going to be in the late '70s. She named me after a character from her favorite books as a child (the Jennifer Hill stories--I find the one called "Jennifer Dances" highly apropos now) and had no idea that there'd be so many other kids with the same name.
[QUOTE]

My sister born in 1970 is Jennifer Lynn. She entered preK to find three other Jennifer Lynns there. I asked my Mom if she named Jennifer after Love Story, and she said not at all. She always loved the name and she loved the actress Jennifer Jones. Who knew there would be a million Jennifers in the 70s.

[PDilemma]

I am an Amy, the only name more popular than Jennifer in the early 70s! My mom picked my name when she was young from two sources--Little Women and an elderly woman she knew growing up. She just loved the name.

Little did she know I would graduate with four other girls named Amy. We just beat the Jennifers and Stacys (four each).

[Badams]

Jamie, Jason, and Jennifer were huge when I was growing up. I graduated with 7 Jamie's, 5 Jennifer's, and 5 Jason's. there were only about 90 kids in my class. I would NEVER name my children those names now, only because there were SO MANY! Emily,Emma, Isabella, McKayla (and the other Mc's), Aiden (and all its rhymes) and Kaylee (and all its rhymes) are the Jamie, Jason, and Jennifer of today it seems.

[Habs]

Oh, I knew a Melody and Harmony sibling set too! Their mother always lamented that she didn't have a third daughter to name Symphony.

I went to high school with a girl named Faith, who had sisters named Hope and Charity.

[PDilemma]

Jamie, Jason, and Jennifer were huge when I was growing up. I graduated with 7 Jamie's, 5 Jennifer's, and 5 Jason's. there were only about 90 kids in my class. I would NEVER name my children those names now, only because there were SO MANY! Emily,Emma, Isabella, McKayla (and the other Mc's), Aiden (and all its rhymes) and Kaylee (and all its rhymes) are the Jamie, Jason, and Jennifer of today it seems.

I had Michaela, McKayla and Michayla in one class once and they would all get upset when theirs was spelled wrong. Drove me nuts.

I had four Dustins in one class one year. That was a head scratcher to me because I was not aware it was ever that popular of a name. I do not like that name. Not at all. Especially as they all seem to be called "dust" or "dusty". Might as well call your kid "dirt" or "mess".

[michiruwater]

I feel like in my generation there are enormous numbers of Kate, Katherine, Katie, Katrina, Kat, etc. 80% of my close friends in life have one of these names. My parents never could keep any of my college friends straight. I also had three different college friends named Kelli.

[cygnus]

A friend of mine named his daughters Demeter and Artemis. Another's kids are Hermione (named before Harry Potter- she's about 20 or so now), Pomona, and Philemon.

I rather like Classical names, though.

[PDilemma]

I feel like in my generation there are enormous numbers of Kate, Katherine, Katie, Katrina, Kat, etc. 80% of my close friends in life have one of these names. My parents never could keep any of my college friends straight. I also had three different college friends named Kelli.

Somewhere around ten years ago, it seems like one of every two girls I taught had names that started with "K" including lots of Kate/Katherine/Katie. There were also Kaylas, Kaseys, Karas, Kelsies and Kylies to go with them.

[vesperholly]

Of course some people can't spell and don't know better, like Oprah was from the bilblical name Orpah.

That one isn't the parents' fault - the hospital nurse wrote down Orpah incorrectly. (I enjoy that Google Chrome doesn't highlight Oprah in spellcheck.)

I like Talia as well, and Aliya (but not Aliyah or Aaliyah). I also like Claudia and Julia. Unique names ... whatever. My own name, Jocelyn, is rare but not unheard of, and I like that.

[misskarne]

A friend of mine named his daughters Demeter and Artemis. Another's kids are Hermione (named before Harry Potter- she's about 20 or so now), Pomona, and Philemon.

I rather like Classical names, though.

I hate that about famous things.

When I was younger I was absolutely determined to name any son I had Edward.

Now? Thanks, Twilight. One of my favourite names ruined by a stupid, illiterate book.

[flyingsit]

In my department at work we have two women named Stacia. I'd never met ONE before and now we have two. They are both blond and pretty, and friends, and they both got married this year and now their last names are almost identical as well.

[zaphyre14]

I can't even keep Francis and Frances straight.

Francis was a common name in my father's very large family. My great uncle explained that he remembered the spelling of the male Francis because it had an "i" in it, like in "penis" while the female Frances's "e" was round with a hole in it.

My great-uncle was a dirty old man but funny.

I know I've mentioned it before but my favorite family of names were the children of hippies: daughters Hope, Peace and Liberty and sons Truth, Freedom and Justice. The last I knew all of their kids had names like James and Kate.