Names You Will NEVER Give Your Children

[Zemgirl]

If I were naming a kid, my main concern (other than picking something that sounds good to me and presumably my hypothetical partner) would be to find a name that works in more than one language/culture, not a unique name.

Interesting article about some baby naming laws around the world.

I'm generally not in favour of more government intervention in the private lives of citizens ... but at a certain point naming your baby something so preposterous has to be a form of child abuse.

It's interesting that so many countries require names that make the gender of the child clear. I wonder what the justification for this is, especially since these are generally progressive countries when it comes to gender issues.

We have no such requirement, and unisex names, as well as boys' names for girls and to a lesser extent feminine names for boys, are quite common.

Girl: Talia (ta lee-uh)- My mother was Natalie and I think as a form of the name (Natalia) shortened it would be cute.
Boy: Avi (aw-Vee)(this name was created by an author as his pen name). It was going to be my son's name but he turned out to be a she at the ultrasound!

I really like the name Talia - another Hebrew name, BTW. Avi is usually a diminutive for Avraham here, though with a somewhat different pronounciation.

[rjblue]

I know of a couple in a nearby community who named their daughter Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. She used Abcde as her functional given name- pronounced Ab-ci-dee. That wouldn't be possible now, because our province has restrictions on naming, similar to those in the linked article.

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.

My daughter picked the name Hero for her future daughter when she was 12, and read the novel(still her favourite) Friday's Child, by Georgette Heyer. She stuck with her choice, and her husband liked the name too, so I have a 3 year old granddaughter with a very uncommon name. No one has any problem with the spelling or pronunciation, but they all think she is named after Hiro from Heroes. One elderly man said, when introduced to Hero, "Oh, after the greek myth!", and my daughter almost hugged him.

eta- Guy is as common a name as John here in New Brunswick. And I know a man named Dick Butts.

[TheGirlCanSkate]

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.

I'm pretty sure it comes to the parents ideas about it. Some think they can "fix" the situation by choosing for the child. Others would choose a name with flexibility. My coworker was Sam (and a he)and now she is Samantha and she did a legal name change and still goes by Sam.

[Zemgirl]

My daughter picked the name Hero for her future daughter when she was 12, and read the novel(still her favourite) Friday's Child, by Georgette Heyer. She stuck with her choice, and her husband liked the name too, so I have a 3 year old granddaughter with a very uncommon name. No one has any problem with the spelling or pronunciation, but they all think she is named after Hiro from Heroes. One elderly man said, when introduced to Hero, "Oh, after the greek myth!", and my daughter almost hugged him.

My first thought was Hero from Much Ado About Nothing I don't think I'd want to name a daughter after her specifically, but I like the story behind your granddaughter's name! I much prefer a unique name that is based on something that is meaningful to the parents to one that's seems like a badly misspelled regular name.

[Wiery]

Names I will never give my children???

Clamydia
Jenny Talia
Richard Cranium

My sister's name is Randy; needless to say, she is popular with Englishmen...

[Ageless]

Years ago I was working with two different clients, one, a man named Innocent, and the other, a woman, named Virgen. I always thought I should get them together!

[Castlerock]

I don't like names that are to unisex and no difference in spelling: Mackenzie, Taylor, Logan. My kids have friends with these names that a both boys and girls. At least with some unisex names you can tell by the spelling if it is a boy or girl: Jamie/Jayme, Terry/Terri or Robin/Robyne.

And we need some change in common names. My daughters class has 3 Katies's, 3 Jessica's and 2 Emily's.

Funniest names I know: Harley Davidson and Harry Dick.

[rjblue]

At least with some unisex names you can tell by the spelling if it is a boy or girl: Jamie/Jayme, Terry/Terri or Robin/Robyne.

Which are the boy's version and which are the girl's? I know women named Terry and Jamie- do they have the boy's spelling?

I can't even keep Francis and Frances straight. And also- here Michelle is a girls name, but the francophones in the area commonly name their sons Michael- also pronounced Michelle.

[gkelly]

Answering my own challenge...

Keeping in mind that all northern/western European versions of Greek names(including my own) are transliterations at best and often adaptations, for a girl I would play with the spelling a little further to get Irin as a compromise between Irene, Irina, and Erin . . . or maybe Irini.

While we're on the peace theme, would Pax work for a boy? I can think of reasons why it wouldn't be my first choice if I had an actual son to name in this scenario, but I could live with it, so I'll suggest it to my hypothetical spouse while I think of alternatives.

[my little pony]

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 would say something like i ruined my body for this, i'm calling it what i want to call it, go f*** youself

reason # 845 why i cant ever marry

[snoopy]

Tarzan Obediah Greenberg wins.

[Artemis@BC]

i would say something like i ruined my body for this, i'm calling it what i want to call it, go f*** youself

reason # 845 why i cant ever marry

[Vagabond]

As for old lady names, I don't think some are ever coming back. My grandmother's name was Myrtle and even then she and everyone else didn't like it. Edna, Agnes, Gertrude, etc are never going to come back.

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)))))

[AnnieBgood]

Latham

[skipaway]

While we're on the peace theme, would Pax work for a boy?

Ask Angelina

[BigB08822]

I have a student whose name is pronounced Moneisha but is spelled Moneneshia. It really explains a lot..

[Kruss]

One of the radio personalities here named her little boy Porter. While that may be a family name (although in her case, it's not, she just wanted something unique), I can't imagine crooning over a velvety beautiful little baby, "Poooooorter!"

It's not a bad name for an adult, but not for a baby, IMO.

[Nomad]

I found my infamous "50 Names that Qualify as Child Abuse" list from the days when I sent things "To the parents of..." I am not making any of these up, alas:

Sijazzmyn, Circle, Fairy, Haorong, Synderella, Winky, Princessha, Miracle, Charlemagne, Godd, Xzavion, Xzavier, Xzarinelle, Sweet-Chiantell, Huckelbery, Chances, and Majesta.

[Myskate]

Wow, lots of interesting names here. I went to school with Eric Erickson and Mark Marks. They both liked their names. Eric has a friend John Dough. Hope he never lands in the ER without ID. No one will believe him. Saturday Night Live once had a skit about kids with funny names. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-li...jaama/1354917/ I don't know how they did that skit with a straight face.

[Rex]

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