S/O: Baby names you have heard but you definitely would not have picked

[Hkpiano]

Spencer.

Spencer is a popular name for Mormon boys, because Spencer W Kimball was the 12th president of the LDS church. I think it's a super cute name, probably because I've known quite a few adorable little Spencers over the years. 😀

[umsami]

In the Muslim culture, it's common to name boys Abdul-something....(means servant of and then you add one of God's 99 Names).  DH wanted to name our each of our boys either than or Mohammad but I vetoed both.  Mohammed is just way too common in Muslim circles.  Abdul-whatever is (to me) too foreign sounding and would have led to discrimination.    Just as I feel for all of the Muslim boys named Osama (means lion) before 9/11.  I know one family who moved to Pakistan because of the bullying their son received.  He had been born here and raised his entire life here, but left around the age of 13.

[kubiac]

Deleted because I thought better of it.

[Slache]

In the Muslim culture, it's common to name boys Abdul-something....(means servant of and then you add one of God's 99 Names). DH wanted to name our each of our boys either than or Mohammad but I vetoed both. Mohammed is just way too common in Muslim circles. Abdul-whatever is (to me) too foreign sounding and would have led to discrimination. Just as I feel for all of the Muslim boys named Osama (means lion) before 9/11. I know one family who moved to Pakistan because of the bullying their son received. He had been born here and raised his entire life here, but left around the age of 13.

Why didn't they change his name? It would have been less difficult I would think.

[Ravin]

You are right...snopes is often wrong. However, you could also go to the SSA list of names and search for some of the names mentioned in this thread. I just did one of them. It wasn't found in the top 1000 names for any year from 1900 and after. I don't know how to search their "beyond the top 1000 list" or I'd check that too.

 

Even in the complete published list, any name with fewer than a set number in a birth year cohort (I think it's 10 but not sure), is not listed to protect privacy.

[Guest]

I had a boss once with the spelling Colin but pronounced Colon. I couldn't figure out why he didn't change the pronounciation as an adult. In general I doubted his judgement anyway.

I have a Collin, spelled with two Ls, in part because I perceived "Colin" to have the longer O sound, like Colin Powell. Powell was a prominent figure when we were choosing our son's name, so I was used to thinking one L = long O sound.

 

I also consulted SSA to see whether one L or two was more common, but it was pretty much 50-50 on the list, so I figured I would just pick the way it makes sense to me. Plus, I just think it looks nicer written with two Ls. :)

[kubiac]

I went to college with a Dolphin and a Rainbow. Not names I'd have picked, but pretty unsurprising for the area and their backgrounds.

 

One of my college RAs was named Rainbow. People called her Bobo for short. (Her choice.) There was a lovely story about how her parents were inspired by a line from Genesis: "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

[Daria]

I've come across some unusual names, but not in the "OMG, what we they THINKING?!?" kind of way. Some I feel are actually quite lovely:

 

Apple

Bethlehem ("Beth")

Sabre

 

Incidentally, these are all girls' names.

 

 

Bethlehem is a pretty common in the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities, and I've taught many Ethiopian and Eritrean kids.  I love it, I've always wondered if I could get away with it as a name for a hypothetical non-East African daughter in a family of no particular religious belief.  

[Mommy22alyns]

Bethlehem is a pretty common in the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities, and I've taught many Ethiopian and Eritrean kids.  I love it, I've always wondered if I could get away with it as a name for a hypothetical non-East African daughter in a family of no particular religious belief.  

 

 

When we were perusing the baby name books before the girls were born, I was attracted to a few beautiful Japanese names, but I figured they'd look absurd on a couple of blonde, blue-eyed kids.  Ah well...

[Guest]

I was not a fan of the Madyssn-Mykenzi-McHaileigh craze in 2008.

 

The "Baby Agnes" craze is mildly amusing, but I don't have any monkeys in the circus any more.

 

I think it would be hilarious if one of my ds's was cutting edge and started the resurgence of Lisa and/or Laurie. They are both nice names, but didn't lend themselves well to overpopularity.

 

I had childhood friends called Lisap (LEE-sap, Lisar (LEE-sar,)and Laurietie (Laur-EE-tee), which was not exactly what their parents had in mind when they signed the birth certificates. ;)

[AndyJoy]

Names like Marijuana, Cocaine, and Tequila make me wonder if the child was conceived after one regretful night of escapades. :/

I knew a 6-year-old named Tequila Brooke when I was a teen. Her family attended my church. The back story was that her parents had been heavy drinkers, possibly alcoholics, were mad at his mom for something, and thought it sounded pretty but would shock his mom as a bonus. It backfired as she didn't even know what tequila was, thinking it was a color.

 

Shortly after her birth they gave up their partying lifestyle and regretted the name. They chose to just call her Brooke. However, she started putting Tequila on the name line in first grade so they had to have a very awkward conversation with her teacher about it. They convinced the girl to stuck with Brooke then, but I always wondered if they ever officially changed it!

[AndyJoy]

The strangest one I encountered recently was in an online parenting forum: Dander!

[Ivey]

That only means they aren't popular.  Example: In 1990, Louise was #998.  I'm doubting many of the names here are that common.  It doesn't mean that no one used the name.

 

Look at the link I provided above re Eczema.  I found a lot of Vaginas on there, several thousand Spurgeons (which made the top SSA 1000 name list a lot in the early 1900s), a handful of Amanitas, many Urines, and even some Gothams.  AND one Orangejello, which makes me smile.

 

Thanks for the Snopes reliability tip. While I knew they were not politically unbiased, I had always thought it was at least accurate.

 

I'm puzzled as to why Spencer is getting several mentions here. 

 

I've always liked the boy name Colin but was leery of how others might pronounce -- or mispronounce--it, especially with Colin Powell's pronunciation.

I have a Colin, and I've never heard anyone mispronounce his name, though I have seen it misspelled as Collin. :)

[Daria]

When we were perusing the baby name books before the girls were born, I was attracted to a few beautiful Japanese names, but I figured they'd look absurd on a couple of blonde, blue-eyed kids.  Ah well...

 

I love a bunch of Eastern European names, MiloÅ¡ and ZdenÄ›k  are two that come to mind, but while I might have been able to convince myself that my imaginary African American daughter of WASP parents could pull off Bethlehem, I have greater difficulty imagining my son pulling off one of those names.

[AndyJoy]

I've known several Austins, and it's never struck me as odd except for the one whose baby brother was Rodeo.

 

There was a kid we used to see at the park named Tank. I felt especially sorry for him because he was severely obese at 3 years old.

 

Some other unusual ones I've encountered:

 

Talon

Steel

Easter & Christmas (sisters)

 

I knew a family with kids named Malaysia, Nataysia (rhymes with Malaysia), Paul, & Messiah. It was a little disconcerting to hear myself say, "Messiah, keep your hands off Paul!"

[ThisIsTheDay]

So people don't trust Snopes but they trust a PP's unsourced claim that over half of what they post is incorrect?

 

:laugh:  Well, yes, but once I found them wrong on something that seemed so simple, I no longer can consider it a reliable website.  Slache just reinforced that for me.

 

 

 

[SKL]

I knew a family growing up whose kids' names were Michelle, Michael, and Mitchell.

 

I knew a family whose girls' names were Autumn, Summer, Spring, and Winter (and Damaris).  The boys' names were more common IIRC.

 

I knew a Tabitha and a Talitha.  (Both basically the same name.)  I actually don't mind these names, I just thought I'd mention them since they are rather unusual.

 

A girl I know is named Jaden (pronounced Jay'-den).  I feel mean saying it, but I don't like that name at all.  I guess it makes me think Jaded.

[Pippen]

Baby names of a few of my friends:

 

Darth Luke

Linq (pronounced Link)

Laexin (pronounced like Lake+sin)

 

My daughter is friends with Anakin. He would have been conceived around the time of Episode 1.

[Mimm]

Isis.  She was named before the terrorist group was widely known, of course.  It is just unfortunate to have that association.

 

I saw people freaking out on Facebook over a Coke can with the name Isis on it. I rolled my eyes so hard. Do people really think Coke-cola is putting out a soda can in support of a horrible terrorist group that everyone hates? I mean, seriously. Do people just like flipping out over nothing?

 

Anyway, sorry for the side rant. ;)

[DawnM]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us).    I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

[purpleowl]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us).    I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

 

It's the Irish form of James, just like Sean is the Irish form of John.  There was a character named Seamus in the Harry Potter books/movies, which I think probably increased Americans' awareness of the name and its pronunciation.  I don't think it'll be a particularly teased name.

[MEmama]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us). I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

It's very common. You can stop worrying. :)

[KarenC]

I worked in our local hospital during college and twin girls were born to the Bean family who named them Ima and Lima.  I can't believe no one talked them out of that.

[Ailaena]

There's a gymnast in our area named Jurnee.

For a brief moment, I was sure it was the same one, because Jurnee... But then a quick Google search said there are a few gymnasts named Jurnee. Maybe it's an old name, or a thing I don't know about.

 

 

And thank you to whomever posted that list of uncommon names! I was so certain my daughter was the only girl ever with her name, but apparently, there were 6 other girls born in her year with her name. And it was neat to follow the name through the years and watch it hover around and drop below 5.

[DawnM]

It's very common. You can stop worrying. :)

 

 

It is very common in the US?  

[MEmama]

It is very common in the US?

Yes.

[Guest]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us). I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

Yeah, I don't personally know any little Seamuses, but the name seems normal to me. Just like Sean.

[Guest]

I've known several Austins, and it's never struck me as odd except for the one whose baby brother was Rodeo.

 

There was a kid we used to see at the park named Tank. I felt especially sorry for him because he was severely obese at 3 years old.

 

Some other unusual ones I've encountered:

 

Talon

Steel

Easter & Christmas (sisters)

 

I knew a family with kids named Malaysia, Nataysia (rhymes with Malaysia), Paul, & Messiah. It was a little disconcerting to hear myself say, "Messiah, keep your hands off Paul!"

I like Austin. That is a middle name in my extended family.

Messiah? Well, hell, that's a lot to live up to..."Messiah got a D in History!"

 

I knew a Theron (THAIR-on). I liked it. Never heard that before, but it sounds sort of regal, like an Ancient Egyptian God. Which maybe it is.

[Word Nerd]

Yeah, I don't personally know any little Seamuses, but the name seems normal to me. Just like Sean.

 

Same, and I don't see why it would lead to teasing any more than any other name.

[Loowit]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us).    I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

 

One of my sons is named Seamus and has never been teased for it. Before he was born adults in my life would come up with all sorts of teasing ideas kids would supposedly use, so far their dire predictions have not come true.  My other son with a much more traditional and well known name of Patrick does get teased. 

[purpleowl]

Seamus was #900 for 2014, with 237 boys given that name. So not terribly common, but certainly not unheard of.

[Guest]

My "honourary daughter" was also planning on naming her child Isis before the name acquired it's unpleasant current events connotation.

 

Fortunately she had a son.

 

It was a beautiful name during her pregnancy but I don't think it will be usable for quite some time.

 

The link upthread to unpopular names through time certainly was eye-opening. Madyssn-Mykenzi-McHaileigh was nothing new under the sun and tbh, I'm not a huge fan of Henery or Kathern either. ;)

 

dd1's name was unusual in 1987 but made the list of most popular boys' names in 2002, although it is also a fairly common name for girls today. The funny thing was that people just rolled their eyes and looked disgusted when they thought it was my "girl name" and quickly changed the subject to, "and what will you name the baby if it's a boy?"

 

When I repeated the same gender neutral name, they sputtered and became furious.

 

I think it's hilarious how the popularity of dd1's name played itself out, but it's also a lesson to me, as I enter cronehood, to be polite about names I dislike and to respect the choices of the next generation of parents.

[Word Nerd]

Well, I'm always right so that helps. ;) I don't expect people to just believe me and I didn't name a source because I learned this years ago, but I do think it's worth calling them into question. Everyone just trusts them blindly and I've had several people reference them in an argument which I find obnoxious because I think they're total hacks.

 

Not true. They also list the sources used to determine whether something is true or false so people can check it themselves, and they say the status is undetermined or a mixture of truth and false if there is not enough information to rule one way or another. Honestly, it usually isn't necessary to check Snopes in the first place if people would just think for a moment before sharing something.

[Guest]

I was not a fan of the Madyssn-Mykenzi-McHaileigh craze in 2008.

 

The "Baby Agnes" craze is mildly amusing, but I don't have any monkeys in the circus any more.

 

I think it would be hilarious if one of my ds's was cutting edge and started the resurgence of Lisa and/or Laurie. They are both nice names, but didn't lend themselves well to overpopularity.

 

I had childhood friends called Lisap (LEE-sap, Lisar (LEE-sar,)and Laurietie (Laur-EE-tee), which was not exactly what their parents had in mind when they signed the birth certificates. ;)

Well, supposedly, there is something called the Hundred Year Rule, which generally states that "old" names sound good again to a fresh crop of mothers after around a hundred years have passed. This makes sense to me; it is born out by personal experience. When I was given my grandmother's name as a middle name, it was still firmly in old lady name land, but now, look how very modern Lillian and similar names with Lil- have become. So it really not hard for me to imagine that in the year 2068, young moms might suddenly think Debbie or Kimberly sounds fresh, after decades on the No Way list.

 

My theory is that all the Lillian grandmas have to die off before the name is ready for revival.

[reign]

I named one of my girls a previous mentioned name! I loved those movies growing up.

 

I really liked the name Illyria. My husband thought that was crossing the line into the beyond weird names. We did pick interesting names but the girls are all named after human characters. So they are real names lol. My youngest has a movie coming out next year with her name.

 

Our boy names were all really odd. The grandparents are lucky we had girls they would have been unhappy.

Banning

Draco

Riker

[Guest]

Not true. They also list the sources used to determine whether something is true or false so people can check it themselves, and they say the status is undetermined or a mixture of truth and false if there is not enough information to rule one way or another. Honestly, it usually isn't necessary to check Snopes in the first place if people would just think for a moment before sharing something.

This is what I think, too. I usually suspect an Urban Legend is at work when it is second (or further)- hand information, i.e., "My mom used to work with a girl who said that..." I also suspect UL when I start to see/hear about something from unconnected (but still unsubstatiated) sources. So, at a dinner party, the lady at the table knows a lady her mom used to work with who had twins named Orangejello and Lemonjello. And then, lo and behold, when the subject of names comes up in the chat room at homeschool co-op, this lady mentions that her sister used to nanny for a lady whose kids had twins in their class, named Orangejello and Lemonjello.

 

BTW, this "Jello" naming oddity has come up literally dozens of times in name conversations, since a reaaaallly long time ago. I even remember my mother telling me about these supposed Jello kids.

 

Howver, I have never heard of girls named after pudding, which is strange, because clearly pudding is yummier than jello. :D

[ThisIsTheDay]

Not true. They also list the sources used to determine whether something is true or false so people can check it themselves, and they say the status is undetermined or a mixture of truth and false if there is not enough information to rule one way or another. Honestly, it usually isn't necessary to check Snopes in the first place if people would just think for a moment before sharing something.

 

They didn't list any references on their post that I found to be wrong.  In fact, what they listed as part of their "finding" was merely their own opinion:  "Probably not."  What floors me is that it was SO easy for me to find that to be wrong, taking less than a minute.

 

I don't mean to argue. What I really want is for Snopes to be a reliable source, quoting reliable sources.  But it's not.

[purpleowl]

They didn't list any references on their post that I found to be wrong.  In fact, what they listed as part of their "finding" was merely their own opinion:  "Probably not."  What floors me is that it was SO easy for me to find that to be wrong, taking less than a minute.

 

I don't mean to argue. What I really want is for Snopes to be a reliable source, quoting reliable sources.  But it's not.

 

But the article you mentioned (re: Eczema) is not talking about whether there were/are actually children given that name.  It says this near the start:

 

 

 

Key to the legend is the belief that the parents acted unknowingly in bestowing an embarrassing name on the young 'un. Unusual names are not in themselves folkloric; what makes them so are the perceived motivations of the parents. 

 

So when they say "probably not," they're not answering the question "was there ever anyone with this name," but rather the question they actually posed (emphasis added): "Was there ever a mother so stupid as to name her kid Eczema without realizing what the name meant?"  

[luuknam]

Howver, I have never heard of girls named after pudding, which is strange, because clearly pudding is yummier than jello. :D

Except that at the hospital, they'll feed you jello when you're not allowed to have solid solids yet (at least in my experience any time I've had surgery), and never pudding. So, mom doesn't have baby names yet, and looks at what the nurse brings her (while loopy on meds), and thinks "hey, Orangejello and Lemonjello are great names for twins" or w/e (I don't care whether there are really kids named that or not, just giving a rationale for jello vs pudding).

[Miss Peregrine]

One of my dd's has a traditional boy name that is becoming pretty popular for girls. What can I say? Her older sister had Charlotte's Web on repeat, it seemed, when I was pregnant with her.

 

No one has ever said anything about the somewhat unusual names we chose. Even my oldest dd who has a "cutesy" name I wish I wouldn't have chosen. She likes it, though, so that's all that matters. We've never encountered another.

[LMD]

I love a bunch of Eastern European names, Miloš and Zdeněk are two that come to mind, but while I might have been able to convince myself that my imaginary African American daughter of WASP parents could pull off Bethlehem, I have greater difficulty imagining my son pulling off one of those names.

My dh is of EE heritage and suggests many names from there, we did give our middle son one and everyone hated it! Others he likes are Ivan, Bogdan, Dragan,and all the versions like miroslav...

 

I knew a gorgeous family with 3 lovely daughters named Olive, Emerald and Gold.

 

I've also heard of recent children being named Azariah, not all that unusual except that in Australia it has a famous and sad connotation (the little baby taken by a dingo). They're trying to reclaim a beautiful name.

[FaithManor]

Let me just say this. I was intelligent enough to NOT discuss names without caffeine. I mean, I'm not stupid. I understand my own addictions. Thus we had no accidental name tragedies! :D

[Jennifer132]

My husband works with a lady whose children are Caprica (short version is Cappy) and Wolfrick.

 

We also know a Behr and a Merrick. And a Sparrow. And a Hero. And a Knightly. And a Chap (middle name though).

[milovany]

Same, and I don't see why it would lead to teasing any more than any other name.

 

I think if an English speaker has never heard the name Seamus pronounced, and doesn't know it's ethnic background or spelling, it's not that strange for them, upon hearing it spoken for the first time, to say/think, "Um, what?!"    It's a great name, but "Shame us!" might "hear" a bit odd at first. 

[Greta]

A family I am friends with just named their new baby Seamus (pronounced Shame-us). I don't have an issue with it other than I am worried that poor guy will get teased.

I didn't know that name was uncommon enough to cause confusion or surprise. I love Irish names. I have an acquaintance named Shillelagh (pronounced shih-LAY-lee). I told her that I thought her name was so beautiful, and she said that Americans always think that, but Irish always laugh, because they know what it means: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillelagh_(club) I still think it sounds pretty though. Like a butterfly or a flower. Never would have guessed "walking stick"! :)

[FaithManor]

For the record, I love the name Seamus (shaymus). Dh gets a wonky look on his face when I say that, so it's probably for the best that we are done having and naming children. :lol:

[Guest]

I didn't know that name was uncommon enough to cause confusion or surprise. I love Irish names. I have an acquaintance named Shillelagh (pronounced shih-LAY-lee). I told her that I thought her name was so beautiful, and she said that Americans always think that, but Irish always laugh, because they know what it means: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillelagh_(club) I still think it sounds pretty though. Like a butterfly or a flower. Never would have guessed "walking stick"! :)

Yeah, well Shillelagh has some gutter-slang associated with it as well.

 

I like the sound of many Irish names, but I would not use the native spelling for an American child. The pronounciations make no sense to an American.

 

My first child's name, had she been a boy, was going to be "Reece,"* and, while I like the appearance of the original spelling "Rhys," I didn't want my kid to have people puzzling through that name forever. We were planning to Anglicize it in spelling so people would not be confused.

 

*Not that it matters, but I kinda cannot believe I was planning to pick this. While I still like the sound of Reece, I don't like the way it looks spelled that way, yet I would still not want to pick the original spelling.

[Evergreen State Sue]

I know of a little girl named Rogue.  Has anyone else heard of this name?  I guess I'm surprised given the definition:

 

noun

1.

a dishonest, knavish person; scoundrel.

2.

a playfully mischievous person; scamp:

The youngest boys are little rogues.

3.

a tramp or vagabond.

4.

a rogue elephant or other animal of similar disposition.

5.

Biology. a usually inferior organism, especially a plant, varyingmarkedly from the normal.

verb (used without object), rogued, roguing.

6.

to live or act as a rogue.

verb (used with object), rogued, roguing.

7.

to cheat.

8.

to uproot or destroy (plants, etc., that do not conform to a desiredstandard).

 

[Matryoshka]

I know of a little girl named Rogue. Has anyone else heard of this name? I guess I'm surprised given the definition:

 

Maybe they named her after the character in the X-Men?

[Tsuga]

Really? Here in Oz it's considered a really cool name. A close girlfriend has a gorgeous Indiana.

And I even had it picked for one of my kids.

 

Indiana Jones was named for a dog, you guys. He was named after the dog. It's in the third movie.