Unusual baby names.

I work in the busiest Mom Baby Unit in Ohio so I hear some real true dingers! We had a La-a. No lie. Pronounced Ladashia. My personal favorite is when people put apostrophes in their kids' names. Come on, people, apostrophes do NOT EVER belong in someone's name!! Accent marks, okay, but never apostrophes!

 

I'll admit we stepped out a little on our sons' names, but we are very deeply in love with them.

I still am reserving my mom's name if we ever have a little girl. It's fairly uncommon, but still what I'd consider normal or traditional.

I also think that the spread of names is further than when I was growing up. As a Sara, I had at any given time, 3+ other girls in class with me sharing the name. Today's #1 name may be common, but I think over all, it's still a smaller percentage of kids with that name, because of the trend towards originality - does that make sense?

 

Recently we have had a few here being banned - Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit were prohibited by registration officials. Sadly others that were permitted included twins called Benson and Hedges, Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence.

 

I think as far as unusual names go celebrity's go a bit far... I remember seeing something on TV once of crazy celeb kids names... probably the most unusual was Jason Lee's son.... Pilot Inspektor (maybe they just call him Pilot, which I guess isn't so bad)
When I worked at a daycare we had a kid named Zander, I always thought that was a neat name. Our girls are pretty traditional...

 

What's wrong with an apostrophe? I bet no one would have a problem with someone naming their son O'Connor. But OMG if it's L'Keisha, I guess that's all stupid. :eyeroll:

 

I've heard of Zander spelled Xander... and I know of a Xanthya

I always thought Gwyneth Paltrow's dd 'Apple' was a pretty odd name.

 

I've heard Xander too. I actually think the boy's name may have Alexander and they called him Zander instead of shortening it to Alex. Don't know why they spelled it with a Z... cute either way

 

I love your boys' names too, Jori. But I don't consider them unusual as they are all actual names that I've heard of before as opposed to a made up name. I don't mind made up names either as long as they are easy to pronounce.

Sean has a friend named Xandy (boy). It is a nickname for Alexander.

 

My son has a friend named Alexzander. I remember talking with his Mom about his name. She spelt it that way because she wanted it pronounced (slowly) that way. She did not want people to call him Alex-ander. That dash is there for a pause not a sound.

 

I saw that article. It's interesting that people are choosing a broader diversity of names, but I don't think for one minute a name will lead to narcissism. I know the there are a few studies showing college age students are more narcissistic than they were in the past, but there are many broader cultural and parenting trends that contribute to that. If this person's theory is true that the Aiden's and Jayden's (with all 27 spelling variations) should be less narcissistic than the kid with an unusual name.

 

Yeah.

On a related note, I think another trend right now is to give traditionally last names as first names. That seems to be more common than it used to be.

 

Using last names as first names has always been very popular in the South.

 

We've heard this one in NC, too! I've got a true story from our NICU, and these students now attend my hubby's school:

Lemonjello and Orangejello. :rotflmbo:

Yes. I'm serious. Pronounced with a french accent. I can't even figure out how to type the pronunciation... soft j sounds.

 

See my links. I also call Urban Legend on Lemon/Orangejello.

Snopes link to stupid baby name stories in general.

 

Wow, I had no idea how many of these baby names myths there really are.

 

One of my favorite baby name sites
enjoy!

 

That site is great fun, Bex! Thanks for sharing!!

Sean works with a wonderful woman at Kroger who has the unforunate luck of being named Shandylear. She goes by Shandy, which is not bad. But c'mon, Shandylear?

 

My cousin's son is named Zander. The best one I ever heard of was a mom at the hospital my mom works at who wanted to name her daughter \'pa-juh-mA\ (actually kinda cute, I think). When they asked her to spell it she spelled "pajama."

 

I wonder which came first, then. I'm sure the urban legend began before the kids were named, but they sure do exist here.

When choosing baby names my husband and I tried to think about potential negative nicknames. We also ruled out a ton because we had met/ disliked somebody with the name in our past. Did many of you do the same?

 

I was just telling my hubby about Lemon/Orange and Snopes, he said that when he was telling his Principal about the NICU story she claimed to have had them as students in the past. So perhaps it is still rooted in urban legend here, too. I thought he'd actually met them. Bummer, I thought it was hysterical!

 

Anyone read the book Freakonomics? There is a whole chapter in it about choosing a child's name and how it can affect their life and career choices and socioeconomic status.

 

This isn't bad, I actually thought it was cute. My first year teaching in Oregon I had a student named Sky and his last name was Walker. I also had an Ajax in that class, but he went by AJ.

My cousin named her two children Maddox and Zosia. I think the Maddox is cute, but I am still not sure how she pronounces her little girl's name.

 

When I chose Emily, I had no idea it was #1 name when I had her (2001). It stayed at #1 for a while too. I am finding though that it isn't as common was what it may seem. She is the only Emily in entire third grade at her school. No one had it her old elementary either. She might even be the only Emily in her school. I will find that out when we get her yearbook. I only came across girls with the name Emily a few times while subbing too, and I haven't come acrossed it with this job I am doing. For Carlie and Claire, I have no idea where their names were on the list when they were born (2007). I knew from the start that if one of them was a girl, Claire was the name. I just love that name. Carlie came by going through the baby name book, and we both just liked the two names together.

My SIL names all of her kids starting with "Ch". Chelsey, Chandler, Chase. They are all 13 and older. Then she had another son this past summer. She liked the name Aiden, so she put the Ch in front of it, and named him Chaden. She just announced she is expecting again. DH told me that if it is a girl, she like Chaley (like Haley with the Ch in front of it). She has to get creative to have Ch names.

While working my old job, I knew one sibling with the name Heaven, and her younger sister was Nevaeh. I really like Nevaeh.

 

why are you turning this into something it isn't?

 

We thought about nick names also.

what about Cheryl? No one uses Cheryl anymore.

 

This is exactly right! I was reading a book or article (maybe it was the Baby Name Wizard book??) and it talked about how when a name was #1 back 200 years ago, it meant that a huge percentage of babies were named that but these days, there is such a wide variation of names that #1 is actually a relatively small percentage.

We went traditional with our munchkins -- Daniel, Nicholas, and Alexander. DH and I both have names that are relatively common and it never bothered us. Although I appreciate creative names when other people use them, these names just felt right to us. They also have the same feel (they "match") with me and DH and both of our extended families. And I wanted names that convey respect in case they want to be judges on day.

 

I totally understand what you are saying.

DH and I know two woman with the (first) names Bunny and Honey. Even though I would have respect for the position held by a person saying "Judge Bunny Smith" of "Officer Honey" takes something away. Neither woman holds those positions. One works retail and the other is a secretary at a dental office. I personally have a hard time calling Honey "Honey" but thats just me.

After I clicked "Post" I noticed your name is Sunny. Pretty name but like Honey and Bunny it would not demand (if that is the right word) respect in a position that would demand it typically on it's own

 

I went to high school with twins that had these names. We always thought it was funny. I guess according to snopes someone should contact them and tell them it was all a bad joke. :rotflmbo:

ETA: We also have brothers in town that are attnys. Their names are Richard & Harold. They are called by nick names it would not be so bad if the last name was not Ball. Dick and Harry Ball. :FIFblush:

 

Funny you say that. I live in AL. We used more family names for our 1st boys John (after uncle) Tyler & William (sur name & husband 1st name) Chase.
With the twins we have decided on direct lineage sur names 1st and middle for both boys.
Hudson Cole & Brewer Nolin

 

We were going to name our son Chase... Parker. Until we had a few people tell us he would get called either by mistake or on purpose Pecker Wood. You can guess our last name. With that last name we have been careful on what we choose.

 

Agreed! I am rather glad that my real name is not Sunny... in my job as a mental health counselor it would be a bit ironic, since I dealt with a lot of people with depression and anxiety. The nickname Sunny just grew out of the name of my blog -- Sunny in Seattle. My given name is a variation on one of your daughters' names, actually!

 

It doesn't have the "ch" sound to it. It has the "sh" sound. Same with Cheyenne. All of her kids have the "ch" sound. Plus, it isn't modern enough for her.

 

I follow the surname trend for boys. If I ever remarry and have a boy I want to name him Sivard. My xh wanted to name the girls just Jazzy and Jessy but I refused on the respect point. Jazzlyn and Jesslyn sound much more grownup

 

My sister's name is Lael. And she named her two children Charis and Caedmon.

My girl friend Lisa said "Can't she just tone down those names? Does she realize the poor kids will have to spell their names for everybody their entire life?" I said "Are you kidding? Her name is LAEL!!! I think she knows what it's like to have a uniqe name! You might tell that to Kimberlee (me) or you (LISA) but I think LAEL might know what it is like to have an odd name!"

We laughed soooo hard at that one!!!!

 

So I asked my BF who is an elementary teacher what the weirdest names she's ever had have been. She said there was a family of three kids in their school named Urhighness, Sir Master, and Pretty Princess. Urhighness' teacher got yelled at by the mom for calling him Uri instead of Urhighness, but that is what he said he wanted to be called! I don't blame him! My BF said she had a hard time calling any kid Urhighness and I think I would, too.