(Disclaimer: It is not my intention to offend anyone or make fun of anyone's name with this topic)

Has anyone noticed the trend toward unusual/odd or downright weird baby names? Julia Roberts named her just-born twins Phinneaus and Hazel. Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple. Michael Jackson's kids...ewww - Blanket?! Then there are all of Bruce Willis' kids - Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. And the topper has to be the Geldoff children, Fifi Trixibelle, Pixie, Peaches Honeyblossom and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. What were they on?!

It seems that most of the over-the-top strange names are for the girls. Don't little girls have enough drama to deal with without having some weird name stuck on them? I kind of thought this sort of thing went out of fashion with the flower children (remember Dweezil and Moon Unit?)

Don't these parents think about how their children will be teased? Weren't they ever teased (c'mon, "Gwyneth")??? I can't figure out what the motivation is for hanging some awful name on a child.

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?
What's the strangest name you've heard?

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?

I've jumped on board, yet my children's middle names were to be bizarre versions of names. Their middle names being Quentin, Libke, and Nicoli. However, if my wife and I were to decide on one last child, and if it is a girl, her name was going to be Aurua Rose Isabella. What makes it off is that it is not one of the Jason's or Emilies, I guess they are not American names.

I wanted to name one of our children "people". After people who name their dogs "dog" or cats "cat," but my wife put in end to that.

What's the strangest name you've heard?

I can't remember the whole name, but I remember the concept. The child's name was 27 names long, and was named after all the woman's friends.

At the daycare I keep my children their was a troubled young mother who was often in trouble with the law, in the wrong relationship, and usually struggling with drugs. The woman who watches children tried to tolerate her sporadic payments and her late pick-up times and last minute requests to watch her oldest daughter for a few days in part because she had in effect become her only responsible mother figure until grandma finally intervened and legally sued for custody when the oldest girl was repeatedly not being brought to school.

The two children that she had in daycare with out children were named after popular brands of alcohol.

Alize

and
her younger brother
Hennessy

True story, sad story.

It's not the name of any child I know, but it was a name suggestion, and I'm about 100 percent certain there is at least one child out there by the name....

I didn't know what to name my youngest right after he was born. In Italian hospitals you cannot be released until you sign the birth certificate and come up with an actual name for your new baby. We couldn't do it. My Italian relatives had a suggestion, which they thought brilliant. It was the first year of the Euro. Why not name the baby 'Euro'? Euro might not seem like such a bad name in and of itself, but the Italian pronounciation sounds exactly like 'Arrow' in English.

We ultimately decided against a lifetime of explaining the true pronounciation of his name, why it sounds like arrow, ect... and went with the simple Matthew.

Eeyore, man, that is too sad, when a mother hangs the name of her addiction on her kids. I guess they were just lucky not to be named Marijuana and Cocaine.

Here's an interesting and amusing site regarding names from the "Institute for Naming Children Humanely" (with tongue planted firmly in cheek):
INCH

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?
What's the strangest name you've heard?

What's odd to you may not be odd to me. For example, I see nothing strange about the names Phinneaus, Hazel or Tallulah. Names go in and out of fashion just like clothing does. In ten years, you may be looking back on your list and some of the names won't seem at all strange...some of them will.

I don't usually have a problem with it unless it's a case like the one that Eeyore described.

Sometimes being unique is empowering.

I was talking about this very topic in political theory class a few weeks ago... the weirdest names of people I've known personally have got to be my best friend in fourth grade, Sparkle. And her three sisters, Promiss, Paradise, and Blessona (called Blessing). At least their last name - Thomas - was normal enough.
When I went to high school in Georgia, between classes they would call out a list of names to go to Russell Hall - in a school of over 3,000 students, this was no small feat. Once I caught the name "Georgia Venezuela," went home, looked her up in my yearbook and yep - there she was.

Heather, a girl in my Poli Theory class, mentioned that she knew a girl named Placenta, and a couple other people in the class concurred... for a "rare" name I guess it's actually pretty common. She said something about it being the first thing a mother sees after she gives birth, and so the first thing that pops out when asked for a name... makes some sense I guess. I asked if Placenta went by a nickname or middle name and she said no.

Poor girl

I guess that with six and a half billion people on this planet, most every name has been taken. Soooo...what to do to make sure your kid gets noticed? I did hear of a newborn named Rickettsia, because Mom thought it sounded pretty (the causative agent of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). Then one of my instructors told me of the mentally-challenged mother who named her newborn girl "Female" (rhyming with "tamale") because it was printed on the baby's name tag.

Curmudgeon remembers a Chris Rock (I think) schtick where he says one day a black mom is going to name her kid "Pharfegnugen" after the old Volkswagen commercial.

And what about Condoleezza? Well, she did get noticed, but happily it was because she is intelligent and accomplished in many areas besides playing piano.

From Wikipedia:



I actually think that's quite lovely, and it hasn't seemed to create any problems for her own success.

To me, unique is not the same as bizarre or odd. A lot of 60's parents named their children Sunshine or Moonbeam, etc., but ask any of the 40-50 yr olds with these names and see how much fun they've had with their "unique" name. If I'm not mistaken, someone here's wife is named Sunshine....who da heck was that....

Bringing old names back is cool (I'm sure my mom Maxine would be happy about that), but purposely misspelling them just to be unique is just dumb.

But, c'mon, PLACENTA??? Good grief! What's next - Fontanel? Vaginitis? Excema? Ulna?

Placenta is also a part of a flower, that does the same thing as the female part. Or it is New Latin for flat cake, which comes from an alteration of the Greek plakoent, meaning flat land. Although I am sure the thought was not about flat cake.

When I used to do stand up comedy I used to do a whole bit on this- when I was in elementery school, in the early 70s, we just started to get the wierd names- no more Sally and Bob! It always seemed it was the kid named Errol that kept getting his butt kicked and was always eating paste at the back of the class

I named my kids after family members (My daughter, Truth, is named after my grandmother, and my boy, Donnie Jr, is well, named after me LOL) - funny though, some poeple name thier kids foreign names and Americanize them, we name them American names and Russianize them LOL- my boy is "Donyilka Maestik" after a famous Russian hero in a fairy tale (the Russian ladies love my boy) and my girl is "Ta Ta" (Russian slang for a chocolate bon bon, very sweet) because the Russians have REAL problems with the "TH" sound- and it comes out like "Toof" LOL

I don't really see a problem with odd/weird/funky names, but some are worse than others; and as my roommate pointed out, if it takes longer than 7 seconds to pronounce the name then you need an acronym. I'm not so sure about names after random nouns, like "Blanket" or "Apple" but whatever, to each his or her own.

I think if or when I have a kid, and assuming it's a girl I'd name her June. I've also heard April for a girls name too. As for it being a fad or trend, I'd say yes. Some names will always be used, like Paul, Mary, Chris(topher), Joshua; whereas other names were more popular decades ago, like my grandma whose named Azlae (and changed her name to Kay as soon as she could).

The worst name I've ever heard is hands down: Dzyr (pronounced like desire).

I remember in high school there was a girl named Raven Paradise. And a friend of mine was named Piper (her parents were hippies).

When I was younger, I was obsessed with having a cooler name than Kimberly, and I carried around a book and wrote down names that I thought were cool. Like Autumn, Esmerelda, Hazel, etc.

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?

This is most likely due with the thought in mind of being unique from others.

What's the strangest name you've heard?

Chiquifa and my own name Ammon.



Alot of names mean something in another language or from nature.

For the most part I agree with Bruce Willis in the movie Pulp Fiction on American names (when he was in the cab).

Well I got one of those names. It is a real name tho..just not an English name. All my life I have had to spell it, re-pronounce it and explain it. It does get tiring so often if I am dealing with someone who needs to only know my name for one micromoment I will lie and pronounce it the standard English version.
Besides only those who know me..friends and family... ever pronounce it correctly.

That's a funny thought. How about an elderly woman named Moon
Unit?

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?

I have no problem with it. To each his own. If someone like Julia Roberts
wanted to name her twins Thing One and Thing Two I'd say more power
to her.

I was given a name that was very uncommon when I was born. I've spent a good
portion of time correcting the spelling for people. It's no biggie, yet when it came
time to naming my kids I opted for names that could not easily by misunderstood
or mispelled (Adam and Jacob).

Furthermore, I'd like to say that I enjoy unique names. What's more, I enjoy
making fun of silly-sounding unique names.


What's the strangest name you've heard?

hmmmm

I knew a girl named Elektra in grade school.

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?

It is not a new trend by any stretch. Moon Unit Zappa comes to mind...

I remember being teased about my name as a child. I particularly remember coming home from school one day crying. I told my mother what had been said to me, "You're so ugly that the doctor must have had a heat attack when you were born." In typical fashion, my mother (Ernestine, named after Ernest, her father) took me to school and demanded an immediate conference with the teacher. "My son was being teased because the doctor that delivered him had a heart attack when he was born. I told you that in the strictest confidence!"

Mom had been working for the Doctor before she got pregnant. She was accustomed to signing his name on forms. When she was handed the birth certificate and given the news that the Doctor would not be signing the birth certificate, she started to sign his name where she was supposed to fill in the baby's name, and that is how I got named after the Doctor that delivered me.

What's the strangest name you've heard?

I've worked with people all my life who had to explain how to pronounce their names, and where the names came from... Erk, Schmucker, Jahuri, Wlodarczyk, I'd be very hard pressed to say that anyone I knew had a "strangest name."

Then again, I've learned the meaning of "Call me anything but late for dinner." One of the delightful things about choosing the name Curmudgeon was the fact that I chose the name myself. Then folks started calling me Curm, Mudge, etc... But then, I have been called Wally, Crash, Cigar, Moses and a sundry assortment of other names that I never understood, but learned to answer to.

Perhaps there is one, my ex-wife used to have a child in her day care home by the name of Scooter.

I love the name Apple. Comes to mind something fresh, crisp, rosy and sweet.
I didnt like Chers, 'Chastidy' but now that we have grown up with it it seems ok.

I like many odd names. I always wanted to name a girl child 'Ocean'.

My roomates grandaughter is named Raven and the grandson Gavin which means 'whitehawk' in Celt. My partners two childrens middle names are 'Wolf' and 'Lakota'.

In Spain they make public sometimes odd but real persons names, just to let you know it can be worse...
for example 'Dolores' as a first name , 'de La Barriga' is the Family name.

This translates to 'Pains in the Stomach'.

The parents ought to change their own names legally to something similar to see what it feels like. Frank Zappa should have changed his name to Moon Weasle. Cher should have become Promiscuity.

I think the trend is for parent of first newborns to be a little crazy. I was lucky, being on the far tail end of four kids. They had stopped being so strange by then.



Aquanet. Thought it was cruel to the kid beyond imagination, although the case of the naming after booze is just sick. I have also heard the Female' story, and maybe this is urban legand?

Although I have met a Jack Daniels. That's unfortunate, like running some business under a family name that doesn't work, the Bluntt Funeral Home.

"I am sorry your mother kicked off and died after living a miserably meaningless existence. Suck it up, kid!"

Well, that can be entertaining for a while when driving long distances, listening to local radio ads, seeing road signs.

Always thought "Fink" was a bad surname for a politician, but Finks have run successfully for office. Then there was the Asian guy whose name spelled out a common two-word expression used to tell someone off. I had to pronouce it in a way that didn't sound, er, like that. It didn't work, he got offended, so I pronounced it like it was spelled.

That was satisfying, although the emphasis was probably a little too sincere. I've seen comedy bits on this phenomenon since, must just be a part of life.

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?
It isn't anything new. Julian was quite an unusual name until Mr Lennon named his first child that. Then it became quite popular in the 60s - in my infants/junior school there were three of us out of perhaps 30 boys. It's now quite rare again to name new babies "Julian".
As it goes, I had a lucky escape with that - my mum also considered "Gervaise" - she is a big fan of the ballet film The Red Shoes where both Julian and Gervaise were leading characters - but I think my Dad overruled her. (He was Clifford, by the way).
My middle name is Conrad, which I've never heard used at all in Anglophone countries except as an (assumed) stage name.
My mother's side of the family used some quite old-fashioned names like Noel, Oswald, Josephine, Josette & Nicholette. The last two are my mum & sister, and I had never heard of anyone else with those names in the UK until I moved to a city and started meeting more black Britons - the names are relatively common among British Afro-Caribbeans, though have been eclipsed by the current black fashion for African-origin names (e.g. girls' names ending in -isha, which I have grown to like).
The my father's brothers include a Glynn and a Garrett, but also an Alan, a Peter, and a Derek.
Probably because of the names in my family, I think names like David, Andrew John, Jane, Julie, and Donna are fairly vanilla-flavoured, dull choices, and I wouldn't really want my kids to have them, should I ever have any. (Though I do like older, Biblical girls' names, especially "Rachel". Like my mum, this comes from a movie - this time Blade Runner.)

As far as Julia Roberts goes, Hazel is quite a common girl's name in the UK, and I rather like it. Phinneus is more unusual, but not unheard of. And Gwyneth is a good Welsh name, though not as pretty as the variants on Rhian or Sian. "Apple" is pretty wierd though - what's the next one to be called? Melon? Pomegranate? Strawberry?

What's the strangest name you've heard?
While I rather like unusual names, there are limits. The one's that sound oddest to me are the ones that some parents seem to invent or borrow from elsewhere to somehow make their child distinctive.
For example, David Beckham (the English footballer) & his wife Victoria (the ex-Spice Girl) have named their two sons Brooklyn and Romeo. Brooklyn to me sounds more like a girl's name, but they named their son that "because he was conceived there", which prompted lots of jokes in the British press that the kid should be thankful his parents didn't stay in Hull, Llandudno, or the Arizona town whose name cannot be repeated here but which is derived from "manure town".
A woman I work with named her first daughter, born this year, "Lyric", which is a nice word, but an odd name. I'm growing to like it, though - and apparently it was a popular name for Victorian girls.
The one's that rile me the most, though, are the mis-spelled "individual" names, such as "Jonythyn" for Jonathan, "Mykel" for Michael, etc. They're ok if they refer to non-English roots, but more often they seem to be used because of some knuckle-dragging lowbrow idea of being "special" - yeah, right. "Special" as in "special needs"!*

* This, of course, is where lots of members report me for being inflammatory becuase their name is Mykel or something similar. Please accept my humblest apologies in advance; since most people here use pseudonyms, any thread like this one runs this risk - no offence is intended on my part.

What do you think about this growing trend of giving odd names to children?

I would agree with someone who posted here earlier that what may sound strange or unusual to one person is perfectly fine and makes sense in another language or culture. I have some trouble with my own first name ("Lev" - pronounced "Liev") - which is a fairly common name in Russia (think Lev Tostoy) but looks weird and unusual to an American. I had an option to change it during citizenship ceremony but then I realized that I don't want to change who I am in order to "blend in" and accommodate people around me.
Now for my children I wanted to pick a name that would make sense in both Russian and American cultures. At some point I was thinking about Vassily for a boy, but my family told me to have some pity for a poor kid who supposedly would be miserable with a name like that . So we'll have to go with Alexander, Nick, Anna, Maria, or something along those lines...

I really don’t see an issue with unusual names, if, and a big IF, the parents do an excellent job with their self esteem as they grow older. As pointed out kids can be brutal and fragile egos could need at a lot of attention.

One of the oddest names where I knew the person was a great friend from grade school until graduation: Amiel Denzil xxxxxx Jr,. We called him Junior.

His names were all family names and I think that’s pretty cool.

OK, I guess I'm in a minority here shaking my head at bizarro names. But naming kids after hair care products or afterbirth just seems over the top to me. I give better names to my pets.

Then there's this:

Good grief, obviously his/her parents weren't Jewish or they'd have known better. "schmuck" is a slang Yiddish word for a certain portion of the male anatomy...

...reminds me of a landlady I once had who named her German Shepherd "Putz", not realizing what it meant.

Edited to add: my name, while not so unusual, has been mangled, mispronounced and misspelled my entire life, so having a so-called "normal" name doesn't preclude one from other people's messing it up.

I personally like unusual names. Maybe not "Apple", but there is something attractive in having a name that has some meaning or style. I agree there are some awful ones out there, but names are very important. I also find it annoying when people follow "trends" in naming -- like a few years back it seemed like every woman was naming her little girl Heather, then kaitlyn, caitlyn, kaitlin, etc.
I personally hate it when I come in contact with someone who shares my name.

And another warning to any future parents out there - don't name your kid something and then call them by a shortened version of the middle name that has nothing to do with their middle initial - all it does is lead to headaches. I've been Beth all my life, but unfortunately this is not my first name, or my middle name. I've always had to explain that E is for Elizabeth, which is where Beth comes from. Everything official uses my first name, which I despise. But it does allow me to quickly identify telemarketers.

"Names" are certainly an interesting topic. Unusual given names sure didn't start with the Hippies, though. And family-names might be more of an issue than first names.

In my school, we had children of two families who's name is phonetically indistinguishable from "whore". Another family's name was the same as "anus".

Historically, naming females April, May and June has been fairly common for centuries. Did these parents use up their last ounce of imagination? My mom is named June...

My dad & his dad were both named "Teen". We do not know where this name came from, and we have looked. My grandfather acquired it in the late 1800s...

Genealogy deals with names on a semi-professional basis.

Open Directory Project - Genealogy
Open Directory Project - Surnames

For Anglo-derived families, there is an index of given and surnames found in the registry of Chesham, England, for the years 1538-1600.
Names in Chesham, 1538-1600

There is a fascinating Jewish Given Names Database, which extensively explores the Old-Testament connection for many names.
Given Names Database

Our government Census Department has a ton of information about our names!
Frequently Occurring First Names and Surnames From the 1990 Census


On my paternal side, there is a tradition of using double-names as given-names. My dad didn't get to name me "Teen", as I am sure he wanted, but he managed to make a double-name stick: "TedAllen". On that side of my family, I am still Tedallen - one word.

Early in grade school, a teacher took it upon herself to end this foolishness with my non-standard name. I was punished & censured for attempting to continue using it, and she 'won'. I became "Ted".


"Teen". My dad's name, and his dads'. It is simple, but very rare, which is an especially unusual combination. It is also somewhat difficult to research: Google rounds off the hits for "teen" to an even 144 million.

Everyone, please: Be careful with genealogy. It is an enriching & wholesome addition to any lifestyle, but it is known to have subtle narcotic properties. Though addiction does not normally affect the health, there is no known treatment.

I feel your pain.

I was born Harold John. Or more accurately I was born WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! and my parent choose to instead name me Harold John.

Harold being a family name of sorts, my father being Harold George, My Grandfather being Harold Luther, etc (may they all rest in peace).

I have always gone by John. Yet I legally have to have Harold J. on my Drivers License, Military I.D., etc. Yet I also legally have H. John on my Social Security Card, H.S. diploma, etc.

Thankfully I managed to get myself down on paper as John without the first name or initial at work. Finally the confusion is gone, at least from where I win all that bread.

One thing I find comical is when I check my credit report the list of Aliases is as long as any flim flam artists

Another thing I do not understand is why more modern cultures do not adapt Adult naming. In many cultures, parents would name their child, and that child would either choose a name, or the community would choose a name for them when they reached adulthood. That lead to everyone having a name that at least marginally represented them.

I would love to do that for my daughter, but unless I plan on filing legal name change documents for her in the future (or at least paying for them) , adding a name is not likely to help much.

Edited to add: Funny thing, I always hatted the name Harold. And I am rather surprized that I didn't actually say that when I posted this. Weird, but I don't really hate it like I used to. Perhaps, being the senior Male member of my family now, it somehow belongs.

The only strange name in my family is Stilson. I have never heard anyone else with that name. I actually like the name just never hear it.

I hate my last name--which I'm sorry to say I can't explain why because it just exposes me more than I'd like.
I have thought about actually changing my last name.
My name is Christopher Michael.
Its a good name--2 of the better saints if I were religious.
But I always liked Jack or Nick better. I also always wanted a name that could be reduced to intials. Silly i know but I am lazy and it would be great to only have to sign 2 letters--LT JFK TD JT JB
My son is Christopher Robert--the closest I'd let my wife get to Christopher Robin.
After me and my wife's father. My daughter will be Hannah Grace.

I actually considered naming my son Uther--he'll be more than big enough to discourage any attempts at making fun of it.

I don't like the name Fred. I can't explain why, most of the Fred's I have met are great people.
but Fred bothers me.

My wife works with a Richard who insists on being called Dick. A lot of their management operates by radio and he takes EXTREME pleasure in having made it very uncomfortable to use as he has tailored many responses to it that are obviously of the potty humor.
I am sure you can imagine them.
Childish--yes--but still funny to hear over a loud speaker

Well, not that interesting of a name, but a fun story. In the past, I had a really cool female coworker in the past that always talked about her daughter.

Now, this was the 70's, in the time of free love, and happy, beautiful people, when nothing was scary or dangerous. Turns out that my coworker and her husband were tripping and listening to Neil Young just after the daughter was born, and chose the name "Cinnamon" for their new daughter.

Not advice in any way, but an interesting story...

ALostTexan

Daffygir! You are so right. I've always wanted something like Spike or Bruno.

We started naming new cats after metals mined in Colorado: Silver, Molybdenum (became Molly), was looking for Gold (seemed to make sense). Then we got a couple of black ferals, and the one who moved around like a 1930s gangster became Bruno (lucky fella, white boots and throat, real dressed up), and the other very black one became Midnight. The woman who collected these wildcat kittens (mother died after giving birth) thought Midnight was female. His first name was Lisa. Did that have an effect on his early psyche?

So Bruno has attitude and Midnight seems reserved, even apologetic. Coincidence? Chicken and egg? Expectations?

For naming people, I do agree that more care should be taken. Didn't some tribes have an elder do the naming? I've got The Name Book by Pierre Le Rouzic (ISBN 0-9638502-1-0). It goes into the way names have an influence on life. Just airy-fairy stuff or real? Eh, the author's French and nobody believes in magic, so there you go. We get funky names.

Don't blame me if we get funky people!

Hey, I wonder if George Forman's kids will turn out all the same? That'd be interesting to study.