Baby Names - You're kidding Right???

[SweetTinkerbelle]

I worked at a hospital several years ago in a very poor, run-down section of town.  One of the doctors there told me about a very young girl, probably about 14 or 15, who had given birth and named her daughter Sh*thead.  She prounced it "Sha-tayd" and thought it was simply the prettiest name ever.   

My father works at a hospital and is friends with one of the pharmacists.   One day, he had to call someone's prescription and the name was "Sh*thead."  So...he pronounced it "Sh*t head."  A very angry woman came up and said "my son's name is Sha-thead!"

[Balletmom]

Worse still is when the parents misspell the name they want their child to be called. As in Dinasty for Destiny.

I thought it was AhhNastyLin, too. How sad for that poor child!

Names are powerful, and it is so sad when people think that the best thing their child needs is a name no one else can spell or pronounce without help.

[Shoo]

My father works at a hospital and is friends with one of the pharmacists.   One day, he had to call someone's prescription and the name was "Sh*thead."  So...he pronounced it "Sh*t head."  A very angry woman came up and said "my son's name is Sha-thead!"

I think a mother would would name her kid something like this is the actual sh*thead.

[DottyG]

At least that's better. I actually thought the pronounciation was Ahh Nasty Lynn and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to name their daughter that.

That's what I read it as, too!  And, you know that, if at least 2 of us here misread it, this is not going to be the last time the error is made.  Not only that, but can you imagine the poor child on the schoolyard playground?  Kids can be cruel, and this name's just begging for it.....

Ya'll are smarter than me!  I was sitting here struggling to wrap my brain around it, I hadn't even managed to make a stab!

Sorry I should have put the pronunciation in the initial post. 

No, I'm glad you didn't.  Because this is a perfect example of what this child is going to have to endure.  The pronunciation isn't always going to be written for people.  What people see is what they see.  And, if the first thought to people is that it's Ahh Nasty, that's a good thing to know now while there's still time for the mother to change her mind.

[wendelenn]

I worked at a hospital several years ago in a very poor, run-down section of town.  One of the doctors there told me about a very young girl, probably about 14 or 15, who had given birth and named her daughter Sh*thead.  She prounced it "Sha-tayd" and thought it was simply the prettiest name ever.   

My father works at a hospital and is friends with one of the pharmacists.   One day, he had to call someone's prescription and the name was "Sh*thead."  So...he pronounced it "Sh*t head."  A very angry woman came up and said "my son's name is Sha-thead!"

OK I always thought this was an urban legend.  You swear it's actually true?  Did you see the birth certificate yourself? 

[DottyG]

At one time (in a past job) we had a patient named Anal.  The nurses swore to me that it was pronounced "Uhh Nawl".  Yeah.  To everyone but THE REST OF THE WORLD.

[CelticGemini]

I worked Child Support a number of years ago. Some of the "winning" names were

*Damage and Savage (twin boys)

*Lemonjello and Orangejello (No, this is NOT an urban legend. This was their name according to court documents)

*Porsche, Mercedes and Fiat.

*Jack Daniel and Tangeray (sp?)

And my personal "favorite"...

Sy'phylis. The mother of the child pronouncd it "see-FY-lis" but you all know how we pronounced it 

[chosenpapaya]

This story came out in our national newspaper (The New Zealand Herald) a few days ago. It says that having a very feminine name gives people a different impression of you than having a less feminine name, and so leads to different life choices, study and career wise, basically.

But the piece I love is this bit the end... (link to the article below, and I've shortened the quote a little and added bold)


He also showed how harmful giving your child a "chav" or lower-status name can be.

In a study of 55,000 children, the exam marks of those with "lower-status" names - often spelled in an unusual way or including punctuation - were on average 3 to 5 percentage points lower than siblings with more traditional names.

One of the reasons was teachers had lower expectations of them.

Some names immediately aroused images of success, others of popularity or kindness. On the whole, people judged to have more traditional names such as Rachel and Robert did extremely well. More alternative names scored badly. Breeze was given 16 out of 100, while Christopher received full marks. "A name is part of an impression package," said Mehrabian. "Parents who make up bizarre names for their children are ignorant, arrogant or just foolish."

Figlio said people should be more aware of the power of names.

"In ways we are only beginning to understand, children with different names but the exact same upbringing grow up to have remarkably different life outcomes," he said.

"If you want to give your child a name that connotes low status, then you need to be aware of the consequences."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=1500859&objectid=10436833

This topic is discussed in the bestseller Freakonomics as well.  They do a pretty good job in showing how some names (and the perception they come with) can really influence a child's prospects in life.

[jane7166]

I was once in charge of a mailing list for a support group. 

One of the names was Latrina "Somethingorother."

I could never bring myself to make up a mailing label with that name on it. 

I always shortened it to "L. Somethingorother."

[Joannie81]

I had a client once whose name was Tequila.  That's what her mother called her.  I have clients with babies that I look at the names and my first thought is "What the h3ll were you thinking?"  I am always glad I see the name before I leave the office, that way there is not shocked look on my face when I see them the first time.

[SweetTinkerbelle]

I worked at a hospital several years ago in a very poor, run-down section of town.  One of the doctors there told me about a very young girl, probably about 14 or 15, who had given birth and named her daughter Sh*thead.  She prounced it "Sha-tayd" and thought it was simply the prettiest name ever.   

My father works at a hospital and is friends with one of the pharmacists.   One day, he had to call someone's prescription and the name was "Sh*thead."  So...he pronounced it "Sh*t head."  A very angry woman came up and said "my son's name is Sha-thead!"

OK I always thought this was an urban legend.  You swear it's actually true?  Did you see the birth certificate yourself? 

No, I just heard the story secondhand from my father.  He always has "interesting" stories about working there!

[Fabrashamx]

The 'creative' spellings always just look illiterate to me. and the new name thats so popular, Nevaeh. Heaven backwards. just, no.   stop doing that to kids lol. Worst name I have seen personally was in the new baby column in our local paper. moms last name was Bivens, or something close to that, what did she call her son? Baron Von. Yikes.


Hugs, Fabby  

[megswsu]

At one time (in a past job) we had a patient named Anal.  The nurses swore to me that it was pronounced "Uhh Nawl".  Yeah.  To everyone but THE REST OF THE WORLD.

Oh Lord!! ROTFL!

No kidding. I don't care how you as a parent want your child's name pronounced, if you spell it a funky way people are going to pronounce it how they see it. Or as in the case of Sh*thead, or Anal, in all honesty....were they smoking crack?! Seriously. How did these parents think these names would be pronounced? Oh wait, they didn't think. That explains it.

[Amy Rose]

My father works at a hospital and is friends with one of the pharmacists.   One day, he had to call someone's prescription and the name was "Sh*thead."  So...he pronounced it "Sh*t head."  A very angry woman came up and said "my son's name is Sha-thead!"

I think a mother would would name her kid something like this is the actual sh*thead.

My mother's colleague had two kids named Sh!thead (Shitheed) and Assh0le (Asholeh)- they were foreign nationals, and there was a mixup with transliteration. They're not American names.

I wonder what Brits think of American kids named Randy...

[SunkissableOne]

I went to school with two kids named Tequila Sunrise and Jack Daniels....