Baby Names - You're kidding Right???

[WolfWay]

There are a very few names that say "specific religion" to me, but only a few: I would advise against naming a child Christian, Christine, or Christopher if you aren't Christian, and against Mohammed if you aren't Muslim (in both cases so a child doesn't have to keep explaining that s/he doesn't go to church, or that yes he eats pork).

My husband's name is Christian. He's an atheist, as were his parents. I don't think many people associate that name with religion at all, and I doubt anyone associates Christine or Christopher with religion.

I don't associate Christine or Christopher with religion but Christian?  Oh yeah, since that is the name of the religion.

Although both Christine and Christopher are based on the root word "Christ" (Christine means "Follower of Christ" and Christopher means "Carrier of Christ")

[z_squared82]

My friend is a teacher. She had a student this year named La-a. My friend, on the first day the student decided to show up pronounced it “La Ah.” Said student immediately corrected her, “That’s NOT how you say my name!”

“Well, then, how do you pronounce it?”

“Ladasha! You need to say the dash!”

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

My friend is a teacher. She had a student this year named La-a. My friend, on the first day the student decided to show up pronounced it “La Ah.” Said student immediately corrected her, “That’s NOT how you say my name!”

“Well, then, how do you pronounce it?”

“Ladasha! You need to say the dash!”

I’m curious how many different pages we can have this urban legend posted on. Or, proportion of pages to total pages in the thread.

[z_squared82]

I used to work taking school pictures. I eventually wanted to rip my hair out because of the amount of Kylies I photographed (complete with three or four different spellings), but this poor mother takes the cake.

We usually didn’t deal with the parents, but we had one mother some in to talk to us before pictures started one morning. It turns out that her sons had not been photographed with the right classes previously and she wanted to prevent that. How can one mix up non-twin brothers in different grades, you might ask.

She had given them the exact same name.

Now, it was a perfectly normal name, Benjamin, I think, but they were both named it. And they both had the same middle name. And they had the same father, so they had the same last name, too. And she hadn’t given them suffixes like Benjamin David Smith III and Benjamin David Smith IV. I know because I asked all these questions.

Her response was, “Yeah, I really wasn’t thinking ahead.” My response was, “Well, as long as they come down with their correct class, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Because what else do you say to a mother who gave her sons the exact same name?

[z_squared82]

My friend is a teacher. She had a student this year named La-a. My friend, on the first day the student decided to show up pronounced it “La Ah.” Said student immediately corrected her, “That’s NOT how you say my name!”

“Well, then, how do you pronounce it?”

“Ladasha! You need to say the dash!”

I’m curious how many different pages we can have this urban legend posted on. Or, proportion of pages to total pages in the thread.

I had never heard of it as an urban legend. The first I heard of it was when my friend told us about the girl in her class.

[z_squared82]

I have a high school classmate who named her daughter Nori. She gave the meaning she was going with (which I can’t remember now), but I kept wondering why she had named her after the seaweed common in sushi.

[Kimblee]

I had an experience that I had to share, and it works so well for this thread.

Last week i was visiting a friend, her husband, her husband's parents and her parents. My dear friend is utterly, obscenely pregnant. (seriously, the fact that she walks amazes even her. This has little to do with the story, except it give you a more accurate picture.) She and her husband have decided to name the child Rodrick Ari. Which i think is kinda nice. But her parents want the baby named "Arnold Micheal" and his want it named "Charles Dyke"

But she and her husband are agreed on the name. And so, among the arguements (LOUD arguements.) she suddenly stood up, picking up her husband's cane and waved it at all assembled, announcing. "If you don't all give this up, so help me, I'll name the baby Baelfire!"

Now her husband really does want to name the baby Baelfire.

And this is why several of my friends have elected to keep the baby's name a secret until birth. Gender might be revealed, but not name.

With my first son, I chose the name Levi. This is paired with a very German last name, and the first thing my grandmother said is "that sounds too *blue faith*!" Now, our family is all *red faith*, but is it really such a bad thing to sound *blue*? 

All the names suggestions that have been thrown at me for my kids (#3 due any day now) just made me want to announce 'Any further name suggestions will be permanently removed from our list of consideration. Yeah. Just to spite you.'   

UPDATE:

Little Roderick Baelfire was born safely and is adorable. And big. Eleven pounds even and his poor mother claims its all his father's fault because SHE was a seven pounder.

No word on any imp or pawnbroker related activity.

[Sharnita]

Actually, it does seem possible thay sooner or later somebody will hear an urban legend name and decide to actually go ahead and use it for real.

[KenveeB]

Tsiphonie. I've only seen it written, so I'm not sure how to pronounce it. So far I've been able to come up with "kind of like Tiffany"...

[Mad Goat Woman]

Not sure if these two have been mentioned, but on Secretly Pregnant, someone named their son A'King and another one of them A'Knight.

[Tierrainney]

Tsiphonie. I've only seen it written, so I'm not sure how to pronounce it. So far I've been able to come up with "kind of like Tiffany"...

It looks like a new spelling of the Greek Tsiphone, who is one of the Furies.

[Addy]

Today there was a woman at the supermarket whose name, according to her nametag, was 'Dog'. I really hope it's a cruel and inappropriate joke done by her coworkers, and not a parent who would have done such a thing...

Why cruel and inappropriate?  When I worked fast food we had all sorts of made up names on our nametags. Maybe they're doing something silly like "put the name of your favorite animal on your nametag today!" or if it's engraved it might be the defacto "I forgot my nametag at home today " replacement. I wore one that said my name was Jason tor 4 months (I am female) because when I lost mine it was the only spare I could find. My boss thought it was funny so I was Jason for 4 months.

Hee hee, you reminded me of the names my friend and I had on our name tags...Shirley U. Jest and Helena Handbasket.

[GreenEyedHawk]

I went to high school with a girl I always admired.  She was incredibly pretty, with long red hair, coppery skin and incredible brown eyes.  Her name?

Autumn.  Can't imagine a name ever suiting anyone better.

[Minmom3]

There are a very few names that say "specific religion" to me, but only a few: I would advise against naming a child Christian, Christine, or Christopher if you aren't Christian, and against Mohammed if you aren't Muslim (in both cases so a child doesn't have to keep explaining that s/he doesn't go to church, or that yes he eats pork).

My husband's name is Christian. He's an atheist, as were his parents. I don't think many people associate that name with religion at all, and I doubt anyone associates Christine or Christopher with religion.

I don't associate Christine or Christopher with religion but Christian?  Oh yeah, since that is the name of the religion.

I don't think I've ever seen that name on somebody who wasn't at least culturally Christian, even if they were non-practicing or even atheist.  Such is MY experience here in the U.S.  Trying to think, but I'm pretty sure it's the same with Mohammed and being of an Islamic background, if not actively practicing.

[Pen^2]

OK, so you know how some people love to give their babies exotic-sounding names or words from foreign languages? I heard an English one today: Plamorous. Somehow a P snuck in and superseded the G. Poor kid. Although it does make you wonder how many Spanish/Chinese/Russian/Maori/Na'vi Plamorouses there are wandering about...