<p>Wow. Great parents. I haven’t read Freakonomics but have heard great things about it. I work with a Stormy and I know a woman that named her dd Diva. Oh yes, I know a Pashion. She is a bank manager.</p>
<p>I just chuckle at the bizarre names and the phonetic names and names with the letter Q in a strange place and think “what the heck were those parents thinking.” But then who would have ever guessed we’d have a President named Barack. Someone out there somewhere probably was named Baraq. </p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by the letter Q in a strange place. Barack isn’t strange to me, but then I’m familiar with Middle Eastern/Arabic/Jewish names. I think if you are Moslem, Jewish, Indian, Asian, or so forth certain names go with your last name, make sense, and in many cases honor relatives. But if your last name is Smith, and your parents name you LaQuintia, it’s going to be puzzling, though maybe you were the 5th child? And if it’s La’Quintia (gratuitous apostrophe) that’s just asking for trouble. 
</p>
<p>I do think it’s a good idea, if your name is “out there,” to have a nickname or 2nd name you can put on your resume. Interviewers may be more comfortable calling you Ken rather than Kenmatsu, Moe instead of Mohammed, Barry instead of Barack. </p>
<p>We named our daughter after my grandmother and it seemed fairly unique for her generation at the time in a sea of girls named Madison, Hannah, Brynn, Mackenzie and Kelsey. When she got to high school she had 2 same named girls in her Spanish class - probably also named for their grandmothers. </p>
<p>It seems like the boys in her age bracket all succumbed to long form OT names: Daniel, Jacob, Caleb, Benjamin, Jared, Ethan, Michah, Joshua, Elijah. These kids tend not to be called Ben, Dan or Josh for short.</p>
<p>^^ True. D has known some Rebeccas (not Beckys) and Catherines (not Cathys).</p>
<p>I thought I named my daughter an old fashioned classic name, but it turned out to be trendy in her birth year, and for years after. My son has a Celtic name that’s not weird or hard to spell, but it has yet to catch on as a trend. My son went to a small high school with a graduating class that was 30% “Michael”. My own name is old fashioned, but also somewhat ethnic, although it’s been frequently used in English Literature. I was named after my mom and my great aunt. For my whole life, I’ve been told “Wow, that’s a beautiful name, and so unusual!” Until recently, when it’s become trendy, lol!</p>
<p>My son was telling me lately how much he loves his name, and how many people tell him that he has a “star” name. My daughter has also been told that she has a great “stage name.” </p>
<p>So far, none of us is particularly successful.</p>
<p>I have a Slavic name. Both first and last…I kept my maiden name. The first name is spelled similar to a not uncommon US name. However, it’s surprising how often it is mispronounced … or worse…assumed it’s spelled wrong. I spent a lot of years going by the wrong name - the common spelling and common pronunciation. At my first ‘real’ job out of college a co-worker started calling my by the correct version. I’ve stuck with it since. I get compliments about 9 out of 10 times when I say my full name, with the Slavic intonation.</p>
<p>Named D a rather common name, but with a somewhat different spelling. Not anything weird, but a spelling which would allow her to pick 2 different shortened/nick name versions. She’s stuck with the full name.</p>
<p>S has a common name - but both kids have my Slavic maiden name as a second middle name. And they love to use it!</p>
<p>Did a quick google…both D and my name occur in .002% of the US population.</p>
<p>I feel as if names could also be neutral. My name is Isabella, which could go either way i suppose</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from HS today. Some of the first names of her fellow graduates:</p>
<p>Ayse
Ammaar
Moenika
Laurisse
Roma
Junta
Ryota
Alshaimaa
Osatohanmwen
Teodolfo
Valentin
Claude-Valerie
Sirena
Mariachristina
Leonela
Parth
Nisarg
Taras
Talyah
Alli-Safyer
Hanif
Hasan
Amelie</p>
<p>I think a lot of these are just beautiful. But the faculty member announcing the names as the kids walked across the stage absolutely mangled most of them (actually, she also managed to butcher “Sara”, so who knows!).</p>
<p>“We wanted her name to be appropriate no matter where life would take her, and one that would not mark her for life as a child of the early 90s. “A name that works whether she becomes a stay at home mom or a Supreme Court Justice” was how we thought about it.”</p>
<p>To me, that says a lot about correlation, rather than causation. But I am only on page two.</p>
<p>My kid brother had a quintessential “slave name”, after our dad. HATED it in the seventies, LOVES it now. </p>
<p>I spent 10 month choosing my first child’s name; an “African” name that did NOT mean “child born during the locusts”; turns out to be middle eastern. I spent 10 minutes on second child’s name; after a comedian on “In Living Color” . Turns out to be Irish. Which is cool, since our last name is ALSO Irish. Ha ha! We are not Irish, but get lots of mail around St. Patrick’s Day. </p>
<p>@sugarski </p>
<p>The poor faculty members tongue was fatigued! Im sure your brain works over time to put those names together phonetically. And to do it in front of hundreds of people? LOLOL </p>
<p>One more thing; I think the name “Destiny” is a bad omen. </p>
<p>The way our school does graduation, the announcer is actually slightly off stage. He has a list, but the graduating student also whispers his/her name aloud to the announcer, so that the announcer hears it right then. He says it as the student steps out onto the stage. It works well.</p>
<p>My name is Gabriella, but I’ve always gone by Ella. I’m 16 and was born before “Ella Enchanted” skyrocketed the popularity of my name. People usually make references to the movie or to the song “Umbrella” with the “ella, ella, ella” line when I introduce myself to them. And when I tell them my first name is Gabriella they’ll inevitably say “just like Gabriella from High School Musical!” I also want to go to Stanford like that Gabriella, haha. </p>
<p>My little sisters have names that are very common in Sweden (my stepmom is Swedish) but are rare here in the US. Lucia (Lou-sea-uh) and Linnea (Lin-nay-ah). They’re forever having to spell it and pronounce it for people, but receive compliments. </p>
<p>Shrinkrap, just to be clear, we didn’t believe that choosing the right name would produce a successful life for her, however that’s defined. Rather, we wanted the name to fit, no matter what she decided to do with her life. </p>
<p>Does having a Hebrew/Arabic/etc. name (one not often used in English, so no Sarah/Mary/Joseph/David/etc.) without the matching ethnic origin qualify as weird??</p>
<p>^Christians of North European extraction in 19th-century America routinely used Hebrew names that today would qualify as “weird”. I have ancestors named Israel and Dorcas. </p>
<p>Names are a symptom, not a cause. They express parental aspirations for children and the values of the subculture into which the children were born. People in the future may wonder why a rash of children in the late 20th century were named after jewelry stores or types of liquor. Some countries, like Germany, have approved name lists from which parents have to choose, in order to avoid saddling children with an unfortunate name. But I don’t see that flying here in the US.</p>
<p>Please, not “Dorcas”…</p>
<p>I think you should look for a different name for your baby if you find yourself saying: “Nobody would ever pronounce it that way” or “Five years from now nobody will remember that fictional character” or “We will never use the nickname version of the name because we hate it” or “Nobody will even know what the middle name is.” There was a kid in the local high school with a name that none of you would believe was anything other than an urban legend.</p>
<p>@hunt okay, I’ll bite…I’ll believe you!</p>