<p>Well Barack’s mothers name was Stanley-
and isnt it George Foreman who couldn’t think of any other name for his boys?</p>
<p>I bet the clan name is MacKenzie, or any one of its dozens of horrid misspellings (Mykynzy, anyone?).</p>
<p>I recommend this site, Bad Baby Names…it will have you laughing for hours.
[Baby’s</a> Named a Bad, Bad Thing](<a href=“http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html]Baby’s”>http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html)</p>
<p>I have seen the first name Aquanetta at least twice in the LA Times. I also had an OB/GYN who had the same first and last name. As in Smith Smith (not his real name).</p>
<p>My own name is among those mentioned upthread of “older lady” names (though it is an Americanized nickname of my “real” name). My daughter has a name that is more commonly spelled with a C in the US, but the K matches her European heritage (my side) and our (my husband’s) last name.</p>
<p>Clan name could be McKenna.</p>
<p>The vacuum cleaner is Dyson, the disease is Addison, the weapon is Cannon. (I’m sure the parents weren’t thinking of these things, but I can’t help it. I really can’t stand the Jayden, Brayden, Kayden, etc. trend, either). </p>
<p>When I hear “Tiffany,” I think of a girl who enters beauty contests. Or a hair dresser. Not a doctor.</p>
<p>I remember that there were 7 Susans in my freshman dorm hallway–out of about 32 girls, and there were 5 Cathys in my 5th grade class.</p>
<p>@ whatever4:</p>
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<p>Just curious. What exactly is so bad about that name? It seems like a relatively common name without any obvious ways to make fun of it.</p>
<p>It seems like pop culture and celebrities have a lot of influence with name trends
I never heard of a baby called Aiden until after Sex and the City…or a modern day Ava until Reese Witherspoon named her daughter…now those names are heard everwhere you turn…
I never heard the name Chelsea before the eighties movie " On Golden Pond " that name was hugely popular with the parents of our children’s age groups</p>
<p>Yeah - my SIL named her 2 kids after soap opera stars. Now their D is expecting, and while I approve of the boy’s name the girls name they have picked out is… not to my liking. And I’m informed that it’s a soap opera name! Brook lynn or some variant spelling. Both expectant parents are college educated.</p>
<p>We haven’t seen the extreme obnoxious names where I live, thank heaven. Only a few are overly cute, and some are shockingly classic. It’s been great!</p>
<p>HeliMom…funny website !</p>
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<p>Aidan is an old-fashioned Irish name. A saint, and all that. What’s strange to me is when it is given to a girl…</p>
<p>The website suggested by Helimom has been a fave of mine for years. It will literaly reduce you to tears. :D</p>
<p>One of my daughters has a first name which is associated with terrorists (according to an airport in CA).
She traveled all over the US with no problem but leaving CA. is always a problem. That airport security always stops her. The odd thing is her last name is Irish.<br>
My girlfriend ‘s son has a historical name (from another country). When he introduced himself to adults no one laughed, however some of his peers always laughed because his name sounds just like the name of a birth control device.<br>
My kids’ had one teacher in middle school who shorten her name to K., to make it “easier for the kids”. Her name was a typical eastern European name.
I told my kids to call her by her full name.
If the kids could study Latin and another foreign language, they sure can pronounce her name.</p>
<p>Our children have pretty traditional names.
But we make up for it with some pretty odd nicknames (used only in the family circle, of course). Even the nicknames change with time, though.</p>
<p>H. chose S1’s first name because he liked the traditional nickname that went along with it (like Bob for Robert, Jim for James, etc). S1 doesn’t love it. I agree it’s a bit too formal, but college is a good time to segue into new nicknames, at least.</p>
<p>D1’s name is more often used heard as a nickname (for Sarah), but it always had such a cheerful connotation for me that we used it as her given name. D2’s name has a similar happy vibe.</p>
<p>S2 HATES his middle name. Says he will probably change it when he is old enough. To me, it’s not worth the trouble (how often do people hear our middle names?), but it’s up to him.</p>
<p>“My girlfriend 's son has a historical name (from another country). When he introduced himself to adults no one laughed, however some of his peers always laughed because his name sounds just like the name of a birth control device.”</p>
<p>Now you have us guessing! Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry couldn’t remember his girlfriend’s name? :)</p>
<p>^^ Ayude? Is that a name?</p>
<p>There was an interesting study that when a company receives resumes (without pictures) they were very prone not to grant interviews for people with unusual, ethnic or African names. (Flame me now). </p>
<p>When we were naming our children our criteria was simple: Imagine our child as a Supreme Court Judge and say the name, “Justice…” If it sounded funky or silly it was out.</p>
<p>“There was an interesting study that when a company receives resumes (without pictures) they were very prone not to grant interviews for people with unusual, ethnic or African names.”
NO wonder our president persued politics rather than business.</p>
<p>dontno, I just picked “Owen” as an example because it’s a family name that my parents’ generation did not choose to pass on, nor did my generation – but now it’s considered a cute name for a boy. From the 1950s through the 1980s anyway, I think most people would have considered it an “old man’s” name, right up there with Ralph, Harvey, and Fred. When John Updike wrote “A Prayer for Owen Meany” in 1989, I’m guessing he meant the child’s name to reflect his rather odd, outcast status. And maybe Owen Meany’s tremendous heart helped make Owen a more positive and popular name in subsequent years?</p>
<p>I wonder if there isn’t something to ‘prior generation aversion?’ It seems that names of our generation or our parents’, we tend not to use with our own children (e.g. lot of moms named Jennifer that I know, but zero Jennifer’s in my daughter’s 1st grade class). We might not use our own mom’s names, either, but if you go back to Grandma’s generation, those have a ‘retro’ cachet and a resurgance (e.g. Hannah, Elijah, Jane, Claire). </p>
<p>I liken it to the complete aversion I feel toward 1980s styles (ugh, to close to my youth) but I enjoy the retro-appeal of a fitted skirt-suit from the 1940s.</p>
<p>Another name snob here. But won’t these unusual names help in the future, easier to trace your ancestors? And easier to google oneself?</p>
<p>When I named my d Caitlin more than 25 years ago, it was unique. :[</p>
<p>crakerlady - I’m sure it was. It was a little over 30 years ago that I decided I wanted to use the name and I had never heard it. I still think it is a beautiful name but there were two extended family members who had already used it when my D was born.</p>