<p>I’ll concur on the random spelling thing. I have no problem with ethnic names, be they African, Spanish, Polish, African-American, or whatever. But let it be spelled how it is usually spelled. I have a student who has a silent “k” in her name. This isn’t it, but think “Lanisha” spelled “Laknisha” but pronounced like the first.</p>
<p>Edit: that was a bad example because the K could be silent there. Think Tekmisha but pronounced temisha.</p>
<p>garland, you are cracking me up, because you can’t even come up with an example where the k couldn’t be silent. You are such a lit professor. :p</p>
<p>LOL! Seriously, it’s the bane of her existence. The two of us go way back, and she rolls her eyes every time she has to pronounce her name for someone.</p>
<p>My Western given name has British origins. However, it doesn’t seem to be unique as when googling my name, I get thousands upon thousands of hits referencing folks with my exact name who also happen to be Asian/Asian-American. </p>
<p>Hey…at least I can hope this will confound the googling busybodies and HR folks looking to research my digital footprint. :D</p>
<p>That is just really sad. We’ve come far, but not far enough.</p>
<p>I once met a girl named Emmillee. I wanted to say her name v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.</p>
<p>Seriously, people. More letters doesn’t make a name fancier. And unusual spellings don’t make you unique or creative. It just makes people assume you don’t know how to spell.</p>
<p>I think both the girls names suit them very well, but I did envy them when they worked at camp @ got to choose a camp name. That just sounded like so much fun. 
My oldest had to change her name after the first summer though. She was riding staff & her name was Shetland.</p>
<p>I have been avoiding this thread"…l
Really, there needs to be a “really” place where one can actually upload names…</p>
<p>
I suspect this also affects descendants of Robert E Lee.</p>
<p>On another subject, isn’t it Iceland where you can only give your kids state-approved names?</p>
<p>“I share my name with a fairly well known African American former athlete.”</p>
<p>Jackie Robinson?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Naming</a> law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_law]Naming”>Naming law - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Only on page 5, but I knew a Yolanda we called Cinnamon. Strangest thing for me is I spent a year picking a name for my oldest; a West Afican name that DIDN’T mean “a child born durng the famine”. Turns out it’s a common middle eastern name. Named my second on a whim, watching “In Living Color”. Come to find out this name was as Irish as they come, especially with his Irish surname.</p>
<p>And our kids are West Indian and Southern black from WAY back. My father and brother had an old school traditional African American name of one of those guys on paper money. Brother HATED it as a child, but LOVES it now.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s amazing! I can’t imagine such naming restrictions ever becoming law in this country. As much as I’d like to shake some parents for naming their children something outrageous or stigmatizing, I would find such laws completely unacceptable. This is America, after all. </p>
<p>Old fashioned names I hope NEVER come back in style: Mabel, Ethel, Bertha, Mildred, and yes, Agnes. (Sorry.) They all bring to mind images of middle aged church ladies in support hose and “sensible shoes.” Gah!</p>
<p>Oh, and Hazel. I wanted to beat Julia Roberts (whose own name is beautiful, IMO) about the head and shoulders for naming her daughter that. Having grown up in the sixties watching Shirley Booth play a pump, though affable middle-aged maid by that name, I could only shake my head when I read that.</p>
<p>I was checking out at Walmart recently when I glanced up and read the name of my checker: Quinshineequa. I thought, “Why Mom, why? Couldn’t you just have stopped at Quinn?”—LOL…</p>
<p>
Orenthal James Simpson?</p>
<p>I think Hazel is kinda cute. And after watching Downton Abbey, I have a better appreciation for older names.</p>
<p>I know someone named Micheal who spells it just that way, not the normal way of Michael. Drives me crazy! It’s not a variant; it’s just a misspelling to me!</p>
<p>Anne Heche named her kid Homer. Cruel and unusual punishment, IMHO.</p>
<p>I recently encountered someone who had named their child Nevaeh. Heaven backwards. :rolleyes: Only problem is that, depending on how one pronounces it, it could sound like a skin product line.</p>
<p>There was a kid in my high school named Wyoming.</p>