<p>I grew up with a friend named Tom. He had brothers Dick and Harry. I kid you not.</p>
<p>From elem. to h.s. grad., I went to school with a boy named Wig. That was his real name,not a nickname.</p>
<p>Also in h.s there was a girl named Virginia but she went by V.A. …no lie.</p>
<p>A kid in my class is named Erikah…poor kid will be spelling her name for people her whole life.</p>
<p>Oh, I also have an Addison and a Meredith in the same class…Gray’s Anatomy fans?</p>
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<p>My church has a preschool. In one class last year, four of the five boys were Jake/Jacob.</p>
<p>As for the TV names: When I was pregnant with child #2, my SIL was also pregnant…for a time, their names were Sam and Rebecca, from Cheers. That made me angry, because I wanted to use Sam because it was my great-grandfather’s name. We both had girls.</p>
<p>As for Ant/ahnt–growing up in the Northeast, I never used ahnt. We say ant. (I’m surprised to hear that about Maine.) OTOH, when I say “we”, I mean the white people I know. Working with a lot of African-American colleagues and students now, I have learned to codeswitch to ahnt when refering to their relatives, because that’s the norm.</p>
<p>Similarly to names like Sandra. I would pronounce that with a “sand” like the beach sound, but my students say “Sondra”. Or Cassondra, even when spelled with an A. So I have learned to assume the other pronunciation.</p>
<p>I also was a huge Here Come the Brides Fan, and also think that those names were popularized by that show.</p>
<p>TV characters inspire some names, but my brother and I have names that were given before they were made “famous” on TV.</p>
<p>I mentioned earlier in this thread that my name is uncommon. Unfortunately, when I was in grade school there was an advertising campaign that featured a dog with my name. I took some teasing for that.</p>
<p>My brother’s name is Darryl. I had fun with that when the Bob Newhart show (80’s version) was popular. Remember Larry, and his brother Darrell, and his other brother Darryl?</p>
<p>My parents allowed the older siblings to pick our youngest brother’s name. Our choice was inspired by a character on Please Don’t Eat The Daisies (short lived TV show). This was about 1966. It was a very unusual name at the time, and for years later. Now it is quite popular. (There were four in my daughter’s 5th grade class, plus a girl with a feminine version)</p>
<p>^^^ Just for fun, we let older son close his eyes , flip pages of a baby book and randomly point to a name-- first was for first name, second try was for middle name. If we’d used his “picks”, DS’s name would be Guido Obidayah! :eek:</p>
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<p>I assume that Guido would not have gone well with your last name? I just love it when a strongly “ethic” first name is paired with a last name that doesn’t “match” - e.g. Guido O’Hara.</p>
<p>Several Jewish guys at work know quite a few Jewish Mexicans. My favorite name: Pancho Goldbloom.</p>
<p>^^^ LOL Poncho Goldbloom!</p>
<p>We are a member of what I call the “no last name” club, meaning that our last name is like someone elses first name (eg Thomas) so theoretically any first name “could” go with it. That said, Guido probably would not have been our first choice. Or second.</p>
<p>Do you know that right after I typed that about Pancho Goldbloom I read an article on cnn.com about a guy named Moshe Nunez.</p>
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<p>My husband is from Spain and I’m of Irish/English descent. When we had our first son, we named him after the grandfathers, using the first names of each. My dad’s name is very Irish and my FIL’s name is very Spanish. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and the grandfathers were very pleased, but if we had it to do over again, we probably wouldn’t. </p>
<p>S2 got an Irish first name, with my Irish maiden name as his middle name, both tacked onto our Spanish surname. At least it goes well with their dual citizenship ;)</p>
<p>Patsmom, that’s why I love it. To me, those type of names say “there’s a story there.”</p>
<p>What’s the deal with Jack? We now have 2 little boys in the family, 6 mos. apart, with that name (not shortened from anything). Not a family name.</p>
<p>My theory is that once we were maxed out on Jakes, people switched to Jack.</p>
<p><<and, i=“” knew=“” 2=“” guys=“” william=“” williams,=“” and=“” tommy=“” thompson.=“” how=“” did=“” they=“” get=“” names=“” like=“” that?=“” parents=“” can’t=“” spell=“” any=“” other=“” name?=“” or=“” lose=“” a=“” bet,=“” what?=“”>></and,></p>
<p>DH has a relative named Joseph Josephs, Jr. That’s right, that family did that TWICE.</p>
<p>We have the “no last name” thing. S2’s full name could be seen as three first names or three last names. </p>
<p>I agree that Jack is becoming very popular as is Jackson.
Also know two kids under four named Chase. </p>
<p>We have lots of "J " names at our center…Jaiden,Jalen,Jacob,Jake,Jack,Jodie,Joshua,Jordan,Jackson.Josie</p>
<p>I finally got around to reading the earlier posts.</p>
<p>I loved “Fanny, Weenie, and Sissy.” ROFL.</p>
<p>We know a teen named Edward. He goes by Eddie. Sounds so retro!</p>
<p>I know a guy named Don who has kids Don Jr. and Dawn. How can they tell who is being called??</p>
<p>That’s funny–I know a family with the same names–Don was the dad and two kids Dawn and Don–probably not the same people, either. The mom was crazy, so that pretty much explains it.</p>
<p>I also know a family with two girls named Dawn and Donna. And a girl named Aileen who goes by “Weenie” And a guy named Bill and his brother, William. . .and a couple Catholic families with 6 or 7 Marys each.</p>
<p>My oldest has two different ethnic names and I now regret the choice. He was born in a city where the phone directory had pages and pages of my husband’s last name. We felt it necessary to give him his own identity, even though the phone book still contained a few with his unusual combination. Since then, we have lived in two other cities, where this last name takes up 1/10th of one column.</p>