<p>We picked fairly unusual names for our kids. Our son says his name is a girl’s name. We also hyphenated the last name, which worked pretty well with our two names, but my daughter ditched it to take her husband’s name. She was teased because the new last name is as long as the hyphenated name.</p>
<p>My niece Jennifer and her brother were each named for children in TV commercials.</p>
<p>Speaking of Disney…when a friend was expecting, her oldest D wanted to name a baby sister Pocohantas. Another friend’s older sister played Priscilla Alden in a first grade play and she got to name her baby sister Priscilla.</p>
<p>My H and I both had unusual first names, so we went for the most normal names for our S and D. This worked well because my H’s last name is very odd, too. I think the kids are Ok with their names because they are each the type that has a formal name, a cute little kid nickname and a good adult nickname. I suffered with a name with no nickname. No fun.</p>
<p>As a teacher, just don’t do “cute” names. If your last name is Beach, don’t name your kids Sandy and Rocky…
And no creative spellings for familiar names. You are creating 90 years of problems if you name your kid Reighleigh. Yes, Riley is a cute name. Help her out with a normal spelling.</p>
<p>I always thought of how a name would sound on the Supreme Court or in the Senate.</p>
<p>I have an oddball name, my sister has a standard, run of the mill name for our era. I have NO idea what my parents were thinking. They also have standard names for their era.</p>
<p>My 20 year old daughter has always liked her name very much - it’s not often heard, but not odd. Thanks to the website link I see it was fairly common 100 years before she was born and has seen a very small spike in the last couple of years.</p>
<p>I love hearing the stories of how people came up with names!</p>
<p>Millie---- instead of Mildred, there is also Millicent, although I don’t know if you would call that an improvement.</p>
<p>Amy— some people are spelling it Aimee nowadays, I’ve noticed. Although the two Aimees I know are well into their 40’s.</p>
<p>Diane is a name that was very popular in its days but you don’t see any little girls with that name.</p>
<p>What a fun discussion! I’ve always been interested in this subject. I am named for my two grandmothers–so all of you women think what your name would be if your parents had followed that pattern. My first name is French and very uncommon. I have only met one woman with the name other than my grandma. I use a nickname for the name which is not used too much, but not unheard of. My middle name is fairly popular now, one of the pretty older names, luckily.</p>
<p>My grandma with the French name originally had it as her middle name. Her real first name was Frances. When she was about 12, the fashion was to go by a nickname, so she started to be called Fanny! She didn’t like that at all, so she switched her first and middle names, and used a short nickname for the French name (not the same as the nickname I use). So just think, if she hadn’t done that–my name might now be Fanny!</p>
<p>You can see the changinging ethnicity of our country when looking at the decade lists on the SS site- many Hispanic names appear in the 2000’s that never made the earlier decades. I like shortened/nicknames, especially when your last name was long. My sister and I got lucky that our cousin got the female line’s Priscilla middle name instead of one of us, she had no D’s and my sister didn’t try to revive it with her D. Our HS gym teacher used “Mildred” for her examples- none around then. I like the sound of Susan and its variations and wish it were still popular (it was my dorm floor with multple Susans in the early '70s.</p>
<p>It’s similar, though to a lesser degree, for men’s names.</p>
<p>There are lots of middle-aged guys with names like Douglas, Craig, or Arnold, but you don’t see many little boys with those names.</p>
<p>There have also been grandfather or even great-grandfather names that have made a comeback such as Zachary or Caleb. Back when I was young anyone named Caleb was probably a Civil War veteran, but now there are lots of little Calebs running around. But I don’t think Ebenezer is making a comeback any time soon.</p>
<p>Some of the Afro-American girls names are cool:</p>
<p>My daughter laced 'em up in a basketball game a few years ago against a girl named Utopia…</p>
<p>My mom’s family is an old New England one, and loves to inflict its past on the present through middle names and sometimes first names, too. One surname from our Rev War antecedents has held on for generations now–middle name of my grandfather, my mom, my uncle, my cousin, my brother, myself, my cousin’s kid, and, God help me, my D. (sorry, D–but there was so much history there…!)</p>
<p>Garland is also an old family name that has cropped up now and then since. My great-grandmother was born May Garland. Yes, really.</p>
<p>We have a sampler from a past ancestor from the 1830s listing her siblings, including a sister named Wealthy Ann. And a four-inch thick geneology whose index is a “wealth” of incredibly odd names.</p>
<p>I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned the worst old-time name: Hortense.
Or the worst new name (especially for anybody who’s been in the army): Latrina</p>
<p>My name is Harry, and about a million times I’ve been introduced to people who’ve said “Oh, my grandfather’s name is Harry.” It’s also an ironic name to have when one is going bald. Nearly every movie and a lot of commercials have a Harry in them…usually he’s a doofus…but sometimes he’s a no-frills regular guy, eg, Dirty Harry. Some Europeans I’ve met think Harry must be a very common name in the US because there are so many Harrys in movies.</p>
<p>My sincerest sympathy to any of the Jizelles out there…how COULD they??? What’s next, Moneyshotella?</p>
<p>My neice’s college roommate is Jizelle…</p>
<p>Well, Harry, at least now your name has been resurrected by Harry Potter-now there will be lots of them!</p>
<p>My brother has the misfortune of being Larry. Has there ever been a Larry in a movie who wasn’t a boorish car salesman type?</p>
<p>You don’t see any Lesbias these days. Actually, I’ve never known a Lesbia, but there is a hymn in the hymnal at church that was written by Lesbia Scott and her name always draws immature snickers.</p>
<p>Larry in the 3 Stooges was pretty cool. Is your brother actually ''Lawrence"? That’s pretty good…Lawrence Olivier, Lawrence Harvey, Lawrence of Arabia (last name). But yeah, Larry is pretty much Larry the Cable Guy, Larry David (the ultimate klutz on Curb Your Enthusiasm). Not very glamorous.</p>
<p>I’m just Harry…not Harold, Henry, Harrison. Once somebody asked my name and I said “Harry” and she said “no, SERIOUSLY, what’s your name?”</p>
<p>I’ve always been fascinated by how names break down by part of speech:</p>
<p>Verbs: Terry, Bob, Pat, Neal, Perry, Ralph, Berry, Chuck</p>
<p>Adjectives: Harry, Rich, Rusty, Tony,</p>
<p>Nouns: John, Matt, Van, Mark, Mike, Less, Jim, Gil, Guy</p>
<p>silvervestersmom, our second D is still cross that we wouldn’t let her name our third D Cinderella.</p>
<p>My grandmother was Myrtle. I guess that was fairly common in 1896 when she was born, but you’d be hard pressed to find a Myrtle these days.</p>
<p>Speaking of funny/odd names, there’s a Florida state senator whose first name is Larcenia. Not the greatest name for a politician :eek:.</p>
<p>I just remembered: My Uncle Dick’s real name is Cletus. Think that one will end up in the dork pile.</p>