You Named Your Kid What?
I see a lot of patient names in the reports I create at work. Often I will notice some, well, I'll be kind and call them "unique" first names.
Unique but also familiar somehow.... and then I realized a definite pattern was emerging.
When paired with their date of birth, it's a cinch to see what those new parents were being influenced by when faced with the ultimate decision: "What the hell are we going to name this kid?"
Here are just a few first names and their years of birth I have come across in the last few months:
Elvis - 1958, 1960, 1966
Actually, there are too many instances to list here.
The fifties and sixties must have spawned a whole army of Elvis'.
Elvises?
Elvi???
Marlo - 1972
Uh huh. "That Girl" Marlo Thomas.
Later in life she was Rachel's mom in Friends. But in the 70's, she was all the rage as an independant young woman finding herself in all kinds of comedic independant-young-woman situations.
Elroy - 1975
I swear, naming your kid after a cartoon character should be grounds for disownment.
I'll wager they have a dog called "Astro" too...
Kalel - 1981
Scary to think that there is someone crazy enough (other than screwed-up Nicolas Cage, that is) to bestow this "super" name on thier child.
Farrah - 1976
I'll bet it was Daddy who chose this one.
And I'll bet he STILL has that poster.
Skywalker - yes, the FIRST NAME - 1999
Again, got to be Daddy's choice.
I hope they saved up for therapy sessions. And this coming from a Star Wars fan.
Even so, I don't call my vacuum R2.
At least not out loud.
A whole plethora of Johns, Pauls and Georges from the 60's.
I'd wager these were Beatle-influenced rather than Pontiff-related names, as there are quite a number of John-Paul, John-George, Paul-George... all the permutations of possible first and second name combinations.
Except for Ringo.
Nope, I haven't yet come across THAT one yet.
Of course I work in Cardiac Sciences, not the Psych ward; so that may explain why.
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I don't have kids so I feel free to mock. LOL
I often wonder what goes thru some peoples heads when they pick a name.
Didn't I read a study somewhere that proves that people with weird names have higher crime rates? I'm sure I read that somewhere ... probably on someone's blog, LOL
I was just discussing this the other day after hearing a mom call out to her daughter, Reese.
I've never been able to wrap my head around the names "Serena" or "Tabitha."
I can't believe you haven't come across a "Ringo" yet.
And "Marlo." Hmmm. I like it. I don't think I've heard of anyone with that name, other than the original.
"Kalel" is just sad.
How's this one? 1977- Marcia.
After being 22 days overdue, the doctors finally decided to induce my mother's labor. When I finally decided to pop out, I had a full head of black hair and relatively dark eyes. My parents were going to name me Melissa, but on that fateful day in that rinkydink town, 4 other Melissa's happened to be born; all with blonde hair and blue eyes.
For days I didn't have a name, and for days my mother sat in her hospital bed watching back to back Brady Bunch reruns. When the doctors demanded my parents name their child, the credits were rolling. "Hmmm... what a nice spelling. Marcia Brady? Marcia Brinski? That works. We'll name her Marcia."
...and I never heard my first name just once again. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia...
For 28 years, I had to act as though I'd never heard that line used, convincingly laugh when people asked if my 2 sisters' names were Jan and Cindy, and act surprised when repeatedly given Tom Brady jerseys as gifts. To make matters worse, my own family never even referred to me as Marcia. They each had different nicknames because they hated the name Marcia almost as much as I do.
So, 3 years ago I changed it :) And I've never been happier.
I'm happy with my name which is pronounced properly in Dutch as Ee-ray-nuh, Nobody ever call me Irene again.
I have Christian friends who name all their children from the bible, The first two are not bad names, but their third child is called Samson. I think that maybe it could be a bit of a problem for him in later life.
Drowsey: I wouldn't be surprised to find such a study is true... and I'll bet the Canadian government PAID for the study too!
Shawn: Har! Here's hoping it's after Witherspoon and not the Peanut Butter Cups.
Feefifoto: Oh Tabitha would be a dead giveaway; and yes, Serena too. I wonder how many witchy teasings they get?
JD: Nope, no Ringos yet. But today I found another: 1985... Harrison. As in Han Solo and Indiana Jones, I'm sure.
Mai: OMG!!!! You poor kid you! What a great comment; thank you. And yes, I would have changed it too.
The Gossamer Woman: Ah yes. Pronunciation can change a name dramatically, no? When a French person says hubby's name, I can barely recognize it (he grew up next to a French-speaking town, so he had a lot of French friends that had a helluva time pronouncing his German name).
Babs: Yikes. Some of those Bible names can be real tongue-twisters. And yes, I have come across A LOT of Samsons; it seems to have been popular up north (Inuits) in around the 30's.
I wanted to name our son Diesel, but my wife wouldn't let me. This is my revenge.
I've seen a bunch of Rhiannons, clearly born in 1976/1977. One of my hubby's former coworkers' husband's fave show was Welcome Back Kotter. They had a kid a couple years ago. Named him Vinnie. Their last name? Garbarino. Poor kid.
We also have a client who named his daughter KC Sunshine, she was born about 10 yrs ago though.
I would have assumed that Elroy pre-dated 1975...I m thinking more along the lines of 1965 and later.
I wonder how many young Madonnas are out there right now, not yet fully knowing the curse their parents cast upon them.
People often don't put enough effort into naming their children. In particular they fail to appreciate the embarrassment that can be cause with a 'fashion' name. I know of a man called Marlon Brando. He's nearly 50 and everyone still sniggers when they hear it. Poor guy must've had that all his life!
They don't think about how the first name will go with the surname and they don't think about abbreviations. I also know people whose surname is Cox, who named their son Richard. They said no-one will shorten to Dick, we won't let them. Yeah, right.
In case you aren't aware across the Pond, the word 'cock' here is slang which means the same as 'dick' does in the US. Forgive me if everyone knows already - I have no idea if that one is purely English or not.
Diesel: All I can say is, thank God for level-headed Moms...
Jo-Jo: OMG... Poor Vinnie! Especially with a last name nearly identical, I'll bet the poor kid was teased incessantly!
Bruce: Oh, but the parents were probably fans when they were younger... so it makes sense that they would name their kid that, harking back to their own childhood.
Jeff: OMG! Can you imagine??? Cruel, cruel thing that would be indeed.
Jay: Marlon Brando!!! Not only the first, but the LAST name too... ugh. And Dick Cox. Speechless. I am without speech (and yes, it is the same meaning here too... poor guy couldn't escape his fate by travel either).
I never understand people who name their children after something that has a definite reaction from people. Like mahor movie characters or famous people. That poor kid has to grow up being compared to something they probably have no clue about. There was a girl in my class named Laura Ingalls. I always felt bad for her.
Farrah is quite a common name for girls among Indian Muslims (means Joyful). So I doubt many of their daddies were influenced. :-D
It is not unusual to come across Indian Muslim children who have names, that are unusual Arabic nouns - just because their parents had no idea what it means.
I had to step in when a nephew was named - Saubaan without a clue what it meant. "Well it is in the Quran" They said.
Sauban means serpent.
(From the story of Moses when he throws down his staff)
Vegas Princess: Ooooh... Laura Ingalls would suck. I mean, we loved those books, but a modern day woman, Laura was NOT.
Jaffer: Farrah is a beautiful name; but I am sure Ms Fawcett had a lot to do with making it popular in the West after her poster, and Charlie's Angels came out!
I type up birth announcements at my job. You should see some of the names we get. I just want to shake these people and say "Don't you know that your child has to go through their life with his name?! Do you really want her to be called Gypsy Storm her whole life?" With a name like that (yes, it's real) she's already got her stripper name.
Lisa: Ahahahaha! OMG, Gypsy Storm???? That poor, poor kid.
My ex-husband's oldest child was named Christmas; as in Christmas Snow (aka Chrissy) on Three's Company.
Not so bad, until his next child was named....Nicholas!
Dropping in from Problogger today - thanks for the laugh!
John and Paul are just good, old-fashioned Christian names. But add Ringo and the Disciple, George, and we have issues. My husband taunted me, threatening to name our first-born "Madonna" (it was 1988, could you tell?) I think he just wanted ME to pick the name, so he couldn't be blamed for any name-related angst during the teen years. We gave our kids nice, classic, timeless names after playing "the name game" - you know the game where everyone sits around the table, pretending to be a snot-nosed middle-schooler, and tries to outdo everyone else on how badly they can screw up the name and humiliate the kid to be?
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