Naming Your Child

[Clix Pix]

Ah, right, I'd forgotten about "Leslie," or "Lesley".....indeed, can be either male or female.

And then there's "MacKenzie," one of those family names which has now become sort of popular and which I think is also used for both boys or girls.

 

[Mousse]

Ah, right, I'd forgotten about "Leslie," or "Lesley".....indeed, can be either male or female.

In the South we have names like Billy Joe, Bobby Joe and Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo.

First time hearing about Little Women in school, I thought Laurie was a girl (Laury) and Jo was a boy (Joe).🤨

 

[Chucks4me]

I heard once interesting names. Would assume the family was from India, the kids were named Ashol and Shital.
Can only imagine what a shortened form of the name could be.

 

[0128672]

Assumptions about nicknames drives me crazy. I prefer to use the full version of my first name and have never gone by one of the common nicknames. But people I meet, even after introducing myself using my full first name, will right away assume it's ok to call me by a nickname. No, I have to say, my name is .... That and having to always spell my last name. I've fantasized about having an easier name like Dana Jones, but people would still probably reduce it to some nickname and misspell the last name.

 

[Herdfan]

This is a funny video by one of the Green brothers. I think it is Hank. His brother wrote The Fault in Our Stars.

Completely agree about the Focus Group of 12 year olds.

Since I have never cared for my name I was determined to give my daughter a name that she could adapt, shorten, change etc. to suit her. And she did. Her middle name is Katherine so she has been going by Kate since middle school. A bit of a tough transition, but it has all worked out in the end.

I looked at legally changing my name but my mom threw a fit since I was named after her father who passed while she was pregnant with me. All I wanted to do was add his first name in front of my name. But since he went by his middle name, that is what I got as my first name.

 

[LizKat]

At one of the schools I attended during 7th grade the family that had founded the school (private, Christian school) had a daughter named Destiny. She was out and in college by the time I was there, but I got to know her youngest sister Cherish real well because Cherish insisted on trying to bully me. Destiny, Cherish, and their other siblings were all part of a naming scheme I believe was designed to promote 'godly' children.

I couldn't see it.

Which is not to say there aren't good people out there with that name - I just haven't run into one yet.

A couple who were close friends of my parents named their string of daughters Faith, Hope, Charity... finally they had a boy and settled rather unimaginatively for the "Jr." variant of the dad's name. All things foregoing considered, the kid was probably lucky.

I must lead a sheltered life since I think Destiny is a fine name for a girl. The one I wonder about is one I ran into someplace in a newspaper article. Some couple had named their daughter "Genuine". Wow.

 

[Herdfan]

I must lead a sheltered life since I think Destiny is a fine name for a girl. The one I wonder about is one I ran into someplace in a newspaper article. Some couple had named their daughter "Genuine". Wow.

It probably was. But TV and movies have used Destiny as the name of hookers and strippers, so that name has sort of become synonymous with those professions.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Johnny is an awesome name. One of the all time best names, IMO. John Wayne, Johnnie Walker, John McClane (Yippee kai yay!), John Rambo, John Doe (Se7en).

...

John Wayne was born Marion Morrison.

 

[AngerDanger]

Amazing that we're over a hundred posts into a good/bad name thread, and nobody has mentioned X Æ A-12, a name I can only assume Elon Musk came up with to ensure schools properly sanitize their strings.

 

[Huntn]

A couple who were close friends of my parents named their string of daughters Faith, Hope, Charity... finally they had a boy and settled rather unimaginatively for the "Jr." variant of the dad's name. All things foregoing considered, the kid was probably lucky.

I must lead a sheltered life since I think Destiny is a fine name for a girl. The one I wonder about is one I ran into someplace in a newspaper article. Some couple had named their daughter "Genuine". Wow.

It probably was. But TV and movies have used Destiny as the name of hookers and strippers, so that name has sort of become synonymous with those professions.

Great intro line: I am your Destiny!

 

[AZhappyjack]

Naming children is largely cultural...

We have family friends who are first generation Nigerian immigrants. They have named their daughters "Lovely" and "Precious" and their son is "Prince Justin" (goes by "Justin"). It's a bit unique by American standards, but the kids are good, well adjusted kids who are all in high school now and excelling.

Then there's Frank Zappa (Dweezil and Moon Unit), Rumer (Bruce Willis), Fuchsia (Sting) and Kanye West (North, Saint and Chicago). There are more.

YMMV

 

[AZhappyjack]

My understanding of this is that in the past (pre-19th century) the system was workable because there were less people. But once you got large populations it became impossible to identify people, so the practice was stopped (by the government).

Iceland still continues to do this, but if you're someone's daughter it's dóttir and not son. Iceland also has an approved list of given names which you must choose from when naming your child. You can submit a name for approval (and addition to the list) though. That's decided by a committee that meets solely to approve or deny submissions.

Wow... talk about governmental overreach...

 

[AZhappyjack]

My name is Stacey and people always spell it Stacy, and it pisses me off to no end. I know Stacy is more common, but how many times do I have to tell people to add the e. I’ve had this problem growing up my whole life.

I have a niece named "Terri"... she gets "Terry", "Teri", "Terrie" and "Terie"... she is annoyed, as well.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I have a niece named "Terri"... she gets "Terry", "Teri", "Terrie" and "Terie"... she is annoyed, as well.

Not Tel then?

 

[eyoungren]

Wow... talk about governmental overreach...

I'm sure that if the people of Iceland felt that way they could change the laws. Iceland has a Parliament (Althingi, est. 930), a President and a multi-party government. They are one of the world's oldest parliamentary democratic systems.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I have a niece named "Terri"... she gets "Terry", "Teri", "Terrie" and "Terie"... she is annoyed, as well.

I have a cousin name Terri. Her name is never spelled right and it gets on her nerves.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Naming children is largely cultural...

We have family friends who are first generation Nigerian immigrants. They have named their daughters "Lovely", "Precious" and their son is "Prince Justin" (goes by "Justin"). It's a bit unique by American standards, but the kids a good, well adjusted kids who are all in high school now and excelling.

Then there's Frank Zappa (Dweezil and Moon Unit), Rumer (Bruce Willis), Fuchsia (Sting) and Kanye West (North, Saint and Chicago). There are more.

YMMV

My name is "Beloved", spelt David.

I am reminded of a famous, fictional "Precious", full name Precious Ramotswe.

 

[LizKat]

I have a niece named "Terri"... she gets "Terry", "Teri", "Terrie" and "Terie"... she is annoyed, as well.

There sure are a slew of nicknames for "Elizabeth" too.

I long since discovered that no matter how I'm introduced, there's a significant percentage of folks who will decide to call me by THEIR preferred nickname for my given name, and will do so for the whole time they know me.

Even when I remind someone that I prefer Liz or Elizabeth, I often hear something like "Oh I know, I know, but my sister is an Elizabeth and my ma called her Lilibet after the Queen's nickname but of course we all just called her Lily."

Gotta love that "of course"...

She still calls me Lily, my brain is still parked at "so what? and I'm called Liz, get over it" but she makes really good scones on spur of moment and invites her pals over, including me, so to her I do answer to "Hey Lily". But short of caving in to such bribery, I sometimes still do make a point of just not responding when a friend who knows better does call me Betty or Betsy or Bess or Beth... Liza, Lissa, Lise...

 

[eyoungren]

There sure are a slew of nicknames for "Elizabeth" too.

I long since discovered that no matter how I'm introduced, there's a significant percentage of folks who will decide to call me by THEIR preferred nickname for my given name, and will do so for the whole time they know me.

Even when I remind someone that I prefer Liz or Elizabeth, I often hear something like "Oh I know, I know, but my sister is an Elizabeth and my ma called her Lilibet after the Queen's nickname but of course we all just called her Lily."

Gotta love that "of course"...

She still calls me Lily, my brain is still parked at "so what? and I'm called Liz, get over it" but she makes really good scones on spur of moment and invites her pals over, including me, so to her I do answer to "Hey Lily". But short of caving in to such bribery, I sometimes still do make a point of just not responding when a friend who knows better does call me Betty or Betsy or Bess or Beth... Liza, Lissa, Lise...

I make a point of calling someone what they introduce themselves as or explicitly tell me to call them. It just works better that way.

My former boss introduced himself as Bill. For the 14 and a half years I worked for him I called him Bill. Never mind that the rest of the women in the office called him 'Billy' he had never told me to call him that.

It just comes down to respect.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I make a point of calling someone what they introduce themselves as or explicitly tell me to call them. It just works better that way.

My former boss introduced himself as Bill. For the 14 and a half years I worked for him I called him Bill. Never mind that the rest of the women in the office called him 'Billy' he had never told me to call him that.

It just comes down to respect.

Couldn’t agree more. Our new starter for has a place for name and preferred name. That’s how we set you up on the directory. So if you are Victoria Smith but like to be called Vicky, that’s how we set you up.

 

[pshufd]

Our son's name has four possible spellings based on sound. Our daughter has two. One thing that we worked for was the number of syllables in long-form and short-form along with consonant agreement with middle and last names.

 

[kazmac]

Names are like anything else... a former coworker named her eldest daughter Destiny. I do not see what’s wrong with that name.

Thought my mom named me after a big company who made diapers when I was little (That diaper box was the first time I ever saw my first name on anything else.) I still prefer the shortened version of my first name, but my first name is fine.

 

[5425642]

My kids name is Frank, Haily and Noel.

 

[Expos of 1969]

My kids name is Frank, Haily and Noel.

Is that one kid with those three names?

 

[5425642]

Is that one kid with those three names?

Sometimes I do wishe that it was only one.... Like today when they are going Wild totally wild.