Lets name him Paul and pronounce it Gary!

Samantha - posted on 10/27/2012

My husband is Japanese and so my daughter is bicultural and has 2 names, a Japanese and American one. It's a fun challenge to come up with names that go together or a name that could be used both ways...and Mia/Maria/etc are way overused in our circles. My husband wants to incorporate "ocean" into the Japanese name, which can be pronounced "kai" "mi" "u" and maybe a couple other ways. our daughter is named Chinami which means "wisdom of the seven seas" and her American name is Tina, which works because there is no Japanese letter for "ti" only "chi" used in its place. I wonder which one she will want to go by when she's older!

Roxanna - posted on 10/27/2012

I think its unique...it's the owners of the names who bug me! They get upset when we "mis spell" thier name. I work in a Call Center, and I ALWAYS ask for spelling for common names that I know could have "different" spellings!

Both my girls have "spanish" names; Leyda (LEY DA) emphasis on DA. I taught her to say her name clearly and SPELL it as a young child. Then we have Lourdes (LOW UR DESS), but she goes by Abby, her middle name...or LuliBell.

I'm Roxanna Teresa De Jesus...... My dad calls me Rox, my friends call me Roxy....I will NOT respond to Teresa!

Jazmyne - posted on 10/24/2012

LOL I am doomed for my name to be forever misspelled/ mispronounced

Petra - posted on 12/11/2010

They were doing a "unique" spelling for a classic name. While I love the name, I cringe at the spelling.

Stifler's - posted on 12/11/2010

I agree with Erin. Jaxson is a unusual way to spell Jackson.

Erin - posted on 12/11/2010

I thought the classic spelling was 'Jackson'.. and those using an 'x' were trying to be different?

Jenn - posted on 12/11/2010

Now see I would pronounce that differently: Julia would be Jewel-ee-uh and JuLeah would be Joo-LEE-uh

Jenn - posted on 12/11/2010

@Petra - in the case of Jaxson the s is needed - as the name literally means "Jax' Son" or in the other spelling "Jack's Son".

JuLeah - posted on 12/11/2010

well, my name is JuLeah, not Julia .... so, I am all for odd spellings

Dana - posted on 12/11/2010

And Katherine, I like how you spell Alyce, it's prettier than the usual Alice.

Petra - posted on 12/11/2010

Yup, I'm with Loureen and Christina. Made-up and intentionally misspelled names drive me bonkers. All the superfluous vowels and unnecessary Ys make me shudder and I have to skip them when reading them. It looks, to be blunt, retarded. I am an English scholar and I like my names spelled phonetically - jimmying the spelling doesn't change the actual name and is confusing as fuck when you see it after hearing it first. "Jaxson" gives me a physical tick - I can't bear that my cousin named his child this, the redundant "s" is just... *shudder*

I dig old-school, ethnic names. My name has been butchered in ways you wouldn't believe, and no one makes that leap to just pronounce it phonetically. Add in the fact that my family pronounces it with the Norwegian accent (for my great-gma) and it gets fucked up more often than not. It seems very girlish and silly to name a child "Aspyn" rather than go with the real spelling, "Aspen". I just don't get it, it doesn't make the pronunciation more romantic or special. Argh!

Dana - posted on 12/10/2010

I don't mind unusual names but, like many others, misspelled names drives me batty.

We wanted something strong yet slightly different for our son. So we named him Ethanael, Ethan for short. Ethanael means, "strengthened by God" which we liked since he was a preemie and a pretty tough one at that. The funny thing was, early on I suggested Ethan, my husband didn't like it but, after he was born we still didn't have a name. I told my husband he had to settle on something because he just didn't like anything, finally while looking through the book all day he says, "I really like Ethanael, we can call him Ethan!" Of course I already liked Ethan and once we saw the meaning, we were sold on the idea. He still didn't recall me suggesting that early in the pregnancy though!



I even added it to the back of the book, where you can put names you like!

Rebecca - posted on 12/10/2010

Normally made up, completely outrageous names annoy me to no end. But, once I found the name Saydi for my kid, I fell in love with it all except one thing: I didn't want the word "die" in my kid's name, like the traditional spelling of Sadie. So I added a "Y" and dropped the "E" and created Saydi. Pretty ridiculous reason, now that I look back on it, but I don't regret it.

Michelle - posted on 12/09/2010

My daughter's name is different... it's Aaralyn (Air-a-lyn) I love it, but I'm sure it will give some people a hard time! My grandfather can't say it at all and often calls her Erin- but he's very hard of hearing! I'm not fond of very out there names, espically ones that are really hard to say! I work in daycare and it's not fun to have to figure out how to say a little one's name (when it takes you three days to get it right!)

Desiree - posted on 12/09/2010

I like names with good strong history and meanings.

Krista - posted on 12/09/2010

I like names that are unusual and interesting, but not so whackadoodle that they could impede the kid's professional prospects when he or she gets older.

I'm also not a fan of "creative" spellings of existing names. My husband's cousin named her little boy Kameryn. I mean, that poor guy is going to have to correct people on his name's spelling for the rest of his life. If it's a mild variation, that's one thing: (like Krista/Christa or Sara/Sarah, for example), but to completely rejigger the name around and add in all sorts of superfluous letters just to make it unique? Meh -- not a fan of that.

Anika - posted on 12/09/2010

I really liked the name Kahurangi for a middle name for my daughter (its Maori for precious) but that would have given her the initials KKK. Um. No. So she's got KTK instead LOL My friend's niece has the initials JAM. Haha

And I agree with Caitlin's point, I think sibling's names should go together. My name is uncommon (mum loves uncommon names) but my brother is Aaron (Dad picked it). I always wished he had a more uncommon name too, like Jebidiah or something LOL That being said, I think its tacky when the names match too much. Like little JAM above, her first name is Jade and now she has a sister called Amber. And then once I saw an article about a family who had named all their kids after Ford car makes! Seriously?! One of the kids was called Bonus!

Desiree - posted on 12/09/2010

Thank you Natasha, It is beautiful and its all family names. It just gets very difficult and really funny when people see the length. Mine is Desiree' (my mom got mine from a dream) Duarte is my grandmother maiden name, Marques is my maiden name and Rowe is chosen as my married name. Everyone special in its own right.

Desiree - posted on 12/09/2010

Jaime - School system is quite normal done in English, and you have to take Afrikaans and then one of the African languages, Zulu, Xosa, Sotho, Twsana and the list grows. So we get odd names and even odder pronounciations.

Jaime - posted on 12/09/2010

My initials are JRY, JRJ before I got married. Hubby's are JBY, and our daughter's will be JRY like mine, haha. If we ever have a son, his initials will be BAY. We thought nothing of the initials when we decided on names, but I don't think they're that bad. At least our daughter won't be called J.J. the Jet Plane xD

Natasha - posted on 12/09/2010

Desiree, I am one of those people who think about what my children's initals are going to be. My husand is MAD and I am no NRD (he calls me Nerd :), which I am) and our son's initals are SRD. If Seth had been a girl her initals were going to be DAD, which has been changed to AAD if this baby happens to be a girl, but if it is a boy his initals will be KND (Mike likes that it is close to candy, but he's weird).
And your mom has a beautiful, if long, name.

Jaime - posted on 12/09/2010

Desiree ~ Wow, eleven official languages? That is pretty awesome to me! I can only imagine what the school systems might be like.

Desiree - posted on 12/09/2010

Teresa Interesting names I am assuming one is a girl and one is a boy. Nakia (female can be male too) - unconquered and the most unusual I have never heard is used as a first name is Nkozi (male) which is Zulu for Chief or King... My Daughter has the Unusual name Cathlin is Irish for Cathrine meaning truth. I don't mind unusual names I live in South Africa and there are hundred of different names and you can get pronunciations them so wrong especially with 11 official languages.



Edit: just a a thought names are great but do people actually think when they name their children as to what the initials will spell or how a child will feel carrying more than 3 names including their surname. How do fill your name in on some of the documents there is barely enough space for one never mind 7.

A good example in my mom her names are as follows.

Manuela, Maria, de Fatimia, de Lima, Duarte, Ramahlo Marques..

Now how is that for a name?

Caitlin - posted on 12/09/2010

Nichole - Icouldn't help but think that there is an arthritis rub thingy and the brand is Lacota..

I kind of rpefer the traditional names more, and since people are mispelling and making up names left right and center, chances are when my kids get to school their names will be unique anyways.

I used to work at a store and I screened a lot of job applications for the boss (even though it wasn't really my job - but he didn't want to waste his time going through all fo them) and I saw my fair share of odd names, but I feel that if the spelling of a name makes you look illiterate or is almost impossible to pronounce, it's not really the first thing you want someone to see on an application - though it sounds kind of cruel, I noticed it did affect the way I read the application.

I acutally like the name Tallulah (but it's a bit out there for my daughter I think). I have a Kayla and a Zoe, so something out there for #3 would look odd. I liked the name Braeden for a boy, and that's the gaelic spelling, and being part scottish, it's only appropriate I feel. I didn't put an Umlaut on Zoe's name because it's not my culture (and it would be hell for her trying to get an umlaut on everything when she's older)

Funny story, my sisters friend growing up was named something like Jenny Su (I don't remember the first name, so I made it up, not important anyways). Either way, the health cards here have a minimum of 3 letters per name, and at the time if it wasn't 3 letters long they would add an "x" at the end (they don't to it anymore).. Everytime she went to the hospital, they called her Jenny Sux... Poor girl..

LaCi - posted on 12/09/2010

"So now I'm curious, what's your full first name LaCi?"

meh. Personal information on COM. It's just got another syllable attached to it. I was wrong though, there is a canadian originally from africa with my (almost exact minus one technicality) first name. So... there are two of us. Which is fine. There's room for two I suppose.

Shauna - posted on 12/08/2010

Whatever floats peoples boats!!!! however this girl i know named her child "destiny" and spelled it Dezzteny.... and "Gavin" Gayvin ..... my opinon .... DUMB .... looks like a uneducated fool spelled those names ... and guess what she is ... shes a highschool drop out :") ...... but honestly i dont care what you name your children or how you spell them ... but sometimes you just gotta say "really?"

Kate CP - posted on 12/08/2010

I like normal names. Normal...traditional names. My kids names are Samantha and Paul. Not common, but normal. People know how to pronounce them and how to spell them and I don't feel like a moron when I'm calling to my kid from across the park. :P

Nichole - posted on 12/08/2010

I love unique names. Like my son is Lacota. I didn't want him to be 1 of 5 "nichole's" or "ryan's" like me & his daddy were. He will likely be the only Lacota in his grade, maybe even school. I like that. Makes him special,and I think his name is cute for a baby/child, but also "manly" for when he's grown.

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

My sister went to school and was friends with a girl named ZZ (pronounced zee-zee). She also went to school with a boy named Mister.

Charlie - posted on 12/08/2010

We had a Japanese student named A .

Julie you have the best surname of ALL time !

Julie - posted on 12/08/2010

It's not the "misspellings" of common names that get me. It's the ones who name thier kids oddball Items...
My aunt used to run a preschool. She had 2 kids ( siblings) One was called PB and the other was called RV. Yes Paint Brush and Recreational Vehicle... My initial thought was what where the parents doing when they got pregnant???

My daughter has a normal name with a somewhat normal spelling. her name is Kailtlin Janelle.
Her grandmothers names are Katherine and Laura and it was the closest name I could fine to both. Janelle is from one of my cousins. How ever I did want to name my Daughter Coralleeanne Elizabeth ( Coral like the in the sea- Lee - Ann , It took months for people to convence me that that was not a good choice. My Aunt finally put it to me this way.

She said lets do a demonstration.. She had my cousin go to the end of the hallway in the house. Then she said pretend that your cousin is that baby whe she gets older. Now this kid has just got in to the flour in the kitchen that you just cleaned and you just discovered it. Yell her full name... I couldn't say the full name in one breath, I then deided that if I couldn't yell her name in one breath it was not worth naming her with that name. My daughter is now 10 and hates that I didn't Use a Y ( Kaitlyn) or the other 5000 ways I have seen the name spelled. in her name. It bugs me to see the letter Y in the middle of a name. I guess that is becuse when I was growing up I thought that Y's on went on the Beginning or End of a name.

Natasha - posted on 12/08/2010

Ok, so I have to get in on this. My sister's boss was commenting the other day that he thinks it's a personal attack on parents if thier kids don't take their advice when they are naming thier kids. I literrally laughed out loud when I heard that. Now, this comment comes on the heels of his friend's son (who is a grown, married adult) naming his son TUFF. I will admit that it is a little out there for me, but it is thier choice. My son's middle name is Ryder, and it has a deeply personal meaning for me. My FIL hates it, but as I hace told him, it's the choice of my husband and myself. We also have names picked out for the baby on the way, and he doesn't like either of them. Kai for a boy or Auruora for a girl.

As for unusual spellings, I am ok with them to a point. Changing an "i" to a "y" or "ie" doesn't bother me. I have friends whose name is Shierre and Ashleah and they don't matter to me. It does make things harder for them though, since they are popular names, but they still have to spell them. I believe it's a personal choice.

Stifler's - posted on 12/08/2010

Good on them for banning those ridiculous names bahahah

Anika - posted on 12/08/2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2...

My favourite from that article was 'Number 16 bus shelter'. Why oh why? Poor kid. What the hell would you call him/her for short? 16? Bus? I know! Shelly LOL.

I know here also a family was stopped from calling their kid M3 which stood for Mighty Mongrel Mob (the Mongrel Mob being one of the prominent gangs in NZ).

Rebecca - posted on 12/08/2010

My brother in law worked in the birth certificate office once. The worst teen mom name her saw, for twins no less, phonetically it sounds like Orongelo and Laymahngelo. However it's spelled, Orangejello and Lemonjello. That's right, the kids were named after jello flavours.

I thought the goal was to keep your kids off the pole? Sorry, but if you give your kid a stripper name (and I'm not saying all made up names/added letter name are) you got no one to blame but yourself.

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

I remember reading about that name Anika and I think the authorities actually ruled that the parents were not allowed to name their child that. I don't remember the outcome, but I do recall reading about it. Some people are just a bit extreme when it comes to naming their kids...lol

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

Thanks Jaime...notice I spell my name the same way you do...lol

Everyone spells it wrong...I'm used to it, but I do correct people whenever I can.

Anika - posted on 12/08/2010

Still doesnt beat "Talullah does the hula in Hawaii". I shit you not.

Erin - posted on 12/08/2010

Oooh I forgot my personal favourite of stupid names from the surgery... brother and sister named Flame and Fyre.

Lady Heather - posted on 12/08/2010

Iris - I heard Freja was one of the top names in Denmark last year! Just what someone told me. My husband's family is Swedish so that's why we chose it. His name is Leif. So she's not the only one with a Scandinavian name. And everyone spells his name Lief or even Leaf. Ahahaha. Or people call him Lee. Poor thing. I do plan on giving all the kids Scandinavian names just because they fit with the last name better. I will be the lone Scot. They will all have Scottish middle names though.

Stifler's - posted on 12/08/2010

Yeah LaCi I'm curious too, what's your real first name??

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

Jaime-Leigh, I love your son's name :) It's great, and I've never heard of Gray for a name other than one of my favorite characters in a video game I used to play. Harvest Moon, great game...

I love the name Eliot too. Your son's name seems pretty strong :)

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

I'm indifferent on this subject because I really don't mind unique names or unique spellings most of the time. I will admit that when my sister named my niece and nephew and then showed me the spellings of each, I was like "wtf?" but I'm over it now. My niece is Emli and my nephew is Nikkilis. My son, Gray is not common at all, but I absolutely love his name and though it is unique, it also has meaning for me which I think he will appreciate when he is older. His middle names are Eliot and John. I spelled Eliot with one 'l' and 't' for a reason, so I don't think I was too 'out there' with his name choice.

Sherri - posted on 12/08/2010

I live unusual names but not so out there that no one can pronounce it or spell it. However, I HATE names that are spelled differently then they should be. I watch a girl and her name is Ashley spelt Ashlee and I can't stand it. For the rest of her life will have to now spell her name. WHY??

Jaime - posted on 12/08/2010

Jenny, I'm glad I'm not the only person out there who gets a bit agitated when someone has my name sitting right in front of them in the form of a web post or a driver's license and they STILL can't spell it correctly. I know how you feel.

Jackie - posted on 12/08/2010

I'm more inclined to go with strong classic names. The made up names and names of inanimate objects kind of annoy me. Some names that are unual have grown on me though. I like Maleah and just saw a name on that list... Trendee. I have to admit, I kinda like it but I don't think I would actually use it.

I named my daughter Allison but I wanted to name her Jillian but Jon xxx'ed that one :(

Becky - posted on 12/08/2010

Working in Child Welfare, we came accross some real doozies. One of my coworkers had a client named Marijuana. Seriously. I've also seen Summer Breeze, Spring Raine (they were siblings, go figure), boys named Heaven (I don't mind the name for a girl, but I don't like it on a boy) and I can't remember some of the others.
There are some less common names that I think are beautiful - Sianna, Kalea, Kimea (it's Hawaiian). But there is a difference between naming your child something unusual - maybe because it has special meaning to you or is from your ethnic background, and naming them something ridiculous like Pilot Inspektor!

Jenny - posted on 12/08/2010

So now I'm curious, what's your full first name LaCi?

I picked Jacob and Grace for my kids. Simple, strong, classic, easy to spell and pronounce. You're welcome kids. But sorry to Jacob who will likely go through life as Jacob G.

Hannah - posted on 12/08/2010

I love unique names but I HATE weird spellings.

My daughters name is Emery Rene- her middle name is my moms

My sons name is Brody Lee- his middle name is my husbands



My name is rather unique or at least used to be. When I was a kid I hated my name so much that I told everyone my name was Nicole (it was popular at the time). I had a bunch of friends over for my birthday party and they were all calling me Nicole. My mom was pretty pissed about that. I have grown to love my name, I think it is beautiful. I was named after some chick on the movie "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".

LaCi - posted on 12/08/2010

I love unique names. My name, which is not actually LaCi, was made up. I used to hate it, now I love it. There isn't a single person on the planet with my full first name.

I do see a point at which trying to make a name "unique" only makes it ridiculous. Less is more most of the time.