Weekend Open Thread

I’m almost four months pregnant now and lately, Drew and I have been discussing baby names quite a bit. We should probably also be discussing pediatricians and possible day care options, but let’s face it: baby names are a lot more fun. At this point, we don’t know whether we’re having a boy or a girl, so we’ve got a couple names for both genders that we really like. We’re almost certain on our #1 names, but middle names are still a little hazey (hmm… Haze…Hayes?).

Anyway, all this focus on names got me thinking about our own names — your names, my name, the names we use online — all of it. My own name — Wendy — was one my mom just happened to like. At the time, it was a little unusual — she’d never met a Wendy before — and she liked the way it sounded. She convinced my dad, whose full name starts with an E and ends with an N (I’ll let you figure that one out), that it would be sort of like naming me after him — that if you switched the letters in his name you’d get Wendi-with-an-i. He liked that, and eventually my mother was able to persuade him to spell my name with a ‘y.’

A few weeks after my mother discovered she was pregnant with me, she had signs of a miscarriage. Her doctor ordered her to bed rest for the weekend and she went to sleep worried that she might be losing me. That night, she dreamed she was flying in a plane that suddenly experienced a lot of turbulence and had to make an emergency landing. She was able to get off the plane safely, though it was touch and go for a bit, and as she departed, she turned back around and saw in big, bold letters the name “Wendy” written on the side of the plane. The rest of the story, of course, is that I was not miscarried, and my mother delivered me safely many months later and named me Wendy.

So, what is the story of your name — either your birth name or the name you go by here? Do you have nicknames, and if so, how did you get them? And since this is a site about relationships, do you and your significant other have any pet names for each other? My pet name for Drew is Fatso.

216 Comments

  1. My name is Alecia and my mom until late in the pregnancy and because of my size (I was 9lb 7oz). She chose my name after going back and forth with Ebony and my name, but decided my name sounded more unique. It’s pronounced like most other Alicia’s but she decided to spell it differently. It suits me I must say because not many people have my name and a very few have my spelling, but more than that I feel like it suits my personality. My nickname, however, is Bobo and that was because of my coloring and size when I was a newborn thought I looked like Yogi’s infamous sidekick. My parents still call me this and I’m 23, but honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  2. My full name is Nicolette. My mother is Latina and originally wanted to name me Nicolasa (haha), after a childhood friend. However, nobody in her family liked it. She also played around with the names Zuelama, Jesenia, and Yolanda. However, she changed her mind when she was told the Americanized nicknames associated with those names. She is not a fan of nicknames.But, she kept going back to Nicolasa and played around with it till she thought of Nicolette. She loved it and insists that I choose my own name. She had no clue that it was an old French name! But I love my name since I think it is quite pretty and a bit different (though not eccentric). However, most people call me Nico (much to my mother’s chagrin).

  3. Well my name is Deirdre (Dear-dree). My parents couldn’t agree on what to name me, so my brother, who was 3 at the time and absolutely certain that he was going to have a baby sister, suggested they name me Deirdre after his babysitter. And they liked it enough that they did! It is a Gaelic name, even though that’s not my background.

    I go by Dre, though (yes, like Dr. Dre). Because all of my life, it has seemed like nobody could pronounce my name. I get everything under the sun… Dee-dra, Day-dra, Dee-dree, Deondra, Deshandra, you name. I got so sick of reminding people how to pronounce my name that I just told them to call me Dee. But, I always HATED being called Dee. It never really felt like my name and I always felt slightly embarrassed to tell people my name was Dee.

    But when I got to college, I met this guy who was crazy into hip hop. He was a big thug and decided that since the last three letters of my name were D-R-E he was going to call me Dre. And since we were in media, one of our projects was to design a CD cover. And about 10 of us decided to make albums for our “pretend” hip hop crew. We all had to have hip hop names and mine ended up being Dre Stylez.

    Well, I just happened to really like going by Dre Stylez, and it just stuck! So for the last 7 years I have been Miss Dre or Miss Stylez. I love it. It feels like ME! I still like being called Deirdre… if you can say it right…

    1. TheOtherMe says:

      Your name story is cool Dre !

  4. TheOtherMe says:

    There is no real “story” behind my name. Isabelle. I actually have always thought it suits me perfectly. I have met other Isabelle’s and I think there are some similarities. My BF calls them “Ism’s”. My two best friends are also called Isabelle and as strange as it is, there were not that many of us with that name when I was in school. My anglophone friends tend to call me Bella but now that nickname has been spoiled by the Twilight movies !

    1. TheOtherMe says:

      Oh, and If I had been a boy, my brother really wanted my parents to name me Patrick, he was 6 when I was born.

      1. TheOtherMe says:

        and I also like my middle name too. Ok sorry I will stop replying to myself now…

      2. fast eddie says:

        Because of our friendship (we pass messages on TF) I think of you as “Issy”. Perhaps because you so lovable.

      3. TheOtherMe says:

        YES! Izzie, I forgot about Izzie.( or Issy) My french friends sometimes call me Isa.
        Thanks Eddie !

    2. honeybeenicki says:

      I love the name Isabelle (and Isabella) and my husband and I have thrown that name around for kids names, but Twilight ruined it for us. Apparently the top two baby names right now are Jacob and Bella/Isabella.

  5. Addie Pray says:

    “Addie Pray” is the name of the little girl in Paper Moon, a favorite movie of mine. She’s played by Tatum O’Neal.

    1. Addie Pray says:

      And ever since I was 12 when I first saw the movie, I’ve wanted to name a daughter Addie or Tatum. I love them both.

  6. ReginaRey says:

    My real name isn’t ACTUALLY Regina, which may sound weird to people who’ve been used to seeing it here. When I was younger I decided that every aspiring author needed a pen name with sexy alliteration, so I decided upon “Regina Reynolds” for fun. Not sure I’d use it NOW, because it also kind of sounds like a porn star name, but it’s been a good screen name at various sites! 🙂

    My real first name is pretty common and I know a lot of girls with the same name.
    But I like my middle name – Lee. Not the girl version, “Leigh,” but the guy spelling. It was was great grandmother’s middle name, and she passed it down to my grandmother, who passed it down to my mother, who passed it to me. If I’m lucky enough to have a girl one day, I’ll definitely be passing it down to her. I think 5 generations of consistency is a pretty cool thing, and I’d love to see how long the tradition can be upheld.

    1. My middle name is Lee, too! It was also passed down in my family. My grandmother has the middle name Lee, and she married my grandpa who coincidentally had the same middle name. So they gave it to both of their girls (my mom and aunt) who passed it down to me and my cousin Katie. We plan on using it for our girls to see how long the tradition can last!

      1. ReginaRey says:

        That’s funny! I guess Lee isn’t as uncommon for a girl as I had thought.

        And as for names I like…My grandmother’s name was Evelyn and I really want to name a girl Evelyn Lee, and call her Evy (Ee-vee). Not gonna lie, the main character (Rachel Weisz) in the Mummy (guilty pleasure movie!) was Evelyn and went by “Evy” and I thought it was so cute! She’s also gorgeous and plays a nerdy art historian, so that probably adds to my love of the name. I also like the names Charlotte and Alice. I love old, almost nostalgic names.

        The only name I like for a boy so far is Luke. And yes, as in Skywalker. Not the Disciple, haha!

      2. Painted_lady says:

        I have a student named Evelyn and everyone calls her Evy. She’s cute as she can be, and I completely adore her name because it fits her and it’s different from the five thousand Cassies and Caitlyns I have.

      3. Woman of Words says:

        I named my daughter after a character in a movie too… When I was a teenager I watched The Swan, starring Grace Kelly as Princess Alexandra. She was just so strikingly beautiful I decided that any future daughter would be named Alexandra Grace. When I met my husband he knew it was part of the deal! Just very happy that we were fortunate enough to have a beautiful daughter to bestow the name upon!

      4. I got named after a movie character as well….sort of. My Mom got to pick my first name, and she picked Erin because she liked it. Then my Dad picked my middle name – Jennifer after Jennifer Beals from flashdance because he thought she was hot. Yeah.

        My mom then got upset, not because of the flashdance thing, but because she thought he was trying to secretly pick the first name since ‘Jennifer Erin’ sounded better than ‘Erin Jennifer’. In any case, my name is ‘Jennifer Erin’ but I’ve always been called and gone by ‘Erin’, which can get confusing!

      5. My grandmother’s middle name is Lee (Sandra Lee) and she named my uncle after her (Kevin Lee).

  7. I wanted to name my daughters Skyler and Gracie, however their dad convinced me to name them Hannah and Tayler. I really regret not going with my gut and naming them what I had wanted to name them.

    1. Addie Pray says:

      Those are cute names too though!

  8. My name was originally going to be Stephanie, after this insufferable cousin I’m related to, but my mom was horrified when her sister pointed out that Stephanie kind of sounded like staph infection (sorry to all the Stephanies, my mom was just off her nut because of the hormones). Then she heard my dad’s sister say that when she has a daughter she’s going to name her Sarah Kathryn, and my mom fell in love with that. She didn’t want to totally boost my aunt’s name pick though so she said that if I was born a brunette like every other person in the family, I would be Stephanie, if by some freaky chance I was blonde, I would be Sarah Katie. Ta-da.

    My aunt was pissed.

    As far as names I LOVE and would name my hypothetical children, for boys I like August and Nolan. For girls I like Penelope and Lena. You can’t get cuter than a red headed kid named Penelope, think about it Wendy!

    1. Addie Pray says:

      Love the suggestion!

    2. I love the name Lena! I’ve never met anyone else that liked it!

    3. Your story is really similar to my best friend’s growing up. When we were 9, her parents were about to have their third child, a little boy. Their entire family has super dark hair (pretty much black) and an olive complexion. She was insistent that they name the baby “Ryan” because she loved it so much. To appease her, they told her that if the baby was born with blond hair, they would choose her name (obviously thinking it would never happen). Lo and behold, he came out with a full head of bright blond hair, and they held true to their word and named him Ryan. She was so proud! I just love that story.

      As for me, my parents named me Kristen because they just liked the name and they were apparently searching for a girls name that couldn’t be shortened into a nickname, particularly a nickname that could be confused for a boys name (i.e. Samantha/Sam). When I was little, they corrected anyone who tried to shorten my name (“Kristie”/”Kris”/etc.) so the full name just stuck. Of course, it turns out that I’ve always adored nicknames because I like the distinction between the name that people you know and love call you versus your full name, but that never happened for me. For the record, I fully intend on naming my kids names that can be endearingly shortened. Right now, my favorite girl name is Sophie.

    4. honeybeenicki says:

      Penelope is a pretty name 🙂 My husband and I are looking into AI so we can have kids in the near future (with AI and the ridiculous number of multiples in my family, I may end up with more than one at once) and we have picked a few names we like including Roarke Jacob or Jacob Roarke (Roarke is the name of the male lead in the J.D. Robb In Death books, Jacob would be for my husband’s late father whose last name was Jacobson but everyone called him Jake), Jeremiah and Josiah. For girls, I’m pretty set on Temperence Laurelei or Temperence Elizabeth. Temperence is the female lead in the Kathy Reichs books and TV show Bones (I liked the books first, fortunately) and Elizabeth is my great-grandma’s name. And Laurelei is the name of the Gilmore Girls 🙂 I’m big on family or literary names.

      1. Skyblossom says:

        My daughter’s middle name is Elizabeth which is her paternal grandmother’s middle name. After she was named grandma told us that she had that middle name because it was the first name of both of her grandmothers so my daughter is pleased to have her middle name linked to so many ancestors and to be named for her grandmother in the same way that her grandmother was named for her grandmothers.

      2. honeybeenicki says:

        I really wanted to honor my great-grandparents, but my stepson’s middle name is Michael (great-grandpa) and my husband doesn’t want another child with Michael in their name. I would have loved to be able to share one of my ancestor’s names. I have also considered ways of honoring my mom’s parents (both of them passed away before my mom was 15), but their names are Betty (real name, not short) and Walter and neither me nor my husband like either of those.

    5. Skyblossom says:

      I have a friend called Penny who was constantly teased by being called dime and nickle and would have prefered another name.

      1. honeybeenicki says:

        I knew a girl named Penny and I think she got the same jokes. I always wanted a different name because Nicki rhymes with a lot of bad joke names.

    6. sweetleaf says:

      My daughter’s name is Penelope! I call her Nelly for short:)

  9. Quakergirl says:

    My parents named me thinking they’d call me by the nickname for my name, but it’s far too prissy and cutesy for my personality. I actually don’t really like my full name either (much to my parents’ chagrin). I do, however, love the name my dad wanted to call me– Max. I was going to be Max (a family name) if I had been a boy, but my dad wanted to make it Maxine and just call me Max anyway. My mom was having none of it, though. I still feel like I would have been a much more awesome child as a Max. I absolutely love my middle name (Fay, also a family name, and I’m born on my namesake’s birthday), but I never considered going by it. Not sure why.

    I can’t hold too much against my parents in terms of naming though. My first name was fairly common in the 80s, so what can you do? Plus, naming a child is a lot of pressure. What if there are all sorts of horrible nicknames you’d never even considered? What if they don’t like the name? What if it doesn’t suit them? What if people can’t spell it? All of Quakerboy’s names are spelled unusually, the poor thing, and as much as I love his names, it has to be kind of a pain to be correcting people all the time. The nickname for his first name also gets confusing because people assume his full name is something else. We’re just going to have to try extra hard to give our kids easy-to-spell first and middle names to combat the last name and hope for the best. It’s not even that weird, but it’s a more traditional German spelling of a very common last name. I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone else who spells it that way.

    What names are you thinking about, Wendy?

    1. SpaceySteph says:

      Hah my best friend growing up’s middle name was Fay and she HATED it. Its really funny to me how one person loves it, another hates it.
      I never had such strong feelings about my name (Stephanie). Its pretty standard and uninteresting I guess, but there’s really nothing to love or hate about it.

      1. Quakergirl says:

        I think part of it depends on your connection to the name. I’m named Fay after my dad’s mother, who passed away before I was born. But she seemed like this awesome woman who was so stylish and snappy and funny. And just hearing the stories about her from my dad it sounds like we have very similar habits and personalities (and a shared birthday). Apparently she liked to have tea and a piece of cake for breakfast, which, as a pastry chef, I probably do more than I should. And she definitely didn’t put up with anyone’s crap, and I’m known to be somewhat sassy. I feel like the name helps keep her around, because she and my dad were so close, and I’m sorry I never had the chance to meet her. I love the name, but I also like the associations I have with it.

        Maybe that’s why I don’t really like my first name– Amanda– because it just doesn’t have any meaning to me. I don’t have any connection to it. I’m definitely not a Mandy, though. No particular grievances with the name, but it’s just not my style.

  10. Astronomer says:

    The last guy I dated has the same name as my cat. We had a few really, really awkward moments as a result. For example, one night before sexy-time, I said (in my stern cat-mom voice), “Ben, get off the bed.” My boyfriend jumped up, very confused. My cat just sat there and looked smug. After that, I had to consciously differentiate by referring to them as “person Ben” and “cat Ben.” Total lady-boner killer.

    1. honeybeenicki says:

      I had that problem once, but just renamed my boyfriend at the time 😉

      1. Fairhaired Child says:

        I renamed one of my coworkers at one of my old jobs before. Just because his name was Josh, and he was cute but I had already dated 3 Joshs, a Justin, and a Jeffery. I was tired of J names, and it seemed like I had alot of J named friends in fact my neighbors growing up were a family of 4 kids, and all the boys had j names and were almost exactly 2 years apart each (Joseph, Justin and Jacob).

        Anywho I liked flirting with Josh but didnt want to flirt with another Josh. So I renamed him david. And called him that all the time at work. Coworkers would get confused and I told them it was his middle name and he liked to be called david. (it wasnt his middle name or anywhere close to it). Eventually he accepted I’d always call him David, so he renamed me too I dont remember what he called me though.

      2. honeybeenicki says:

        Some of my friends and I do that alot. Sometimes its just variations on someones name (we have a friend Michelle we we call Mitch-elle), but sometimes its a whole new name. Michelle’s boyfriend’s name is William but I couldn’t remember it when I was trying to introduce him to people at a gathering we had and accidentally called him Michael and that has just kind of stuck.

  11. We’re stuck on middle names as well. I think we’ve settled on a potential girl middle name, but we cannot decide on a boy one (still don’t know the gender, so it may not matter). My husband got the “brilliant” idea of a middle name of Tyrannosaurus as a boy middle name, and a few of his (crazy) work buddies LOVE it. I have told my husband there is no way I will ever agree to it, so I need to come up with better ideas.

    If anyone has ideas, I would love to hear them! The first name would be Alexander (With Lex used as the nickname) and the last name is 2 syllable starting with an “S”. We have a few ideas (Nathan, Brendan) but none have really seemed awesome. Both first and last names end in “er”, so the middle name shouldn’t. Personally, I like 1-2 syllable names that don’t start with A, L, R, or S. I prefer ones that don’t start with a vowel (first name starts with a vowel already).

    1. I think John would be a good middle name because he would have the potential to be called AJ. If you don’t like that, I think Thomas would flow nicely (Its one of my brothers middle names)

      1. I like Thomas – I’ll run that by my husband. I’m not a huge fan of John – reminds me of toilets…

    2. Britannia says:

      Maybe I’m crazy… but I like the name Tyrannosaurus! He’d be the coolest kid on the playground, and you could call him ‘Ty’ for short.

      And what about Paxton for a middle name? I love, love, LOVE the name Paxton, and Alexander Paxton sounds so… regal and old-school 🙂

      1. Skyblossom says:

        Or give him Ty as a middle name and let him know it means Tyrannosaurus.

      2. I don’t really like the flow of Lex Ty. My husband didn’t like Paxton – we already talked about that one – he thought it had too many x’s in the name.

    3. Fairhaired Child says:

      How about Mason? I like the name Mason as well.
      (in my post below my friend Woods goes by the name Mason which is not at all his name -he’s in the masonic lodge – and he wants to name his future son Mason)

      1. Mason has a good ring – I think I like ones that end in “n” – I’ll run that by my husband.

    4. Cole popped into my head. Not sure why, as that hasn’t been on the radar for us at all, but Alexander Cole S-er sounds very regal!

      1. Eagle Eye says:

        I think that it must mean that England/ the royal wedding is rubbing off on you!

      2. I really liked Cole as well. I went through a “c” phase a while back and went through all of them. Cole sounded too much like coal to my husband, so he didn’t like it. I had really liked Caleb as well, but that has some bad association for my husband.

      3. margblogger says:

        As an Alexandrea, I fully support the name Alexander!

    5. You could always compromise with the name Tyran (TARE-EN). Its a real name but I think it is considered feminine.

      1. I’m not a big fan of that name – I think he will get over this whole naming the kid after a dinosaur phase…

    6. Shane…just the first name that popped into my head.

      1. Whoops, sorry, you don’t like S.

      2. Yeah – the initials ASS are just asking for it…

    7. It’s weird how hard it is to come up with this last middle name. We immediately agreed on three different first names years before we were having kids (2 girl ones and 1 boy one).

  12. I was originally supposed to be a Sean. When my mom went into labor early they did and ultrasound to make sure I was ready and it turns out the son they had been planning for was a daughter. My parents spent half her labor trying to decide what to name me because they had never thought of a girl’s name. My mom decided she would name me Nicole. That was the name my cousin was supposed to be named before my aunt named her Tara (to spite her racist mother who thought it sounded like a “black” name) so my mom ended up frantically calling my aunt from across the country to ask her permission to name me Nicole. Middle of the night for us, early morning for her. She didn’t get a hold of my aunt until she was pushing. Just imagine the frantic phone call asking to use the name as the doctor was telling my mom she needed to push. Of course my aunt said yes. Ten minutes later I was born. My name is Crystal. Why all the drama I’ll never know, my mom always told me she just liked the name Crystal and when I came out it felt right. A year later they got the Sean they were expecting and my younger sister is Nicole.

    My girlfriend calls me Princess Pea because I have a slight fixation on making sure my bedsheets are clean. If there’s a speck of dust I can feel it and it keeps me up at night. My mom called me Birdie because when I was younger I would squawk and open my mouth like a baby bird when I wanted to be fed.

    I love the name Agatha for a girl but everyone tells me they hate it, as well as my second fav of Theodora. I plan on naming my son(s) Nathaniel and Carter and one daughter will definitely be Althea Joan. I love Althea and Joan was my mom’s name.

    1. I love the name Agatha, it so old fashioned and noone has it! I was gonna name my first girl Dorothea but I decided on madsion abigail instead. No kids yets but at least me and FH agreed on the first girls name 🙂

    2. Painted_lady says:

      Go with Agatha!!!! It’s adorable. Aggie’s an adorable nickname, too.

    3. Britannia says:

      I’m highly phonetic when it comes to name preferences, which is why I wouldn’t choose Agatha or Aggie – to me, it sounds like someone choking.

      I love the name Althea though! That’s beautiful and unique 🙂

      1. Painted_lady says:

        Haha! I totally see that. I just think tiny kids with old people names are adorable, and then it’s also a name that fits them as an adult. Some of the super-cutesy names out there make me wonder if parents are aware they’re responsible for the fact that one day there’s going to be a fully grown adult having to introduce themselves as “Princess” or “Precious” and everyone will have to keep a straight face.

      2. I actually know of a guy named Princess…naturally he goes by his middle name, Steve 🙂

      3. Skyblossom says:

        There was a professor at my university who named his daughter Candy and his last name was Kane. Candy Kane. Poor kid.

      4. TheOtherMe says:

        Poor kid is right, that sounds like a stage name ( and by stage, I mean porn )

      5. What a champion.

      6. I think it sounds pretty. It’s so old-fashioned and gothic sounding. I also like the nickname of Aggie because it sounds like “Maggie”. If I didn’t dislike Margaret so much I would totally name my girl that just so I can call her Maggie.

  13. I was named Mandy because my mom loved Barry Manilow. No, seriously.

    And my dad has a first cousin back in Ireland whose name is Mandy – she’s a champion Irish dancer, and my parents agreed upon the name.

    I’ve always liked it – though my name is actually Amanda, I’ve never been called that, except for by an uncle who refuses to call me Mandy on principle. I don’t get it, either.

    If I were a boy, I was going to be Sean or Matthew. I find both names rather boring (no offense to any friends of a Sean or Matthew!), and I’m glad I got the very-’80s name that I did.

    1. My nephew’s name is Sean Matthew! Lol

  14. I’ve always wanted to have a boy and name him Raheem Malik. My boyfriend has told me that there is no way he will ever name any son of his Raheem so I guess I’m SOL… I also like the name Patience for a girl but my boyfriend hates that as well. I love the name Na’ima, but I already called my cat that. Maybe if I have a daughter I’ll name her Na’ima #2… LoL =P

    1. an old boss of mine named her son Malik Stanton, because she thought it sounded liek the kind of name a rich man would have! (no lie!)

    2. honeybeenicki says:

      I think Na’ima #2 sounds great 🙂 I named two of my pets “family” names I would have liked to use for kids but I imagine any future daughter would be offended if I named her after a smelly bulldog (Emma) or a pokey hedgehog (Sophia, Sophie for short).

  15. I love my spelling of my name because not as many people have it, but I am really sick of always having to say “Kristina with a K” over the phone, or to other people when I have to spell my name, and I can see them already hitting the backspace key. And then I get really odd questions sometimes of once I say that of exactly how to spell Kristina with a K.

    There isn’t an interesting story to my name or anything, and I don’t like any nicknames that go along with my name at all.

    1. My middle name is Kristena… I have never met anyone else who spells it with an e instead of an i. But I like it much better with a K.

    2. I know what you mean, Kristina! On the phone people always think my name is Stephanie- so I always have to say Bethany, with a B, and if they still don’t get it, I have to say “like the beach in Delaware” (for those of us on the East coast)

      1. Oh wow, I would never have thought that Stephanie and Bethany get easily confused on the phone, but that definitely makes sense.

        Sadly, sometimes I just start spelling my first name from the beginning so there’s no confusion. 🙂

      2. That’s what I do with my last name… it’s only 3 letters, but it’s kind of odd, so I just spell it right from the beginning.

      3. eel avocado says:

        I love Bethany Beach! Great little town.

    3. honeybeenicki says:

      I always have to tell people “Nichole with an H” and they often get confused as to where in the name the H goes.

  16. My online name (Majin, pronounced “Mah-jeen”) is based on a misspelling of my real first name, Megan. A few years ago at work, I called another clinic to have some patient records faxed over to me and when they asked whose attention it should be directed, I told them “Megan” and that’s how they chose to interpret it. I’ve seen “Meghan”, “Meagan”, etc throughout my life, but that was a new one. When one of the fellows I was working with saw it, he said “Ah, Majin” in his vaguely Filipino accent. And that was it.

    When it comes to naming our own children someday, Dr. Mr. Dr. Majin and I are thankfully on the same page. While we fully intend to have a short list of names on hand prior to his or her birth, we don’t want to share them with family until it’s too late for them to try to change our minds. Instead, we intend to refer to our unborn child as “Dirk-Bert”, the two family names, Dirk and Lambert, that no one EVER has any interest in reviving. Keep ’em guessing!

    1. stillalive says:

      The “Dirk-Bert” bit just made me laugh. I think perhaps we’ll do the same with “Ralph.”

      1. I laughed like a crazy person the first I came up with it. I’m totally looking forward to using it on unsuspecting family members in the future. Except Dirk, my father-in-law. Bert is my dear departed grandfather, so I’m safe there.

  17. My name is Michelle after my grandfather Michael. My parents did not know if I would be a girl or a boy, so if I was a boy I would have been Michael. (haha little repetitive). If I was born closer to Christmas I would have been Natalie, like nativity. I really like my name and am soooo glad that I didnt get Natelie. I cannot even imagine the nasally Naaaa sound it would get from my mom screaming it across the house. (Long Island accent anyone?)

    btw I think that might be a good thing to think about before naming kids. How does it sound when its being yelled? Well at least in my family. That may sound worse than it is because even talking my mom is practically yelling anyway

    1. honeybeenicki says:

      Definitely a good idea to have an easy-to-yell name. In our family, we have a lot of groups of kids that all have the same first letter of their name, which actually confuses things. Then again, they usually just yell everyone’s name (including other family members’ kids and pets) until the one in trouble figures it out.

  18. Hey Wendy! I hope your enjoying your vacation. My name is Emma. Jason is my fiance’s name hence emjay. 🙂 but I love the sound of my first and middle name together: Emma Theresa. I was the only person I knew growing up with my name and it always made me feel special. But now there are hundreds of Emmas out there since the name is more popular now. And when I finally do get preggers, and its a girl her name will be Madison Abigail.

    1. Quakergirl says:

      Aww, you have a beautiful name, and I love Madison Abigail! Quakerboy and I both loved the name Madison for a (our hypothetical future) daughter, too, but then someone said it with the family name we love for the (hypothetical future) son, James, named after Quakerboy’s father. And then it became very, very obvious that we’d need to pick sides on the names, because assuming you’re American you cannot under any circumstances name your children James and Madison. We settled on Madeleine as a suitable alternative as we’re both francophiles. So they’ll be James Gabriel and Madeleine Grace. I like that the daughter’s initials will be MGM– maybe she’ll be a movie star 🙂

      1. Awwwww that’s is cute! We were thinking of Madiline also, but once Madison popped into my head that was the end of that talk LOL 🙂

      2. Britannia says:

        I like the name Madison too, but a girl in my 2nd grade class had that name and she got hell for it. We would gather in a circle and yell, “Mad Maddy! Mad Maddy! Mad Maddy!” until she *did* get mad, and then we would all laugh at being able to get under her skin. Kids can be so cruel 🙁

      3. My fiance says that the kids will call her madison avenue. I just tell him to shut it. 🙂 but we r pretty set on that name for a future daughter. I think it is better than Apple, and some of these names the stars give their kids. Some of them just make you cratch your head saying “where did they come up with that?” Or “I feel bad for that kid when they start school”!

  19. I’m Jessica. My mom just liked the name. My middle name is “Kay” because in my family, we have a habit of naming after relatives. I’m named after my great-aunt Shirley Kay (my maternal grandmother’s little sister). My mom is Catherine Elizabeth. There is a Catherine Elizabeth in every generation on my grandpa’s side ever since Catherine the Great gave my family land. Same with John Thomas. My uncle John bucked the trend and named his son Dane Thomas.

    I bucked the trend a bit too. My first son, all I heard from my mom was “if I had a son, I’d have named him Matthew”. To shut her up, I named my oldest Matthew Nicholas. He wouldn’t have been had my first husband not been such a dick on “pagan sounding” names.
    My second son was named after a friend of the family and my grandpa. He is Gregory Eugene.
    My 3rd son. Well, that was an interesting decision. I was remarried and my new MIL wanted a Robert Edmund III. I refused (as did my husband). She then insisted on Edmund Robert. Note that we didn’t ASK for her opinion. When we said “no”, she demanded a Brian Andrew. Her other son’s name. Who is a child molester. No. Then MY family started chiming in. Finally, we picked out Jacob Jonathan (JJ for short). The reactions were perfect. Everyone HATED it. So, that is my 3rd son’s name.
    I divorced again and had an oops. Pills to prep for neck surgery negated my birth control. Another boy (to my mother’s dismay).
    The new grandmother was furious. I wouldn’t name him after her dead, mysogynistic father (Eugene). I had a Eugene (my 2nd son). We chose Eryx Ash (my older boys chose the middle name after the Bruce Campbell character from the Army of Darkness movie). Everyone hated it. To the point that the new grandmother tried to force her way into the delivery room to convince my doctor to change the name without my consent. I had her barred from the room and told her if she didn’t like the name, I would name him Igneous Wolfgang Von . She liked it better. If she doesn’t stop pissing me off (2 years later) I may just tell her I’m pregnant again (I’m not) and that she’s going to have an Iggy for another grandson!

    I didn’t have girl names picked out except for this last one. There’s always the possibility I might need them, but it’s doubtful. I don’t really want more, but I won’t say “never”. Fate doesn’t seem to approve of that. *laugh*

  20. belongsomewhere says:

    My actual name is Catherine, which I sort of hate because it’s stuffy and proper and totally doesn’t suit my personality. I’ve always gone by “Catie,” spelled with a “C” because shortening “Catherine” with a “C” to “Katie” with a “K” seemed illogical to my parents–and I agree. I was named “Catherine” after my dad’s paternal grandmother, an Irish immigrant.
    I really like “Catie,” and I’ll always go by that rather than “Catherine” even though it’s considered less professional. The only difficulty I have with “Catie” is that people ALWAYS spell it wrong. It’s sort of neat having such an uncommon name–I only know one other “Catie-with-a-‘C'” personally, and I only know of four others (one of whom also has my last name, which is really uncommon).

    My boyfriend’s name is Santiago, after his maternal grandfather. Most people, or at least most women, call him “Santi,” but I never have–I always call him by his proper name.

    1. belongsomewhere says:

      Oh, and the name we’re most fond of for future spawn is “Nathaniel,” who would be called “Nathan” or “Nate.”

    2. im also a Katherine, but with a K. and im Katie for short, with a K! haha. I hate my name. i just think it is boring. I think i might have been named after a great grandmother or something, but i dont know. and I totally sympathize with people spelling our names wrong. I constantly say Katherine with a K, i dont even let them ask anymore. and i have seen every variation of katie ever.. katy, kati, caty, its endless.

      1. moonflowers says:

        I’m a Catherine who goes by the full name, and 50% of my class Valentines in elementary school were misspelled – Cathryn, Kathryn, Cathrine, etc.

        My mom decided to nickname me “Cat.” That in itself was ok at home, but when she went to pick me up from high school, she’d call out “Cat!! Cat Meow!!” in front of all of my classmates. >.<

  21. Oh and even though I’m many years away from having kids, I thought I would share some baby names I really really like.

    For girls, I absolutely adore Vivienne and Genevieve (I cringed when I heard Angelina Jolie named one of her kids Vivienne as that is not a popular name/spelling and I don’t want it to be).

    And for boys, I really like Benjamin (not shortened to Ben) and Oliver.

    I tend to like the older, classical names I guess.

    1. cgenevieve says:

      yay, my name is Genevieve! I love it, just be prepared for her to have to spell her name to everyone in the world.

      1. Haha, yeah I think it’s odd since I’ve only seen one spelling of Genevieve, but most people don’t really know how to spell it since it’s not common. My parents and my friends think that if I were to name a future daughter Genevieve that it’s way too old fashioned and no one will like it. Oh well, I love it.

      2. bitter gay mark says:

        I like the name, too. But yeah, with how dim the world is of late, any Genevieve must expect to most certainly encounter hilarious misspellings such as Jenavieve or even Jennaveeve…

  22. I always loved the name Charlie- I like the way it sounds, plus Charles Dickens is my favorite author and I’m a big fan of Charlie Kaufman. 🙂 However, I was too impatient to wait to name a son Charlie so I gave the name to my pet Chihuahua. So now I guess the name is ruined as far as kids go.

    My name is Heather… kind of generic, but I think it’s pretty. My mom lived in England for a long time and saw a lot of Heather (it’s a shrub/flower) so she says it reminded her of England. When I was first born my mom named me Buffy… and my family promptly put the kabosh on that. I don’t know if that would have been kind of fun, or if I would have hated it. I am very blonde, so I suspect being named Buffy would have driven me insane.

    I used to like the name Rose for a daughter (simple, classic) but then I knew a totally crazy woman named Rose so that’s out the window. Anne is a family name that I like, but it’s just so freaking common. My bf likes the name Gavin for a boy, and I really like that… reminds me of Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani’s hubbie. I love them as a couple and I have always thought Gavin Rossdale is cute.

    Ha, who knew I had so many thoughts about names?

    1. AnitaBath says:

      Ha! My cat’s name is Charles, but I absolutely refuse to call him Charlie 😉 But mostly because I just want him to have a very people name, and Charlie is more commonly used for pets.

    2. Britannia says:

      My Dorgi’s name is Charlie! (dachshund/corgi mix)
      We’re dressing him up like a unicorn for Halloween this year 🙂

      I also really like Gavin. It’s sexy.

      1. Dorgi! That’s such a cute word, I’d probably want to call him Dorgi!

        Anitabath, I occasionally call my dog Sir Charles. Don’t judge me. What is it that makes us otherwise sensible people go bonkers for our own pets?

      2. AnitaBath says:

        It’s okay, I used to call him BabyCharles (all one word), but as he’s gotten older I realize I’ve started calling him Mr. Charles.

        I feel like this graph shows it pretty accurately:

        http://xkcd.com/231/

      3. Britannia says:

        My Dorgi is beyond adorable… at least in my opinion! I adopted him, so I didn’t choose his name, but we love to talk to him: “Are you WINNING?! You gotz da TIGERZ BLOOD?!” and “Come onnnn…. Charrrrlie… come playyyy with us Charrrrrliiiiie”. Both internet meme references of course >.<

        Gratuitous pictures of Charlie:
        http://tinypic.com/images/404.gif
        http://tinypic.com/images/404.gif

      4. Britannia says:

        The link works!

        & OMG — SQUEEEE! He is so freaking cute! <3

      5. We are dorks. 🙂

      6. Britannia says:

        Not dorks… just proud mamas 🙂 lol!

      7. Britannia says:

        P.S. That graph is incredibly accurate

      8. fidget_eep says:

        Sorry

      9. fidget_eep says:

        Stupid cell phone keys didn’t mean to purple thumb you 🙁 just trying to open pic

      10. Painted_lady says:

        “Let’s go to candy mountain, Chaaaaarlie.”

        Love Charlie the Unicorn 🙂

  23. eel avocado says:

    I was named after a woman who saved my mother’s life. When my mother was four, she was playing in her neighbor’s yard and fell into their pool. She didn’t know how to swim. The neighbor’s 12-year-old daughter, Ellen, jumped into the pool at the perfect moment and saved my mom from drowning.

    But my name isn’t Ellen. My last name is only one syllable and ends in N, so Ellen -n wouldn’t sound very pleasing to the ear. So, my parents added an A, dropped an L and I became Elena (el-eh-nuh). The name itself isn’t so uncommon — but the pronunciation is! I’ve only had one or two people in my entire life pronounce it correctly on the first try.

    I love my name because it’s unique — but if I ever have a child, I’m going to name him/her something unique AND easy to pronounce! It gets a little annoying (and embarrassing) to continue correcting people when they forget the pronunciation. And interviews can be a little dicey. Should I correct or let it slide? I’ve learned to just throw my hand out when the interviewer walks in, give a firm handshake and say, “Hi, I’m El-eh-nuh!”

    1. SpaceySteph says:

      I knew a girl named Elena, pronounced El-eh-nuh. She was Russian, though so maybe that’s different. Maybe its not even really pronounced that way and she was dumbing it down for us Americans.

      Can you imagine if you let an interviewer say the wrong name the whole time, then he/she hired you, and then they found out after you started the job that they’d been saying your name wrong and introducing you around the office wrong?! Better to set the record straight ASAP, so you don’t become our next DW writer “How can I tell my boss he pronounces my name wrong?”

      1. eel avocado says:

        That’s awesome! I have met two other El-eh-nuhs my entire life. It’s cool because whenever I meet one (the two whole times), we’re always so happy to meet another one that we immediately bond over our different pronunciation. “Don’t you hate it when people always call you El-ay-nuh?!” “Wasn’t the first day of school always annoying when you had to correct every teacher?!”

        Haha, one of my coworkers actually had that happen to him! Except instead of merely mispronouncing it, his boss called him a completely different name. My coworker is extremely nice and more on the quiet side. Rick (*name changed) told me that at his last job, his boss started calling him Rob. He just let it go. A YEAR LATER, one of Rick’s well meaning coworkers corrected the boss — and the boss said, “NO! This is ROB!”

      2. demoiselle says:

        Interesting. Usually it’s Ye-LAY-nah…

  24. The weirdest name I ever saw while substitute teaching was Yourhighness. And that’s actually what he went by (in 8th grade).

    1. honeybeenicki says:

      My mom works with a database the collects kids names that are tested for lead and she comes across some of the craziest names. I’ll have to ask her if she’s seen a Yourhighness. I go by that too, but its not my real name 🙂

    2. callmehobo says:

      Definitely knew a Precious in high school. I felt like I was talking to a pomeranian all the time…

      1. Painted_lady says:

        I’ve got a student named Princess. And her mom works with me, so I have to be nice. But I secretly feel like I’m talking to a kitty.

  25. caffeinatrix says:

    My name is Marisa. No real reason as far as I know, other than my mom was trying desperately to convince my dad not to name me Ingrid. (Thanks Mom!) People often misspell it, but I don’t really mind because they usually bungle the rest of my name too (it’s an awkward hyphenated name, and my middle name is also a last name- eight syllables in all). I have considered changing my last name to just initials, but I may just leave it alone until I get married and ditch everything but Marisa.
    I really like Evelyn for a girl- that’s one I hadn’t thought of before! Kahlo was a name I’d thought of for a boy, because I love Frida Kahlo’s art, but no one else seems to like it. I also like Veronica, Grace and Chloe for girls, and Gabriel for a boy.

    1. Britannia says:

      That’s the way my Mom spells her name too! I always found it weird when people spelled it with two S’s because I was used to her name being the “norm”.

      Kahlo is an awesome name, but I wouldn’t name a boy that, since it was technically a girl’s name originally. I would probably name a dog or horse that name, though, because it’s so cool. Chloe is really pretty too though it’s pretty popular these days 🙁 Grace is always a classic, in my opinion.

  26. My name is Liv (pronounced LEAVE) which everyone gets wrong. I also have been teased in any way/shape/form you can think of. I have pretty tough skin now 😛 I hated my name as a kid, but now I love it because it is so unique. And my fiance’s name is Levi, so we match, Liv and Levi. I plan to name all of our kids starting with “L.” Just kidding, that would be ridiculous.

    1. Fidget_eep says:

      not entirely. My aunt on my mom’s side has all her daughters names beginning with D. There are the parents Diane and Darell, then daughters (not only all D’s but alphabetically too) Danielle, Desiree, Dilaney, and their last name starts with a D. (Should I mention that all, but Diane, has a middle name that begins with A?????) So Everyone but my aunt has the initials DAD. I also have a cousin (mom’s side again different sibling) that has a daughter named AMI, whose full name is Ami Marie I., so yeah, I love my family and their fun insanity.

  27. My real name is Kate, short for Katherine. There really isn’t much of a story, I think Kate was just the only girl name my parents could agree on. They never had any intention of calling me Katherine, but they didn’t want people to try to tell me it was Katherine when it wasn’t. Pretty sure my dad was behind that–his name is just Larry, and he spent a lot of years trying to convince teachers, etc. that his name wasn’t really Lawrence. I like my name, even if it is a sort of cultural shorthand for stubborn/tempermental/generally difficult thanks to Shakespeare. For my own daughter that I’m nowhere close to having, I like Emily, Nora, Abigail, Laura, or maybe Mariel if I go way out on a limb. For boys, I tend towards Edmund, James, Jonathan, or Michael.

    Oh, and Ladybug is one of many pet names my family has for me. It usually surfaces when I’m being a smart-ass, for some odd reason.

  28. At least none of us named our kids Moroccan and Monroe (*ahem* Mariah Carey!)

    1. AnitaBath says:

      Roc and Roe!

      -Nick Cannon

    2. I really like Monroe, especially for a girl, but yeah, Moroccan is just kind of out there.

  29. Britannia says:

    My name actually is Britannia. My grandparents call me Brit, but no one else does – I always introduce myself as Britannia, because otherwise people tend to assume that my name is Britney, which for some reason really irritates me.

    My Mom wanted to name me Liberty or Piper – thank god my father said that he wanted me to have a “good, proper English name” (he and all of his family are native Englanders and are very proud of their heritage). Mom was watching ‘The Wall’ one day during the pregnancy and saw “RULE BRITANNIA” printed on flyers that were floating about or something like that – and realized that ‘Britannia’ was the most English name humanly possible, and since it was a Pink Floyd reference, it passed her requirements too.

    It was so much trouble just to give me my first name that my parents didn’t bother to try to find a middle name that they could both agree upon.

    1. Britannia says:

      Oh and if I ever have children…

      If it’s a girl, I’m going to name her Britannia. Not out of some egotistic thing, but because I really love my name and I want to keep it in the family.
      If it’s a boy, he’ll be named Adrian, after my father. The boy’s middle name will be left up to his father, for fairness.

  30. honeybeenicki says:

    My first name is really Nichole, but I’ve never been called that (even when I was in trouble), so I go by Nicki. Essentially, it was the only name my parents could agree on especially because I was a bit of a surprise… not the pregnancy, but the fact that I came out female. Up until the minute I entered the world, everyone thought I was a boy. Had I been a boy, my name would have been Ronald, which is my uncle’s name. He was murdered a few years before I was born (my dad had 2 more girls after me before he finally got his Ronald).

    THANKFULLY, my mom was able to veto my dad’s name suggestions once he realized I wouldn’t be Ronald : Ronette, Ronalda. Although, I have wondered why they didn’t name me Veronica (Roni for short) or just plain Roni.

    1. honeybeenicki says:

      Oh yeah, and my nickname is actually Honey Bee. That’s what my husband calls me. To be honest, I can’t really remember when he started calling me that, but it has certainly stuck. So I started calling him Sweet Pea mostly to annoy him and now we are Sweet Pea and Honey Bee.

  31. My name is Katie, short for Kaitlin. I’ve always been called Katie and it feels weird to be called Kaitlin (my professors still do sometimes and it’s so awkward). But anyway even though I am no where near a point in my life where I want to have kids, I already know that if I have sons I want to name them Jonathan Ryan and Michael Thomas. When I was little and my mom was pregnant with my brother I desperately wanted to name him Jonathan but they wouldn’t let me, they named him Ryan. So anyway my brother’s name has grown on me so I figured I’d give him a shout out in one of my son’s names. I’ve also always loved the name Michael, and Thomas is my dad’s name. I’m not sure about girls names, but I’ve always kind of liked Charlotte, Victoria, and Rose.

    1. plasticepoxy says:

      My brother’s name is Michael Thomas (LastName), so maybe it’s just 20+ years of hearing the combination, but I think it sounds like a great name. Love the name Charlotte too.

  32. These stories kind of make me realize how much the story of the name can really stick with kids. It’s inspiring me to want to have a special meaning for whatever name/names I end up choosing, if/when I do have kids. Not that it ultimately matters that much, but it would be nice. 🙂

    Oh, and this thread is also making me wish I had chosen a more interesting user name than just my stupid initials.

  33. My real name is Laurel, which I’m okay with. It is pretty, I guess, but I had a bit of a complex about it for a long time, and I hate it with my last name. When I was a kid I couldn’t pronounce my l’s and r’s right (I had to go to speech for it) so introducing myself always made me feel anxious. I have to spell it out all the time, teachers I’ve had for full years would call me Lauren/Laura, I give restaurants my middle name (Erin) so I don’t have to go through the hassle of trying to get them to get my name right…

    When I have kids I want to give them easily spelled / pronounced names. I really like Leah for a girl and James (Jamie) for a boy.

    1. AnitaBath says:

      I absolutely love the name Laurel. I think it stems from Watchmen, though.

    2. Skyblossom says:

      One of my best friends is named Laurel and she has no problems with it but every situation is different. I love the name Laurel.

  34. How do you all feel about naming children after famous people? It’s not as though that prevents them from successful lives–look at George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King Jr., and F(rancis) Scott (Key) Fitzgerald. I’m very seriously considering doing this–it’s the same first name as one of my grandfathers, so it’s not too awful. What do you think? Any good examples? Suggestions?

    PS: My friend from college jokes that she’s going to give her firstborn son the name “Gilgamesh” so when he’s in kindergarten, the teacher will have to call out “Gilgamesh ____” and this little five-year-old will have to answer.

    PPS: Tyrannosaurus is a GREAT middle name.

    1. Fairhaired Child says:

      My dad’s side of the family has the name Robert Edward Lee W____ Sr, Jr, and my dad is the 3rd, I was supposed to be the 4th but I’m a girl! Oops! Ruined that one for the family. Though I do love the initials it makes with their names RELW.

    2. Addie Pray says:

      True story, if I were a boy, I was going to be named Gilgamesh. I kid you not.

  35. My parents were married on St. Patrick’s Day, and spent a memorable anniversary in Savannah GA one year; they thought the city was beautiful and decided to name me after it. I love my name – for some reason the other spelling variations are very unattractive to me though (savanna/savahna/savana). My middle name is Alexandra – nor quite sure where that came from.
    I always imagine little girl names for my future offspring. I love Alma (grandmother’s name) and Pippa. Short and sweet little names.

    1. Haha Alma always makes me think of the old nun in Sister Act: “Alma! Check your battery.” It’s a great name, though.

  36. I was originally supposed to be named Lynn after my mom’s late father, who died in a car accident when she was 17. However, when I was born I was really, really sick and had to stay in the hospital for 10 weeks, and there was a high possibility that I would not live. My mom decided that she couldn’t bear the possibility of losing another Lynn, so my parents decided to name me Caroline instead. I think they just liked the name, there isn’t a special meaning or anything. I used to not like my name as a kid because I could never find something that wasn’t “Carol” or “Carolyn” but now I really like it. It’s not a name that you hear very often.

    My middle name is my mom’s maiden name, and my brother’s middle name is Charles, which is a name that I’ve always loved and always wanted to name a future son that. It’s also a family name, so it’d be nice to carry on that tradition.

    I love names that start with a C. Catherine, especially. Charles, of course. I like more classic names, like Andrew and Nathaniel (Nathan for short). Longer names appeal to me more because I like the idea of nicknames. I wish I had a nickname, but I don’t really like the nicknames for Caroline, like Carol or Carrie. My brother used to call me “Line-line” when we were babies, but it’s not really a mature nickname, lol. I also LOVE the name Charlotte and would probably name my daughter that.

    It might be nice to give one of my kids Lynn as a middle name as a way of honoring my grandfather and mother…I never thought about that before.

    1. AnitaBath says:

      It’s not so much that I love the name Charlotte, but for some reason I love the nickname Lottie.

      But my boyfriend’s aunt is named Charlotte, so the name is out 🙁

      1. demoiselle says:

        Fan of Phantom of the Opera?

      2. AnitaBath says:

        You know, I do love PotO, and I remember hearing it in there and being like, “WTF kind of name is Lottie? Ew.”

        But then I recently heard it somewhere else and fell in love. Now I can’t remember.

      3. Oh, I love Phantom of the Opera, but not really the name Lottie. I don’t know, it sounds a little old-fashioned to me? But maybe that’s just me. I also like some unisex names, like Taylor.

  37. bitter gay mark says:

    Mine is Mark. Incredibly boring. There were always multiple Marks meaning I was always Mark I. Not to be confused with Mark H. Mark J. Mark D. Oh, and Mark B. Hilariously that decades after elementary I can vividly remember all the other Marks…

    1. bitter gay mark says:

      Thumbs down, eh? Must have offended either a Mark, somebody who is dating a Mark, or perhaps even a mother of a young Mark. Look, all I was saying is that it’s a wee annoying to have one of the most popular names at any given time… So much so, that I would suggest all prospective parents due a little research to see if their dream name is trendy at the moment…

      1. Painted_lady says:

        Eh, unique names have their problems as well. I actually had someone the other day ask if my parents didn’t like me. Who the hell says that?!?!

      2. Painted_lady says:

        Also, the offended party could be the child of a Mark. Or maybe a big fan of Mark Twain. Whatevs. Names are – for obvious reasons – so personal and so very, very loaded. My mom wanted an unusual name for me because, as she said, she just knew I would be one of a kind. My dad apparently liked the name Jennifer at first, which was one of the more popular names the year I was born. I asked her if that meant she thought I was going to be completely unremarkable. She might have hit me.

      3. Painted_lady says:

        He thought! Dammit!

    2. Skyblossom says:

      It was David at my school. Loads of Davids.

  38. My nickname on the internet is the short version of my very first e-mail address (hotmail), back when stupid 11 year olds used to do things like: pretty_princess_twelve@hot…. 😛

    My first name is Emma, and I’m named after my dad’s grandmother. Her sister’s name is my middle name. My parents wanted to name me after someone in the family, but not their parents, because they didn’t know if they would have another kid. Then my brother and sister (twins) came along, and my brother was name after my paternal grandparents, and my sister after my maternal grandparents 🙂

    I am nowhere near having kids, but I know that I want to name a girl after myself. Just because I can 😛 Other than that I like naming them after someone in my family, at least for the first name. Perhaps the second name will be something Gaelic (I am fascinated with those names), a Gaelic first name would be impractical as the spelling is confusing for people, and I don’t want to heap years of mispronouncing onto my kids.

    1. Especially because I live in a non-English speaking country in Western Europe, giving any hypothetical kids a Gaelic first name would just be cruel.

  39. Fairhaired Child says:

    Before I was born, the doctor told my parents that I was going to be male. Which was AMAZINGLY exciting because they had such a hard time concieving and carrying to full term. My dad is the “third” in the family so I was to be Robert Edward Lee ____ the 4th. However, as it turned out, my mom’s doctor was REALLY bad at reading sonograms/the technology wasnt that great anyway. Lo and behold, a bouncing baby girl!

    They never thought of girl names because it was SO sure that I was to be a boy. My mom was crying at the hospital demanding that they were wrong and I just HAD to be a boy (because she didnt want to disappoint my father/the family line on that side). Anyway, no they did not name me Roberta. In a scramble to find a female name, I was named after two aunts (one on each side to make things even). My first name is after my mother’s sister’s first name, and my middle name is after my dad’s sister’s middle name. And so I am Ellen Frances ____. My dad thought my mom would never fully love me because she was so set on a boy, but I’m most def. a mommas girl.

    As for names that I like. I love the name Antoinette. However I would prefer for longer names to be in the middle, and short first names. A lot of people who I’ve mentioned antoinette to think its too old fashioned. I work at a Hospital so I get super excited when I see the first name Antoinette, but the last Antoinette we had here was in her 90s.. haha. So i’ve settled for Tessa Antoinette as a girls name. She can be called Tess, or any variation of her middle name. Tessa comes from the book Tessa D’urbavilles (sp? ) hopefully she wont end up like that character though.

    One of my exboyfriends (who I almost became engaged to) loved the name Fiona Marie. I loved it too, but I wont steal it from him. As for boys, I like the name Stephen Christopher. The first name after my brother (pronounced as STEVEN, not stephan), and the middle name because almost every Chris I’ve met has been super nice (including the ex boyfriend who liked the name Fiona Marie).

    One of my best guy friends last name is Woods, and I always teased him that if we got married I could be “Mrs. El Woods.”

    As for my screenname on here: its from the scary movie Fairhaired Child. The movie is def not “amazing” but one of those “so bad its kinda good” kind. I just liked the movie so much, because it was pretty bad, and because the name is fitting – I’m a curly haired blonde extremely pale female. On some other sites I also go as “evella” because that was a nickname I had in middle school that my friends would say when I was being “bitchy” aka “evil ellen”. I think it sounds sexy.

    1. I think the book you mean is Tess of the D’urbervilles

      1. Fairhaired Child says:

        Thats the one! Tess/Tessa both sound cute. When I read that book years ago in HS I started liking the name. Though maybe I should stick to the idea of Tessa and just nick name her Tess since I dont want my daughter having a similar plot line in her life lol.

  40. SpaceySteph says:

    My mom’s name is Anne (pronounced like Ann). Growing up she HATED her name because it wasn’t the common spelling so people would spell it wrong or call her Annie all the time. I guess it was really common for people to have things with their name on it (like those tacky gift store keychains) and she hated that she couldn’t ever get anything with her name on it, they all said Ann.

    As an aside, I like Anne better than Ann… maybe just because I’m used to it. But it seems more elegant, old-fashioned. Our family (many generations back )is from Russia and that’s the traditional Eastern European spelling so I like it for that reason too.
    Anyways, she was determined that all of her kids would have normal names spelled the normal way so as to not suffer her tragic fate. Heh. So we are Stephanie, Heather, and Joshua… all in the top 10 names for our birth year. I don’t dislike my name, but there’s nothing to interesting about it either. And its really long (like when I filled in the bubbles on standardized tests as a kid I was Stephan or Stephani).

    I haven’t spent alot of time thinking about names, but as a kid I always loved the name Elizabeth and wished it was my name so I’ll probably try to convince hypothetical baby daddy to name a kid that. Also my grandmother passed away a few years ago, so I figure it would be nice to name a kid after her. Her name was Rhoda, but I was thinking Rebecca which was her Hebrew name (and because Rhoda sounds like an old lady to me).

    1. demoiselle says:

      Rhoda could become trendy again, and then it’ll sound like a little kid’s name for years. 🙂

      1. SpaceySteph says:

        Idk can you imagine a kid named Rhoda? Maybe some names will never come back.

        Also I knew one other Rhoda, my friend’s grandmother, who was a mean spirited angry old woman so even though my grandma Rhoda was nice, I still kinda associate it with crotchety old lady.

  41. My name is Ashley, which was extremely popular at the time. My mom’s second choice was Alexandra. I don’t think she even thought of boys names. I answer to Ashley, Ash, Nicole which is my middle name, or my last name although it’s usually my mom who calls me Nicole and my mom and granddad who call me by my last name. I was kinda obsessed with names and their meanings when I was a little kid, so I looked up mine and Ashley means ash-tree meadow (lee means meadow) and Nicole means victorious from the Greek word nike.

    I have a whole list of girls and boys names that I like. For girls, Elizabeth, Victoria, Alexandria, Maria, Diana, or Helen. I figured in exchange for weighty names, they could have an awesome choice of nicknames. For boys, Justin, Alexander (I really like that name), Charles or William for my grandfathers. Some of these are because I’m a Classics major (so Alexander/dria for the Egyptian city and the conqueror, Diana because my mom’s name is a epithet for Artemis/Diana, Helen for Helen, but also because it means “shining light” in Greek, Justin because it means “upright” in Latin). The rest are English kings and queens from a period when I was obsessed with English history. I got a few other Greek ones I like: Chloe, Delia, Dione, Ariadne, Daphne. I’ve though a lot about this, lol. I’m going to have to think of more boy names.

    1. Chaotonic says:

      I absolutely love the myth of Ariadne and its such a beautiful name 🙂

  42. Chaotonic says:

    My first name is Jessica (which was the number one popular name in the late 80’s when I was birthed) but I’m named after Jessica McClure a.k.a Baby Jessica the little girl who fell down the well. I guess my mother heard that name and just fell in love with it. My middle name is Lynn (another extremely popular middle name in the 80’s, it seems like everyone I meet has it) and that came about because its family custom to give the girls the middle name of Eleanore in my family. Well my mother hated that name and my grandmother complained that she had to name me after someone in the family. So she chose Lynn because my grandmothers name is Kathleen (Cath.Lin) and said she’s named after you. I think honestly I would have preferred Eleanore there’s no one that I can think of with that middle name that I know.

    1. Don’t feel too bad. I have a half sister that was named similar to me so when we “met” later in life, we’d “know” each other. Only drugs could have made that leap. I’m “Jessica Kay”. This poor girl is “E” (three sylables) “Jay”. Our last names are both common two sylable names. We met in the 3rd grade (same school) and found out in the 6th grade we were sisters. I didn’t tell my mom until she got remarried last year.

  43. I love the name Brody & (as a huge Gilmore Girls fan) I would def. name my daughter Loralei!

    1. PS. My name is Tatiana. I was named after a perfume that was really popular in the 70s-80s but is now discontinued. : /
      It is a Russian decent name, but I am not Russian…

      1. TheOtherMe says:

        I Loooooooove that name 🙂

      2. Thanks!! I went through years of hating it because it wasn’t a popular name in my area & a lot of people struggles pronouncing it. But I have grown to love it 🙂

      3. demoiselle says:

        Privet, Tanya, Tanechka, Tanyushka, Tan’! 🙂 What I love best about Russian names are the amazing nicknames and diminutives.

    2. Britannia says:

      I really like the name Brody for a girl – on a guy it can sound kinda douchey, but on a girl it sounds sexy… but that’s because I’m thinking of Brody from the Distillers. HOT!

  44. demoiselle says:

    My main name is fairly unusual, so I’m not going to post it here (trying to remain somewhat anonymous).

    My mom wanted to give me the name that I use now, but my dad wanted to name me after his mother. She had a very old fashioned name (“Nannie”), and mom tried to compromise by offering to name me “Nancy.” My dad refused. So they compromised another way–they named me after my mother and maternal grandmother (first and middle names) because my dad believes in tradition.

    Then they always actually called me by the separate name that my mother originally wanted to give me. Mom for the win! I always know whether mail or phone calls are coming from someone I actually know, due to what name they use. It’s a bit odd, because my legal name has nothing to do with how I identified myself, especially as a kid.

    There are probably three or four people in the country who share my first and last name, so I’m often the only person anyone has ever known with my name. However, the spelling is standard, and it does not *seem* to suggest any particular ethnic or national group (though the name is Hebrew and I have had one person recognize and ask me if I’m Jewish). I think it has been an asset to me to have a name that comes across as unusual yet still neutral in America. People remember me, and I come up first on any internet search (Hence not posting my actual name).

    It isn’t so everywhere. My husband studied Arabic, and we encountered each other online before we met in person. He thought from my name that I was a middle aged Egyptian man. 🙂

    1. SpyGlassez says:

      I can screen things in a similar manner; my last name is very unusual and hard to pronounce, and while there is no L in it and the U is a short sound, everyone wants to make it a long “oo” and stick an L in there somewhere.

      1. SpaceySteph says:

        Haha my favorite thing to do when telemarketers call me and pronounce my last name wrong: “There’s nobody here by that name.”
        If you can’t pronounce my name, obviously you don’t know me.

  45. My husband and I are huge Kingdom Hearts fans (even our wedding was Kingdom Heats based), so we’re thinking Kairi Marie or Naminé Marie for the girl and Roxas Charles or Sora Charles for the boy. Everyone we talk to about names absolutely hates these names because they’re too unique. One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard is that I’ll never be able to find anything with their name on it (i.e. pencils, cups, plates, etc.). I do like my name, but I have a few nicknames: my mom calls me Am or Lamborghini (yes, like the car) and my husband calls me Ber (just because it’s something different). My mom wanted me to name my first daughter after her (my husband quickly nixed that idea, thank goodness) and my MIL hated the names we originally picked out (Isabelle Marie and Ian Charles and literally begged us to pick different names), so we’re going through names we like.

  46. My husband and I are huge Kingdom Hearts fans (even our wedding was Kingdom Heats based), so we’re thinking Kairi Marie or Naminé Marie for the girl and Roxas Charles or Sora Charles for the boy. Everyone we talk to about names absolutely hates these names because they’re too unique. One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard is that I’ll never be able to find anything with their name on it (i.e. pencils, cups, plates, etc.). I do like my name, but I have a few nicknames: my mom calls me Am or Lamborghini (yes, like the car) and my husband calls me Ber (just because it’s something different). My mom wanted me to name my first daughter after her (my husband quickly nixed that idea, thank goodness) and my MIL hated the names we originally picked out (Isabelle Marie and Ian Charles and literally begged us to pick different names), so we’re going through names we like.

    1. Sorry, I accidentally posted twice.

  47. fast eddie says:

    They named me Eddie as my mom’s name was Edna and her twin sister’s name was Edith, the 3 E’s. It has a nice ring to it eh? My middle name, Thomas, was my grandfather’s first name. He really appreciated it. I used to dislike my dad’s last name, Alexander, because it was rather long to write out. Nothing to be done for it and the line will pass into the vapor because I was an only child and fathered no children. Only two of the 6 kids from the grandfolks had children, me and one of my aunt’s that I lost contact with 60 years ago.

  48. cgenevieve says:

    My name is unusual. I’ve only met one other Genevieve throughout my life, and it was only a couple of months ago. She was a five year old, and she gave me the biggest hug when we met 🙂

    My parents decided what they would name me as my mom way laying in the hospital bed. They had decided on a boy name (Christopher) but only had a few girl names in mind and none of them were Genevieve. My mom was reading some mystery book at the time, and the name was one of the main characters, so they decided at the last minute that it would be what they would name me. I love it, and people have given me nicknames like Gen or Eve, but I prefer my whole name.

    I haven’t really decided on baby names yet, but I have a couple of boy names in mind, Owen and Obadiah. No girls names, though, as I liked Isabella, but then Twilight ruined it.

  49. I was named after both my grandmothers. Rita was my maternal grandmother’s name who died when my mom was 17 so I never met her. I hated it growing up and always wished my name was Mandi, Caitlin or Stephanie or something else more common, but now I can’t imagine myself being any other name. My middle name is Brien (yes, the boys’ name) which is my paternal grandmother’s maiden name without the Irish O. I definitely hated that one growing up, but it’s way too much of a hassle to change and if I did change it I would just change it to Mae which is my maternal grandmother’s nickname.

    I think the funniest thing though is that when my mom was pregnant with my brother, they had difficulty deciding on a name. I was 2 at the time and my dad wanted Alfred Henry and my mom wanted Angus. I suggested Kevin and that was my brother’s name. Now, my current boyfriend’s name just happens to be Kevin and they are 3 weeks apart in age and have the same middle initial.

  50. My name is Lacey.
    My husband’s name is Justin.
    My step daughter’s name is Elena.
    We want to have kids of our own, and we have one name picked out for when we do: Perrin. It’s a name from the Wheel of Time series that my husband got me hooked on before we even started dating.

  51. Painted_lady says:

    My first name is McKay – an Irish last name. Unfortunately, so is my last name. I love both my first and last names, but my parents, who have really, really generic names only thought of names in terms of there being no one else in my class with the same name as they suffered through years of being known as their first names and last initials. They didn’t factor in the millions of people – some who had known me for a couple of years, even – who ask me on a regular basis, “So what’s your *first* name?” Nor the doctor’s offices and college registrars who would either ask whether I’d filled my name in on the appropriate last name, first name blanks. Oddly enough, I do read rather well, and I also know my own name at this point. Or even more irritating, they take it upon themselves to switch my names for me so that I’m always called by the wrong name. Oh well. My mom occasionally makes snarky comments about other people’s names, and I gently remind her she named me McKay. It’s also made me really good at learning others’ names, no matter how unique, and after years of being called Michaela or Kay (good names on their own but not mine), I also make sure I know what people prefer to be called.

    Also, oddly enough, I tend to gravitate toward last names as first names – Mariah Carey totally stole Monroe from me! – but painted_dude and I aren’t planning on kids, so I guess I’ll let her have it.

    My screen name here – as well as on TF – comes from the fact that I worked full-time for years and now when I can as a theatrical scenic artist. I almost always have paint on me somewhere, and then it sort of made me giggle that it’s a really old-fashioned euphemism for a prostitute.

    1. Addie Pray says:

      I have a very odd first name, but it has NOT made me good at learning others’ names. I am TERRIBLE with names. I guess it’s because deep down I figure they won’t remember mine so why bother with theirs? … Then they do remember my name and learn to pronounce it correctly, and whoops I feel bad; I have to ask them to tell me their name again.

  52. SpyGlassez says:

    My first name is Jennifer, and I have no problem posting that since it is the most common name for girls my age (I went to a school of about 100 people from k-6th grade, with 3 other Jennifers in my class and at least 2 or 3 others in the school). I am definitely NOT a Jenny or a Jen, however; I shortened it to Jenna when I was 8 and have gone by Jenna ever since. It’s pronounced how it looks (Jeh-nah) but I get called “Jeannie,” “Jeana,” “Janna” and everything else under the sun. I’ve never known another Jennifer who went by Jenna, but I have known other Jennas.

    As I said above, my last name is unusual, and in my family we have a habit of using maternal last names as middle names for children or, in my mom’s case, she actually changed her last name to her middle name when she married my dad. I’ll probably give my last name as a middle name to one of my kids (son or daughter; it doesn’t matter).

    As far as baby names, I know I will name a girl Melinda. My great-great-grandmother was Malinda; she died in childbirth, and her husband remarried a Luella. My great-grandfather (Malinda’s son) named my grandmother Lindelu for his two mothers. My grandma didn’t like the full name (she changed it to Linda) but I want to use the other name because it ties in both generations of the family, and my grandma was one of the most important people in my life. We want to give a son the middle name Russell, because it is the BF (future husband)’s middle name, but he doesn’t want to saddle a kid with it as a first name. It was his grandfather’s name.

    Other names I’ve always liked are Sophie or Sofia, Nathaniel, James, and Phebe or Phoebe – those are all family names (well, the Nathaniel was a Nathan, but similar).

    And my handle above was my CB radio handle for a short time, but I came up with it in high school as my alternate AIM id so I could prank my friends and send them messages and make them try to figure out who the heck I was. It doesn’t really have any meaning, but I’ve been using it for something like 15 years now.

    1. SpyGlassez says:

      Oh, I forgot – I wasn’t named Jennifer because it was popular; basically one day after my mom was pregnant, my dad looked at her and said, “We’re going to have a daughter. Her name will be Jennifer.” They tease that I named myself.

    2. Quakergirl says:

      I love Phoebe and Sophie, too. Quakerboy’s not such a fan of either. Not sure what his issue with Sophie is, but he says he’ll never be able to hear Phoebe and not think of Lisa Kudrow. I don’t see that as a problem– we both love Friends– but he doesn’t want to give our kids any kind of cosmic nudge to be a little kooky…we’ll probably give them a big enough genetic nudge to be that way as it is. I just think the name is nice and would sound nice with his last name. Plus, it’s appropriate for a small child but it’s not cutesy as an adult name, either.

      1. Or you could remind him that Phoebe was also a kick-ass witch on the show Charmed 😉

  53. My mom originally wanted to name me Beth Ann, but my father has a cousin named Beth Ann [my last name]. So my mother named me Joanna Beth. I like it, it works for me. I’ve met very few other people with my name. In fact, I was the only person in my grade (out of 400 people) to have the name, until 10th grade when a girl moved in down the street named Joanna.

    My sister is a different story. I was in preschool when she was born and there were lots of girls with the name Sarah/Sara. So I wanted my mom to name the new baby Sara. She conferred with my father and they both liked the name, so that is what she ended up. She spelled it without the H at the end because my last name ends with an A.

  54. My name starts with L, hence my screenname – Elle. I also like Elle because it means ‘she’ in French.

    When I was little, I hated my middle name – Claudia. So whenever someone would ask my name, I would refuse to say it. My mom then encouraged me to say other names I liked, as long as I would say Claudia as well. So my name was L. Madeleine Bianca {a few other names I don’t remember} Claudia. After seeing the confused faces of people when I was saying that really long name, I stopped doing that :). I don’t mind Claudia anymore.

    Another name story – my friend was recently pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl. She wouldn’t tell me their names before she gave birth, because she didn’t want to see people’s reaction, and my friend and her husband that knew people (family, friends) would try to make choose other names. At the time, I was offended, because I drove 1200 miles roundtrip to go to the baby shower. But when I found out the names, I realized my friend was right. I don’t like the girl’s name – Vanessa… I’m glad my friend didn’t see my reaction to her girl’s name.

  55. It’s funny you mention that because in Eritrean culture the Grandfather becomes the bearer of names 🙂 My brother’s name is 10 letters long, and initially (when I was 9) I couldn’t understand why his name should be so embarrassing. But the name actually has a beautiful meaning. It basically means that his aura reaches people like the sun’s rays do the earth 🙂 His name is Kuluberhan.
    So just remember despite hot absurd the name might sound, if it has personal significance your kid’s gonna love it nontheless. My brother’s nickname is ‘Cool’, by the way.
    And he loves every letter. 🙂

  56. BroGoddess says:

    @Eden that is such a cool – no pun intended – story! Even though my name itself is unique, I don’t really like it because the meaning is generic. My guy, who is also from an African culture, has a long complex name that Americans can’t say (if you ask my best friend, she’ll say his name is “string of letters!”). Since his family were related to royalty, his name means something like “the crown exalts your position.” Even though I can’t say it, I love it because it truly represents who he is, not just something generic.

  57. Growing up I use to hate my name – my first name is a slightly different spelling of a traditional name, and my middle name is a last name and my last name is a first name so teachers used to mess it up all the time in school.

    But I like the story of how I ended up with my middle name. When my mom was pregnant my parents were out for dinner and were talking about family. Until that point they’d assumed they were settled on a middle name for me “Elizabeth” (totally wouldn’t fit ) but during the conversation my dad mentioned how his dad’s middle name was his grandmothers maiden name and my mom kind of liked it and voila Elizabeth was off the table to be replaced by the much more unique McAllister. I love having that link to my grandparents and great grandparents and when I have kids I love that I can use my last name as a first or middle name if its a boy, or my middle name for either.

    1. I have a maiden name as a middle name too (my great grandmother’s) — and it’s a boy’s first name. I don’t like the name itself, Francis (which is the boy’s spelling), but it’s good to know other people do that too 🙂

  58. I was named after a dog named “Mandy” … my parents loved the name “Amanda” and when their good friends got a black lab that was “just a great dog,” it seemed like fate.

    Kind of embarrassing, but it’s better than being named after a condor or something.

  59. My name is Kerri. My parents debated between Blair, Brittany, and Jessica before they decided on Kerri. My brother’s name is Braxton, although my mom said my dad wanted to name him Dirk or Rock. When I asked my parents how they came up with Braxton, they said it’s a town in Alabama.

    On a side note, my cousin April married someone with the last name Rose, so her name is April Rose. What are the odds?

    1. ReginaRey says:

      My cousin’s name is Summer, and she married a “Rose” too. So her name is Summer Rose. Her daughter’s name is Autum Rose! haha!

  60. I never really thought about kids names until I was with my ex. We decided the first boy would have been His Name II and for a girl we wanted an old sounding name from one of our families. I like Effie, Zilla and Collette the best. Those were from somewhere in my family tree, which would be fine because we said (only half joking) he got to name the first boy and I got to name the first girl, then we’d switch ” naming rights”. And I wanted Lougnot (loo-no.. It’s French) as a middle name for a girl. That was my paternal grandmothers maiden name and I like it.

    Um not that this really matters, though, since we split!

    And my real name, Nora, is awesome. Just don’t try to put an H at the end

    1. Painted_lady says:

      All three of your girl names are awesome – Effie is one of my very favorite girl names. Although I have a friend whose parents agreed that mom would name the first girl and dad would name the first boy. Well, her dad is a huge Star Wars fan, and her mom has a good childhood friend whose name happens to be the same as a Star Wars character that she had said she had always wanted to name her first daughter after. My friend’s brother was born first, and dad named him…after a major Star Wars character because he’s a big fan. And mom still named her after her friend, so they look like they were named by the biggest nerds in history.

      1. Thats so funny! I have a friend named Luke and his sister’s name is Leah – I didn’t realize the connection for a while but when I did I asked him about it immediately. Apparently is was an only a coincidence though – their mother had simply chosen some biblical names that she liked.

  61. Painted_lady says:

    Funny family name story: when my grandfather was born, my great-grandmother and great-grandfather both agreed on his first name as John, but they disagreed on his middle name. My great-grandmother wanted David, which was, I believe, her father’s name, and my great-grandfather wanted Frank, which was his name. They went a couple of months without agreeing, and since he was born at home it was okay – once they decided on the name one of them just had to go to the courthouse and get the birth certificate, no big deal. My great-grandfather finally told my great-grandmother he was okay with John David and went to the courthouse and filed paperwork for a baby boy named…John Frank. And he never told anyone, so my grandfather went the vast majority of his life thinking he was John David. He served in WWII, married my grandmother, went to work for the company he would retire from 45 years later, had a son, my uncle, John David, Jr., and had a grandson, David, named in his honor. He knew he had gone several months after he was born without a birth certificate because of a disagreement over the middle names David or Frank, but finally at nearly 70 years old, he retired and tried to start collecting social security, and only THEN did someone figure out the discrepancy. At that point, though, he – John Frank – was trying to collect benefits for the employee of 45 year named John David. He figured out pretty quickly what had happened, but he has to go back and legally change his name to John David before he could collect benefits. I was really young at the time – 4 or 5 – but I remember a couple of trips to City Hall with him and his frustration after.

    1. Fairhaired Child says:

      oh wow i cant belive it was never caught before that! that is kinda funny though

    2. Something similar happened to my grandfather. He was abandoned during the Great Depression and lived in a foster home until he joined the military. When he joined the military he learned his first and last names were not his real names. I imagine that would be a huge shock. My dad is named after him, but with a different spelling. I’m not sure why they changed the spelling but whatever.

  62. My name is Alysia (ahLEEsha). Apparently in Greek it means ‘noble’ or ‘captivating’. I think my name is pretty cool and I’ve only know a handful of women who have it. My middle name, my mom has told me, is a Hawaiian flower so that’s pretty awesome too.

    I have waaaay too many username/email addresses/forum handles that I use to list ’em all here but let’s just say I’m creative and every name means something to me. 🙂

  63. Fairhaired Child says:

    I forgot to add on my loooong post that my boyfriend’s family and myself have a lot of weird things in common. My mom and my boyfriend’s mom have the same birthday. My first name is my boyfriend’s mom’s middle name, and my middle name is my boyfriends’ grandmothers middle name.

    When I found all of that out I was def. weirded out, but now we joke that “it must be fate”.

  64. brendapie says:

    My first name is Brenda and I always felt a little weird about it. I’m 29 years old and I’ve never met someone around my age with the same name although I’m sure she exists somewhere. It just feels so old fashioned to me but my mom said she loved how the name sounded. I have a fairly strong Spanish last name with double r’s and a lot of consonants so somehow my mild easy peasy first name works out for me.

    If I decide to have children I would love a girl named Sofia, Penelope, Madeline or Collette. I used to love the name Emma but it seems pretty popular these days but I suppose the name Sofia is too. I struggle on what to name a girl since most of my family do not speak English and I want to find a name they are able to pronounce easily. I wonder if it’s a legitimate concern but since I’m pretty sure I’ll go with Sofia I don’t think it’ll be an issue.

  65. My father’s name began with an “L” and so do my sister and my names. We share a middle name with our mother. My screen name is a mush of the last syllable sound of my first name and the sound of my middle name. My sister has used the same screen name in the past – unbeknownst to each other.

    But the best name story in my family is that of my grandparents. My grandfather came to the USA through Ellis Island as a young boy. His name was Raphael Pasquarelle. Beautiful Italian name. He was called Ralph in this country. When he was naturalized he decided to change his name to ——- Ralph Card. We have no idea where the card came from 🙂
    My Grandmother did not like the name Ralph, so she picked a new first name for him —-Arnold. Because that was so much better? So He became Arnold Card from Raphael Pasquarelle. She was born Rose Amato, married my grandfather and became Rose Card, he picked another first name for her – Verna – to get back at her for Arnold? I have shaken my head for years over the names Arnold and Verna Card when they could have been Raphael and Rose Pasquarelle. Love them both, miss them most.

  66. margblogger says:

    My name is Alexandrea but I’ve gone by Andrea since birth. My middle name is actually my father’s middle name, and my Aunt’s middle name is my grandfather’s middle name, so it’s a bit of a tradition to give the daughter her father’s middle name. My BF and I don’t really have pet names, but to aggravate me he calls me Alex, which I’ve never gone by…ever. He’s a teacher, so sometimes I just cal him Mr. (Fill in last name) and that aggravates him equally 🙂

  67. I fell in love with the idea of girls names with boy nicknames after watching Dead Like Me – like Georgia but called George, Regina but called Reggie, Alexandria but called Alex. Pretty, but tough too!

    My name is Elizabeth, but I’ve always gone by Beth. It irritates me to no end when people assume Liz. I am not a Liz and have never been a Liz OR Lizzie. Don’t go giving me nicknames with out actually knowing that I use them. Especially when its people from work who’ve never even met me, just had email conversations with me… AND especially since I always write Beth when I sign off.

    1. I hate when people assume nicknames at all. I won’t respond if someone calls me “Dani.” Get to know me first before you call me a nick name (of course, once you get to know me, you’ll know that I HATE “Dani”).

  68. My IRL name is Danielle. My mom didn’t know what she was having (although she *felt* it was a girl), so she wanted names that could convert between boy and girl names. She also had Andrew/Andrea on the list. Danielle was pretty common in the 80’s but I don’t know very many nowadays.

    My screenname is an offshoot from a tv show: Daria (which was also my nickname in high school because of an uncanny resemblance, physical and otherwise). In one episode she is referred to as “the misery chick.” I just stuck the “Ms” on the front because of my feminist leanings. MsMisery is also my sci-fi convention name ^__^

  69. When my mom was pregnant with me (way back in 1984!) she was planning to name me Victoria Marie because she liked the name Victoria and and Marie is her middle name. Then, in the very last month of her pregnancy, my paternal grandmother died of breast cancer. I was born about 2-3 weeks later and they decided to name me Anna Teresa, the same name as my grandmother. I still couldn’t see myself as a Vicki!

    As for my boyfriend and I, we don’t really have specific pet names. Usually just ‘babe” or “darling” works. Lame, I know!

  70. I don’t really like pet nicknames very much. Nicknames like honey, sweetie, pumpkin – stuff like that, I really don’t like. It almost feels patronizing. My boyfriend will call me babe or good-looking, which I really secretly love. What’s weird though is that my really good guy friends from work all call me sweetie. For someone who doesn’t like that, it’s really weird. I guess it’s because they’re like my older brothers, and they are protective of me, which is nice but still a little weird. I guess I’ll just get used to it….

  71. My name is Mathilde (think matilda, only spelt native to my country) And I hate it. As a child I was always teased, because they made a chocolate milk-brand in my name. They called me Mathilde-chocolate-cow. And of course the song waltzing Matilda. I am deeply scarred.
    As a result I’ve always wanted my nickname to be Bo – I just really like it and it’s the first two letters of my last name. Sadly it never stuck… Matbo is just sort of the name I go by everywhere (I don’t believe in a secret internet identity) and is obviously a contraction of my first and last name.
    My middle name is my mothers maiden name. I’m not really close to my mother, but I took it to honor my grandfather who was an amazing man.

  72. My name is Judy,
    When I was born my parnents thought I was going to be a boy and they were going to name me after my dad, His name is Junnie and so out pop’s a girl and the closes they could come to Junnie was the name June and my mom didnt like the name because before her dad dated a women name June, They finally dicided on Judy, Thank God I wasnt a boy because the thought of being called Junnie or Jr makes my skin crawl!
    I love reading where everyone got their name from, A great change of pace!

  73. Sarah Gregg says:

    I always wanted to name my daughter Katie Josephine and my son Journey. I was blessed with a daughter, but due to another family member taking the name i chose for a girl, she ended up being Bethany. I was e=never blessed with a son so the name Journey is on hold. Maybe a grandchild some day ? …

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