Anyone who has given their child an unusual name ...

[wdwfan16]

I have a very ethnic first name but my parents pronounced it different. When I went to Kindergarten I reverted to the traditional pronunciation. My parents hated it then and still hate it now. I only go by the traditional pronunciation now.. It is common in that ethnic group but I am not that ethnic group. Nobody had my name when I was growing up and I hated my name. It has become more main stream since.

We gave our kids normal name. Normal as they are spelled the traditional way, are pronounced the traditional way and were not name of animals, trees, building materials or the like just a few years agoe. They can have a fun nickname if they want to be different.

 

[Jenvenza]

Oh yes there is. My Dsis works in the family court system so she sees all sorts of names. Her absolute favorite is pronounced Sha theed. Unfortunately it is spelled ****head. And I believe it will be filtered by the Dis but I don't want to type it funky and get a violation!

OMG!!!! That is awful!!!!

My best friends child went to school with a girl named - Ilovyou. If they were going to go that far, I dont know why they felt the need to leave the "e" off of the "love"!

 

[carj]

I have a very unusual name. Most of the time it is fine and I like it because it is a part of me. It's MY name, but there was no way that I was going to do that to my kids!

My children have nice, easy to pronounce and spell names. I think that people think that some of these names are clever and cute for children. Remember that every single time those grown up children, use a credit card, go to a doctor's office, take a class in college, etc, etc, they will have to explain their name yet again. Trust me, it gets old.

Sometimes, I just want to buy my groceries, not explain my name.

 

[Irin997]

DD8 has a fairly common name with a slightly less common spelling. Her name is Kamryn. I've met an 18 year old with that name, lots of boys with Cameron, and one other girl with Camryn. It's amazing how much more popular it is than I thought. However it fits her well.

Now myself, I have probably one of the flat out weirdest names ever. I'm a white American girl with polish and german background, however my name is Japanese. So everyone thinks I'm Asian, even though there is absolutely NOTHING Asian about me. It is ALWAYS misspelled, misspronounced, and people think I'm a guy.

But I love it. I'm inevitably unique and no one ever forgets me.

BUT I did not want to inflict the same sort of issues I had growing up associated with my name on DD8. I have probably explained the origin, meaning, and reason why my mother named me a million times along with how to spell, how to pronounce, etc, etc. Therefore I wanted something fairly normal, with a tiny bit of uniqueness in it. Out came Kamryn...however I seriously contemplated Tyler for her name even though it's technically a boys name. Anyone see Point Break?

PS if anyone cares my name means the rising sun and my mom lived in Japan for a few years and always thought it was a pretty name for a girl.

 

[Irin997]

I have a very unusual name. Most of the time it is fine and I like it because it is a part of me. It's MY name, but there was no way that I was going to do that to my kids!

My children have nice, easy to pronounce and spell names. I think that people think that some of these names are clever and cute for children. Remember that every single time those grown up children, use a credit card, go to a doctor's office, take a class in college, etc, etc, they will have to explain their name yet again. Trust me, it gets old.

Sometimes, I just want to buy my groceries, not explain my name.

Ugh, I HEAR you!! Just out of curiosity, when you go a restaurant or anywhere that asks you for your name, do you cringe and wish you didn't have to cause then you'd have to spell it or explain it, etc? I do. I hate that part. Thank goodness I have a very common last name.

Sometimes I wish I had everything I need to say about my name either on a handy business card or tatooed on my forehead.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have a very unusual name. Most of the time it is fine and I like it because it is a part of me. It's MY name, but there was no way that I was going to do that to my kids!

My children have nice, easy to pronounce and spell names. I think that people think that some of these names are clever and cute for children. Remember that every single time those grown up children, use a credit card, go to a doctor's office, take a class in college, etc, etc, they will have to explain their name yet again. Trust me, it gets old.

Sometimes, I just want to buy my groceries, not explain my name.

I would not trade my unusual name for anything. It gets a little annoying when someone asks me for my FIRST name and I answer Hadley and they say--no I want your first name. Yep, I know what you asked and I know what my first name is but I don't really mind. Nor do I mind that I get lots of junk mail for Mr. Hadley NHDisneylover--it helps me to know what IS junk quickly.

I agree with many that i do not like "creative" spellings though.

 

[Rora]

I just had to add that my mom went to high school with a girl named Anita D*ck...

Poor girl! Apparently, she changed her name the minute she turned 18.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Don't know how "unusual" it is, but my DstepD's DD named her daughter "Iliana".. I'd never heard that name prior to that - and at first it kind of threw me - but after awhile I found I really liked it..

The same DstepD named one of her DD's a combination of her dad's first name and hers - but I won't post it here because it's very, very unusual..

My mom's best friend is married to a Mexican-American man and one of their two daughters is Iliana as well. I always thought it was a pretty name.

 

[cheermom1]

here is a new one for ya - when i named my son James I was very concerned that he would get a nick name and I did NOT want him to called Jim or Jimmy or whatever - well as soon as he was born his grandma decided she would nick name him Jamie - no offense to anyone with that name but I didn't want him to be called Jamie - we told her and told her for weeks and she said "I'm his grandma I have the right to call him anything I want" i told her that "I'm his mother and if I wanted him to be called Jamie would have put it on his birth certificate!"

she never called him Jamie again LOL

I hate when other people call her kids something knowing you don't like it!

I know someone that named her dd Chanda Lier...can you get it?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Our DD's name is Gianna. Not a name you hear too often, and I dont think it will ever be a popular name. But I dont think it is unusual. I think there are a couple of people here on these boards who have a Gianna. But we have only met one other Gianna in person. And that was at WDW!

My nephew is named Miles. Not a name you hear too often either.

There are about 9 million Gianna's here. I think it depends on where you live. A lot of Italians here and Gianna is very common.

 

[Aisling]

My parents named me Aisling Edna !

The worst thing was having to correct people on how to pronounce it all my life (Ash-ling). But otherwise, I like the name. The Edna is another story. (Sorry gramma).

 

[JVL1018]

We have three girls.


Our middle is Julia Marie. Common. DH and I couldn't decide on a name for her. Marie is my mother's middle name. Julia fits her though. She's full of spunk and life.
!

I have a Julia too (Julia Lindsey), she's 10 and she was the only Julia in her school..until last week, when another Julia enrolled..and it's in her grade too. Argh! Not her class though.

I love love love the name, still my absolute favorite for a girl. We call her Jules, Jule and J along with Julia, but NEVER Julie.

My son's name is super common:Matthew.
HE has no one else named Matthew in his grade, go figure.
I thought he would be called Matt, and I do call him that, but at school and with his friends he is Matthew. That's what he calls himself, so that's what he goes by. I tried to convince him to use Matt since it's less writing, but he didn't go for it. LOL

ETA: My mom had an unusual name:Meta, everyone called her Mickey, though.
Her mom also had an unusual name: Ismene.
My grandma was Italian- her name I think was Greek and my mom's I think is German, so they aren't family names or a nod to their ethnicity in any way. Just random.
My mom had a regular middle name:Victoria and that's what she named me.

 

[Jusacuz]

My name is Elayna. People sometimes say it wrong. I have had people call me E-lay-ni-a. How they get that is beyond me. It's E-lay-na.

My daughter is Robin. I had many names picked out, but when she was born she just looked like a Robin and still does. She likes her name because she is androgynous and appreciates a gender neutral name.

I had to laugh when I read your first paragraph. My daughter's name is Melaina (Ma-lay-nuh) and people constantly call her Ma-lay-nia and they spell it all sorts of weird ways. Her middle name is Ayn (rhymes with "mine") and people say it like Ann, which to be fair we did too when she was born. Then we realized we were saying it wrong, lol, and she decided she likes it better the way it's supposed to be.

My oldest son is Tru and people always ask what it is short for. It's not short for anything and that seems to bother some people.

I also have an Aidan and a Tristan, but those are normal names now.

 

[sunshine girl]

There are a lot of cute names posted here! And a couple of questionable names, too... hmmm. Fun to read.

 

[Kitzka]

Now myself, I have probably one of the flat out weirdest names ever. I'm a white American girl with polish and german background, however my name is Japanese. So everyone thinks I'm Asian, even though there is absolutely NOTHING Asian about me. It is ALWAYS misspelled, misspronounced, and people think I'm a guy.

But I love it. I'm inevitably unique and no one ever forgets me.

.

This is so funny. one of my co-workers is a blonde blue eyed woman named Michiko. Her parents just loved the name and named her that. She is not Asian, has never been to asia. We often joke that we should change names as mine is Lara.

Lara

 

[Kitzka]

I was named Lara after Dr. Zivago (just butchered that spelling). When my brother was born Dad wanted to name him Yuri (dad LOVES that book and movie). Luckily mom stepped in and named him Jimmy. Not James or Jim but Jimmy. I remember he had a teacher in 4th grade who wanted him to write his fulll name on papers, no nick names. if you did you got points taken off. For the first month or two of school he got points taken off every paper, test etc because he was writing Jimmy. Finally, mom noticed and marched down to school with his birth certificate to get his points back. That woman was a real witch. She actually asked my mom why she did not name my brother james!

I had to tell people how to pronounce my name. They want to call me Laura, Lora anything but Lara. People there is no U in there!

DH is named Matthew and goes by Matt. We wanted to give DD a name that would fit her. We decided on Kailey. When we were in London we saw a keychain with the name Kaylee and loved it. In case it was too 'cutesy' and not professional we had her middle name be Victoria. The only concern is that I am Asian and i wanted her to have something asian in her name. I hated most of the vietnames names that were presented to me (plus DH couldn't say them!) so instead we gave DD 2 last name, but with no hyphen. without the hyphen people really don't know what to do with her last name. they either think she has a double last name or they make the last name blend together.

I wanted to name her Memphis (after the ancient egyptian capital not the city in TN) but DH would have nothing to do with it.

Lara

 

[NHdisneylover]

I was named Lara after Dr. Zivago (just butchered that spelling). When my brother was born Dad wanted to name him Yuri (dad LOVES that book and movie). Luckily mom stepped in and named him Jimmy. Not James or Jim but Jimmy. I remember he had a teacher in 4th grade who wanted him to write his fulll name on papers, no nick names. if you did you got points taken off. For the first month or two of school he got points taken off every paper, test etc because he was writing Jimmy. Finally, mom noticed and marched down to school with his birth certificate to get his points back. That woman was a real witch. She actually asked my mom why she did not name my brother james!

I have an uncle named Jimmy. His older brother is named James.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I was named Lara after Dr. Zivago (just butchered that spelling). When my brother was born Dad wanted to name him Yuri (dad LOVES that book and movie). Luckily mom stepped in and named him Jimmy. Not James or Jim but Jimmy. I remember he had a teacher in 4th grade who wanted him to write his fulll name on papers, no nick names. if you did you got points taken off. For the first month or two of school he got points taken off every paper, test etc because he was writing Jimmy. Finally, mom noticed and marched down to school with his birth certificate to get his points back. That woman was a real witch. She actually asked my mom why she did not name my brother james!

First of all, leaving out an H (Zhivago) is not butchering a spelling Secondly, the nerve of that teacher. That would really make me mad if I were your mother.

 

[aprilgail2]

ILuckily mom stepped in and named him Jimmy. Not James or Jim but Jimmy. I remember he had a teacher in 4th grade who wanted him to write his fulll name on papers, no nick names. if you did you got points taken off. For the first month or two of school he got points taken off every paper, test etc because he was writing Jimmy. Finally, mom noticed and marched down to school with his birth certificate to get his points back. That woman was a real witch. She actually asked my mom why she did not name my brother james!

.

Lara

My friends name is Katherine- in 4th grade the teacher told her "that name is to long, you have to pick a nickname- do you want to be Kathy, Kate, Katie" Poor kid didn't want ANY of those but she muttered "katie I guess" and for the rest of that year she became Katie!

Our DD's name is Gianna. Not a name you hear too often, and I dont think it will ever be a popular name. But I dont think it is unusual. I think there are a couple of people here on these boards who have a Gianna. But we have only met one other Gianna in person. And that was at WDW!

My nephew is named Miles. Not a name you hear too often either.

Seriously?? There is a Gianna here everytime you turn around- VERY popular name- 3 in my daughter grade alone!! She also has a Miles in her class (parents named him after some Jazz guy) Also have a Niles in the class so it gets a bit confusing with Miles and Niles

 

[ReneeA]

My name is Aimee. I like the name, but it's super annoying to have to spell it to everyone.

I wanted so badly to name DD Nora. I love the name, but DH wouldn't allow it - he said everyone would think she's 65 years old. Juliana is especially happy that her father got to name her, as she's not a fan of Nora, either.