Baby Names that have been done to death

[AuroraBorealis]

I hate it when people give "normal" names really unique spellings then get made at you when you spell it normally.

For example: I'm a children's librarian. Two years ago I registered a family for cards. The kids told me their names: Emily, Abigail, Matthew, and Boaz.

Guess which one (yes, only one) I spelled correctly?

If you guessed Boaz, you win the satisfaction of having more common sense than their mother!

I entered the names as one would normally spell them-- the kids didn't spell them out for the and the mom didn't say anything about the names having a unique spelling.

Once I gave the kids the cards, the mom just lost it-- began screaming at me, demanded my name, wanted to see my branch manager, etc. etc. She was totally pleasant (and normal) up until that point.

Her problem? I misspelled her "little sweethearts special names" (her exact words.)

Emily was spelled Emmaleigh.
Abigail was spelled Abbeygayle.
Matthew was spelled Mathyew.

Somehow, I was supposed to know there were alternate spellings (I did ask about gail/gayle) and I had somehow hurt her children's self esteem by spelling their names the common way.

Um...yeah...then they're going to have bad self-esteem b/c nobody will ever spell that properly on the first try!

She actually complained all the way to the board of trustees, who more or less decided she was nuts. She vowed to never use the library again when they wouldn't fire me over the name scandal! ("How can she educate my children if she can't even spell?" A. I'm not a teacher. You are responsible for parenting your children. B. I am the one who has spelling problems?)

Lady-- life is not a Scrabble game! You don't get a triple word score for burdening your child with a name nobody will ever spell properly!

 

[NotUrsula]

Spelling Éamon with one "n" is a common variant, if a somewhat politically-charged one. If you visit Ireland you will be taken for a Republican in the Irish sense of the word. The late Taoiseach Éamon de Valera spelled it that way.

In the Beatles song, Molly is married to Desmond, who has a barrow in the marketplace. However, you forgot one, the tragicomic Sweet Molly Malone -- about a Dublin fishmonger (there's that barrow thing again) who cries "Cockles and mussels, alive-alive-o"

Also, Uilliam is William, the proper transliterated Irish spelling, really. No one in my family can explain what possessed my grandmother to name my father William -- to this day his entire village is perplexed by such a lapse in judgment. Personally I think she was being canny: before Independence, having a truly Irish name was considered a handicap. One would have a hard time getting work in England with a name like Caoimhe or Darragh, but William could pass for Protestant if you were willing to pass, which Dad never was. He didn't want to be mistaken for an Orangeman.

 

[CDoobee]

We have some of the names mentioned earlier in our family.

My niece is Rhiannon. She is 32 years old.

Her brother is Seann (pronounced Shawn). He is 33 years old.

Their sisters' names haven't been mentioned. They are Gillian (with a hard g sound, not a j sound) and Bronwynn.

Gillian has 2 boys Kade and Aden.

Seann has a boy and a girl, Madison and Zachary.

My 1st two kids names are "normal", but not overly popular....Hilary and Jared. Hilary never knew another Hilary. As she got older, she went by Hil or Hilary. Jared suddenly became JC (his first and last initials) during or after high school. We would go to (or call) his place of employment and ask for Jared. Nobody knew who we were talking about! His first baby is due in April. We don't know the sex yet. It will be interesting to find out what they name it!

However, my youngest has a popular name that I didn't know was popular until after she was named. I actually found out the day we brought her home from the hospital that the neighbor behind us had the exact same first (same spelling, even) and middle names....Katelyn Elizabeth. We had only heard the neighbor referred to as Katie.

My Katelyn is 17 now and still a Katelyn. She is sometimes called Kate by her older brother and Katy by her grandpa. She's Katelyn to everyone else, though.

 

[NotUrsula]

As to variant spellings of Aidan, I don't count Aden or Adan. I take those two to have completely different meanings:

Aden = city in Yemen. Now best known for the bombing of the USS Cole.
Adan = Spanish for Adam

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I am cracking up reading this thread. So much rings a bell! Where I live, every little boy is Aiden/Aidan. Around here, if you meet a blondish boy 6 years old or younger, there's a very good statistical chance his name is Aiden/Aidan. And the funny thing is, the parents of these Aidans/Aidens all thought they were being unique and cool when picking the name, and then are surprised to find out the name is everywhere, and their Aidan/Aiden is just one of many! They truly are shocked, and almost mad that so many others picked the same name and "ruined" it.

Jackson is another name really becoming very well-used with boys here.

Ava is the girl's name now taking over the universe. Madison took over for a few years, but maybe that trend is stopping now. Kailey/Caylee/Calie/Kylies are being heard all around, too. Connor was "the name" about 12-17 years ago for boys.

I always laugh when I watch "John and Kate Plus Eight". When you have 3 boys and you live in an affulent/middle class area of the northeast, chances are one of your kids would be an Aiden/Aidan, and yep - they have one!

 

[disneyholic family]

I hate it when people give "normal" names really unique spellings then get made at you when you spell it normally.

For example: I'm a children's librarian. Two years ago I registered a family for cards. The kids told me their names: Emily, Abigail, Matthew, and Boaz.

Guess which one (yes, only one) I spelled correctly?

If you guessed Boaz, you win the satisfaction of having more common sense than their mother!

I entered the names as one would normally spell them-- the kids didn't spell them out for the and the mom didn't say anything about the names having a unique spelling.

Once I gave the kids the cards, the mom just lost it-- began screaming at me, demanded my name, wanted to see my branch manager, etc. etc. She was totally pleasant (and normal) up until that point.

Her problem? I misspelled her "little sweethearts special names" (her exact words.)

Emily was spelled Emmaleigh.
Abigail was spelled Abbeygayle.
Matthew was spelled Mathyew.

Somehow, I was supposed to know there were alternate spellings (I did ask about gail/gayle) and I had somehow hurt her children's self esteem by spelling their names the common way.

Um...yeah...then they're going to have bad self-esteem b/c nobody will ever spell that properly on the first try!

She actually complained all the way to the board of trustees, who more or less decided she was nuts. She vowed to never use the library again when they wouldn't fire me over the name scandal! ("How can she educate my children if she can't even spell?" A. I'm not a teacher. You are responsible for parenting your children. B. I am the one who has spelling problems?)

Lady-- life is not a Scrabble game! You don't get a triple word score for burdening your child with a name nobody will ever spell properly!

GREAT story!!!
how could she possibly think you'd spell those names that way..

and by the way, how did she name the last one boaz? that is such a strange name after the first three (which are actually pretty and relatively normal other than having odd spelling)..

boaz is ugly in english....whatever..parents should all be shot for what they name their kids...

i had to go through life with a name that is hideously ugly in english...

do not name your kid a name in a foreign language....take it from someone who has had one for 53 years (thus far)....

 

[Aardvarks]

Wow what a thread.

Over here we have 3 tiers of names

1, popularist and driven by current soap stars or 3rd division celebrity, reality TV wannabes and the sort of people who would kill to get into the cheap glossie mags

examples

Megan Storm, Chardonnay Madonna, Kylie, Tracey, Kevin, Jason,

2 Regular names chosen by Mr and Mrs blue colour

David, Michael, Robert, Sally, Emma, Andrew, James, Craig, Janet, Susan, Elizabeth

3 Names chosen by upper middle class and wannabe upper middle class, often family names and quite old. A lot of these names look as though they are surnames rather than first names

Finbar, Samuel, Jackson, Sebastian, Horace, Edgar, Stanley, Emily, Charlotte, Bethanny, Campbell, Cameron, William, Willard, Hector,

Names chosen by teenage mums tend to fall into the first category.

So over here, age of mother and socioeconimic group as well as level of education have as much impact as ethnic herritage.

I guess in the USA you probably have certain names which are more common in the environs of trailer parks and other names which are in greater abundance near capitol hill.

I wonder, do certain first names make it more likley that you will end up in juvenile hall or working as as an adult entertainer?? as opposed to being a Judge

 

[Lachesis00]

Funny note.
Our Aiden, my husband and I had never heard the name, nor had our parents, my sister ect...
Imagine my surprise, when my dad read somewhere it had been in the top 10 for the last 5 years in the U.S.
I think we'd heard it on Sex and the City, the guy SJP dated was an Aiden. And a gal on CSI NY was named Aidan and that's it, until now.

We had 24 hours to name him (PM me if your wondering why) and we were very tired.

I thought our daughter's name was rare. She is named after her g-g-grandmas. Here in Juneau (Alaska), I have seen 3 Lydia's. I really thought it was an old fashion, unique name. It is rarer then Aiden, but not by much.

I'm going to have to try and read the entire thread.

And you're right about Jayden/Aiden, etc. I know 3 Jaydens under the age of 2 and a couple of Aidens in the same age range.

 

[disneyholic family]

Funny note.
Our Aiden, my husband and I had never heard the name, nor had our parents, my sister ect...
Imagine my surprise, when my dad read somewhere it had been in the top 10 for the last 5 years in the U.S.
I think we'd heard it on Sex and the City, the guy SJP dated was an Aiden. And a gal on CSI NY was named Aidan and that's it, until now.

We had 24 hours to name him (PM me if your wondering why) and we were very tired.

I thought our daughter's name was rare. She is named after her g-g-grandmas. Here in Juneau (Alaska), I have seen 3 Lydia's. I really thought it was an old fashion, unique name. It is rarer then Aiden, but not by much.

I'm going to have to try and read the entire thread.

lydia's a very common name among the 50 year old brits who live around me...
lots of them....i think it's a very pretty name....

 

[Lachesis00]

For 18 years, my Grandma begged me to name my daughter (I didn't have) Lydia Grace. Grandma passed away in January, Lydia was born in April.
Lydia was my Grandma's mother's name, and Grace was my Grandfather's mother's name.
I am glad I finally full filled my Gram's wish. I just wish she could have met Lydia.

lydia's a very common name among the 50 year old brits who live around me...
lots of them....i think it's a very pretty name....

 

[aprilgail2]

And like William=Bill....seriously, wouldn't that be Billiam? or Will?? And how in the world does Richard=Dick????
I am sure we could go on and on with this!

I always wondered how Richard became dick instead of rick- we have a couple ricks a work and everyone calls them "dick" just to annoy them.

.

I am cracking up reading this thread. So much rings a bell! Where I live, every little boy is Aiden/Aidan. Around here, if you meet a blondish boy 6 years old or younger, there's a very good statistical chance his name is Aiden/Aidan. And the funny thing is, the parents of these Aidans/Aidens all thought they were being unique and cool when picking the name, and then are surprised to find out the name is everywhere, and their Aidan/Aiden is just one of many! They truly are shocked, and almost mad that so many others picked the same name and "ruined" it.



Ava is the girl's name now taking over the universe. Madison took over for a few years, but maybe that trend is stopping now. Kailey/Caylee/Calie/Kylies are being heard all around, too. Connor was "the name" about 12-17 years ago for boys.
!

Aiden is so overused here- there are 3 in my daughters grade. In her girl scout troop alone out of 14 kids 4 were named emily! Issabell/Issabella is also all over the place.
Cayden/brayden/hayden is also getting up there!

 

[clarabelle]

Wow what a thread.

I wonder, do certain first names make it more likley that you will end up in juvenile hall or working as as an adult entertainer?? as opposed to being a Judge

My DH is in the medical field. He had a professor who had a theory that men who had "cky" sound at the end of their names were more likely to wind up in the Emergency Room.
Names like Mickey, Ricky ect....

 

[mjkacmom]

I have a Hannah. It's been popular for a long time, in 1995 when she was born it was #7 on the girls list. It was #2 in 1999, according to the ssa link someone posted somewhere on this thread. Despite its popularity, we haven't run into an overabundance of Hannahs in school. I like the older, traditional names. My other D is Margaret (Maggie). Both girl's names are family names.

My name is Irish with an unusual Irish spelling that I have to spell out all the time, but I like it and don't mind.

It's funny reading through this thread and seeing what names people think are different. Growing up surrounded by Irish, Sean was common and the only spelling I had seen. My S's middle name is Seamus (pronounced shamus, it's Irish for James). If I had had another boy, he would have been William after my father, but called Liam. Several people have said they don't like nicknames, but my Maggie has the option of using the more mature Margaret when she is older.

I have an irish name with an uncommon spelling, and most of my kids have common names. I do not like nicknames used as formal names - I know a Maggie, who's only a Maggie - don't see her running for president! My Jack is actually John, my Charlie is actually Charles, and my Kate is actually Katherine. My Anna is Anna, and don't even think of calling her Annie! My name has no nickname - bummer. Liam seems weird as a formal name - kind of like naming your kid Joey!

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Ok, this thread is soooo long I haven't read it all.

I know lots of people like traditional names, family names and hate names spelled differently. I respect that it's up to the individual to name their children whatever they like. Traditional is just not me.

My DH's first name was Scott. Growing up he said there were always 3-4 or more kids in his class with the same name and he hated it. His initials also spelled SAP - not something he was really fond of either. When he became an adult he legally had Scott dropped - he uses his former middle name.

I like unique or at least not too common. I refused to name my kids after someone else - I personally think that's boring. I went on a goverment site to see what the most popular names are (by birth certificate records) and purposely chose names that were not used a lot. Not going to give them here but in 9 years we've only met one other little girl with DD's name (in another state!) and I get told all the time how beautiful it DS has a name that isn't unheard of but it isn't extremely popular either - so he's never had anyone in his grade much less class with the same name. We like it that way.

 

[monkey68]

Clarabelle, you were right: Pepper is a girl, Fierce and Bosco are boys.

I know another family (although they've since moved away) with children named J'Ana, Dane, Saroya, and Stryder.

)

When I hear the name Stryder, all I can think about is how stridor describes a sound people get when they have airflow obstruction. Doesn't sound pretty.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

For 18 years, my Grandma begged me to name my daughter (I didn't have) Lydia Grace. Grandma passed away in January, Lydia was born in April.
Lydia was my Grandma's mother's name, and Grace was my Grandfather's mother's name.
I am glad I finally full filled my Gram's wish. I just wish she could have met Lydia.

I have a Lydia Becky. I think Lydia is one of those names that ebbs and flows in popularity. It's never going to be a "unique" name, but it is never going to top the popularity charts. Good, strong name and what a nice tribute to your Grandmother. And she might not be physically with you, but I am sure that she knows and is honored.

My Lydia Becky was in memory of my mother Becky. I found out I was pregnant with Lyds a week almost to the hour before my mom passed away from cancer. My second child is Helena Ann and has mine and my mom's middle name of Ann. So, together their middle names are Becky Ann, which was my mom's name.

 

[mom2aredhead]

Around here, many of the boy names get the "y" stuck on the end...

Vinny, Tommy, Joey, Mikey, Mickey, Tony, Nicky, Johnny - They even do it to names that it makes no sense - who the heck wants a son named Chrissy??

And the girls...Gianna, Juliana, Brianna, Liliana, Gina, Julia, Alexandria, Sophia, and tons of Isabellas (shortened to Bella - whom they call baby Bella - you know - like the mushroom )

There are 3 Gianna's and 2 Nicky's in my son's class alone.

(No, unfortunately we're not a very diverse neighborhood - can you tell )

 

[robinb]

When I hear the name Stryder, all I can think about is how stridor describes a sound people get when they have airflow obstruction. Doesn't sound pretty.

I actually thought of Strider Ringbearer (aka Aragon) from the Lord of the Rings with one of those random i/y replacements.

I actually know someone who named their little boy "Valen" after a character in the show Babylon 5.

 

[cinmell]

I also know a MichaelAnn. .

Me too. Maybe it's not as uncommon of a name.

 

[allison443]

Around here, many of the boy names get the "y" stuck on the end...

Vinny, Tommy, Joey, Mikey, Mickey, Tony, Nicky, Johnny - They even do it to names that it makes no sense - who the heck wants a son named Chrissy??

And the girls...Gianna, Juliana, Brianna, Liliana, Gina, Julia, Alexandria, Sophia, and tons of Isabellas (shortened to Bella - whom they call baby Bella - you know - like the mushroom )

There are 3 Gianna's and 2 Nicky's in my son's class alone.

(No, unfortunately we're not a very diverse neighborhood - can you tell )

By any chance are you from a certain borough of NYC???