jamest wrote:In respect of our childrens' rights to forge their own minds, we should never impose a name upon them which would suggest otherwise. I called my daughter Rachel, because I liked the sound of that name. Nothing more.

How does this work? What names or attitude when naming would define this?

Varangian wrote:I'm pretty happy with "Björn" ("bear"). It isn't terribly common, but it doesn't raise any eyebrows, either. (Well, a couple of weeks ago, it did, because of a group of four people talking, three of us were named "Björn".) When I grew up, it helped that ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and tennis star Björn Borg were around - never mess with success!

As for less fortunate names, a couple spring to mind. One customer was named "Petter Niklas", which translates as "John Thomas", if you get my meaning. The other boy obviously had Motörhead fans as parents, as he was named "Lemmy"... Sometimes, the combination of first and last names are unfortunate, as in the case of Ann Ahl...

Bummer.

My parents got their inspiration from an artist who alledgedly used to beat his wife. As 'Ike' isn't really common around here, I frequently need to spell it out.

The Serpent wrote:Like the Dog from Footrot Flats, my real name must never be uttered let alone revealed.

Is it Rumpelstilzchen? ^^

Voldemort.

I was named by my fellow members of the Brislington People's Liberation Front. All members were called Bill as an act of equality; even the blokes. As chairman-for-life of the BPLF, I am and always will be chairman bill.

My parents named me Ian, which is boring.

My Dad wanted to call me Jabez - after his Dad. Mum objected.

The Serpent wrote:Like the Dog from Footrot Flats, my real name must never be uttered let alone revealed.

That bad?

Well, any parents capable of saddling your brother with "Abraxas" ...

dionysos?

I'd drink to that.

I think the bigger issue is parents who tie in the first name without thinking about the surname and the results can be interesting. Recall someone whose parents called their daughter Prudence, and their surname was Hole. Since people shorten names, it became Prue, and when tied in with the surname, you have Prue Hole.

chairman bill wrote:...My parents named me Ian, which is boring.

No it isn't

Horwood Beer-Master wrote:

chairman bill wrote:...My parents named me Ian, which is boring.

No it isn't

Not very interesting.

Iain

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Horwood Beer-Master wrote:

chairman bill wrote:...My parents named me Ian, which is boring.

No it isn't

Not very interesting.

Iain

Learn to spell.

Ian

Horwood Beer-Master wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Horwood Beer-Master wrote:

chairman bill wrote:...My parents named me Ian, which is boring.

No it isn't

Not very interesting.

Iain

Learn to spell.

Ian

Nope the Celtic Iain. I use it here as I explained.

I knew a boy at school who often insisted that he was called James not Jimmy, his last name was Riddell.

I taught two brothers named Blade, and...... Razor

I did some business with a man named Harry Dong who ran a small local computer shop in the 80's. I kept his business card for years. It's probably in a box somewhere around here.

I had a data entry job when I was a kid that consisted of entering patient demographics into a database for a healthcare company. There are more Harry Dongs, Wangs, Dicks and Dycks than you can imagine.

John. About as basic as it gets.

Honestly because "there's always been a John Brandt". Usually with different middle names to differentiate them when a few are alive at the same time. My father was John Eric, his father was John Henry, his father was John Christian, and when you start getting back into the German times as far back as we can trace it's always been "Johannes" or "Johann". Our eldest son is Jonathan...first in a long time to break with the tradition I suppose. His sons really break it, with only John as a middle name.

I really can't understand parents who want to give their kids "unique" names they have made up out of, seemingly, pulling a bunch of scrabble letters out of a bag at random. You're just setting your kid up for a life of ridicule or continually having to sigh and spell their name for everyone they come across.

Middle name: Billy. I hated it when I was school, was teased unmercifully. It's better now because I have a grandson with the middle name William as a tribute. So I'm not too fussed anymore.

johnbrandt said:

I really can't understand parents who want to give their kids "unique" names they have made up out of, seemingly, pulling a bunch of scrabble letters out of a bag at random. You're just setting your kid up for a life of ridicule or continually having to sigh and spell their name for everyone they come across.

Indeed. I've come across someone named Sean whose parents insisted pronounced "seen" so he had to explain to everyone how to spell it and that it wasn't pronounced the proper way. If you can't pronounce the name yourself, don't use it.