Midtown Humanity On Parade, Vol. 2
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on May 29, 2007 – 5:48 PM333 Comments
Little girl: Hi Mom, so guess what, at school today, after lunch? Dylan? Got a nosebleed.
Mom: Which Dylan?
What I love about that exchange: 1) to a child, a classmate’s nosebleed is above-the-fold, 48-point-type, no-time-for-pleasantries breaking news; 2) the child in question has more than one “Dylan” in her class. What I love even more is how these two aspects become one, because from now on, the Dylan who got the nosebleed is…the Dylan who got the nosebleed. If Dylan invites this little girl to a pool party, her mother will no longer ask “Which Dylan?” or “Dylan R. or Dylan J.?”, but rather, “Dylan who got the nosebleed?”
I have now typed “Dylan” so many times that it looks misspelled.
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Tags: city living
Ah, it’s wonderful to have a name no one else has. My first name is a combination of Joseph and Elizabeth — the two names my parents had picked out for me before I was born. My dad combined them as a joke while Mom was still pregnant, so Jobetta it is. Although I did go by Jo for a while, I’ve always had a unique name.
“Ashley. or Ashleigh, or Ashlee or one of the other 10 ways to spell that name.”
Recently, I had more than one conversation about the various spellings of the name Ashley and what the spelling tells you about the girl (or guy, I guess).
I was going to say that I wonder if the “Dylan” in Sars’ story is really a girl with parents who spelled the name strangely. I imagine it might be Dillyne or some other weird variation.
The “Chris” thing must be generational. My freshman year of college, I was friends with: “Hot Chris,” “History Class Chris,” “Girl Krys,” “Gay Chris,” and Chrissie.
Lauren — That’s Shannon of ModBlog who named his daughter Nefarious Freedom, yes? I’ve seen pictures of her on his own blog; she is a cutie.
I went to a Catholic college and we used to joke that if you walked into any classroom and yelled “John” or “Mary” at least two people would answer.
I have only encountered a handful of other Rachels, which is mostly fine, except that every time I hear people talking about a Rachel, I always think it’s me. Doesn’t work so well when there’s another Rachel in the company (but at least it’s her they complain about, and not me!).
The comment about Thomas Thomas Thomas the Third made me remember a guy I knew in college… Richard J. Richards IV. Why, people? Why?!
cayenne: I am told my maternal grandmother wanted to name me “Sudonvon”, which was an amalgamation of my other grandparents’ names. In fact, my paternal grandmother’s name, Delvon, was itself an amalgamation of her father’s name (Delbert, also my father’s middle name, and one that is probably dead now partially thanks to “Dilbert”) and her mother’s maiden name, von Buren. She has always hated her name, and she felt bad for several babies who were named after her (she was very active in her church and the YMCA). I can say that I am quite glad I am not going through life as Sudonvon.
I have always been happy with my name even though it’s rather common – “Andy” sounds somewhat jocular which fits my personality but I can use “Andrew” to sound a little more “formal” on resumes and the like, and it’s almost never misspelled or mistaken for something else.
I can also tell you that if you are a guy, you should not tell your guy friends what your parents would have named you if you were a girl. My college buddy Ryan was forever “Wendy” after his ill-fated revelation of this fact.
Diane: names are definitely regional. A former coworker who was born in Alabama once told me she has two cousins named Rufus. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I do not think I have ever met or even tangentially known a local Rufus.
Ok, so I had 2 best friends… like EVER! and I wanted to name my daughter after a mix of them. so, First name Michelle, Midde: Anne.
Michelle Anne
sounds nice, yes? several nicknames so she can choose.
but nope. My husband had a dream when he was 13 that he would have a daughter named Ellowyn.
And I now have a daughter named Ellowyn.
It’s not Eowyn (wherever that is from) or Ellwyn (like the forest in WoW which, my kid was born first, but she goes around saying that we named her after a forest in World of Warcraft)
I like Ellowyn, but she (or her grandma) decided she would be Ellie. Everyone calls her Ellie except for her father and I. (I just can’t bring myself to do it!) However, I have been known to shorten it to El, but then if I stop there, it’s cause I’m so frusterated I cant make another sylable come out of my mouth.
Also, my name. Carena. (KAH-ree-nah) not that hard, and most people say it right first time (except in 4th grade /sigh) but no one has ever spelled it correct w/o being coached. Mom and dad made it up. Aunt Kathy and Great-Grandma Rowena. And I know that there is a song by the same name. Thanks for letting me know. Mom swears she named me, first, but I’ve not bothered to check.
And they put a Carena right in the middle of a hard C loving family.
I am now fully trained to answer to (in this order) Kim (mom), Kimmy (mom’s nickname), Kathy(aunt), Heather (cousin) and finally… Carena. My brother, Jason (another good “original” name, right?) is fully trained to answer to Kevin (Uncle).
As we were flying down, I told Ellowyn (then age 6) that if someone calls to her saying Kim, Kimmy, Kathy, Kevin, Heather or Carena, that she should answer, and that if someone just keeps saying any name over and over, to look up, ’cause they may be talking to her.
When we got there… The little fink turned me in!
I was blessed with an unusual first and middle name along with a nice long Greek name (which started with A so my name was always at the top of the class list), so substitute-teacher day was always an adventure watching their panic while they tried to figure out if they should start with my first or last name. I tended to just answer “I’m here” before their head exploded.
I was also called Gorilla from K-12, which I loathed, but now as an adult I have come to introduce myself with “Rilla, like Gorilla without the ‘go'”, so go figure!
But I too always wished I had a normal name like everyone else, and always dreamed of the day I could walk into a store and get a bike plate or mug with my name on it, too.
I love my name now and like the fact that not many others have it (only met one person so far). But people still can’t pronouce it properly…sigh.
On the other hand, my bf’s name is Adam and he always had the “oh, like Adam and Eve”, so I guess we all have our problems. Heh.
At one point, I was in a high school play with SIX other Jills. But ordinarily, it’s not a name you run into much, which I like.
I used to want to name my future daughter Emma, but then the Rachel character on friends did, so you know there will be a bunch of Emmas running around soon. It’s like all the Kaylas from the mid/late 80s– someone in the family watched Days of our Lives…
This whole topic is great!
I was pretty lucky growing up (in the ‘burbs of Chicago). I was the only Lisa in my school from pre-school thru 8th grade. Very few of my classmates even had doubles. My close friends were Kristin, Rachel, Mary, Debbie, Summer and Jaymee. We had 2 Matts, 2 Sara(h)s and two Heathers…that’s about it.
Regardless, I couldn’t escape fate as my sophomore year college roommate was also named Lisa. Currently, there are no other Lisa’s in my dept either – and that includes offices in Chicago and NYC! I think maybe I’ve found the “Lisa Void”. :)
I’m pretty fascinated with names – esp. nicknames and where they come from. I could never understand how someone named John goes by Jack or how Bob comes from Robert. This website gives a pretty nifty read about the history of nicknames:
http://www.geocities.com/edgarbook/names/other/nicknames.html
I know a guy who named his daughter Andromeda and his son Orion. He insists that they will always go by their full names. Those poor kids are gonna rebel one day.
I’ve run into very few other Claudias (I’m 30ish), but there is another one in my office now. Despite being able to sort eight Daves and about 50 Steves, an absurd number of my coworkers cannot send email to the correct Claudia.
I had a daughter about a year ago and had a lot of fun researching the name thing. I hope we managed to hit on one that was not too popular, easy to spell, and easy to say. I used screening daycares as a way to see how popular names were getting too. For example, my husband really liked ‘Maya’, and I told him that at day cares A and B there were several Maya, Mia, and Miyas already. And so many Jaden/Caden/Adens.
Sars, Vivian was on our final four list.
For the Marys and Susans, etc, there are some good articles out there about ‘common’ versus ‘popular’ names. I agree that we might see a resurgence of Carol, Nancy, etc soon.
Do not even get me started on ‘creative’ spelling.
I alwasys thought my name was unusual, I never met another Karen til I got my job here, and then my spelling is different. I was always Caryn with a C. (The “Y” still throws people.) But now when a friend talks to me about Karen, she always has to add, “I mean Karen with a K,” as if I couldn’t tell she wasn’t talking about me. I’m surprised that someone said it was a common name, since I saw it so infrequently growing up. Maybe I was just a little early for it.
Oh, and Porter is somewhat common in Utah, because of Porter Rockwell. (Although why someone would name a cute little baby after Brigham Young’s enforcer baffles me.)
I always liked my name because when you look at it, you know how to say it, but you don’t really know a lot of Carlas. I grew up in an Italian town so there were a few others, but none in my grade. My poor sister got saddled with Ida-Jo as a combination of the names of my father’s mother and father. I always thought it was a beautiful name and loved the family history but I wasn’t a plump teenager with a name that sounded awfully close to “Idaho.” She’s determined to name her kids “Tiffany, Jessica, David, anything normal!!!” As for the person above who talked about dodging a name bullet, my other sister Renee was THIS close to being Raelene. My dad won the coin toss for getting to name the dark-haired baby. My mom was pretty pissed when Renee turned blond six months later.
I have a 1960s housewife name that is virtually unheard of in my generation (GenXer), and the only reason I haven’t changed my name is because I really like the person after whom I was named. There was one other person with my name in my entire HS of 2200 people, which actually led to someone trying to pick a fight with me once because the OTHER Bonnie had hit on someone’s boyfriend. Or something stupid like that. The dumbass who tried to hit me just could not believe that there were TWO of us in the school.
Of course, the flip side to the classic names that everyone uses is the absolutely crazy crap that kids get stuck with nowadays: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html. (I also love the SSA site and wonder how many Jennifers would have gotten a different name had that been around in the 70s/80s, and Baby Name Wizard link above is a must-check for all parents-to-be.)
When I was born in 1978, I was named Megan after a lady in Ohio who had a cat (yeah, I don’t know) because my parents liked it and didn’t know anyone else naming their baby girl that. I only had a few in my class, but when I subbed in the junior highs and high school in my town every day for two years, I had a Meg(h)an in class.
Also, at the time, the established meaning/origin was “strong and capable” or “strong-willed” (no comment) from Anglo-Saxon origins. Just for fun, when my sister had her daughter sixteen months ago, I looked up my name in the baby-name book I gave her, and they’ve changed the meaning! Now whoever decides such things has determined that Megan is a diminutive of Margaret and therefore is Greek for “pearl”. I *like* being “strong and capable”, darnit!
Ruth has almost disappeared from Baby Name Wizard but my first friend, born two days after me in the same hospital, was Ruth too. She was always known as Other Ruth, and still refers to herself that way when talking to me. It also gave my mother the opportunity to distress people who saw us playing together and asked our names….they would walk away wondering why someone would give their twins the same name!
I always hated Ruth growing up, and wanted to be called something glamourous, like Samantha or Isobelle. And it didn’t help when my dad let slip that he wanted to call me Cordelia, because I though that was the coolest name ever. I’ve grown into Ruth now, but it took a while. Easy to spell, easy to say, no tricky letter combos (unless you’re French, they can’t handle the ‘th’) and not too many of us around.
Still would have been nice if they’d given me Cordelia as a middle name!
In response to Cayenne “does anyone know if their parents intended to name them something & changed their minds before The Point Of No Return, and have they had any thoughts about that alternative?”
My parents were originally going to name me Elaine Claire and then just call me Claire, but then realized I would be E. Claire LastName, so they changed it to Claire Elaine so I wouldn’t be forever confused with the delicious dessert. Now I think it would be kind of fun to be E. Claire, but as a child I was relieved that I didn’t have a weird food name (like my sister’s friend, Anna Banana).
My mother named me Whitney because it could be a male or a female name.
Came home one night with a friend (Dan, who is one of two) and mom answered the door with “Whitley!” I immediately became Mr. Whitley to all my friends and coworkers who met my friends. I don’t know where the Mr. came from, but it sure is fun to introduce your self to drunk guys at the bar,
“Hi, I’m Mr. Whitley!”
*bleary, drunk once-over*
“No.. you’re all woman.”
Makes it easy to weed out the good men from the bad.
Never met another Reana (Ray-ah-nah), but then again, I’ve only ever had one person pronounce it right on the first try.
I graduated high school with 8 Sara(h)s, 14 Megans (several variations), and 10 or 11 Jennifers. Just one Reana. =)
If I have kids, they are getting names like Kaeldra (named for a girl in a book who could talk to dragons) or Sadia (’cause I like it). Still sound like names, but not like every other child born in the same year. Except now all of you will name your children those names! Darn it.
I spent much of my elementary life surrounded by Corrinnes, Kat(i)es, Daves, Chrises, and ohhhhh the Matts and Mikes. We had five of each in my grade for nine years, and then in highschool it only got worse.
But as a Victoria, I was alone, which was nice. Except that my mother HATES Vickie. HAAAAAATES IT. The teacher would ask, “Do you like to be called Vickie?” and everytime, the slightly funny answer of “My mother doesn’t.”
Of course, now I hate it. And people screw up Tori like its nobody’s business. I have gone through the mother of all memoing chains with a professor, pointedly signing my name Tori each time, receiving Tory each time back.
This however, is not as bad as my poor sister Clare, who’s own grandparents did not get it right for several years (and they hadn’t even retired yet!).
Growing up in New Zealand I hardly ever met another Erin. So uncommon was the name that when Erin Brockovich came out, people would make a point of telling me about the film on the basis that Erin was in the title. Then for a while when I told people my name, they would inevitably reply with, “Oh, like Erin Brockovich!”
Suffice to say, I’ve never quite forgiven Julia Roberts.
There are lots of little girls in NZ called Erin now, but it’s still strange to hear those two wee syllables used for other people. My name…grrr.
I believe Erin is very common in the States, so maybe we should arrange an international name exchange for the purposes of briefly being one of crowd. I can come to America and meet other Erins, and the Craigs and Frasers out there can come to my part of the world and feel ordinary for a bit. Of course, Craig would have to get used to his name rhyming with maid, paid, and vague, cos it sure ain’t said like Greg in NZ!
I recently played in a Mr. Holland’s Opus kind of alumni concert for my former band director and discovered that, upon marriage, the two Heathers I knew from band had traded last names. Heather Smith became Heather Johnson, and Heather Johnson became Heather Smith. And of course, they’re no more related now than they were then. But it was a huge mess whenever anyone was looking for “Heather Johnson” all weekend…
“does anyone know if their parents intended to name them something & changed their minds before The Point Of No Return”
Yes, actually. My parents had narrowed it down to Diane, Suzanne, and Karen. All names that were very popular at the end of the 60s/beginning of the 70s, which, since I was born in ’82, makes me think my parents have been behind on trends their whole lives.
I’m unbelievably grateful that my parents went with Karen. I’d have been happy with Susannah, but I hate Suzanne, and while I like Diana, neither Diana nor Diane are a good fit for me/my personality. Basically, my dad looked at me, and said, “She looks like a Karen.” So that’s what they went with. My middle name (Leigh) is after my father (Leon), which, hilariously, he sometimes forgets. One time he filled out some form for me, and put my middle initial as “P”. I protested loudly, “Dad, I’m named after *you*!!”
I was at an apple orchard last fall, and nearby a woman was trying to wrangle her three young, blond, encorduroyed children into submission by shouting “Dylan-Logan-Caitlin” over and over again.
I thought it was the most perfect trifecta ever.
I’m lucky enough to be the only one with my name, or at least my spelling – I was named after an Ankara, but she’s the only other one I know of. It doesn’t lend itself to nicknames…but it definitely gets messed up: Anne, Anna, Cara, Cara-Ann, Karen, Annmarie, Annie….
It almost makes me wish my parents had named me Stephanie like they’d originally planned.
A few, um, unusual names I’ve encountered, and one I narrowly avoided:
I was in junior high with a girl named Harlette, after her grandfather, Harley (actually, her mom was Harlette also, so my classmate was really Harlette, Jr.). Substitute teachers always called her Harlot which was always pretty entertaining.
My brother was in high school with a girl named Dymphna, after the patron saint of the mentally ill.
And I knew a kid named Radium, after his grandfather (who, himself, was smart enough to name *his* son Keith).
Growing up, if I acted up, my mom would threaten to have my name changed to be after my grandmother and great-grandmother–which would’ve rendered me Hannah Fannie. Suffice it to say, that always got me to shape up quick.
I’ve done alright as Douglas Edward [Lastname], I think. I prefer Douglas, but can live with Doug. My last name isn’t hard, but is just odd enough that people forever mispronounce it, even when they’re making a good faith effort. Having dealt with that, though, at least makes me sensitive to other people naming issues.
What I really wanted to talk about, though, was other people. These are real names of real people I have known:
– Benson Davis Forrester the 5th, a.k. “Benji”. Swore he wouldn’t do it to his kid.
– 6 Jennifers in 10th grade Chemistry class. One of them was a Thibedeaux, which I think would be a totally rocking name for a cat. Who’s with me?
– Coach Sweat. For reals. He was my 8th grade P.E. “teacher.” The most awesome part was when I tried to be sympathetic that he must take a lot of flack for that, and he said it had never occurred to him. Wow.
– Shirley Worley must have married for love, cuz it wasn’t for dignity.
– Sunburst Crockett’s parents were doing okay till they named her little brother David Thunder. Yes – Davie Crockett
This one’s probably apocryphal, but was told to me as true, so here goes: Mr. Rose named his three daughters Red, Yellow, and Wild. This was goofy, but livable, until Wild grew up and married Mr. Bull. ( . . . yeah, I don’t think so, either, but I had to throw it out there.)
I’m surprised to see that I’m the first “Alyson” or some variant thereof. It’s not that common, but not completely rare either. (Although, I think it is becoming more and more popular these days…) My mother named me after her high school girlfriend who was killed when her car got hit by a train. Prior to the accident I was on track to be called “Shareen” -> so as far as I’m concerned, the original Alyson didn’t die for nothing!!
Growing up, I only know one other “Allyson,” and in college there was an “Allison.” I hated my name in elementary school, it seemed like an old lady name to me, like Betty or Dorothy. Now I’ve accepted it, until I start saying it over and over to myself, like now, and then it seems foreign and weird. That said, I’ve never ever had a nickname that stuck… I’m just not an “Allie” and only family and my best friend can get away with calling me Al.
This thread is fantastic! As I read through all the comments it struck me that my parents did a pretty darn good job avoiding too-common names.
My name is Patricia, and in business or other formal settings I go by just that: Patricia. Like someone mentioned earlier, people ask me if they can shorten my name. I *hate* when people say, “oh, so can I call you Pat?” In high school there was one other Patricia but she went by Trish, so I was fairly unique.
What’s hilarious, though, is that my nickname is Petey. THAT confuses a lot of people. P.D., P.T., T.P. (!), Pee Dee (!!), Petie, and Petemus (I kinda love that one).
My sister’s name is Meredith. While still young she went by “Meredee,” which confused many. Now she goes by “Merry,” which confuses even more re: spelling.
“Coach Sweat. For reals. He was my 8th grade P.E. “teacher.” The most awesome part was when I tried to be sympathetic that he must take a lot of flack for that, and he said it had never occurred to him. Wow.”
Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post calls these aptonyms. There’s always a bunch in his weekly chats — I’ll try to post a link tomorrow morning. They’re pretty hilarious.
I love this thread. I’m a names geek from way back. And as the mother of eight children, my mum had ample opportunity to bestow some really nifty names on people… an opportunity squandered, IMO, because my mother’s awfully fond of a boring/common name – my sibs are Michael, James, Jason, Ryan, Tracey, Vanessa (which I don’t mind, I’ll admit) and Amy. Given that my mother’s a Cheryl (which she loathes), and was born in ’59 with all the other Cheryls, you’d think she’d know better.
Incidentally, when she was 12 my sister Tracey was best friends with Stacey and Casey. I wish they were all still friends, that was hilarious.
I was born in ’82 as a Nicole. Thankfully, the myriad other Nicoles at my primary school were younger or older than I, and at my high school there were only four others, and one my age (I was Goth Nicole, she was South African Nicole). At any rate, I never liked my name (say it. Go on. It’s nasal, isn’t it?), and when I was finally of age I did what I’d been threatening to do since I was five, and changed it. I’m the only Imogene I know, almost definitely the only 25 year old Imogene, and I love it. It fits. And when I start a new job, I do a Nicole-count, to see how badly off I could have been – at this place, there’s *seven*, plus one Nicola. Did I mention I love being an Imogene?
Had I been born a boy, I apparently would have been Tristan. That would have been awesome.
PS: To Matthew E above, my boyfriend has precisely the opposite problem. He’s Mathew – one T – and no one ever spells his name right either. :-) Maybe it’s a regional thing?
Another Jennifer checking in here. Since, of course, there were a million of us in school, I became JennyHall (one word) somewhere along the line, and even after 6 years of marriage (I took my hubby’s last name because it’s far less common), I still get called JennyHall by friends from high school. And actually, when I call and announce myself to them, I still use that, too, for some reason. And of course, my middle name is Lynn…in college, I had to give my address to get anything done because there were two Jennifer Lynn Halls enrolled there.
It’s interesting that so many folks have people shorten their names against their wishes–and I do agree that this is terribly rude. I have the opposite problem. I go by Jen–have for years–but despite introducing myself as such, I still get lots of people who call me Jennifer. Why? I usually don’t even answer to it because it’s…not what I call myself.
This thread has been especially great because I’m having my first child in August. We’ve had Jasmine picked out for quite a while now. We went shopping one day, bought a bag of Jasmine rice, and said, “Huh. That’s a nice name.” I originally wanted her middle name to be Aranea, like in Charlotte’s Web, but I’m not sure my husband is entirely convinced. This would make her our little rice spider baby. :)
When I tell people that the baby’s name will be Jasmine, a lot of times they ask how we’ll spell it. Just plain ol’ Jasmine, thanks. I don’t mind unusal spellings too much, but only as long as the spellers understand the basic conventions of English. I worked as a substitute teacher for a time, and I ran across a third-grader named Cevin, pronounced like “Kevin.” Since when does an intial C followed by an E get pronounced like a K? Center, century, cell, cerebrum…so of course, I called the kid “…Seven?” From the way he corrected me, I doubt I was the first to do that. Poor kid.
I was one of two “Lesleys” during my entire school career – the other was two years ahead of me. During that whole time everyone could spell my name correctly. Nowadays, though, everyone I meet (including people of an age when “Lesley” was the overwhelmingly usual spelling of the female name and “Leslie” of the male name) spells it “Leslie”, and people refuse to be corrected on it, which I find rather rude.
Just yesterday I got my copy of a book in which I have a chapter. My name under the chapter title is correct, but in the table of contents? Yes, “Leslie”.
Deirdre says:
“I have yet to meet anyone who both spells and pronounces her name the way I do, although I have encountered a few variations.”
You spell it the normal Irish way – do you pronounce it “DEER-drih”? (Very short second vowel sound, rather like a schwa)?
I’m the only Shayla I’ve ever met, and yet I’m still usually recognized as “Shayla the crazy chick”.
I was given my name 38 years ago, when Caitlin was rather uncommon in the U.S. How clearly I remember the first day of junior high school, when just one of my six new teschers pronounced it correctly (as it turned out, he also had a daughter named Caitlin). I only knew of one other Caitlin, a neighbor who moved away before we hit school age, until I was in high school, when there were two others in my class (though one had had her name legally changed to Caitlin as a teenager, by her own choice), and three in the class ahead of me, in classes of 600. My parents heard the name and liked it (and they had decided they wanted to give me an Irish first name to match my Irish surname), but many of the Caitlins my age I’ve met have said their parents took the name from Caitlin Thomas, Dylan Thomas’s wife. Definitely a reference for a different generation, when she was famous in her own right. Now, who reads Dylan Thomas and knows from Caitlin Thomas?
No one has ever been able to spell my name – I get that, it’s uncommon – but most have assumed, throughout my life, that it begins with a ‘k’, and it can be a stubborn assumption. I can’t count the number of times people have asked me how to spell my name so they can fill out a form, and I’ve said ‘c’, and watched them write ‘k’ and had to correct them before they even begin. Until I was in my mid-twenties, I could be fairly confident that if I heard my name in a public place, it was meant for me, but a few years earlier, the Caitlin baby boomlet began, and suddenly there were toddler Caitlins everywhere. And I thought to myself, Great! Finally people will become familiar with my name, and they’ll know how to spell it. But alas, along with the popularity of my name over the past 10 or 15 years inevitably came the Bain of Creative Spelling, as parents decided to differentiate their babies by naming them Kaitlin (so close, but that ‘k’…), Katelynn (easy-peasy, it’s phonetic), Katelyn, Katelin, etc. So much for the spelling cause. And still, people cannot pronounce it when reading it – a call from any call center or customer service bureau is guaranteed to stumble over it 19 times out of 20.
It turns out that my first-and-last name combo isn’t so uncommon even among my generation, as I’ve received several notes over the years from people who found my one of my email addresses online, trying to reconnect with college pals who aren’t me.
In high school, I knew boys named Ulysses, Paris, and Eros. From them I developed a theory that if you’re given such a name and are still going by it in high school, you’ll have grown to own it: they were all very confident, and the first two were very extroverted. Eros was, I think, fairly quiet, but he inspired many crushes…. I have also known people named for female gods, Athena (though she went by Tina until high school), and Ceres, but they no doubt had it easier.
On the college dorm room name-matching, my college dorms assigned the two Kathy Lees as roomates, and Jana and Janna (both pronounced the same) each the only two with that name in their respective classes of 800 or so.
Hey, Bonnie, I was going to link to the Baby’s Got a Bad, Bad Name site, too, but you beat me to it. Its contents are absolutely hysterical in their awfulness.
Sorry to pile on again, but I had to laugh when I read Kim’s comment above:
“I was at an apple orchard last fall, and nearby a woman was trying to wrangle her three young, blond, encorduroyed children into submission by shouting “Dylan-Logan-Caitlin” over and over again.
I thought it was the most perfect trifecta ever.”
I have a cousin near my age named Dylan, and our names have both become super-popular baby names in recent years, among our same-age peers, though they weren’t common when we were growing up. Just be glad little Logan’s sisters weren’t named McKenzie or McKenna. The last name-as-first name (with no family connection)…Oy.
I was always the only Elena in my class, and I liked it that way. Though, as other people have pointed out, I did yearn for bike license plates, pencils, and keychains that had my name splayed across them. And while I think my name is very common in some cultures, I’ve met several people who pronounce it “Ellen-a”, which always makes me want to ask, “When is the last time you met someone named Ellen-a?”
I’ve also noticed more students whose given names are usually thought of as nicknames (Johnny, Charlie, Robbie, etc.) I think it might be frustrating to have a name that makes some people ask, “But what’s your real name?”
My parents gave me the name Miriam and the nickname Mimi, and while I’ve occasionally met someone with one of those names (though I only go by Mimi), I’ve never been in a situation where we could get confused. I love my name. It’s unique and yet utterly recognizable.
My parents did quite well, actually–my sister is Pamela, and as far as I know she’s rarely met another one, either.
The first Carrie on the list! Yeah! When I introduce myself, most people think I’m saying Terry or Karen. Maybe I need to enunciate better…
Great topic! Thanks Sars!
All through middle school and high school, I was not only NOT the only Traci in my grade spelled Traci (although I was Traci last name A and she was Traci last name Z), but I wasn’t even the only Traci with my last name at those schools. There was an girl a year older than me named Tracey (with the ey instead of i) and she had the exact same last name and middle initial. So, yeah, that was fun.
Patricia:
“My sister’s name is Meredith. While still young she went by “Meredee,” which confused many. Now she goes by “Merry,” which confuses even more re: spelling.”
Three syllables always prove too much for my friends–invariably I am Mere, Meres or, on occasion, May-May. Also, small children are mostly incapable of saying the name. To many small cousins, I am Mermedith, Merduff, Merederif etc. My little brother (Joseph) called me Mer-Ner for the longest time (I reltaliated by calling him Mr. Bum.). Spelling continues to be a problem.
Once though, my skating instructor called me Miranda. With my name right on the clipboard in front of her. I still wonder about that one.
Craig,
“And in the tiny mountain town I went to junior high in, there was a family named “Barr” – the daughter’s name was Kandy. I can only imagine the horror she went through in high school…”
I’ll do you one better. The mother of a girl I went to elementary school with had the first name Gaye. Maiden name? Yup, Barr.
I’m one of only three people I’m aware of with my name (one of whom I’ve never met), and like a lot of other people on here with a somewhat unusual name, I’ve given up correcting people and now answer to Jenna, Jan, Jen, Jennifer, Jenny, Janet, Janice, Jamie, and Shelly (don’t ask).
Once I bumped into a guy who had had a crush on me a loooong time ago. We caught up on each other’s lives on the bus ride home and that was it. I got to work the next morning to find a message on my voicemail, “Uh, I hope this is the right Rebecca…â€. He had called reception at my office and asked for Rebecca only to be told there were seven of us. He had them read him the last names and made an educated guess by eliminating a few based on ethnicity. I never had another Rebecca in my life before I started working here.
To Matthew E above, my boyfriend has precisely the opposite problem. He’s Mathew – one T – and no one ever spells his name right either. Maybe it’s a regional thing?
It’s probably people named Matthew who are spelling his name wrong. I doubt it’s regional; your boyfriend is like the second person I’ve ever heard of named Mathew. (Third if you count the wizard in Weis and Hickman’s ‘Rose of the Prophet’ trilogy.)
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I once worked in an office in which I had to deliver mail to people’s desks. There were women in this office named Chandra, Chandra, Chanta, Eshana, Shona, Xenia, and I think there were also a Shauna or Shanna or two.
(And, also ‘Tricity’, which I’ve never run into before. I hope that when she was in school she ran for office at one point; could there be a better campaign slogan than, “Elect Tricity”?)
I hated my name. My parents gave me androgynous names with masculine spellings both for first and middle, so everyone thought I was a boy. I changed to one that at least was more common for women at age 16, though my legal name remains my birth name.
So what did my two girls end up named? Kaiya and Inari. We get Kayla and Inara (the latter usually from Firefly fans).
I cannot *believe* I didn’t remember this one earlier. One of my fellow physics majors has the hideous misfortune to be named Orestes Patterson Hastings IV. We call him Pat, but one professor of ours persistently referred to him as Orestes for the entire semester.
I feel that one should reconsider naming a child after a famous historical matricide. It gives them ideas.
Ha, I love these comments!
>>Amongst many other reactions to people’s posts, one thought just came to mind – does anyone know if their parents intended to name them something & changed their minds before The Point Of No Return, and have they had any thoughts about that alternative?
My mother, Kristin, thought it would be cute to name me Kristina (we have the same middle name as well). She went by Kris, I went by Tina. Much mayhem ensued, with at times our medical records and credit histories getting confused (people expect Jr’s and Sr’s with men, but could not fathom that my mother and I had such similar names). I was so happy to take my husband’s name (despite all my feminist nature) just to get my own name. But, the man I married…Chris. My brother married Crystal, so in our family of six adults, there is Kristin, Kristina, Christopher and Crystal. I have never in my life answered to Kris, and would blatantly ignore people (especially teachers) unless they called me Kristina or Tina (and I still do!)
Though, as other people have pointed out, I did yearn for bike license plates, pencils, and keychains that had my name splayed across them.
Heh. When I was dating the aforementioned Jeff, we went on holiday to Nova Scotia. He had to pick up shaving cream or whatnot in the hotel shop, and I glanced at the souvenir key chain display. Lo and behold, there was my name (Gillian being quite common in the, erm, Commonwealth). The lady at the registrar stared while a 30-year-old woman jumped up and down with glee, shouting: “Lookit Lookit LOOKIT!!! It’s my name! It’s my NAME!! WITH A G!!! LOOK!!â€
Jeff just deadpanned: “And we’ll also take one of those, please.â€
Hey Ann: My sister-in-law named her son (who just turned 2) Finn, thinking it was totally unique, and was then utterly frustrated by everyone and their mother responding “Oh, like Julia Roberts’ little boy!” since he was born right before hers. Judging by this experience and by what it’s doing on all of those name tracking web sites, I’d proceed with caution if I were you. It’s a fantastic name, but definitely on the radar now.
The best part of this is that my sister in law was already annoyed by Julia Roberts because she has been told she looks like her all her life…and now this…when “JR” comes up, she’s kind of just reduced to fist-shaking rage at this point, which is hilarious :)