Really? You Named Your Child What?

I live in Indo, country filled with the most redonks names one can think of. I personally know a...

Hugh Jackman. Yes, Hugh Jackman! Hugh Jackman Suwandi, that is.

Kingdon. (Were they trying to write Kingdom and failed? One will never know...)

Friscillia. I can't even with this.

Two sisters named Lamborghini and Maserati. They go by Gini and Rati.

And I know of a...

Batman Suparman. No, really. Batman Suparman.

God. Literally just "God".

and...

Setarbak Kopi. As in the Indofied spelling of Starbucks Coffee.

Facebook seems comparatively normal to me.

I think a couple went to court or something because they wanted to name their baby Hashtag.

Not gonna lie, I'd be inclined to name my child Batman. Maybe I'd let it be the middle name. But I'd get to yell their full name at them in stores when they acted up and that'd be hella fun.

My oldest daughter is Hannah--she is 42 now. At the time people thought the name was weird. She was the only Hannah for years. I have a daughter named Gus--short for Augusta. She named her daughter Magnolia, after the Dead song. The guy in my avatar is Zeke.

Some years ago I was at a park with Magnolia. There was a little boy there named Elmo. I have to say that he was cute enough to cancel out the name. --s6

An old boyfriend of mine had a college roommate named Suparman. When Superman was killed off in the comic, their answering machine filled up with prank condolence calls.

I taught a girl named Elizabeth Taylor. And another named Nicholas Gick. I can't understand how his parents failed to anticipate that he would become Nick Gick.

I was a social worker back in the eighties, working with recent Laotian and Vietnamese immigrants. I remember vividly Clinteastwood Lorrwanatongsaponsa--I can't spell the last name anymore but it sounds close to this. The kid has to be in his mid thirties now. Either he has a great sense of humor or he hates the world. --s6

anastasiareeves said:

I'd be inclined to name my child Batman.

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I've met someone a few times (same person, multi times) whose last name is Batman. Really. And born with it.

When I worked for the WIC program in Texas we had a client who called her daughter, phonetically, You-REEN. Spelled: Urine. For realz.

juniper said:

I've met someone a few times (same person, multi times) whose last name is Batman. Really. And born with it.

When I worked for the WIC program in Texas we had a client who called her daughter, phonetically, You-REEN. Spelled: Urine. For realz.

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John Batman was one of the founders the settlement that became Melbourne. Batmania was considered as a name for the new town. Now his name lives on in streets and parks and the electoral division of Batman.

Your comment about You-REEN reminds me that there's a street in Townsville called Hugh Ryan Drive. You have to be quite careful in pronouncing it, so people don't think you're taking the piss.

Wasn't there something on the news a while back about someone wanting to name their child # (Hashtag)?

As for bad names... my mother knew of a Harry Bottoms, who married a woman named Rosie. They were both schoolteachers.

There was a Candy Kane in my college dorms. Her parents were either a bit mean, or clueless.

One of my friends who went to Cal Poly said there was a prof there at the time who named his three kids "Proton, Neutron, and Electron." I hope this is not true.

I have some friend and family members who gave their kids names I'd be more inclined to give a dog, ones like "Hunter" and "Jake." But those weren't unpopular at the time, so I don't think they were trying to be different. There's nothing wrong with them, except that they weren't really people names when I was younger.

My grandfather was named Hunter--Hunter Cephus Hoy. He was born in 1910. It was an old name then, just resurrected recently. Batman is a common name here in Kansas. It was German once --Batmann, Batmaan. I went to school with Oliver Batman. Taught school with another Batman. Pfannenstiel is another common name--it means con man in German. I have a good friend named Clara Marie Pfannenstiel Felts. You get an eyeful of spit when she says it. There are the Pflugs, the Pfeifers, the Pfortmillers and the Pfaffs. Oh, and the Pfleughoffs. I was lucky, I was a Helfrich--s6

I have to state up front that I ain't making this up, and you'll just have to trust me on that:

When I was in high school, 50 years ago, in Iowa, high school girls' basketball was by far the biggest sporting event, every year.Far more important than the boys' competition, which was great, because my high school team, on which I played, was horrible. It allowed small town high schools to compete with big town high schools, and the state tournament was televised big time. It happened that, when i was a senior, the single best player among the state's best girls' team was a tall blond girl every boy in the state drooled about. Her name . . . remember, i ain't making this up . . .

was:

Fonda Dicks.




What in the galaxy were her parents thinking?

caw

shakeysix said:

My grandfather was named Hunter--Hunter Cephus Hoy. He was born in 1910.

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Interesting. I knew it existed as a surname (presumably an old profession-derived name in English, like Smith), but I thought it was something one did, not who one was. Names are indeed odd things.

What's strange with names is how some Biblical names have had a lot of staying power across generations and have only fallen off the radar very recently--John, James, Mary, Susan etc. But others come and go in waves. My mom is named Judy, for instance, and she said there were a ton when she was in school. Yet it was pretty much over when I was a kid.

And while there's been a recent spike in Old Testament names like Noah, and Zachariah, there have also been a lot more non-Biblical names that have become popular. And the cycle of popularity and names dropping off the radar seems to be happening faster too. 2-3 years back, we got a run of Jareds and Justins at the college. I'd get as many as three of each in a class of forty (as popular as names like John and Dave used to be). But the last year or two I've had none.

I'm assuming the internet has something to do with it. People have more exposure to less common names and "baby name lists" than they used to, so they're less likely to name kids after their relatives and family friends. But they also learn very quickly when a name becomes "too" popular.

I was the only Shannon growing up some 60 years ago. Now there are many. Names come and go in waves but some persist in families. Twice I have been able to pick my particular family line from others with the same surname because of first names. In my father's family there is a combination of the names Valentin and George--that can be traced back through generations to the 1500s, to a Valentin George Helfrich in Biblis, Germany. Valentin really sticks out in all the Johanns and Heinrichs. In my grandmother's family it is Nicholas, Barbara and Gertrude that are passed down. Why Gertrude? It is a question my cousin Trudy asks constantly--s6

We had a Dusty Rhodes, a Rusty Pipes (maybe Piper, it was kindergarten or 1st grade; I can't remember), and Ever Penni Counts, but the blue ribbon goes Crystal Chantal Leer.

My cousin's kidlet was in class with Whitney Houston and Pajamas (I thought "pajamas" was a joke... it wasn't.), along with a kid whose name was made of words written backward.

Every once in a while, there will be an article about a country where names are restricted to a pre-approved list and I'll think how horrible that is. Then I see the side-bar link to a kid named "Female" (Fem-ali, because it's what the doctors called her at the hospital) and a list no longer sounds terrible.

("Fem-ali" was a joke on some old TV that my grandmother used to quote ad nauseum. I thankfully have never seen an actual kid with that name.)

lianna williamson said:

An old boyfriend of mine had a college roommate named Suparman. When Superman was killed off in the comic, their answering machine filled up with prank condolence calls.

I taught a girl named Elizabeth Taylor. And another named Nicholas Gick. I can't understand how his parents failed to anticipate that he would become Nick Gick.

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I'm hoping his middle name wasn't Richard.... Nick Dick Gick

I'm intrigued, Maryn - I love Gaelic names

I have a whole bunch of strange names to contribute. I worked with a married couple who were childhood sweethearts. They both went to school in Orlando, and had a friend in school named, no kidding, Shithead - pronounced shi-THEED.

I worked at Williams Island, a posh resort in North Miami Beach, Florida. I did the billing for the 3,000 members. Some of the condos cost over $1,000,000, so the residents definitely had cash - so these names are 'eccentric' rather than crazy. There were two women whom I suspect earned their money in the dancing industry. Ruby Diamond and Pearl Sapphire, as I recall. Another couple was named Mr. and Mrs. Dorkmeister - which brings to mind kindergarten insults.

We worked with a guy whose name was actually Richard Head. He went with it, and printed Dick Head on his business cards. He was confident enough to carry it off. A consummate Salesman.

This website, which has changed many times and been updated through the years, always cracks me up.

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/bestof.html

I don't how people whose last name is Batman resist naming their child Ime.

I knew someone whose middle name was Muffin.

If Fonda Dicks married Richard Head ...?