What's in a name? Your name, baby names, terrible names, awesome ones

UEAKCrash

My name is kick ass and it's rare. Harlen.

It'll be my first son's name, as it is my fathers and great grandfathers name.

LaOs

Oh, and for the record, I like my name. All my names, really... but I do like my first name. The only problem is that it's sometimes hard to tell if someone is saying my name or saying "no one" instead.

Kelor

Shaun is a fairly good name, though it gets confused with all those other Shawns/Seans that spell it the wrong way. My parents were going to call me Blackie D: if I was a girl though, so I figure I'm lucky with what I've got.

Wren I always liked as a girls name, there was a pair of twins when I was in high school and one had that as her name. She was tall, leggy and it suited her exactly.

Solvent

Sorry didn't read the whole thread, but gotta say that marking off postal votes while working for the Electoral Commission was enlightening. I wish I could remember more of the classic old lady/man names. Euphemia was my favourite.

You can imagine her friends saying, "G'day Euphy, how are ya?"

goatboy

Wonder_Hippie wrote: »

It took me a long time to really fall in love with my name.

Harvey Clinton Higginbotham IV

Your name is quite badass, sir. I hope you're doing something sufficiently badass in life to deserve such a name.

But my actual given name is very rarely used by anybody anymore, which makes me kind of sad. If I have kids and if I have a boy, I'll be continuing the naming convention so I can call him "V." Tell me that's not fuckawesome.

Would you refer him as "Vee" or "Five"? This is important!


Unfortunately for me, my family are all very uncreative and I wound up having three first names. To make matters worse, my last name is a misspelling of a common first name (Herold instead of Harold, even though it's pronounced the same). People I've worked with for years still have to ask how to spell it. It's so incredibly annoying. I've even seen several misspellings listed as aliases on my credit report due to other people filling out random forms throughout the years. I swear this is going to get me in trouble some day.

Also, if I ever have a girl I'm totally stealing Freya. Though finding a middle name that could match Freya without going over the top may be difficult. Hrm.

joshua1

Nooooooo! You can't take that name! I stole it first!

variant

My name's Ashish.

Bet you didn't see that one coming.

Yes, everyone automatically assumes I smoke hashish. Never even seen the stuff.

Shifty Fister

I like my first name (Phillip) even if I do share it with my old man, I've only met a few people with it and all of them only had one L. My middle name is Axel, which I think is reasonably excellent except for the occasional question of whether my parents got it from Axel Rose. Which they didn't, I have a relative in Germany with the name.

Kelor

goatboy wrote: »

Wonder_Hippie wrote: »

It took me a long time to really fall in love with my name.

Harvey Clinton Higginbotham IV

Your name is quite badass, sir. I hope you're doing something sufficiently badass in life to deserve such a name.

Seriously. Though surnames ending in -ham tend to be either awesome or go terribly wrong. A girl I used to work with was Kirsty-Bree Fotheringham. Just rolls off the tongue.

joshua1

Edit: Damnit!

Scalfin

One little tip: if you have a boy and plan to follow the Jewish tradition of not cutting the hair till age three (or compromise and cut everything but the sidelocks), don't name him Elijah. People will thing you have a daughter named Ellie (the short form of Elijah is Eli, pronounce El-ee).

themightypuck

My parents were pretty prescient. My name and my brother's name were way past 100 when we were born. Now I'm mid 20's and my bro is 40ish. On the other hand my other brother's name is dropping from high teens to near 100 and my sister's name has apparently not been in the top 1000 in the last 30 years.

poshniallo

That means your parents were conventional, not prescient.

Sorry.

I'm named after a (legendary) king of Ireland by the way.

themightypuck

poshniallo wrote: »

That means your parents were conventional, not prescient.

Sorry.

I'm named after a (legendary) king of Ireland by the way.

Actually you are half right. Thinking on it, they can't be deemed prescient since I doubt they were picking names based on the likelihood other parents in the future would pick the same names. I don't dislike my name but it does kind of suck that it is so popular. Especially since I use a shortform that is even more popular.

My name is Christian but I go by Chris

Zeguna

My dad had a pretty cool name, Kurt Smith. I wish I became jr., but oh well. Ended up with Alex, but a proposed name was Denver.

durandal4532

My dad wanted to call me "Owen Oliver O-lastname" or some combo like that. Then, nickname me "Ozone". Get it? O-3?

The Wolfman

I love my last name. Wolfram. The only thing of worth I got from my father. Can't get much sweeter than that.

I've debated on whether or not I could get away with calling my son Fox. Fox Wolf Ram. Part of me thinks that would be a sweet name to have, but I also recognize that I'm probably deluded and that it really isn't and that it borders on the craptastic names that jerkwad parents give that people here are rallying against.

Godfather

I think your kid would be prime real estate for the furry community.

joshua1

dude, wolfram is a sweet last name. Powerful names kick ass. Lame ones like Josh Ferguson are lame. DEAD LAME

The Wolfman

Godfather wrote: »

I think your kid would be prime real estate for the furry community.

D:

I guess the real question is... would I still love him if I ever found out?

...No, his ass would be out the door if I ever found an animal suit under the bed...

Really though, the only reason I would even consider that name is because of one Fox Mulder of X-Files fame. Really the only reason I think I could get away with a first name like that.

Rhesus Positive

Fox could always be his nickname.

The Wolfman

Rhesus Positive wrote: »

Fox could always be his nickname.

Well, I think what his nickname would be is almost a given.

I haven't been called by my given name in a social setting since I was in high school. Everyone just calls me Wolf. To the point where it's funny when people are introducing me to others.

"This is Gary, and Kim, and Kevin. Oh, and this is Wolf."

On that thought... I guess it really doesn't matter what first name I give him at all.

Medopine

The Wolfman wrote: »

Rhesus Positive wrote: »

Fox could always be his nickname.

Well, I think what his nickname would be is almost a given.

I haven't been called by my given name in a social setting since I was in high school. Everyone just calls me Wolf. To the point where it's funny when people are introducing me to others.

"This is Gary, and Kim, and Kevin. Oh, and this is Wolf."

On that thought... I guess it really doesn't matter what first name I give him at all.

Are...are you on American Gladiators???

I think Fox would be a cool middle name.

Shadowen

What I like is knowing the original meanings of names--especially when there's multiple possible meanings.

One of the possible meanings of mine, for example, is "Godlike". Knowing this may have affected me growing up, as I consider Weezer's "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" to be my personal theme song.

EDIT: Also, my name was the most common for my birth year. Yay me? I'm popular? However, the unusual spelling of my last name means I'm relatively unique. Unlike those poor 228 Uniques born in the '90s (see Freakonomics).

Rhesus Positive

The meaning of my name (Andrew) is "Manly", which is quite hard to live up to. Although I go by the diminutive form "Andy", so that could be seen as meaning "Manly-ish".

squeefish

I'm named after both my grandmothers (from Russian Mennonite and French Canadian backgrounds, respectively) so my first & middle names are pretty unique: first is Justina, middle is Elméria. Everyone calls me Tina though. My first name has been a source of much hilarity for my grandfather since I was little - "are you Justina, or just Tina? HAHAHAHA!"

sigh.

My favourite boys' names are Felix and Oliver. I like James, too. For girls I'm fond of Eve, Sophie and Josephine (Josie is an adorable nickname.)

Grim Squeaker

I just found out that my name (Gijs) means 'beaming arrow'. Somehow appropriate, as I can cycle pretty fast...

Too bad three-quarters of the world can't pronounce it though.

NATIK

durandal4532 wrote: »

My dad wanted to call me "Owen Oliver O-lastname" or some combo like that. Then, nickname me "Ozone". Get it? O-3?

I have JJJ as initials .

My familyname means "son of" my first name. I go by my middle name but as I have to sign with first and last names I sign as Jens Jensen.

Also what is with americans and shortning names, I don't believe I know 1 person who go by a short of their name, either it is completly original nicknames or their full name.

Radcula

The Wolfman wrote: »

I love my last name. Wolfram. The only thing of worth I got from my father. Can't get much sweeter than that.

I've debated on whether or not I could get away with calling my son Fox. Fox Wolf Ram. Part of me thinks that would be a sweet name to have, but I also recognize that I'm probably deluded and that it really isn't and that it borders on the craptastic names that jerkwad parents give that people here are rallying against.

You lucky wiener. My last name is Cumings, and I'm in high school - for like the first two weeks of high school, I was cumdawg but I finally got past that shit by being a cool guy.

Phew

Element Brian

These are the names of all my nieces nephews. Fox, Pepper (her real name is penelope, but she wouldnt know that, shes always been called Pepper), Olive, Crew, Aurora, Ty, Marigold, and Georgia.

Needless to say my brothers and sister have set the level for names...

Also my last name is Devine, so I've always thought it would be great/horrible, to name my daughter Grace or something.

Sir Lollington the 3rd

Premier kakos wrote: »

I wish I had a more unique name than Mark. I've long considered changing it to something. Much like Medo, I covet names from antiquity. Octavian would be a cool name, for example.

Alternatively, if I ever have crib midgets, I might name them after famous mathematicians and/or computer scientists. Ada would be a cool name for a daughter and Haskell for a son.

My name is Mark and if I ever have a son I'd be tempted to give him my name. I like the fact that the name is simple and it isn't easy to horribly mess up spelling or pronouncing it. The most that happens is someone asks if you spell it with a C instead of a K. The origin and meaning behind it is pretty awesome too. Who doesn't want their name to be a variation of Mars the god of war? When looking up the name you usually get something like warlike. That's way more manly than having your name derived from a medieval job that is now phased out or a piece of land. Mark also isn't a name that has a well known female version and it is specifically for males to begin with. I wouldn't want to have some kind of neutral gender name that makes people wonder what I'll look like when they meet me for the first time. It's the name of a gospel writer but it doesn't have a specific religious meaning like Daniel so you can think of it with a religious connotation only if you want to.

Asiina

I like my names, even if there's a crap shoot as to whether it will be spelled correctly the first time out.

My first name is Meghan and it means "little pearl" since really it's just a nickname for Margaret.

My middle name means "she who ensnares men" which is pretty awesome.

themightypuck

Medopine wrote: »

The Wolfman wrote: »

Rhesus Positive wrote: »

Fox could always be his nickname.

Well, I think what his nickname would be is almost a given.

I haven't been called by my given name in a social setting since I was in high school. Everyone just calls me Wolf. To the point where it's funny when people are introducing me to others.

"This is Gary, and Kim, and Kevin. Oh, and this is Wolf."

On that thought... I guess it really doesn't matter what first name I give him at all.

Are...are you on American Gladiators???

I think Fox would be a cool middle name.

Given the fact that Fox Mulder is the best name ever. Also the whole foxes v hedgehogs business in the context of the present economic crisis. The only thing fucking up the Fox brand is Fox News.

Medopine

http://www.photobasement.com/naming-your-child-this-is-child-abuse/

Shadowen

Medopine wrote: »

http://www.photobasement.com/naming-your-child-this-is-child-abuse/

At the bottom of that article:

Like This? Then Check Out:

8 Good Examples Of What Happens When Geeks Have Children

Public Humiliation Is An Effective Kick In The Ass

Animal Abuse

The Most Spoiled Hamsters In The World

For some reason, I thought, "...use the name of a childhood bully to name the first kid of opposite gender to that bully you have?"

Kilroy

Sephiroth? Really?

As for my own name, my father and I have the same initials--KMC, and I plan for one of my children to follow that convention as well. If I have a daughter, I want to name her Katherine Melisande. (And if it must be shortened, it will be Kate. None of this Katie nonsense.)

For a boy, I have no idea. I would name him Kilroy, but it sounds horrible with my last name.

The Wolfman

Well, you have to give parents a tiny bit of credit for wanting a unique name for their kid. Have you ever actually tried to name something. You learn very quickly just how many names there are that are attached to people who you did not like one goddamn bit.

Couscous

Sephiroth? Really?

It is better than Optimus Prime and Arcee.

APZonerunner

I'm called Alexander. I quite like my name, because in professional situations I'm Alexander Donaldson, or even Alexander John Donaldson, which sounds quite professional. In personal situations I'm just Alex or Don, and it works. I think I did quite well with my name.

Especially because if I came out a girl I was gonna be Georgina. Ughhh.

But I like the idea of having a name that can work in two seperate ways with a full length and shortened version, so I may look at names like that for my kids..

Medopine wrote: »

http://www.photobasement.com/naming-your-child-this-is-child-abuse/

D: D:

Hopefully he just tells everyone his name is Seph. God. I mean, why that? If they were huge FF fans there's always much more real candidates... you'd get away with Locke, Cecil, Zidane, but fucking Sephiroth? Do not want.

Shadowen

Couscous wrote: »

Sephiroth? Really?

It is better than Optimus Prime and Arcee.

Arcee, I'll grant you.

Optimus Prime, however, was awesome, and Sephiroth was a whiny bitch. Thus: Optimus Prime is a better geek name for your kid.