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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Not Baby's Name
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Mili
Shipmate
# 3254
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Posted
I know a girl called Tempest. She's actually a calm, quiet child - whether she will live up to her name in her teenage years is yet to be seen.
Meanwhile, I've taught two or three Angels who definitely weren't.
Other unusual names are Sage and Banjo, who are both boys. I guess Banjo was named for Banjo Patterson, the poet, but that was only the poet's nickname.
Posts: 1015 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Aug 2002
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
The name Minnie used to be quite common, but you'd be pretty cruel to call a child that now. Although the youngest person I know to be called that is about 25, it's a nickname not a given name. But, for a boy, I really can't understand anyone choosing the name Miles. Why???
In high school, I had a gym teacher named Minnie Cherry! She was dating a guy named Mickey and so, of course, they were referred to as "Mickey and Minnie". Minnie Cherry, though! That's just dreadful.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I'm not sure why Miles is a problem--I went to school with one, and nobody AFAIK had any trouble with the name. Nice kid. If you mean the homonym problem with "miles", maybe it was just that we had so many easier targets in our multicultural schoool (eg. "Dung," "Phuoc").
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
I sometimes read the obits in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to see what horrible names I can find. Around here, that's a part-time sport. Anyway, some old lady had died and the paper listed the names of her grandchildren. One grandson's name was... am I am NOT making this up, I assure you...
ChexLexus!! Who names their child after a cereal and a luxury car?! Somewhere in Atlanta, a young man is living life and named ChexLexus. Seriously. That's child abuse, plain and simple.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I'm not sure why Miles is a problem--I went to school with one, and nobody AFAIK had any trouble with the name. Nice kid. If you mean the homonym problem with "miles", maybe it was just that we had so many easier targets in our multicultural schoool (eg. "Dung," "Phuoc").
Some friends in New York have a little boy called Miles. They are moving to France and wondered if they should change his name to Kilometres... I am sure there is one somewhere if you look hard enough.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Zacchaeus
Shipmate
# 14454
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I'm not sure why Miles is a problem--I went to school with one, and nobody AFAIK had any trouble with the name. Nice kid. If you mean the homonym problem with "miles", maybe it was just that we had so many easier targets in our multicultural schoool (eg. "Dung," "Phuoc").
I think maybe we have a pond difference here the only Miles I have ever known is 70 +
It is the sort of name, in the places of the uk that I have lived in, that would lead to teasing in the playground.
Posts: 1905 | From: the back of beyond | Registered: Jan 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
There was a Miles next door when I was a girl - about two years older than me. But I've never met another and it's never been a popular name. The only Milo I know of is the Irish actor Milo O'Shea.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Minnie Cherry would have a difficult time in school now, but a former student of mine who was christened "Holly Berry" could expect some nuisance in any age.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I know a young Miles - he's about 8. I thought it was unusual, but not tease-worthy.
There was a programme on Radio 4 years ago about a young man who had been given the name The Angel Gabriel - does anyone remember it? His father was IIRC a clergyman, and his elder siblings had names like Thomas and Sarah. His parents had planned to call their next child Edward or Elizabeth.
In the event he was born prematurely, the birth was traumatic and his father was told that the baby had little chance of surviving, indeed that both mother and baby might die. The mother, whilst very ill and delirious, told the father that their baby was to be called "The Angel Gabriel" and the distraught father had the baby baptised and registered very quickly, as he couldn't face the thought of registering the birth and death together.
Mother and baby both recovered and the mother was incredulous to find herself with a son called "The Angel Gabriel."
It all worked out, apparently. The young man being interviewed sounded delightful, and spoke affectionately of his parents. He used a different name on a day-to-day basis but quite liked having an odd name on his birth certificate.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Aggie
Ship's cat
# 4385
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by basso:
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
Topsy? You name a little girl Topsy? What? Were Flopsy and Mopsy already taken???
From Uncle Tom's Cabin, I guess.
Or the "Topsy and Tim" series of books.
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“I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.”
(Joseph Mary Plunkett 1887-1917)
Posts: 581 | From: A crazy, crazy world | Registered: Apr 2003
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
I know a Miles who's 2. It's a name I've always quite liked and, while a bit uncommon perhaps, not that unusual or particularly odd.
I'm on the UK side of the Pond, by the way, if we are in the process of establishing a Pond difference.
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Augustine the Aleut
Shipmate
# 1472
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Posted
A Torontonian colleague teaching in an elementary school was a bit perplexed when her new assistant (for working with the two challenged kids in the class) appeared, named Plaice. Thinking it was odd for someone to be named after a fish, on growing acquaintance she discovered that Plaice was the young women's preferred diminutive for her given name, Placenta. Her mother, in a difficult childbirth in a small centre in Jamaica, heard the word mentioned by the doctors and nurses and quite liked the sound of it. Her daughter, on reaching adolescence in Canada, thought otherwise-- plaice is known here as flounder, and so Plaice seemed like a neutral version which would not upset her mother.
There was a pupil name discussion at the teacher's dinner table once, when folk were mocking the name of the child of an architect friend- baptized Boris. Of a certain age, diners were thinking of Rocky and Bullwinkle and the characters Boris and Natasha. She told us bluntly that children did not know Rocky & Bullwinkle and, moreover, in a school with 3 or 4 dozen ethnicities and in a grénola part of Toronto, children came in with all sorts of names, and the other children took this in their stride. Teachers and parents might look askance at Summer, January, and Luna, or puzzle at Parminder, Vsevelod, and Fulgencia (all names of her students), but the kids are growing up in a different world and the rest of us would just have to adjust. She reminded us that they would be working to pay for our pensions, so we should make nice.
Posts: 6236 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Oct 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... Some friends in New York have a little boy called Miles. They are moving to France and wondered if they should change his name to Kilometres ...
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
No no no! Tell them to be brave and rebellious! ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
I once heard of a family in Caithness who had a daughter called Polyester. Now that's cruel.
[ 11. March 2014, 14:14: Message edited by: piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... Some friends in New York have a little boy called Miles. They are moving to France and wondered if they should change his name to Kilometres ...
No no no! Tell them to be brave and rebellious!
Anyway, he'd have to shrink to about .621 of the size, which is anatomically dubious.
Perhaps they could call him Franc.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
At risk of seeming obsessed (I'm male, it goes with the territory, OK?) while doing some local history research recently I discovered the marriage of one Fanny Sneesum...
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Many years ago when my aunt was working in the reception of a hospital overseas, she tried not to look too startled as one mother proudly introduced her twin girls as "Phyllis and Siphyllis".
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
I'm distantly related to two young brothers called Max and Milo.
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I've remembered that my mother had some twin cousins called Rex and Roy. I wasn't impressed by the choice.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have twin cousins named Paul and Paulette. Glad it was them and not me. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Lucia
Looking for light
# 15201
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I have twin cousins named Paul and Paulette. Glad it was them and not me.
They weren't mice were they??
(On hearing these names I was immediately transported back to the Anatole books of my childhood... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) )
Posts: 1075 | From: Nigh golden stone and spires | Registered: Oct 2009
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
The first child born on Pitcairn Island was named Thursday October Christian. Allegedly his father, Fletcher, chose this by the date. It may not be as bad as some other names mentioned.
On the other hand, I have heard of Wednesday Addams, Tuesday Weld, Billy Sunday, Joe Friday, Fredric March, June Allison, Dan August and January Jones. (Some of those are fictional characters.)
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
A previous vicar was descended from one of the Pitcairn settlers. All the males in his family, including him, had "Pitcairn" as a middle name.
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
The Rt. Rev. John Elbridge Hines, 22nd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, had five children -- four were boys, all named John, with different middle names.
(Three of the four became Episcopal priests.)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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cosmic dance
Shipmate
# 14025
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Posted
One of my sons, now 26, is called Miles and in answer to the question "Why?' it was because we thought it was a strong masculine name, unusual without being weird and we felt that it would suit him, for some inexplicable, intuitive reason.
He didn't like it much as a child, but recently told me he really loves his name and feels that it gets him noticed in a positive way.
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"No method, no teacher, no guru..." Van Morrison.
Posts: 233 | From: godzone | Registered: Aug 2008
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
A recent radio programme on health issues reminded me that I hadn't noticed Candida mentioned on this thread.
There were a few around in the late sixties/early seventies, as I remember
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Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
On the other hand, I have heard of Wednesday Addams, Tuesday Weld, Billy Sunday, Joe Friday, Fredric March, June Allison, Dan August and January Jones. (Some of those are fictional characters.)
When I was a child I read a series of books where the children's family name was Callendar. The father was Augustus, the girl was February and the boy was Friday.
At the Catholic school down the road there was a girl called Pagan. Actually when I looked at the school roll there wasn't a single Mary, John, Mark, Peter, David, Michael, Chris or Paul all of which would have been popular when I was growing up.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
I came across a "Cherokee" today. Not exactly a Welsh name...
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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aunt jane
Shipmate
# 10139
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
A recent radio programme on health issues reminded me that I hadn't noticed Candida mentioned on this thread.
There were a few around in the late sixties/early seventies, as I remember
Remember the TV series "The Man from UNCLE"? Where the villainous organisation THRUSH spread its evil tentacles everywhere
Posts: 97 | From: South East of England | Registered: Aug 2005
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georgiaboy
Shipmate
# 11294
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Posted
The husband of a distant cousin is named Andrew January Grundy. Don't know what he is called familiarly, though, probably Andy. (or maybe Jan?)
IIRC, the January part has some family history, but I don't know what it is.
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You can't retire from a calling.
Posts: 1675 | From: saint meinrad, IN | Registered: Apr 2006
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by georgiaboy:
The husband of a distant cousin is named Andrew January Grundy. Don't know what he is called familiarly, though, probably Andy. (or maybe Jan?)
IIRC, the January part has some family history, but I don't know what it is.
Was he born in October?
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by aunt jane:
quote:
Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
A recent radio programme on health issues reminded me that I hadn't noticed Candida mentioned on this thread.
There were a few around in the late sixties/early seventies, as I remember
Remember the TV series "The Man from UNCLE"? Where the villainous organisation THRUSH spread its evil tentacles everywhere
ROFLMAO!!!
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
On the other hand, I have heard of Wednesday Addams, ...
One of those bits of trivia floating in my head: Wednesday's middle name is Friday. Wednesday Friday Addams.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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seekingsister
Shipmate
# 17707
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
On the other hand, I have heard of Wednesday Addams, Tuesday Weld, Billy Sunday, Joe Friday, Fredric March, June Allison, Dan August and January Jones. (Some of those are fictional characters.)
Tuesday Weld's birth name is actually something quite common (if I could be bothered to Google), she changed it. Interestingly though she played the unusually named Thalia (pronounced "THAY-lee-a") Menninger on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." I've never heard of anyone with that name and pronunciation - I know some Talias ("TAH-lee-a" or "tah-LEE-a"). I wonder if it was common in the 1950s or if it was made up for the character.
Posts: 1371 | From: London | Registered: May 2013
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Thalia was the Muse of Comedy (she and Melpomene are usually representedby the laughing/crying masks). So unusual, but not made up.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Phin Aaronson
Apprentice
# 16721
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Posted
When my daughter was younger I threatened to change her name to that of her great-great-great grandmother: Boudica, who was then called Dicey. On the boys' side I would suggest Zelophehad (from Numbers 26-27) as a difficult mouthful. He had daughters too.
Posts: 3 | Registered: Oct 2011
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seekingsister
Shipmate
# 17707
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Thalia was the Muse of Comedy (she and Melpomene are usually representedby the laughing/crying masks). So unusual, but not made up.
I was wondering if the pronunciation used for that character was made up, rather than the name.
Posts: 1371 | From: London | Registered: May 2013
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I know someone with the name Thekla - you don't find many of those in semi-rural England
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
There was a Thekla von Somebody in the Chalet School books, one of the very few girls to be expelled from the Chalet School.
I loved all the European names of the Chalet girls - when I was about 12, I wanted to have as many children as Joey Bettany and name them with gorgeous Chalet School names; I was particularly taken with Simone.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
If you have twins try to give them different names, unlike the babies Nathan and Nathaniel that I met. I heard later that their baby brother was called Jonathan.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Athrawes
Ship's parrot
# 9594
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Posted
I've just spent a week teaching twins - Easter and Esther. Lovely girls, but by 3 hours into the first day I wanted to Tatoo their names onto their foreheads.
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Explaining why is going to need a moment, since along the way we must take in the Ancient Greeks, the study of birds, witchcraft, 19thC Vaudeville and the history of baseball. Michael Quinion.
Posts: 2966 | From: somewhere with a book shop | Registered: Jun 2005
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
I have come across a few women called May or June as a middle mane, but only one with the middle name September.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
It's been a while since I looked at this thread, but for some reason I awoke this morning with a name in my head that no-one should inflict on a helpless child: Ermengarde. I don't know, I'm sure someone will be along to tell me it's the name of a saint or something, but it sounds like the name for a piece of military or industrial equipment, like a fume hood or something, not a name for a person...
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Ermengarde sounds like a compilation name made from Ermintrude and Hildegard - neither of which I'd wish upon a child. Although, Magic Roundabout apart, neither of which are as awful as calling a child Brunhilde or Jezebel.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Coa Coa
Apprentice
# 15535
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Posted
I knew a woman whose name was "Delight" but she disliked it so much she was always known as …Winnis
Posts: 13 | From: Canada | Registered: Mar 2010
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Ermengarde sounds like a blending of Ermentrude and Hildegarde because all three are what is called dithematic names, cobbled together out of shorter words with, not always, any regard for the overall meaning.
Ermen - whole
garde - protection
trude - beloved
Hilde - battle
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
The name Blodwyn was sneered at, earlier here. I liked it a lot, as she was the mother of a dear boyfrind of mine. There was Welsh on both sides of the family.
My high school class had a "Sandy Beach". It wasn't Sandra , it was really Sandy.
Also knew (of) a "Rose Bush". Don't know if was her maiden name, or married name.
Otherwise-educated persons often refer to "John Hopkins", which makes me wince. Even NPR people make this mistake. Being a Baltimoron, I've always known it is Johns Hopkins University, or hospital. Ive even seen it in print as John's Hopkins. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
From Georgia Boy, quote:
(Of course, they tend to get called Sissy or Puss if female, or Bubba, Buddy or Sonny if male.)
My wife's mother was a bit of a bossy little thing when she was a kid growing up in North Georgia. All her cousins called her "John", which I don't get. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call her "Butch"? Is that a Southern thing?
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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