Have you given your kids fantasy names?

[Torm]

A friend named his daughter with the middle name "Nerys" after the Deep Space Nine character.

The same friend (moi) has a son whose initials are R.J.E.T. and nickname is "Jet" in honor of Jettero Heller from the Mission Earth series of books. I wanted to name him Richard Jettero, but my wife thought it sounded too much like Jetthro - and neither of us like Tull, and NCIS wasn't on yet, so that left her with Clampett as a precedent, which she decided against.

 

[Asmor]

Maybe a case of grass-is-greener...

But my name is Ian. Not even a horrendously rare name in the US, and from what I understand it's pretty common across the pond.

Unfortunately, I did not grow up and do not live across the pond. I live in the US with a name many people aren't familiar with and whose spelling is not immediately obvious. It's a huge pain in the ass. Every time I give my name over the phone, "Ian..." "Ann?" "No, Ian." "...E-A-N?" "I-A-N." Wasn't much better as a kid, either, but to be fair I don't have any specific memories of being bullied because of my unusual name.

Not to mention the fact that I live in the Boston area, so half the people pronounce my name correctly but it still sounds like "Ann," and the rest of the when pronounce the word "And" as "EE-ANN" and it just leads to a ton of confusion...

I've grown used to it, but I think my life would be a teeny, tiny bit easier if I was named John or Jack or Matt.

I'd probably like to name my kids something that's not terribly common, but still recognizable. Of course, my fiancée's name is Rebecca, so she's dead set against anything that's common or biblical... Sigh... Maybe I'll get her to compromise and we can name the kid "Alouwiscious (sp?) Danger"

 

[kenobi65]

Still, this is the woman who suggested displaying the Colossal Red mini towering over the Nativity scene in the living room, so there may be hope yet.

My wife teaches at a Lutheran elementary school, which is attached to a Lutheran church. Some years ago now, the pastor passed away, and a temporary pastor was assigned to the church. She was a very nice woman, with a very quirky sense of humor.

Anyway, it was Christmastime, and we were at the church for a service. Up near the altar, there was a nativity scene set up. During the sermon, my gaze was wandering, and I was looking at the nativity scene. Standing there, next to the "three wise men" in front of the manger, there was a fourth figure...much shorter, green, with big pointy ears and a really skinny body. It was a Yoda Pez dispenser! I about busted a gut, trying to not laugh out loud.

After the service, I quietly asked the pastor about it. "Oh, yes, I put it there...after all, Yoda was a wise man, wasn't he?"

 

[kenobi65]

I've grown used to it, but I think my life would be a teeny, tiny bit easier if I was named John or Jack or Matt.

You get other problems then.

My first name is Mike (short for Michael). For many years, including the mid-'60s when I was born, Michael was the most popular boys' name in the U.S.

In grade school, out of 20-odd kids in my classroom, I was one of three Mikes. To make it even more confusing, all of us had last names starting with M. So, we were "Mike Ma", "Mike Mi", and "Mike Mo."

I went to a small, all-male Catholic high school. Out of 75 guys in my class, there were 10 Mikes.

 

[Contrarian]

I was almost able to sneak in Luke. My wife and religious father-in-law were like "oh like from the Bible". I grinned and said yes then the wife tattled on me and said really loudly "oh no! He wants to so he can say "Luke! I am your father" when he is acting bad". Needless to say my requests for Han, Anakin and Lando all were shot down too.

There was a guy in my university gaming club named "Ken Solo". He refused to wear a nametag at Gencon, on the grounds "Star Trek fans keep giving me advice about baby names."

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the (totally fictional) urban legend of that girl named, well, it starts with an Sh and ends in head... or the one of the girl named "Female" or the one named "Syphilis."

Don't forget Lemonjello and Orangejello.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Some friends from years back named their son "Thor Aikenhed". I probably spelt it wrong and I should state that they were immagrants from Norway or Sweden or thereabouts. Maybe someone from there can tell me if thats a common name. In North America it sounds like "Sore aching head". They probably don't even play D&D.

Another friend named his daughter Kyanna. This was a combination of two goddesses names. I forget one but the other was Innana.

Aikenhed sounds to me like Ekenhed. A family I've never encountered but maybe they left for America? If it is Ekenhed it would mean something like Oak-moor.

 

[kenobi65]

Don't forget Lemonjello and Orangejello.

One of my favorites. A few years back, there was a Disney cartoon called "Detention!", about a bunch of middle-school kids, and two of the characters were twin African-American girls named Limongela and Orangela.

A friend of mine has worked as a medical technologist for many years (mostly in blood banks); he swears that he has, indeed, seen the name "Female" (pronounced "feh-MAL-ay"), as well as having a patient with the wondeful name of "Vaginal Love."

 

[billd91]

I think people who give their kids weird fantasy/sci-fi names need to be beaten with a tire iron.

Since when is naming your kid all about you? You're picking the name for your child, not for your own amusement, or to immortalise some fictional character you happen to like. The kid's the one who needs to like the name and be able to find meaning in it (if you name them after someone or something), not you.

The name may ultimately be about the kid but it's also about the family as well. And when it comes to the kid finding meaning, there are some names that are simply easier to hang meaning on than others. A name like Bill is pretty dull, but my son's name, Griffin, has more of a ring to it and sounds good with his monosyllabic last name (Dunn).

I have a problem with people naming their kids obviously derivative or silly stuff. Naming your kid "god" or "Moon Unit" is pretty stupid. But some like Apple and China aren't so bad. But then, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and even the person deriding the name could be way off base. Names in fantasy or sci-fi are often derived from some historical or mythic sources themselves and should be considered perfectly legitimate.

Personally, I have more of a problem with names that are faddish or seem way out of time. My grandmother may have been named Albina, but I sure wasn't going to use it for my daughter. And for years we had been planning on using the name Aiden for our son before its popularity shot through the roof (I'm guessing Sex and the City had something to do with that one). So we stumbled on Griffin and realized the name was pretty cool. Then the joke turned on us as there are now 2 Griffin's at my son's day care and we've run into 1 or 2 others just shopping around town. The same happened to my sister-in-law who named her daughter Olivia. Suddenly, they were popping out of the woodwork...

 

[billd91]

A friend of mine has worked as a medical technologist for many years (mostly in blood banks); he swears that he has, indeed, seen the name "Female" (pronounced "feh-MAL-ay"), as well as having a patient with the wondeful name of "Vaginal Love."

There's a poor girl in a nearby school district who has the name Clitoris (pronounced to rhyme with Dolores). Apparently her mother thought it sounded nice but was ignorant about what the name normally referred to.

Of course, that can happen with many other names too. I once knew someone whose name translated as "mildewy rock".