Unusual names - Page 5

[Dodo]

Oh, oh, Jeffiner. Eleanor, Alice, Madeleine, Henry and Jude are all increasing in popularity.

Like you, I only know one baby John. His parents figured that it was such a "normal" name that it would be unusual in this day and age.

[robugmum]

My kid's names are Oscar and Rose. Both names kind of snuck up on me, I would never have said they were on my list of favourites when I was pregnant! I love them now though - they are my kids after all!
Names that were on the lists:
Girls: Briar, Scarlett, Violet, Ivy, Flora, Maura, Maeren, Jane
Boys: Theo, Arden, Lael, Oliver, Dominic,

My name wasn't very common when my mum chose it but it has become extremely common- I like it though- Maegen. I've never met anyone who spells it the same way as I do. My sister's name is Tanis. I've met a few others but its still pretty rare.

[3_opihi]

ds's name is Makai, which means "from the sea". It is actually a Hawaiian word - not a name, but we liked it because we had a waterbirth and it seemed to fit.

My other ds's name is Kobe, I'm not sure if it is unusual or not.

If we have more boys we will name them Otha or Eliel, both family names on my side. (My dh is japanese) or maybe Nima, which is Tibetan for sun.

If we ever have a girl her name will be Mieke (mi-ka), Aine or Nai'a(hawaiin for dolphin).

The most unusual name I have ever seen was a girl named Marijuana. Pronounced mary- ana. She was very adamant that you pronounced her name correctly (tee-hee):

[boobykinmamma]

Our kids have Sanskrit/Hindu names. We are not Indian or practicing Hindus, but ascribe to many of the core beliefs of Hinduism, and we love India, so we chose Shankar and Leela. Shankar's full name is acutally spelled Shankara--in Sanskrit the final "A" is is kinda pronounced and kinda not (hard to explain), we pronounce it 'shahn-kar." His middle name is Sai, which basically means Divine Mother. Shankara is a name for Shiva, one of the major deities in Hinduism (the many manifestations of divinity in Hinduism actually represent mutiple aspects of one Consciousness). Shankara means "the bliss-maker." Had ds been a girl, he would have been Uma Maheshwari (names for goddesses). Before dd was born, we decided not to use Uma, because we thought we'd get too much of "Oh, like Uma Thurman." Leela means "the Divine play." Her middle name is "Prashanthi," which means, the utimate peace. Our boy name for dd was Ramana, after the great Indian sage Ramana Maharshi. We found out after naming dd that dh's great grandma's name was Leila (pronounced like dd's). Apparently it's an old-fashioned name in the US.

If we have one more baby (dd is "supposed" to be our last, but I'm having second thoughts. Shhh, don't tell dh yet...), I love the name Bhavani (Bahvahni) for a girl.

At the park once I heard a little girl talking to her brother, who was around 12, and his name was Atticus, after the father in To Kill a Mockingbird--another great name from that book/movie.

[mlia]

Hi Calla!

[carrots]

I saw the name Lael pop up a couple times while reading-that was my best friend's name in grade school. I have never seen it for a boy though...my midwife's dd is Isla. One of my good friends is Candelaria (Cahn-de-lahd-ia) I went to school with a Caesar and a ramses.

[BAU3]

I've been toying with the idea of naming baby #3 Sevy... (or sevie..) because this is my 7th pregnancy and my 2yo has lately been saying "Its sevy in the clock.. I have to go.." etc..
We've been saying "its sevy in the belly.. time to (fill in the blank.)".. this seems to be how both my boys got their names.. (neither is unusual.) they just seem to evolve until one day you say. what? name the baby? why, he's already got a name.....
Anyway I'm gonna work pn that name a bit.. I kind of like it..

I also know alittle boy named McGregor... I kind of like that. Abit rare but not too unusual..

[comet]

Hey, Bau, I had a cat named Seven, so maybe you could use that. Do you remember that Seinfeld episode where George wanted to name his future kid Seven?

Here are some unusual names I've come across:

Noal (my sister) pronounced like Noel Coward
Willa
Thea
Atticus (friend's son)
Leif and Forest (another friend's sons)
Waker (my name if I was born a boy, ugh)
Wiley (friend in college)
Ardith (friend in middle school)

and my daughter's middle name is unusual:

Sidra - from Latin/Muslim and it means from the stars, which is appropriate since I feel like she was floating around the universe before she was born.

This is a great thread!

[Mariposa]

PEPPER

My given name is Pepper (after Angie Dickinson in Police Woman, a show from the 70s) and I don't really like it. As you can imagine all the jokes I went through in my childhood.

I did graduate with another girl named Pepper. It was her given name also. It was so great when I transferred to that school because there was already another Pepper. I felt like my name was Mary for the first time in my life!! We had moved a lot in elementary school and each new school had even more challenges because I had a weird name.

DD is Abigail. We had a hard time agreeing on names and Abigail was the only one we both agreed on. Her middle name is Iliana. It was going to be Gloria for his mom, but I just couldn't like the sound of the 2 together. If we have another DD, it will be Sofia Gloria. A boy would have been Cristian Alfredo. DH is Alfredo. We had the challenge of trying to pick names that sounded good in both English and Spanish. I love lots of names in English that sound yucky in Spanish and vice versa.

I do usually use the Spanish pronunciation of Abigail even when talking to her in English, it's Ah-bee-gah-YEEL. I thought of spelling it so it would be pronounced that way, but changed my mind. We call her Abby and that sometimes is pronounced differently if I am talking to her in Spanish than when I am speaking in English. It is more like Ah-bee (like Darshani's cute little girl!!). She has 4 pronunciations of names! I am sure she will adjust.

I entertained the idea of naming any girls I had after spices also, but that was before I was married and worried about the names sounding good in English and Spanish. I liked Sage and Cassia (a type of cinnamon), Cinnamon, Curry.

Cool thread!

[Justice2]

My hubby's name is Boue (pronounced Bo). It's pretty uncommon to be a given name, it's usually a nickname for Robert or some other given name! My daughter's name is Justice Marie. My x husband fell in love with the name while watching the movie "Poetic Justice" with Janet Jackson. My ds's name is Boue Kaeleb (we call him Kaeleb). Not too uncommon of a name, but very uncommon spelling. My hubby did that! Hubby originally wanted ds's name to be Boue Archer. I asked him to think about that for a few minutes. He continued to look at me strangly then I said Boue Archer??? As in Boue and "one who uses a bow": I think our next son (God willing) will probably be Archer Joshua

[velochic]

We went with ethnic names for our dd. Dh is Armenian and he picked the names from a list of Armenian names, so dd's name is pretty unusual. Anaïs Nairi. Anaïs is actually a french name that has made it's way into Armenian. Etymologically it is a nickname for the Armenian "Anahid", which means pure. Nairi is the ancient name for Armenia. The only other Anaïs I've heard about is the french author Anaïs Nin. I really liked another unusual name... the name Brontë. I got it from the movie Green Card.

[fyrflymommy]

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[Naturalmomma]

I LOVE unusual names. My son is Noah Sebastian and the new little one will probably be Asher, Josiah, or Elijah.
In case our u/s was wrong our girls names we have picked out are Larkin, Anniah, and Fable.

My friends daughter is Storey Lane which is probably the most unusual name I have heard IRL. The other unusual names of some of our friends children are Mara, Cannan, Lyric, and Forest.

[DeniseScx]

I named my son Tiven, well actully Matthew Tiven becuse no one seemed to like it expect me and my best friend.

[BAU3]

oh, I thought of another one.. Tecwyn...

[CanOBeans]

My kids' names are somewhat unusual/uncommon: Griffen Edgar (for Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, baseball players) and Carlin Frances (for George Carlin and my aunt Frances). Luckily, the way they get pronounced here isn't too bad: Greeh-fahn and Car-leen, approximately. I know Griffen has grown in popularity since we named him but I've heard of only a random few Carlins, mostly older women.

I knew a guy named King Kennard (first and middle) -- after his dad.

My SIL worked with a guy named Precious.

Also was on an email list with a woman whose kids' names were Noble (boy) and Timely (girl). I always loved those!

Had dinner Sunday with a couple whose kids' are Yassin (boy), pronounced "ya-SEEN" and Shiraz (girl) pronounced "shi-RAHZ" -- just like the wine. They are French/Tunisian.

My aunt is named Maralaina (mare-ah-LAY-nah) which my Grandma made up.

DH's grandpa was Orrin, who had a sister named Ivis, pronounced like Iris.

If we had another girl I would love to name her Gemma. Totally popular in the UK I know, but not in the US I don't think.

[mirthfulmum]

When it comes to my ds name, people either love it or feel they have the right to make rude comments about it. Why is it when you choose a name that is unusual, but has meaning for you, people (insert strangers) feel they have the right to make thoughtless comments?

My 13 month ds is named Alias. As in he didn't use his real name he used an alias. My husband is a huge, HUGE, Bob Dylan fan and always wanted to name his first son after him, but also didn't want to go the traditional route with Dylan. SO after a lot of thought we came up with Alias. Dylan plays a character named Alias in the '70s Western, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid". We really love the name and feel that it fits our son to a "T".

But why, why must some people have to get that look (I 'm sure those of you with unusually named children know what I'm talking about) they get that look of mixed confusion and almost offense when I tell them my ds name? Why do they have to make comments that make me feel as though I should be appologizing for choosing an unusual name? I wish people would have a bit more respect for the time, thought and love that people put into naming their children.

Sorry for the rant. I guess it's a bit of a sensitive topic for me.:

[Midnight Mom]

My name is Gina Rochelle and althought those aren't extremely unusual names I have NEVER met anyone else named Gina or Rochelle (except my neice, my aunt named her after me).

DDs name is Briana Nicole. I HAD never heard the name Briana when I named her that 15 years ago, (found the name in a baby name book) but now I hear it quite often...I hate that. My new next door neighbors (moved in last weekend) have a dog named Briana. Weird!!

The MOST unusual name that I know of is a girl I went to school with named Cecia (See-sha). I used to not like it, but now I do.

[ApMommaof5]

Oh, and I just wanted to say that, I am sorry, but I don't believe that story about "Shithead." If it is true, and you can get any kind of evidence that someone actually had this name, I will most humbly apologise.

LOL..first of all it is true..and had I ever known that it is some racial slur I would never have posted it as a unusual name. I deff. do not want to offend anyone.

However for you to ask for me to "come up with proof" is ridiculous!! How am I supposed to do that..find this person, make them join and tell you who they are???? And even then how is that proof?
How absurd!! To think that someone would take their time or make the effort to lie about a someone's name is a silly thought to me anyway:..like I said I am sorry if I offended anyone I did not intend to.

[TranscendentalMom]

I have a friend with a boy named Satyam. (pronounced Sati-YUM Its a Sanskrit word that means "Truth." Its cute but she has a hell of a time explaining it EVERY time someone asks his name.