Twitter, the source of all twits, did a hashtag on ugly baby names.
According to the brain trust that is the Twitterverse, these are 50 of the ugliest baby names out there:
Alan, Arthur, Barry, Bertha, Betty, Beverly, Billy, Blue ivy, Bruce, Chauncey, Cheryl, Clarence Dolores, Dorcas, Dreshawn, Edna, Edward, Elmer, Gene, Gertrude, Gretel, Gunther, Gus, Gwen, Helga, Howard, Jomiesha, La-a (Ladasha)…the dash isn’t silent, Luther, Marty, Mort, Myrtle, Nevaeh, Nigel, Percy, Phillip, Phyllis, Quanisha, Ronald, Rosie, Sally, Sausagea, Shaquetta, Shaneekwa, Stuart, Sue, Tyquasia, Uvula, Virgina, Ya’Tonya
Okay, some of those are hard to argue with (Sausagea? FFS). But some of the others like Billy, Gwen, and Alan?
But it does seem that more and more people are picking up on the celebrity trend to chose a different or unique baby name. For instance, here are some celebrity baby name highlights:
Kal-El (child of Nicholas Cage)
Pilot Inspektor (child of Jason Lee)
Fifi Trixibelle (child of Bob Geldorf and Paula Yates)
Apple (child of Gwyneth Paltrow)
Kyd (child of David Duchovny)
Sage Moonblood (son of Sylvester Stallone) – He should have called him ‘Adrian’. Then whenever he was calling her to come inside, the neighbours could have had a giggle.
Destry (child of Steven Spielberg)
Memphis Eve (child of Bono)
Moon Unit and Diva Thin Muffin (children of Frank Zappa)
Sometimes, you cannot help but think that celebrities only give their kids weird names to grab a headline.
In 2007, a Swedish couple tried to name their daughter Metallica (sad but true), and tax officials blocked the name as inappropriate. Later this was overturned on the basis that a Swedish person already had it as a middle name.
Why such focus on what is ultimately just a label? It is the personality behind the name that makes a person. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but naming your daughter Rose does not stop her nappy changes from being a smelly event.
What do you think? What happened to traditional names? When did passing on family names to new generations become uncool? Why is giving your kid a name that will get them beat up at school the new fad? Would you give your child a, lets go with ‘trendy’ name?
Is it a recent fad? I don’t know. I went to school with a Shanda Lear (say it out loud), a Shaun Lamb and a Chris Crossin and I worked with a Theresa Green. About 30 years ago I knew a person whose last name was Currie and who wanted to call her new daughter Thai.
However, I certainly think that recently, there’s definitely been more of a trend of calling your child something relatively normal but choosing a ridiculous way to spell it. I know a Gaiyssun (pronounced Jason) and I shudder at the number of times that poor kid is going to have to spell his name as he gets older.
As I said yesterday, I don’t have kids and I’m not going to have them but, if I did, I’d spend a very very long time thinking of names that were the least likely to be able to be shortened into something embarrassing, would not require spelling every time they were spoken, didn’t combine with the middle and last names to make anything else embarrasing, and didn’t have ridiculous initials like a guy I knew whose initials spelled GIT.
Kids aren’t possessions or pets. They’re people. They shouldn’t be branded with a moniker that’s going to be a millstone around their necks for the rest of their lives.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I wish I could like both of those more than once!
You can. Work and home computers!
That last one is something I’ve often thought about, given the 2 names I want to give my potential future son (one starts with D, the other with E) and potential baby daddy/husband’s last name. If said baby daddy/husband’s last name starts with R (the kid will be getting his father’s name regardless), then I’d rather not have my future son being called “DER!” in the playground thanks very much.
Sausagea? Seriously? FFS!
What about Baconette?
SECOND BORN!! \m/>.<\m/
Third born – Hamish.
My mum’s maiden surname was Bacon. Her childhood nickname was ‘Eggsn’
My dad’s initials were RC. In the playground he was called Arsey.
I think parents like those mentioned by Pokey (chandelier etc) have been around for ever,as Poker said. I also think they should be taken around the back of the shed and given a good lesson.
As for new and different names, where they can’t be shortened into something embarrassing or combined with the rest of the name to make something embarrassing, I don’t have a problem. I don’t really see why ewe have to stick with the old names. Don’t forget, they were all new names once.
I do have a problem with giving a traditional name but spelling it differently. It’s still said the same, you haven’t come up with anything new, you’ve just created a life-time issue of the kids always having to spell their names out. You want original, think up something original. Don’t just stick another ‘i’ next to the first one and think you’re being original.
This said by the guy that named his daughter Tracie because it rhymed with Marie so he figured that was how it was spelt. Seems not to be the common spelling, which I realise once she got to school. Ah well, she has survived and so will all the other victims I guess but I still cringe when I see some of those names.
I wrote DJ’s name on a bit of paper and made Mr Coaster put it in his wallet, because I didn’t trust him to remember the correct spelling when it came to filling out the forms and submitting them at the magistrate’s court
In one family I know, years ago, the parents couldn’t agree on their son’s name. It was a bone of contention throughout the pregnancy, but eventually the husband caved and let her have her way.
Once the child arrived, whilst the Mum was still in hospital, he went in to register the birth and registered it with the names he’d wanted.
:/
I know – the son, now long since grown up, hates the name too and always uses his middle name instead.
I would have killed him.
My brother and his wife couldn’t agree on what to call their first daughter. She went several weeks being called all sorts of pet names, until they got close to the deadline by which they had to have submitted the registration paperwork.
She went in one day while he was at work and registered the name she wanted, which no-one else liked. Her ‘compromise’ was to give baby the name my brother wanted, as her middle name.
As much as he loves his daughter, he still doesn’t like her name and calls her a shortened version which sounds nicer…
Don’t get me wrong, Mr Coaster and I both loved the name and were in total agreement on it. However everyone in my family seems to get confused on how many i’s it has, whether it should have a second o, etc etc, so writing it down as a reminder for Mr Coaster seemed the safest (if naggiest) thing to do
I have friends who couldn’t decide, they had a different favourite each so they agreed that the best sounding combination would be the one they went for. For two weeks before their daughter was born they used the different combinations for their child’s name.
Week one – Alyce Amelia
Week two – Amelia Alyce
At the end they both decided Alyce Amelia sounded the best.
My grandfather had one name on his birth certificate, and was called another name by his mother (and later my grandmother) all his life. The way it went down was she wanted that particular name and my great-grandfather (who sounds like a bit of tyrant and was very traditional) wanted a family name. So her protest was never using the name on his birth certificate (anyone pitying Al now, what with stubborn as a mule all through my family tree?
).
As someone with a name that’s not particularly common, and having spent a lifetime of spelling it out for people (who then still get it wrong), I can safely say that it hasn’t been a massive burden. There are times where I wished I was called Sally or Jane or Emma, just to make life easier when filling in forms, speaking to machines or people on the phone, or when trying to organise mail, but other than that, I like the fact that when I hear my name called out in a crowded room, it’s highly unlikely that they are looking for anyone else but me.
Both of my children have what I would consider traditional names – Isabelle and Lachlan. No one gets these right though. Everyone seems to expect a new-fangled spelling – people put a ‘z’, ‘o’, or drop the ‘e’ at the end of Isabelle (or all three!), and for some reason lots of people seem to assume my son has a ‘k’ in the middle of his name.
My name is a combination of my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s names, so I think it’s something special to have. My daughter is named after another great-grandmother. My brother is named after both of his grandfathers (Robert Thomas). So it seems our family has been reasonably traditional, in the midst of a wave of new-age, headline grabbing names.
I think that’s beautiful.
Scoobette and I have spoken about baby names in the past, as you do when planning a future together, and this very topic arose.
She felt, I feel quite rightly, that these misspelt names are aspirational. They see these celebrities mispelling names of their kids or having their stage name misspelt to make it seem more individual, which these poor sods deem as success.
therefore in their mind, by doing the same, they are setting their child up for great things, or perhaps bringing something special to their mediochre lives. Unfortunatly they don’t really take into account the effect this has on the child. Oh well they’re happy which is the main thing.
Personally I like my conventional spelling. It keeps it easy when people are addressing an envelope to me. Not that they do that anymore.
Then shouldn’t you go by Scoobie?
Scoobs being short for Scooba, elongated from Scuba which was shortened from Scuba Diver
I knew a couple named Robert and Glenda. They had four children, two boys and two girls.
The middle names of each were, Robert, Glenda, Roberta, and Glen.
My sister has a friend who legally changed his name to Cloud Rainwalker.
I can’t help but think of the “Leroy” joke right now…
Whenever I see ‘alternative’ spellings for well-established names, I cannot help but think “bogan”. Judgemental I know, and not always accurate, but still…
When I was younger I often fantasised about changing my name, as I didn’t like having such an unusual name – especially for a girl. It’s one of those names that can be for either sex but is more common for a boy, but traditionally was spelt slightly differently for girls to boys. Now there is little distinction by spelling and a lot more people around with the name, so it doesn’t seem so unusual although still not common. My middle name is a combo of Mum’s first name & Dad’s middle (but preferred) name. Very original.
My problem was choosing another name for myself… when you’ve grown up with a name it is really hard to imagine yourself as another name. I have since reconciled myself to it, and in fact don’t want to change any part of it even though I’ve married.
Years ago I knew a guy that had changed his name due to being in a witness protection program, and it had to be different enough that there was no connection between his original name and his new name. It was interesting that the inspiration for his name came from a play on words for the surname, and then working through the alphabet to find a first name that sounded OK with the surname. At least he already knew his personality to match with, unlike new parents who don’t yet know what their child is going to be like!
My father has exactly the same name as his father – awkward & creates problems. Both names are family names that I can see popping up in all the previous generations that we know about. On my mother’s side it is the same, there is a set of family names that carry through the generations. Makes genealogy verrry interesting…!
I’m not one for sweeping generalisations (Because as we know all generalisations are wrong), but sometimes they’re not a bad rule of thumb.
There’s a webpage full of them + other bogan names. Good for a laugh.
LOL at Courtneigh.
And ‘Neo’ or ‘Awesome’ as a name? Makes me think of Max Powers.
‘Hi! I’m Awesome!’
Oh dear.
I pity the kids named after their parents’ alchoholic habits, like
Jack Daniel
Kahlua
Tia Maria
Tequila-Sunrise
and those with character-type names, like
Storm
Stealth Wolfe
Viper
Spida
Quade
JoeBoi
how many of these kids will sue their parents one day for cruel & unusual punishment?!
I actually did change my first name once, when I was at uni. I’ve never particularly liked my first name, Annette, and I changed it to Max, which I did like. Not Maxine, just Max. But mum was *so* upset that I changed it back post haste (I was quite devastated that I’d hurt her so much) and I’ve never thought about changing it again. Still don’t like it though and don’t think it suits me.
That might be one of the reasons that I’ve seldom actually been called by my given name during my life. Growing up I had a nickname that stuck to me from about the age of five, all through university and until I moved to Sydney. In fact, not many people even knew my real name. My friends from that era still call me by my nickname. When I got to Sydney I somehow picked up another nickname (although I did finally learn to answer to Annette) and my friends from that era use that one. Of course many of you call me Pokey, even in RL and I’m fine with that
. And my family calls me by another nickname.
I think Max suits you.
I know when I first heard your name I thought it was incongruous with what I thought it might be, not that I had a firm idea what that was.
I call many of my online friends by their screen name. In fact my brother and I still sometimes call each other by our old online role playing nick names without noticing until other family members go “huh?”.
I love calling you Pokey
It was the same with my grandfather (other) and his dad. However one was Tom and one was Tim. My brother has their name as a middle name, and my cousin the nickname. I like it having that record in the family.
The trickiest bit for us with LML was, as Pokey said, getting sensible initials as well as a decent name that could be shortened to something easy (Those who know me know I have a relatively dull surname. You wouldn’t believe how many ‘Pluckers’ there are out there). The fact that it means something like ‘A father’s joy’ was a bonus!
I grew up with a Clara Bell and have met, at various times Sahara, Stormy Seas, Hunter Forest and several more that currently elude me. I have also read about Tahlula Does The Hula From Hawaii (That’s her first name), Drew Peacock (When they Googled it they were asked ‘Do you mean droopy c***?’) and heard about people trying unsuccessfully (at least I think unsuccessfully) to register Lucifer. Sometimes being different isn’t the best option.
I’ve also considered writing a story with a character called Le_a (Leunderscorea) just because.
I also used to know a woman who’s parents were called (I think) Ernie and Eleanor. When deciding what to call her, what better compromise than Ernelle?
I work with quite a few…
kinda like L-a pronounced ledasha “cos the dash don’t be silent”
Aint nobody got time to write dash.
That’s the one.
Come, -r, come Dancer, Prancer and Vixen?
I think a name plays a huge role in defining a person. It’s not just a label to me, because a name represents you. Before someone has even met you, they have preconceived notions about you based on your name. If your name happens to be the same as a childhood enemy of theirs, you might be out of luck. If your name is hard to pronounce, they may be more awkward around you because of that, and it might therefore be harder to integrate yourself. If your name is La-a, they may have trouble controlling their laughter around you.
All of these reactions to your name are going to effect who you become as a person. Experiences shape us. Would my life have been different if I’d had a different name? I think so. Who can tell what impact the simplest of changes would have made? Had my name started with a different letter, perhaps I’d have been grouped with other kids at school to do projects. Perhaps I’d have made friends with those kids instead, and my life would have been different through their influences.
As for non-traditional names… I’ve always loved traditional names, so it’s not something I think a lot about. I really don’t understand the mindset of parents that give children these ‘unique’ names. I like to think it’s a misguided act formed out of love. They way to make their child individual. And some unique names do that. As Maz pointed out, her name has family history attached to it, and it’s unique and even if she has to spell it for people occasionally, well, that’s the price you pay. I find I have to spell my name for people sometimes too, and mine’s fairly traditional.
I do object to parents given kids names that are obviously meant jokingly. Save those names for your pets – everyone loves a laugh! It’s hard enough for kids to survive the schoolyard – why give bullies ammunition? And why disadvantage your child so early in life? Sure, La-a will be remembered by her panel of job interviewers, but will she be remembered for her experience and skills? Doubtful.
Having said all that, I think regulation of child naming is a tricky business. Who makes the decision about appropriate names vs inappropriate names? When you think about traditional names, they can sound a bit weird too. As H said, they were all new once too. And in fact, when people do bring out really traditional names, people can get just as confused because they haven’t heard of them often.
I think I’ve just waffled on a bit in here. I think my point is essentially that there are some people wanting to name their kids crazy things, but regulation of child naming would be so tricky. Perhaps we’d be better off trying to make parents think harder about the possible consequences for their child before naming them. I doubt many parents would do anything to knowingly hurt their child.
Very interesting point and one I would definitely have overlooked
will come back in a bit to make a proper comment but for now I just wanted to let loller know her post was up:
http://tyrionlannisterbffs.wordpress.com/
check it out if you are a Game of Thrones fan.
Actually GoT has got me all excited about interesting names again, I like a few of the characters names, even the unsual ones.
All my family have boring names, there are seven of us:
Rebecca Ann (RAW)
Michael Douglas (MDW)
Melanie Louise (MLW)
Daniel Robert (DRW)
Rachel Elizabeth (REW)
Katherine Renae (KRW)- RIP
Jacqueline Olivia (JOW)
I think my folks did a pretty good job avoiding anything that was too frustrating for any of us of course given my families enthusiasm for nick names we are; Bec, Mick, Mel, Dan, Rach and Jac respectively.
Even our pets got traditional names:
Isabelle and Theodore
I think the thing that matters most is that you are in agreement with your partner, most people get used to unusual names and as Maz pointed out there are bigger problems than having to spell your name out.
That being said I do like the idea of one standard spelling or a standard spelling with a second acceptable variation, call your kid something different by all means but think of their poor teachers. For example in my sister Rachel’s year at school there are 3 Jacks all with their names spelt differently (Jack, Jak and Jac) and two Harrys (Harry and Harrie).
Not sure, but I know it definitely died within my family when my parents decided not to give me or my brother any name connected to the family, although my brother got my dad’s first name as a middle name (parents couldn’t figure out another name to give him). Apparently the rellies weren’t too happy about it, but my folks were determined not to scar us with some old-fashioned name.
In terms of my own first and middle names, my mum wanted my middle name, but my dad wanted my first name. He won that battle, but on the proviso that if they had another kid, my mum got dibs on the first name (which of course, she did). I like both my names – they sound good together. Luckily my Mum made sure of that.
With my first name, people tend to either misspell it by using the Americanised version of it, or I get called the more formal version of my first name, which isn’t my actual name believe it or not….both I have to say have bugged me a fair bit over the years, but I guess I’ve had to get over it. My middle name is a common middle or first name for a number of women born in the 80′s (I went to school with a few girls who all shared my middle name).
If I ever have children, they’ll be getting the traditional spelling all the way. I couldn’t torture them by giving them strange spellings or ridiculous initials that ensured endless playground teasing. In general, I’ll endeavour to spare them from receiving any kind of taunts about their name as I know how it feels (I copped it over my rather unfortunate last name).
And people wonder why I don’t use Twitter. They claim my middle name is one of the worst names? Bah. It was my grandfather’s name.
My former housemate’s niece is changing her name because she never felt it was “hers,” that it was “too common.” She’s actually chosen a name that’s more common, but in the 70-80 year old range. I think that’s sort of hipsterish, but it’s her decision, not mine.
I have a fishing buddy who changed her name to Rainbow (now just Rain). But that was in the 60s and she lived on Struggle Mountain.
I agree with Pokeybun that kids are not pets and shouldn’t be saddled with stupid names. Initials spelling a word aren’t really an issue for me, as mine is “Rad” and my brother is “Wed,” but if the parents deliberately chose middle names, or even 2 middle names to spell a word, well that I have an issue with. (Darius Ulysses Charles King for example)
Odd names are nothing new in the US, particularly in the African-American community, and more recently among the hipsters. I’ve always figured that the American football player Plaxico Burress was named after a piece of medical equipment in the birthing room made by the Plaxi Company.
I’ve met someone whose name was Tiphani who was offended if you “assumed” it was spelled Tiffany. And I quite “How dare you assume how my name is spelled.” (facepalm)
In the US, we called the trend to name a child with a strange spelling the “Precious Snowflake” syndrome. Or for some of us, just to drive the point home, “Preshus Snowflayke” syndrome
Rather Darius than Frederick!
I was avoiding that particular acronym because it’s easy to link my username to my real name.
I’m trying to find a job ya know!
{grumble}{chuckle}{grumble}
Pish-tosh – jobs are for the working class!
Oh. I’m *working class*.
It always astounds me that I am not a millionaire yet.
My bestie did what you all complain about. Extra vowel in a traditional name. I love her, but I could smack her and I did say I thought it was unwise to change a traditional name. Her partner was saying the same thing. But she wore him down and now I look at this beautiful little girl (my honorary niece) with a beautiful name, with a vowel that adds nothing and will be a frustration to her throughout her entire life.
My names are very traditional and I like the combination of them as my initials. My middle name can be said two ways, and one is my grandmother’s name and the other is the way it is said. But it’s nice, because I get to keep a little bit of her with me always.
I almost had my bestie convinced to give her youngest my middle name as hers (actually she suggested it and I supported it 100%), until some aggravatingly annoying people said it sounded like a religious song. EVIL PEOPLE!! (It doesn’t unless you want to really interpret it that way!!)
I should add, I love names. I love Western traditional names, but I also love traditional names from other places. I had a Vietnamese friend named Thi. I have also really loved the Native American culture and some of their names. I really love the meanings behind them. For example, mine means wisdom, and without trying to talk myself up, I tended to be the wisest (sometimes – not perfect!) among my friends.
What always gives me a laugh too is the names Asian students tend to choose for themselves. One of my good uni friends called herself Candy. And she was the picture of beautiful girl that could well be a stripper.
Rebecca means something to do with cows *sigh*
I think that you are wise though so it was a good choice.
When I was at school I was given a terrible time because of my name. My first name is the same as the Prime Ministers, but when I was a kid it was ‘Poolia’. Now I just get called whatever people are calling the PM – come on people, be original!
My maiden surname (Whittington) also lent itself to ‘modifecation’ (ha, ha!). You can imagine the cr*p I got because of my name and from a private girls school, of course!
Mr FB and I have enough trouble deciding what to name out pets, so I doubt that we could ever agree to a child’s name. A good thing we did not have any!
There is a list of names that babies born in SA have been given over the years, and I find it very interesting reading. It is at http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/bdm/babynames.html
In 2010, someone named their son LUCIFAH. I don’t know what is worse, that the parents named him that, or that it go thru. Poor kid!
I absolutely hate it when people misspell names to sound ‘unique’ or ‘individual’. It reminds me of Kath and Kim and smacks of all things bogan (there’s that stereotype again!).
I love the name Julia (probably because of my enduring girl crush on Julia Roberts), I hate how it gets mangled now because people don’t like the Prime Minister.
How’s your arm?
Hi Bec! Arm is still sore. Ultrasound people said there is definitely some bleeding in there, but they don’t know why and said I should just take anti inflammatories and see if that helps. Not sure how it would, but I will give it a go and see what happens.
I have a very traditional name, but I always have to spell it! It infuriates me, but you get over it!
As for offspring, TLG and I have talked about it and I would like to look at traditional Indian names for our children, it’s TLGs heritage afterall and they have such gorgeous names.
I like names from other cultures, when I was younger and dreamed of adopting I always liked Rei for a girl which is Chinese and means ceremonial (pronounced Ray).
One of our long-time friends married a lady of Chinese heritage, although she was born here. Her parents’ solution was to give her & her sisters a ‘Western’ first name and traditional middle names, and of course their surname is also traditional, not Westernised, but the order of the names and form of address is in the Western style.
When our friends in turn had kids, they have adopted the same solution, so the girls have traditional Chinese names as their middle names. The kids view it as having their ‘normal’ name and their ‘Chinese name’, and it means they fit in with the other kids both at school and at Chinese school. Her parents (the girls’ grandparents) chose the Chinese names according to their meanings.
I think it is a lovely solution that suits their modern Australian life and also honours their heritage.
My parents called me Vanessa as they worked in an area of Sydney that had quite a poor socio-economic reputation and mostly taught kids with very common names such as ‘Sharon’ and ‘Debbie’. I think these names may have meant ‘Likely to become a hairdresser’ in their universe. I did however go to school with another Vanessa and two Melissa’s in the one class so we were forever thinking our name was being called.
I have three girls. Each have not hugely traditional names. Courtney, Amber and Jett. Jett was the one I was sure was going to be a boy. Even when I knew she was a girl, we decided on Jett. And it SO suits her. My eldest’s middle name is the same as her paternal great grandmother’s – however I have a bit of an issue with memorialising people with a name. What my ex (her dad) doesn’t necessarily realise is it is also the name of one of my fave characters from a TV show called thirtysomething I watched when I was pregnant. Btw – you make some odd decisions when you are up the duff….
My two youngest have unusual middle names. I remember as a teenager so many of my friends wanted to change their name to somethign unusual etc. I’d like to imagine they’d use their middle names if they wanted to be different.
I’m also hugely conscious with parents who are teachers as to how names can be bastardised, and what initials can spell. I went to school with a girl who was called MOG and her brother was BOG all through school. And I too HATE those crap spelling WAG type names – Chardonnnae, Taylah etc etc…
My name is nothing crazy. Very normal.
My middle name is misspelt thanks to my mother. It has an extra R in it. It isn’t in English though so I can forgive her. It is basically a translation of some relatives(great grandmother maybe) first name(bridget), my older brother scored Leslie as his middle name, and my younger brother got dad’s first name as his middle name(Rein) which is also Estonian. My sister got Lee as her middle name, but with her first name being Kristi (Estonian spelling) she gets enough misspelling of that.
Some people just don’t think when they give their children names… Misty Hymen anyone?
I have to spell all 3 of my names. First andd middle are pretty normal names, but spelt in the traditional European way. My surname has 2 equally common variants so I’m always saying ‘with an E’. It is a little frustrating but after 30 years you get over it
I have been thinking about names a lot lately as I’m still tossing up whether to take Mr Dix’s name or to hyphenate it with mine. I already have to spell mine so adding a “hyphen (spelling)” after “with an E” doesn’t seem so bad.
Agree with everyone else on the bogan name thing (I paticularly hate Jayden, Brayden etc)and I also am against ‘gender-confusing’ names like how Jessica Simpson names her baby girl Maxwell!
My name is very common in my age group although the spelling is just a little bit odd. I’m told it is of Welsh origin but I think they chose it because my surname was so long. Nevertheless, I have to spell all of my names, none of which are tricky. First, with a “c” and a “y”. Second with an “e”. Surname does NOT have a U. (I kept my married surname because I thought it was easy to spell) – mmmmmmmm.
Most splatters call me Cazzy which is also my name on facebook. I answer to both my first name and my nom de plume.
I’m very happy with my name and having about 4 Catherine’s in every year of school, it made me feel a little individual.
Having said that I hate those ridiculous variations on spelling that a just plain, well, ridiculous. Jayde instead of Jade is just a mild one.
If you want to call your kid “lettuce” – don’t spell it Lettus.
Late on the post here but I have got to say, I get really angry at the name debate. More often than not a parent has chosen a name that means something to them (and potentially a spelling that means something to them) and people being mean and saying that they, in their opinion, dont like it offend that person as much as a bully would offend someone by calling them fat.
I like unique names. I like common names. I don’t care about spelling (I have a very common name and I have to spell it all the time anyway!)…