Stupid names for a child

[Lord Manhammer]

We had a student whose name was Margarita. One teacher refused to call her by her name because alcohol and names of alcohol were against school and district rules.

We explained to said teacher that Margarita was a Latin name meaning Pearl or flower. She still refused until we went to our admin because the teacher was humiliating the student.

Same teacher had a cow when students began wearing "Coors Field" shirts when the Rockies moved from Mile High.

Sounds like that teacher really needs a drink. We have a bunch of exchange students at my Uni and when the Chinese students all come into my classroom, they give me names like "Mary" or "Jane." When I ask them what their Chinese given name is and call them by it, they get the biggest smile on their face. Most of them hate their anglicised name.

 

[nursejackie]

As a paediatric nurse, believe me I've heard some stonkers! Of course, I always have to act professionally, when inside I am cringing when having to say some of the names out loud.

 

[Rogue1677x]

Sounds like that teacher really needs a drink. We have a bunch of exchange students at my Uni and when the Chinese students all come into my classroom, they give me names like "Mary" or "Jane." When I ask them what their Chinese given name is and call them by it, they get the biggest smile on their face. Most of them hate their anglicised name.

When I was a travel agent, we predominantly sold to Asian countries as that was their specialty. A Chinese client came in and introduced himself to me as XYZ. I must have looked confused because he laughed and explained that was the name he chose when he moved to the U.S. He told me what his Chinese name and explained that it was amusing watching people's expressions when he tells them that's his name.

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm not calling any of these names "stupid", but I do pause when reading them...

Chandi
Armani
Darian
Jensen
Ashlinn
KayDianna
Kelee
Kleine
Sophy
Zhenya

They are all tied together. Kudos if someone figures out how.

 

[robinb]

I'm not calling any of these names "stupid", but I do pause when reading them...

Chandi
Armani
Darian
Jensen
Ashlinn
KayDianna
Kelee
Kleine
Sophy
Zhenya

They are all tied together. Kudos if someone figures out how.

"KayDianna" gave it away via Google because it's such an unusual name.

 

[sam_gordon]

"KayDianna" gave it away via Google because it's such an unusual name.

You cheated. lol

Oldest DD went to HS with one, I was trying to see if I'd recognize her (I didn't), saw the unusual names and thought they'd go well in this thread.

 

[georgina]

I'm not calling any of these names "stupid", but I do pause when reading them...

Chandi
Armani
Darian
Jensen
Ashlinn
KayDianna
Kelee
Kleine
Sophy
Zhenya

They are all tied together. Kudos if someone figures out how.

Don't care enough to look for a connection, but Ashlinn is a phonetic spelling of the Irish name Aisling (more commonly pronounced ash-LEEN but close enough). Had a neighbor once who named her daughter Shavonne, which is also an Irish name, spelled Siobhan.

 

[snowwite]

As a paediatric nurse, believe me I've heard some stonkers! Of course, I always have to act professionally, when inside I am cringing when having to say some of the names out loud.

Some of the ones I see are just horrible especially when you know the monikers and nicknames they will get on the playground!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Every time I see this thread I think of a former coworker’s story from a teacher friend. I don’t like thinking any name is stupid…especially since there may be cultural factors and traditions in the mix, but it certainly looked questionable on the teacher’s first day attendance list and it created an awkward first day interaction between student and teacher. I believe it was printed as:

Shadynasty

The girl informed the teacher that it was missing the “upper apostrophe” and should have been Sha’dynasty.

 

[DodgerGirl]

The name I always thought was weird was Destiny and it's recently become a popular name for girls and I don't know who came up with the idea of Destiny becoming a name but I have seen it spelled Destiney too and to me it's really weird. Another name that I think is weird is Dusty and when I see someone with that name it brings to mind a female country singer and considering that there was a singer named Dusty Springfield I think she was the one who made the name Dusty popular for girls. But Greek names for boys are odd like Icarus and Plato and Hercules too and I bet you never seen anyone with the name Icarus before

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We had a Diamond Jack once.

And a D'King (pronounce Da King). Who knew that apostrophes would turn into "high commas".

 

[Boopuff]

Working in classrooms, I've seen all sorts of interesting names. We had a Prosperity, Ka-el (yes the Superman reference, turns out the dad was a big fan). I've also seen all sorts of "creative" spellings: Ryeliegh, Keightlynn, Ashliegh...

 

[ttintagel]

Sounds like that teacher really needs a drink. We have a bunch of exchange students at my Uni and when the Chinese students all come into my classroom, they give me names like "Mary" or "Jane." When I ask them what their Chinese given name is and call them by it, they get the biggest smile on their face. Most of them hate their anglicised name.

I've had the exact opposite experience. I worked at a large university, and Chinese students always preferred us to use their adopted English names rather than hear their Chinese names not pronounced perfectly.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I've had the exact opposite experience. I worked at a large university, and Chinese students always preferred us to use their adopted English names rather than hear their Chinese names not pronounced perfectly.

Which is why I always asked them to slowly pronounce their name. Foreign name pronunciations aren't that difficult if you take the time to learn how to say it.

 

[ttintagel]

Which is why I always asked them to slowly pronounce their name. Foreign name pronunciations aren't that difficult if you take the time to learn how to say it.

Thanks for the condescension, but I actually speak several languages and have studied the diction of many others. Chinese languages are notoriously hard to pronounce if you didn't grow up using those phonemes. What sounds fine to the ear of a non-native speaker will absolutely not sound the same to a native speaker.

My chamber choir performed a new piece in Mandarin by a chinese-american composer. He gave us the transliteration of the lyrics in the International Phonetic Alphabet (in which we were all fluent) and a recording of him speaking the lyrics slowly. We worked hard on it all semester, and when the composer came to our dress rehearsal we anxiously asked him if we'd gotten it right. To our ears it sounded exactly like what was on the tape. He just laughed, shook his head, and said. "Not even close. But it's OK."

It sounds like the people you were talking to were being very kind, patient, and charitable.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Thanks for the condescension, but I actually speak several languages and have studied the diction of many others. Chinese languages are notoriously hard to pronounce if you didn't grow up using those phonemes. What sounds fine to the ear of a non-native speaker will absolutely not sound the same to a native speaker.

My chamber choir performed a new piece in Mandarin by a chinese-american composer. He gave us the transliteration of the lyrics in the International Phonetic Alphabet (in which we were all fluent) and a recording of him speaking the lyrics slowly. We worked hard on it all semester, and when the composer came to our dress rehearsal we anxiously asked him if we'd gotten it right. To our ears it sounded exactly like what was on the tape. He just laughed, shook his head, and said. "Not even close. But it's OK."

It sounds like the people you were talking to were being very kind, patient, and charitable.

That’s nice for you but you don’t know my linguistic background or my students so please don’t presume to. Or maybe you speak for the entire PRC, I don’t know.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

It may have been mentioned as I didn't read the whole thread but there is a funny (old) SNL bit where Nicolas Cage is angrily shooting down suggested name choices for his new baby and the gag is his name is {edited to remove: watch the bit below to see the gag!}

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Here is said bit:

Holds up IMO!

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Do you think if Travis Kelce had been named Leon, he’d still be dating Taylor Swift?

 

[EACarlson]

High school Senior that is going to be a D1 football player. Noah Knigga The K is pronounced as it's own syllable but why would you do that to your kid?
https://www.wcpo.com/sports/high-sc...-announcing-visit-to-west-virginia-university