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The thread Fable began on naming CE and Silur's progeny made me think of names generally. And then I got to thinking about various names I would not call a child, or names I would legally change had I been "blessed" with one of them.

Here are my initial contributions:

Humphrey
Lester
Harriett
Bertha
Cecil
Cyril
Mavis

Oh, and so this thread is not simply a list, do feel free to mention any names you have encounted that made you wince. For example:
Personally, I really did know a Bertha when I went to school... the poor girl had a heck of time because of that name. Unfortunately, she was also overweight.. so I'm sure you can imagine what she went through.

dragon wench wrote:Humphrey
Lester
Harriett
Bertha
Cecil
Cyril
Mavis

I definitely agree. Especially about Bertha, which for some reason makes me think of 200 pound female truck drivers that live in trailers and answer the doorbell with a sawed-off shotgun.

And to forestall all commentary, no, I never met anybody named Bertha. Fortunately.

What about Betty Jo? Sally? Cynthia? Bernard? Aloyisius?

Yep, exactlly! Which is why it was really unfortunate that the Bertha I knew was on the large side of spectrum.

I think we can't help have associations with names. Take Lester for example.. I think automatically of "Lester the Molester. "

Pretty much every name that ever appeared in The Dukes of Hazzard.

I went to school with her and she said she was going to get married as soon as possible to change her name......Her parents gave her the name Ruby..to go with her last name of Lipps....Ruby Lipps.....:laugh:

BlueSky wrote:I went to school with her and she said she was going to get married as soon as possible to change her name......Her parents gave her the name Ruby..to go with her last name of Lipps....Ruby Lipps.....:laugh:

OMG!!!
I just hope the people in your school had minds less corrupt than mine... because, you can just guess where my thoughts immediately took that....

Have you ever noticed how people tend to fit their names? Kind of weird huh? Some cultures would say that the name shapes the person. I'm not sure that's precisely it, but people seem to fit their name.

I used to hate my name -- Josh, for those who don't know it -- but not any more.

I knew a Dusty Rhodes, she went to elementary school with me. BlueSky reminded me of that.

Jeez, I totally forgot to post what I was going to post.

My old boss had a list of customers with funny names. No joke, there is a former customer of mine with the name Seymore Pecker. He had to be 50, why would he not change that?!

jopperm2 wrote:Have you ever noticed how people tend to fit their names? Kind of weird huh? Some cultures would say that the name shapes the person. I'm not sure that's precisely it, but people seem to fit their name.

Actually, I have noticed that a lot. But whenever I do, I have to stop and think if I'm just projecting my personal associations with a name onto the person themselves.

A lot of people have told me I suit my name, and I've been sensing (from an entirely biased viewpoint ) that my son seems to be growing into his name more and more. An amusing coincidence here is that my son physically resembles me a great deal and we are very similar in personality. Though the SO and I didn't fully know this at the time we chose our son's name, it actually has a meaning very similar to my own. *Twilight Zone Music*
Seriously, I do know those similarities between us are environmental and genetic, but it's still cute.

Seymore Pecker

LMAO! Maybe he felt it was an advantage to leave things hanging...as it were...

Worst name I can recall knowing was a girl who's parents, in their infinate wisdom, named "London". This in itself wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact her last name was "Bridgits". Poor girl insisted everyone call her Victoria - her middle name.

I myself narrowly escaped disaster when my comedian father suggested "Amanda Lynn". Say it with me. "A mandolin". Thankfully my mother accidentally said 'Samantha' to the nurse filling out my paperwork.

My two kids have the same name(unintentional), but in different languages. Also, they both mean "Elf Ruler," unintentional, but how cool is that?! God, I'm a nerd.

Hehe.. As it were, indeed.

Samantha is a great name indeed! (Sorry, Josh has a total crush on certain names for some reason, that being one of them.)

Another..

I'm almost certain I've mentioned this before here, but I also once went to school with a poor lad whose name was Richard Head....


As AC's example also demonstrates,
Some parents really don't think when they are naming their children....

Hehe.. C'mon DW, everyone has gone to school with a Richard head or two.

Oh, goodness. You just reminded me of one unfortunate student - I never had him in class, but he was a reknowned athlete. He inherited his name Harold from some relative, though no one ever called him a nickname. Then one day it just suddenly occured to me why.

Then he would be Harry Bax.

I've also had a "Heaven Lee", but she was quite literally a monster.

jopperm2 wrote: I knew a Dusty Rhodes, she went to elementary school with me. BlueSky reminded me of that.

Ha I know a Dusty Rhodes, but the name I would change is Dule. I know 2 of them and its weird.

jopperm2 wrote:Hehe.. C'mon DW, everyone has gone to school with a Richard head or two.

That doesn't actually suprise me
I am being serious though, the poor guy was in my class in grades seven and eight, which is probably the worst time in life for anybody blessed with a name like that, so I remember it all too well

fable wrote:I definitely agree. Especially about Bertha, which for some reason makes me think of 200 pound female truck drivers that live in trailers and answer the doorbell with a sawed-off shotgun.

And to forestall all commentary, no, I never met anybody named Bertha. Fortunately.

What about Betty Jo? Sally? Cynthia? Bernard? Aloyisius?

Scary thing, names. Aloyisius for example, is ooold as the mountains. It actually ended up as Lois, Louis or Lu in the English speaking world. I could start in on the different variations in eastern Europe, but it's over midnight here, and I have a day tomorrow. I like this thread, though. Names are magic.

jopperm2 wrote:Hehe.. C'mon DW, everyone has gone to school with a Richard head or two.

As a child, my mother was friends with a girl her age named Rita Book. Some parents should be drawn and quartered.

What I don't like is people who name their children on legendary or novel characters, like Achilles or Apollo, because they want to show others that they have some "kulture". (Victor Hugo made fun of that in Les Misérables with the Thénardiers.) I am pretty sure there are some Bilbos, Terminators, and D'Artagnans in the world.

Bertha? A relative used to have a dog named Bertha. Big and shaggy Bertha.

The weirdest name I recall: several years ago I knew a woman who named her first-born son D'Artagnan.