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Weird Personal Names

Ascalon said:
Were to be spelled phonetically, to should be Shinade.

So she's not even getting that right! :)
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Technically her mother, not her. She didn't choose her name.
brownmane said:
How stupid. It's a legal document. Is she going to pay to have the name changed, or encumber a child with a name that their parent chose to "just test the boundaries"? F'n stupid.
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She was doing it purposefully, expecting to have the name rejected. She explained that they will have his name legally changed.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
To be honest, it is probably a touch of 'inverse snobbery' on my part. I had a rather ordinary 'working class' upbringing in Watford and I have never knowingly met anyone called Cassandra! It has classical overtones to it - my associations based on the Trojan prophetess familiar to me from 3 of my interests (namely 'Doctor Who' - she is a character in "The Myth Makers" (1965) and Shakespeare - she is a character in "Troilus and Cressida" (quite a bit earlier than 1965) - and ABBA (she is the subject of their song "Cassandra" which was the B-side of "The Day Before You Came" - for me, two of the best things ABBA ever did among many good things!).

I think my attitude towards the name was compounded by the name of Rodney's yuppy-ish girlfriend/fiancee/wife in "Only Fools and Horses" who was the daughter of aspirational parents and clearly signified as distinctly posher than Rodney. The idea being that her parents had given her a bit of a la-di-dah moniker like 'Cassaarndraar' (as Delboy might have put it). As opposed to a proper classy name, like Raquel, for instance.

I ought to say - without irony - absolutely no offence intended to anyone called Cassandra. Or Raquel, for that matter :)
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Jane Austen's mother and sister were named Cassandra.

The Georgian/Regency era does throw up a kind of dichotomy, if one is interested in family trees of that time. There are no end of Edwards, Georges, Jameses, Johns, Marys, Elizabeths, Catherines, Janes.

But there are also often very unusual first names - normally given as a family surname of the mother or previous relatives, or some kind of tradition, or a geographical place. Having been an amateur student of the life of the aforementioned Ms J. Austen she has some interestingly-named relations and friends!

Her paternal aunt Mrs Philadelphia (Austen) Hancock was married to a Mr Tysoe Hancock, she is reputed to have had a long affair with Warren Hastings of the East India Company in India, resulting in the birth of a daughter. Jane had a friend named Alethea Bigg - she agreed to marry her friend's brother Harris Bigg-Wither but called it off less than 24hr later.
 
Delightful is one of my real names.
I think the weirdest names I've come across in RL are: Eric Louise, Quincey deQuincey, and Xavier Q. Though there's been many odd ones I've likely forgotten.

Edit:
Just come across an Anyon Phoenix. Because of my work I get plenty of odd names a day passing by me.
 
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AnonyJ said:
Jane Austen's mother and sister were named Cassandra.

The Georgian/Regency era does throw up a kind of dichotomy, if one is interested in family trees of that time. There are no end of Edwards, Georges, Jameses, Johns, Marys, Elizabeths, Catherines, Janes.

But there are also often very unusual first names - normally given as a family surname of the mother or previous relatives, or some kind of tradition, or a geographical place. Having been an amateur student of the life of the aforementioned Ms J. Austen she has some interestingly-named relations and friends!

Her paternal aunt Mrs Philadelphia (Austen) Hancock was married to a Mr Tysoe Hancock, she is reputed to have had a long affair with Warren Hastings of the East India Company in India, resulting in the birth of a daughter. Jane had a friend named Alethea Bigg - she agreed to marry her friend's brother Harris Bigg-Wither but called it off less than 24hr later.
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I remember Tysoe being one of the kids in The Tomorrow People back in the 70's. Many of the names that come from the Classics (ie Greek or Roman names) are never heard nowadays, due to people not studying Greek or Roman myths anymore. I remember watching some programme on TV which was based on the myths, and the guy was set to go into a maze, whereupon I said 'Ariadne will give him string so he can find his way out' and my kids were AMAZED at how I could possibly know that!
 
It's also hard to say what's meant by 'weird'. To us in the West, some Eastern names sound weird - and I'm sure our names sound just as odd to them. But in their own region they are perfectly normal.

And I don't think surnames should be included, because it's not something that can be helped. If you're stuck with a dreadful surname, it doesn't really matter WHAT forenames you give your children, it's going to sound strange. For example, one of my previous husbands had the surname Park. Any name put in front of that makes you sound like a bus destination board.
 
catseye said:
It's also hard to say what's meant by 'weird'. To us in the West, some Eastern names sound weird - and I'm sure our names sound just as odd to them. But in their own region they are perfectly normal.

And I don't think surnames should be included, because it's not something that can be helped. If you're stuck with a dreadful surname, it doesn't really matter WHAT forenames you give your children, it's going to sound strange. For example, one of my previous husbands had the surname Park. Any name put in front of that makes you sound like a bus destination board.
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One of my nieces has surname Harry. There's nothing you can do with that. I haven't even made a joke about it because it's just wrong. Low hanging fruit and all.
 
Another one of my old FB statuses provides an opportunity to post here:

From Dec, 2017:

"Sitting at the doctor's, feverishly watching the appointment announcement screen, momentarily thrown into internal apoplexy over the call for a "Mr Pornsong Singtothong" to see the nurse.

And no, he's not on Facebook, I've looked."
 
catseye said:
I remember Tysoe being one of the kids in The Tomorrow People back in the 70's. Many of the names that come from the Classics (ie Greek or Roman names) are never heard nowadays, due to people not studying Greek or Roman myths anymore. I remember watching some programme on TV which was based on the myths, and the guy was set to go into a maze, whereupon I said 'Ariadne will give him string so he can find his way out' and my kids were AMAZED at how I could possibly know that!
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I think it's the name of a village in Warwickshire or thereabouts, dragging that niblet up from the memory banks here!

It sounds something like Tuesday so maybe a common root? was Tiw Norse or pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon I wonder :)
 
catseye said:
It's also hard to say what's meant by 'weird'. To us in the West, some Eastern names sound weird - and I'm sure our names sound just as odd to them. But in their own region they are perfectly normal.

And I don't think surnames should be included, because it's not something that can be helped. If you're stuck with a dreadful surname, it doesn't really matter WHAT forenames you give your children, it's going to sound strange. For example, one of my previous husbands had the surname Park. Any name put in front of that makes you sound like a bus destination board.
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Yes once went out with a girl whose parents had seen fit to christen her Laurie Park
 
I knew a fellow college resident in the early 90's whose first name was just the letter J. Not Jay, just J.

There was a woman in my town who was named Precious by her parents. She was a teenager when the Lord of the Rings films were released. When she got old enough she legally dropped the Precious and used what had been her middle name instead.
 
catseye said:
I remember Tysoe being one of the kids in The Tomorrow People back in the 70's. Many of the names that come from the Classics (ie Greek or Roman names) are never heard nowadays, due to people not studying Greek or Roman myths anymore. I remember watching some programme on TV which was based on the myths, and the guy was set to go into a maze, whereupon I said 'Ariadne will give him string so he can find his way out' and my kids were AMAZED at how I could possibly know that!
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Miss Yith has Greek Christian and middle names: the first common enough that most would not think it foreign, the second rare.

The major thing she finds is that people can't read it.

A close friend of hers has the comparatively common middle name Penelope, but even then a small but stubborn minority try 'Penny-lope' as a first attempt.

Which is stunning.
 
DougalLongfoot said:
I knew a fellow college resident in the early 90's whose first name was just the letter J. Not Jay, just J.

There was a woman in my town who was named Precious by her parents. She was a teenager when the Lord of the Rings films were released. When she got old enough she legally dropped the Precious and used what had been her middle name instead.
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Puts me in mind of this...

Screenshot_20230927-083831_Google.jpg

Screenshot_20230927-083838_Google.jpg
 
But in some countries in Africa, Precious is a very common name. This is what I mean by we have to be careful not to be too West-Centric about these things. In Greece, Greek names are common.

But I will hold to the death the ridiculousness of spelling Gaelic names phonetically. I mean - please!
 
CharmerKamelion said:
... or maybe he was Welsh and he invented the microwave oven, which is, I'm told, known in Welsh as a 'popty ping'.
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An urban legend, or web joke which has now been adopted by many far and wide as a cute name for that bit of kitchen kit!

The Welsh translation would strictly be (according to the government of Wales's official language usage website ) Popty [oven] Microdon [microwave] https://www.gov.wales/bydtermcymru/...ltext=microwave&subject=All&btctablanguage=en

However Popty Ping has certainly taken over in our household - it translates as Pingy Oven! I have some family connection to that lovely country although in the majority first language English-speaking south.

catseye said:
But in some countries in Africa, Precious is a very common name. This is what I mean by we have to be careful not to be too West-Centric about these things. In Greece, Greek names are common.

But I will hold to the death the ridiculousness of spelling Gaelic names phonetically. I mean - please!
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And in south India Christian tradition, too. We know someone called 'Lovely' :)
 
When I had my bypass, my Morning Nurse was named Lillith, My afternoon nurse was named Israel, and my physio was named Mohammed....I felt that I was in the best of hands.
 
Okay, this one's a surname rather than a given name, but - some people do live up to their surnames.

I once worked in a 'drying -out tank' where alcoholics, many of them homeless, would be admitted to get off the grog for a while.

I happened to be standing in the reception area when one new customer presented. He really looked like something the cat had dragged in. Hair filthy and matted, unwashed, malodorous, his clothes looked like they had been scavenged from a skip. Not that unusual, really, but when the receptionist asked him his name I could see his expression change.

He seemed to be thinking 'oh no, here we go again.'

"So what was your name, Sir?"

"I am.... Mr McGrotty." he admitted miserably.

The poor receptionist had to stutter 'Excuse me a moment' and dashed out to the staff room so she could collapse into the giggles. When she had recovered she returned and finished the registration, as professional as ever.

Poor guy. I bet he got that a lot.
 
Lord Lucan said:
I was on a Cathay Pacific flight years ago where I took note of some of the names of the flight crew... Domino, Cricket & Indigo. I felt like I was in a 007 movie.
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Wonder if those names were those translations? More user friendly for western travellers. Or were they all using codenames?

If they were their forenames, it would have been good if their surnames were Pizza, Batt and Ink.
 
Lord Lucan said:
I was on a Cathay Pacific flight years ago where I took note of some of the names of the flight crew... Domino, Cricket & Indigo. I felt like I was in a 007 movie.
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I lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years, '94-'96.

It was common for Chinese schoolchildren to choose an English name, some would keep them their whole lives, some would change them regularly. When I was teaching in a boys vocational school if there were any boys in a class without an English name (would be about 50/50, those who kept the same one/those who wanted to change) I would put a selection of names up on the board (getting suggestions from the students) and let the nameless ones choose a name to be used in class. As John, Paul, George and Ringo were all popular names I would play a game with myself and see if I could get the fab four in a class.

It was also common for non-Chinese to adopt a Chinese name and have it printed, in Chinese characters, on their business cards. Basically, ones Chinese name would be a transliteration, an approximation of the English sounds in Chinese but depending on the characters used, would also have a meaning. My family name is very similar to a Cantonese family name so there was no problem there but not so with my given name.

The usual transliteration of my given name, in Cantonese, apparently literally translated as "Mrs Ma". However, the lady at the publishing company who chose my Chinese name, thought long and hard and came up with a not so close transliteration but a name that would sound better in Cantonese. She chose the characters that meant "great" and "literature" for my given name. I was very pleased.

However it was years later, when telling someone what my Cantonese name was, and they fell about laughing, that I heard the English transliteration of the Cantonese sounds.

My name was (family name then given name)

Haw Man Ho
 
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