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Jason English
A Job For Which I Think I’m Qualified: Naming Your Kids. Or At Least Your Pets.
by Jason English - June 27, 2007 - 10:44 AM

bailey_stocking.jpgIn past discussions that took place exclusively in the confines of my head, I’ve said my dream job would be naming people’s pets. I like animals, could ostensibly work from anywhere, and would like seeing my work appear on bowls and tags and Christmas stockings.

However, I’ve never been offered this chance. Perhaps my conservative approach to naming my own pets – Jake, Rosie and Bailey – fails to inspire confidence. Though in my defense, our cat Rosie was a boy, which wins us points for both creativity and gender confusion. (I’m more than happy to offer my naming services gratis, to help build my portfolio. Email away.)

Gawker had a great post yesterday on the booming baby-naming business, which was covered by The Wall Street Journal last week. I may need to branch out this pipe dream.

A few highlights:

  • “Madeline turned to a consultant when naming both of her children, Ross, 3, and Natalie, eight months. That consultant, Maryanna Korwitts, a self-described nameologist based in Downers Grove, Ill., charges up to $350 for a package including three half-hour phone calls and a personalized manual describing the name’s history, linguistic origins and personality traits.”
  • “A California mother of two who’s expecting a daughter this fall spent $475 to have a numerologist test her favorite name, Leah Marie, to see if it had positive associations. (It did.)”
  • “Karen spent months reading baby books and scouring Web sites before settling on Nicole Josephine. But now, four years later, she says she wishes she’d chosen something less trendy — and has even considered legally changing her daughter’s name to Josephine Marie. ‘I’m having namer’s remorse,’ she says.”
  • “When Julie typed her favorite name for a girl, Zoe Rose, into the search engine, she was forced to go back to the drawing board. The name was already taken — by a British porn star. ‘It was on the first page that came up,’ she says.”

Other related links:

Got a great name suggestion for our expecting readers? Let’s hear it. And I’m serious about offering up my pet-naming services. I need to hone my skills.

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Comments (80)

  1. Crazy! Madrid used to be the name I had planned if I ever have a daughter, until I realized that Paris Hilton has really given the whole named-after-a-European-city thing a bad vibe.

    posted by Cynthia on 6-27-2007 at 10:53 am

  2. I’ve always hated having such a common name. To me it seems like about half of the boys born about the same time period I was are named Jason.

    You’ve heard the game where in a group of 30 people, at least 2 will share the same birthday? I’m willing to bet that in a room of thirty people, at least one will be named Jason. Or shout Jason in a crowd and watch around 5 people look to see who’s calling them.

    Once my wife and I have kids, I’m going to campaign heavily for a non-trendy, soon-to-be-run-of-the-mill name. Hopyfully she’ll buy in… then our kids can resent us for having bizarre names that they can’t find pre-printed on souvr knickknacks.

    Whew! I feel better! Oh well… at least my name isn’t John.

    posted by Jason! on 6-27-2007 at 11:03 am

  3. Jason! — So funny, especially to me, since my full name is John Jason English.

    You need a nickname, or to start going by initials. But not your initials. Mix it up.

    posted by Jason on 6-27-2007 at 11:08 am

  4. Oops? Sorry…

    I’m thinking of legally changing my name to Jason! (including exclamation) and telling people that the proper pronunciation requires shouting it with exuberance.

    I might try a nickname or initials though… or maybe adding an impressive title… Jason the (insert impressive sounding title here).

    posted by Jason! on 6-27-2007 at 11:15 am

  5. man, that’s funny. The next pup I have will be entrusted with your services.

    posted by Mangesh on 6-27-2007 at 11:16 am

  6. when i was born, my mom wanted my initials to be AA, so i got ashley, the nu. 1 name for girls born in my year, the one after me, and the year before me. like Jason!, there is always atleast 1 other ashley where i am.

    for when i have kids, im going to give him/her an unusual name… something that the celebs haven’t already thought up yet though. this could be tough

    posted by ashley on 6-27-2007 at 11:17 am

  7. I’m definately naming my kids something at least pronouncable (even though people mistakenly call me Jennette) but nothing common. Being named Janet Carol Flair has been awesome. It’s a name most people know (Janet Jackson) but I only know one other Janet and that’s my grandmother. I hated it growing up, but I loved it from high school on. So name your kids something bizarre. They will appreciate it in the end. Esp. when they realize that preprinted junk will eventually just be a dust collector. (Even though secretly some of us still love to buy it)
    I usually name my pets after tv or movie stuff.

    A cat named – Nannette Musette (villan from a scooby doo episode)
    a horse named – Kelly Green (after the crayola color)
    A boxer named – Kaylee Frye (a character from the cancelled but awesome tv series Firefly)
    Birds – Neptune & Saturn
    Dog – gypsy
    frogs – frankenstien & dracula
    fish (who live with frogs) Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

    hehe and my fav – 4 baby box turtles (can you guess?)
    yes after the TMNT
    ok – done rambling

    posted by Janet on 6-27-2007 at 11:25 am

  8. All my life I had been looking forward to naming something other than a stuffed animal or car. When I finally got to name one of our new kittens in November, I was ELATED and took the responsibility very seriously (particularly because I don’t plan to have kids). I agonized over whether or not I should come up with a clever name that referenced the fact that she’s polydactyl, and looked at countless websites and books for ideas. I ended up naming her Frances, like that little badger in those children’s books by Russell and Lillian Hoban. Naming that kitten was a long, exciting, and very rewarding process. Why on earth would anyone give that responsibility over to another person?! I can maybe see doing it for a pet, but a CHILD?! That’s just crazy.

    posted by Molly on 6-27-2007 at 11:27 am

  9. Jason!,
    I just bought a golden snail for my fish tank. I know, its not as cool as a dog, cat, or kid, but its as good as I can get living in a dorm. I’d be honored if you named it for me (I don’t know the gender of the snail. sorry)

    FYI, the other fish in the tank are named Judy Garland and Marlyn Monroe (we used to have a Audrey Hepburn and Frank Sonatra, but they died). We also have 6 others, but we can’t tell them apart. Go to it!

    posted by Amy on 6-27-2007 at 11:44 am

  10. I hate my name. In fact, I hate it enough that I’m legally changing it to Kay as soon as I graduate.
    I was born “Kaila,” which is NOT pronounced “Kay-la.” It’s sort of based on the Hebrew word “Chi,” which means “life.” I’m just tired of having to repeat my name seven times before people get it.
    I don’t ever want children, but if I were to name them, I’d go for something out of the ordinary but still in the realm of pronounceable and not weird.
    I would like to have two dogs and name them Franny & Zooey, though….

    posted by kay on 6-27-2007 at 12:11 pm

  11. Having spent 25 years as a Sara, I can empathize with wanting to avoid overly common names for your kids. In my fraternity (yes, fraternity. It’s co-ed) we had three Sara(h)s at one time – and we couldn’t even distinguish by last initial, because all three of us had last names starting with “R”!

    I like “retro” names (aka “grandma names”). I think they can be really cool, especially if they have family significance. If I ever have a daugther, I’m naming her Evelyn Clementine, after my grandmother and great-great-aunt, respectively.

    posted by Sara on 6-27-2007 at 12:14 pm

  12. You guys think that’s bad…? My name is Cassandra Faustini. Literally. Most people have only one epic name. I have two (my uncle’s into genealogy, he traced our family back to medieval Germany, where our last name was “Faust”. It became Italianized after a couple of centuries of living in Italy).
    Being that I have two epic names, I have two so called fatal flaws–and in all the history of mythology all the other characters only had one. I think I’m screwed.

    posted by cassandra faustini on 6-27-2007 at 12:19 pm

  13. Hey Amy! Were you addressing Jason (John Jason English) or Jason! (yours truly)? Or possibly InternJason?

    posted by Jason! on 6-27-2007 at 12:42 pm

  14. Though it could be nice to have a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary name, as a teacher, I must caution against getting TOO creative! It’s frustrating for the teachers–not to even mention the kids–when you can’t tell how to pronounce or spell their names, or what gender they might be.

    A few examples:

    River, Skylar/Skyler, Austin (boys or girls?? I’ve had some of each in my classes),

    Destany (who told me her mother didn’t know how to spell it correctly when she was born!),

    Kaitlin/Katlyn/Katelyn/Caitlin/Caitlynn/etc. (”Teacher! You spelled my name wrong!”)

    My own name is pretty good–fairly common, but not as common as some names, and not too many outlandish spelling variations. Good job, Mom! :)

    posted by Kristen on 6-27-2007 at 1:04 pm

  15. I’m so glad to know my name has positive associations. :)

    I named my pet gerbils Gilbert and Arthur. I think it’s funny when pets have classic people names.

    posted by Leah Marie on 6-27-2007 at 1:17 pm

  16. I generally go by Andria (the ‘i’ throws people off), but I love my full name and its significance. My mother had it picked out when she was just a kid, and at 16, I think I have my first daughter’s name decided. I enjoy researching names and picking them out too much to give someone else that right.

    (We just got a puppy recently, and we named him Conan. It means ‘little wolf’ or ‘little hound’ in Irish/Gaelic)

    posted by scoobnut (Alexandria) on 6-27-2007 at 1:22 pm

  17. Things are starting to look up for my name. When I was a kid I couldn’t find anything with the name Anita. And then one day, while looking at the bicycle license plates while my mom was making her purchases…there it was! My name! On an disgustingly ugly green bicycle license plate! Yes!!! Needless to say, we snapped that puppy up before anyone else could. Now that I’m out of that phase, my name is on everything. Of course.

    Oh yeah, my sister names all of her family’s pets after Greek mythology characters. Can’t remember all the fish & lizards, but they have a cat named Artemis and a dog named Perseus. They go by Arti & Percy.

    posted by Anita on 6-27-2007 at 1:40 pm

  18. Maybe we should just rename all the Jasons on this site to avoid confusion. How does Abraham sound? :)

    posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 6-27-2007 at 1:49 pm

  19. I loved naming my pets. Naming my son was a different matter altogether, though. It’s one thing to name a cat who will never leave the house. It’s another thing to name a child who will have to live with all the consequences (good or bad) that come from their name. I didn’t have to figure out all the different ways my dog might possibly be ridiculed on the playground when I named him. With a child, you have to think of these things (or at least you should).

    For the record:
    child = Ryan
    dog = Remy (after Jerry Remy (baseball player))
    cat = Nicodemus (after the rat in the movie “Secret of NYMH”)
    cat = Georgia (after the song “Midnight Train to Georgia”)

    I will note that it was a mistake naming my son and my dog so similarly. It has happened numerous times that I’ve used the wrong name to yell at either one of them.

    posted by Bill T. on 6-27-2007 at 2:04 pm

  20. Oh and a cat named Galaxy and a bunny (deceased) whos name I could never spell, Rourk or something. He was awesome. Naming pets is the best because you can name them anything insane. It doesnt really affect them.
    Slightly demented story –
    when the rabbit died, my mother made us dig a grave in the yard (our pets our responsibility) so out to the side yard we go me, my youngest sister, and my brother carrying the rabbit. As I dig the grave, my brother (crazy…) starts making the dead rabbit dance and smile. The neighbors didn’t appreciate his humor. . . .

    posted by Janet on 6-27-2007 at 2:37 pm

  21. Molly, did you consider Anne Boleyn for your polydactil cat?

    posted by Syaka on 6-27-2007 at 2:40 pm

  22. I might as well join in with the pet names too…

    Romy – 2yr female Border Collie. Named because she was found roaming (stray). Sweet pet.

    Knothead – 6mth male Border Collie. Had large bump on head when adopted from shelter (previous owner was abusive). Bump is gone now, but the name is apt given his sometimes moronic behaviour.

    Ivan (the Terrible) – Male Russian White Dwarf Hamster. Again, aptly named (like to nip…)

    posted by Jason! on 6-27-2007 at 2:50 pm

  23. Whatever you do, NEVER name your twins Georghino and Georghina. Those unfortunate children are friends with my little brother and I cringe whenever they introduce themselves.

    The only problems I’ve had with my name where people refusing to believe my “real name” was Alice and not a nickname for Allison. Or people calling me Alex. But that’s fairly rare.

    posted by alice on 6-27-2007 at 2:58 pm

  24. Syaka – I think I did consider Anne Boleyn, but decided against it for a few reasons. I heard it was actually a myth, and that she didn’t really have extra fingers; I didn’t want to name my cat after someone who had her head cut off (call me superstitious…); I just don’t like the sound of the name.

    Our other cat is named Marcel, after Marcel Duchamp, but we sometimes call him Marcel Duchomp when he’s in a bitey mood.

    posted by Molly on 6-27-2007 at 3:22 pm

  25. I was told (long ago) that before you name a child, yell his/her name 15 times outside the back door. If you can still stand the name, then you can name him/her. My children are named after other people but my animals have more elaborate names: currently I have 5 cats, Austin Cameron Blackbeard (a shy thief, AKA “the Flash”), Paulette Simone Cloudy (after the Simon & Garfunkel song), Harry Spotter Dumbledore (after H P of course and, since Spot is a bumblely sort of fellow, also after one of the characters in the books), James Milne Sparky (after the child in the AA Milne poem “Missing”)and Archenemy Snowshoe Houston (as in “Houston, we have liftoff”). Recently deceased is our yellow lab, Titania (queen of the Fairies) Melissa (’cause “she’s blonde and she whines”) Peasblossom (another fairy), Named for a fairy, she weighed in at 98 lbs. Even the fish and hamsters, when we had them, had interesting names. All the cats will answer any name, or not, as they want.

    posted by Catherine on 6-27-2007 at 3:28 pm

  26. You know, I totally forgot that a good Indian Catholic woman who lived next to my grandfather in Goa asked him to give her kids their first names. And while each one he picked had some meaning (I guess), the names got more and more bizarre and it was almost like he was trying to see how much he could get away with… The first boy was Joyce, then Fitzgerald, then Farraday, then Pantaleon. Not only are those tough names on the playground for kids in India, but they’re particularly difficult to listen to when your mother is murdering them in a thick Indian accent. Fitzgerald became Fratzgirrahld, and Pantaleon and Farraday got similar treatments. In the end, only Joyce got saddled with a name that sounded somewhat similar.

    posted by Mangesh on 6-27-2007 at 3:41 pm

  27. Growing up in Texas, I think I only ever met one other Evan. Now they’re all over the place, & I’m still not used to hearing other people say it when they’re not referring to me.

    My elder son is named Aiden, which is right near the top of the list these days popularity-wise. There are some other Aidens or Aidans in his daycare (he’s almost 4). He already writes his name on things as “Aiden W.”

    Before my second son was born, I made up a list of 75 or so possible names by constantly refreshing a random baby name generator on line & jotting down any that seemed remotely cool or interesting. That big list got cut down pretty quickly by his mother (I still think Archimedes would be an excellent name once you’re grown up). Eventually the list dwindled down to a handful, & we spent entire days referring to him by one or another to see how it sounded. We had 2 choices left when we were in the hospital, & picked one based on whether he came out with dark or light hair. So we ended up with Ronan instead of Owen (or Archimedes for that matter). We have to constantly correct people who think it’s Rowan or Roman.

    So I have one boy with an overly popular name & one with a name almost unknown outside of Great Britain & Ireland (we live still live in Texas). I’ll let you know in 20 years or so if it makes a difference.

    posted by Evan on 6-27-2007 at 3:46 pm

  28. My given name is Ginger. I get called Jennifer occasionally. The downside to this name (for me anyway) was that when I was a kid, a neighbor on my block had a dog named Ginger–that was not fun. Another downside is that it seems the slut/stripper/hooker in any show or movie is almost always named Ginger. And lets not forget the Gilligan jokes. The upside is that I haven’t met very many Gingers so I like that my name is fairly unique without being strange. My son is Alexander William. I like that name because it’s classic and sounds strong.

    posted by Ginger on 6-27-2007 at 4:13 pm

  29. My family lives on a farm, and as such, we have never had a shortage on cats. I think the lowest we ever got was about fifteen, but we usually manage to keep up a population of about twenty-five to thirty. (Anyone want a kitten?) Naturally, I’ve had my fair share of naming cats. Starting off, when my siblings and I were very young, our cats were named things like “Sylvester” and “Snicklefritz” it has been interesting to think back on the evolution of names. Most of the more recent names have come from books, our two newest kittens being named after Mr. Guppie and Charlotte “Charley” Neckett from “Bleak House”. Other names include “Nicolaus ?sp? Copernicus”, (sans ?sp?), “Chloe”, “Mr. Pumphrey” and “Trickie Woo” from James Herriot’s books, and “(Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt”. Our family also recently acquired two puppies, which we’ve named Tucker and Shiloh.

    Me, I’ve always liked my name, but I’ve always liked the names Turk (my great-great grandfather, who came from Ayrshire, was named John McTurk), Finian, Finnegan (or Finn), and others. My dad’s name is Weldon, which I’ve only heard one other place–a Mennonite minister, who happened to have a twin brother named Eldon–confusing, if you ask me.

    posted by Ian on 6-27-2007 at 5:01 pm

  30. I’ve met (and befriended) a lot of Heathers in my life. My best friend in Kindergarden was a Heather, along with my college roommate. In fact, there were so many Heathers in our dorm that we all had to go by full names/initials. Most of my college friends know me as HP.

    For some reason my grandma did not realize that she was naming all of her children with names beginning with a K. My aunts Kaaren and Kathleen have it pretty easy, but my mom Kirsten is always having to repeat her name. Most people seem to call her Kristen (notice the placement of the r and the i). It kind of drives her crazy. Then after the 3 girls, my grandma named my uncle, Eric. I guess she got tired of k…

    posted by Heather on 6-27-2007 at 5:14 pm

  31. Jason!,
    I was talking to you (!). But I’m open to suggestions from anyone. Feel free to name away. I’ll tell you what I choose.

    Maybe I’ll just name it Jason! (with the exclamation point, of course)

    posted by Amy on 6-27-2007 at 5:21 pm

  32. As another teacher, I agree with staying away from strange names. I once had a student named Betty Boop. Yes, that was her legal first name.

    On another hand, my full name looks normal, “Katharine”, but remember to say the often skipped vowel.

    Oh, today I became the owner of two lovely buckskin mares and need “barn” names for them. One has the registered name of Oreo Creme Stuft and the other is currently saddled with the barn name Coco. Any suggestions would be great.

    My cats are named Lucy (she looks like someone dumped red paint on a tabby) and Bootstrap Bill (yes, after the movie). I used to have Leroy (named for the song). My brother once named his cat Numbnuts – accurate for a creature whose nuts are truly numb. We called him Nummers.

    posted by Kate on 6-27-2007 at 6:20 pm

  33. I’m getting REALLY tired of the ruination of Gaelic names, as in either spelling them according to the way Americans think they might be spelled by their pronunciation (It’s Siobhann NOT Shavonne. And it’s Aislin, NOT Ashlynne) Then there are the mistakes the other way around, but I they are understandable. Still,I want to scream at people Caitlin is NOT Katelynne. It’s Kathleen. )Sorry if I stepped on any toes, but that’s my thing.
    Aside: I did date someone for a while with the same LAST name as me, and it was fun. We talked about getting married just so that we could hyphenate the name, and put the emhasis on the other syllable, so we’d be the WILLard-WillARD family. Hee.

    posted by Allison Willard on 6-27-2007 at 7:00 pm

  34. my stepfather was the best at naming pets (dogs) his first dog was name Ominous Chastity, but went by Omen (aptly so, she was part rottweiler) another dog went by Stink because she rolled around in stinkweed as a puppy. she does still answer to her official name, michelle, not that we call her that.
    our newest dog has the perfect name, Kirk. My favorite show is gilmore girls (kirk gleason) my stepfather liked the captain kirk edge to it, and my mother learned that kirk is greek for church.

    posted by Maxiebob on 6-27-2007 at 8:16 pm

  35. Well, my parents named me Princess. They both claim it as their own idea – if I’d ended up with an offspring with such a name, I’d be denying my head off. “Man, it was him! I was whacked out of my gourd on pain drugs at the time!” “No, it was her! She was whacked out of her gourd etc.!” Apparently they saw some TV show that said it was illegal to name a kid Princess in England…and they didn’t live in England. Gee, thanks guys. That’s real…patriotic? of you.
    Lately I’ve been filling out job applications with the name Maxine.
    Also, I have a cousin who is half black and half Filipino. The blood of a thousand thousand wacky names flows through her veins. And yet, she ended up with the name Goddess. Which, in comparison to mine, is downright kickass.

    posted by Princess on 6-27-2007 at 8:44 pm

  36. I love having an unusual name. I have met only a few other Maeves in my life, and they have all been at least 15 years younger than me, so at least I hold my own in my generation.

    I

    posted by Maeve on 6-27-2007 at 8:48 pm

  37. In 2nd grade, there were about fifteen kids in my class. Five of them were named Matthew.

    I believe my spelling of my name (Alison) is the simplist one. There are no repeated letters. There is no hidden y. There is a vowel every other letter, which pleases me to some extent. My dad purposely spelled my name this way because of the Elvis Costello song.
    It’s amazing how every spells my name wrong. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone else who had it spelled this way.

    posted by Alison on 6-27-2007 at 8:48 pm

  38. For whatever reason my parents chose a common name but decided to put a spin on it. Aimee. One of my brothers’ name is Geoffrey, not the usual.

    I have a great grandfather that was named Mason Thomas and I always hoped to name my child Mason something. I figure Mason is a unisex name.

    I always like Devin Michael as a boys name, but can you believe my sister actually named her child that? We never even talked about it before either!

    posted by Aimee on 6-27-2007 at 9:20 pm

  39. I’ve always loved how my name is spelled: Kathryn instead of Katherine, Katharine or Catherine. Not to say there aren’t still a million of us, but I do enjoy feeling a little bit unique.

    I have a cat named Paolo. That’s actually the name we adopted him from the shelter with, but it suits him, so we kept it. My boyfriend toyed with the idea of naming him D’Artagnan for a while.

    posted by ks on 6-27-2007 at 10:42 pm

  40. I was never fond of my name…… no fun nicknames come from it.
    I had fun naming my pets though. My first cat was Frosted Flake…. he looked the part. My cat named Phoenix is not from the city but because I found her at 2 hours old and the vet told me she would never live….. she’s now 10 years old!…. talk about rising from the ashes! A friend gave me another cat when I was getting out of the hopital and I was pooped. His name? PlumbTuckeredOut…. Tucker for short. My ferrets are all over the place… just nuts, thus, Cashew and Pecan.
    My dog came with the long pompous AKC name so he goes by the nickname, “Gus”. He’s superspecial no matter what I call him!
    I’ve never had the opportunity to name my horses so they come with names like Freckles, Scarlet, Jessie, Star…… horses need grandiose names!

    posted by Sheila on 6-28-2007 at 1:59 am

  41. Hey! What name is more boring than the name Jane? Plain Jane! Blech! Somehow my very conservative and non-risk-taking parents went crazy one night (fatigue from childbirth?) and decided to stick a “y” in my name. In the early 60’s, this spelling of Jayne was losing popularity, but they went forward with it anyway. Hey! Maybe that’s why they put that y in there, it was a safe, old fashioned name! Anyhow, my grandma’s nickname was Jay, from Josephine. I always hated my name with a vengeance, until I started changing it a bit. I started signing things “J-”, and that turned into, you got it, Jay! So for years now, I’ve used Jay for everything I can and it holds itself in an equal place to Jayne in my life. My closest friend added a y to her name years before I met her, and we both somehow wound up with the same type of nickname. The best thing about my name is that people don’t always realize I’m female. Ha ha ha! I love it!

    posted by Jayne on 6-28-2007 at 6:52 am

  42. I have a pretty common name. My best friend’s name is Elizabeth, Beth for short, and after many years of friendship, probably around 8-9 years (it’s up to 17 now!) we discovered that my name is a derivative of hers! How interesting!

    As far as pets, as a child i had a cat named Muff, because she was a persian with a lot of fur, and she looked like the muffs that Victorian women used to keep their hands warm in the winter. She was fluffy! Several years ago I had a wonderful black cat, which I named Cinder after a book I have from my mother’s childhood called “Cinder the Cat.” After the sadness of his death, I got my current cat, which is named Clyde. I’m not even sure where I got the name from. I was going to name him Claude, after Monet the artist, but somehow Clyde just fit his personality better.

    An a funny note, my grandparents had a dog named Holly, and when my parents had my sister and named her Holly (after a friend of my mom, not the dog), my grandmother was so afraid people would think she was named after the dog that she changed the dog’s name to Holls!

    posted by Lisa on 6-28-2007 at 7:02 am

  43. My parents let my sisters choose my name. Their options were Debra (Debbi Sue), Victoria (Vicki Sue) or Patricia (Patti Sue).

    When my little brother was born, my parents asked us to suggest names, and they wanted to use family names. We came up with Ignatius Aloicius after our grandpa (who went by Ike) and his brother. Instead, he became John Theodore, so that his nickname would be TAD (named for my sisters and me – Theresa, Amber, and Debra).

    posted by Debra on 6-28-2007 at 7:09 am

  44. I never knew anyone growing up with the same name. Jennifer and Heather were the popular names of my day. My mother named my brother Brian which she thought was not a popular name but quickly grew into one. I never understood why he had a normal name and I didn’t until much later.

    It always upset me when I couldn’t find the stupid souveniers with my name printed on them (like pencils and notepads and keychains), but when I DID find something with my name and was spelled right I was thrilled to no end. I wouldn’t settle for a Chris and people actually ask me if my name is short for Christine. That drives me nuts. Why would I shorten my name by one letter and why is Christine a more acceptable name than Christie? Like it’s so hard to believe that it’s my full name.

    Anyway, as I’ve grown I’ve met a few more people with the same name and spelled “right”…and I’m always incredulous. I have to say it’s weird and annoying though to have a name that can be spelled so many different ways.

    I named my daughter Addison which is quickly now becoming a popular name – this was not my intention…but that’s what happens when you name your child after a popular tv show character.

    posted by Christie on 6-28-2007 at 7:11 am

  45. It’s kind of funny; my mother has been collecting dogs all of my life, so I’ve seen my share of puppies and heard my share of interesting names…
    Our first dog was AKC registered as “Doc’s Diamond” because my mother’s live-in boyfriend was never going to propose with a real diamond OR allow us to get a dog (so my mom jut bought her and he left us a few years later). Her real name was Jesse. We also had a dog named Beaufort Jasper (whom we called “Beau”), named for a water tower in South Carolina or some such place.
    Now we have “Toasty’s Bring on the Heat” (Beckett, after Josh Beckett), “Toasty’s Blue Sahara” (Sara, with the Sahara named for the Vegas hotel), Strider (who incidentally loves to go for a run every morning with my marathon running step father), Georgia (for the artist O’Keefe, because she looks like my grandmother’s old dog Picasso and we wanted to keep the artist theme going), Cooper, Jackson, and Babydoll.
    At my dad’s house we have a mutt named Zoe and two shih tzus named Archie and Veronica.

    I’ve had at least 7 other dogs, either rescued or fostered, etc, and naming them is always the most fun. We once rescued a cat and spent a week trying to figure out her name. When I was calling, “Here, kitty!” My sister thought I was calling “Here, Katie!” and so the name stuck….

    posted by kay on 6-28-2007 at 7:18 am

  46. My mom named me Christine because she didn’t know anyone with that name. Needless to say it was the most common in my high school. I like my name though because I can be Chris, Christy, Christine. I love names that you can make nicknames out of.

    I love “ironic” names for pets… an all black cat named Spot, a Yorkie named Killer, things like that.

    I have a turtle named Freddie. I named it Fred before I found out that she was female so I just made her Freddie.

    posted by Christy on 6-28-2007 at 8:14 am

  47. Having a name like Chiquitia Montgomery is a whopper with all those syllables. Then to add more confusion, the spelling has an extra i. I go by the nickname Chiq (pronounced chick) which cooly works out with the spelling and I’m a girl. But people do react to Chiq, but not as strongly with the first name with banana songs and jokes. When I googled my name, wouldn’t you know there is one other in the US :)

    posted by Chiq Montgomery on 6-28-2007 at 8:18 am

  48. Please also be aware of the intials you’re giving your kids. I’ve lived with PMS my whole life (very traumatic in middle school) but not as bad as my BFF who was ASS!!

    posted by priscilla on 6-28-2007 at 8:20 am

  49. My neighbors just named their kittens, two Persian males from the same litter, Funk and Wagnalls. I think that Statler and Waldorf would’ve been more appropriate because they’re both always giving everyone the stink eye. And as far as giving your pets and children similar names, I have a nephew named Audun who has a cat named Augie. The cat came a few years before the nephew. Being named Christina is fine, except that everyone insists on calling me Christine or Chrissy or Kristin or Chris. Which is all 100x better than Tina.

    posted by Christina on 6-28-2007 at 8:30 am

  50. Alison,

    Your name with one “l” is the most authentic spelling. My mother only threw the extra “L in mine to make it line up with the double letters in the “Rebecca” half of mine and my last name. Cool that you got it from the song, though. Me? I got it from “Peyton Place” – the steamiest novel of the fifties. My Scottish family liked it – it was always a very traditional name over there. I have to say – its a good one. You can grow into it.

    posted by Allison Willard on 6-28-2007 at 8:50 am

  51. My wife Kara and I had a greyhound that we named Trailways (”Trai” for short). And we have a cat named Tweak that we named for the “South Park” character. That was before “tweak” became synonymous for meth, or at least before WE knew that “tweak” was synonymous with meth.

    And I always joked that if I had a son, I’d wanna name him Kermit – if only that I’ve never met anyone with that name. But on second thought … nah, I couldn’t put a kid through that.

    I always hated my own name, too, but not for the reason you might think. Sandy is more commonly a female name, true, and that bugged me when I was younger. But what drives me crazy about it now is that it’s memorable for other people. I have a terrible time remembering names, but since my name is somewhat unique, people tend to remember mine. So people I haven’t seen for weeks/months/years immediately remember me as Sandy when I have NO idea what the hell their name might be.

    posted by Sandy on 6-28-2007 at 9:06 am

  52. Unusual names can have bad repercussions. My name is unusual and gender confusing. My name was never on a bicylce license plate, or key ring, or… And when I was nine I got a bowling trophy and the place that put it together put a little skirt wearing bowler on the top. Very traumatic.
    I’ve grown satisfied with it since and have noticed other people, men and women, with the name. Plus, there is a popular town with my name, so monogrammed shirts, etc., are easy to come by.
    What I don’t like is people who name their children with last names. “These are my sons Smith and Jones.” Or who make the first name rhyme with the last. Or any other naming that gets a laugh at the bearer’s expense.

    $350.00 to have someone else name your child?? Barnum was right.

    posted by Bassman on 6-28-2007 at 9:18 am

  53. I had a Yorkie named Keller …people always thought I was calling her “Killer”. I would always have to explain why she was called Keller (after Helen Keller) because she was deaf, and we didn’t think “Helen” was a good fit. People still ask me about my dog Keller…and if she was blind or deaf, or both. Oddly enough, people were always amazed that she could bark like a normal dog…and wasn’t speech impaired.

    :-)

    posted by Celeste on 6-28-2007 at 9:48 am

  54. My pets are named: Ermengarde, Rosalba, Sophronia, Portia, Bella, Zenobia, Ananda, Parvati, Olivia, Nedda, Calpurnia, Avice and Hortense.
    They are all tarantulas. Anyone wants to use the names for babies, knock yourself out.

    posted by spiderlady on 6-28-2007 at 9:49 am

  55. Hi Amy! Thanks… although I don’t think I’m as qualified as the other Jason for naming pets…

    My humble suggestions for a golden snail living in a tank of fish named for stars from the golden age of Hollywood:

    Since it’s golden, you could always call it Oscar… like the film award.

    Or since it’s a snail, and thus an algae eating bottom feeder… you could call it Paparazzo…

    Eh… that’s all I can think of. Like I said, I’m not so good…

    posted by Jason! on 6-28-2007 at 11:07 am

  56. No, I’m not named for the “Gone with the Wind” character. Melanie means dark or black and I was named this because I had such black hair and dark skin at birth (due to my Cherokee heritage) in contrast to my mother who was blond and fair. My full name means Dark Lily of Mercy. My sister’s birth name meant Queen of War. My parents always said we were as different as night and day and that I was my father’s daughter and my sister was my mother’s daughter.

    My sister’s in-laws are the Stones: Sandy, Pebbles, and Rocky, all their real names and birth certificate verified. Her husband is the oldest sibling and the only one with a non-humorous name: Donnie.

    My own pets had creative if not funny names. My dogs I named when I was only 5 were Major & Poco; their full Spanish names meant Big White and Little Tan. The white rabbit I named Alabaster Cadbury after the spokes-bunny for the candy company. The black rabbit I named Onyx Levitas (Latin for smoothness) because he looked like satin.

    Both sets of my grandparents were great at naming pets. On one side there were the contradictory cats: the all black cat Snowball and the all white cat Midnight. The last cat to keep my grandfather company was Useless.

    On the other side of the family there was a horse named Prince and a goat named Billy Butter who butted anything and everything. One cat was Pessabus which was shortened from A Pest Among Us because as a kitten he loved to sleep inside my grandfather’s boots.

    My mother wrote home to her parents, youngest brother, and any cousins that happened to be living there at the time opening: “Dear Mom, Dad, Mike, and Etc.” The first sentence in the responding letter was: “Thanks for naming the new cat Etcetera; we’d been having trouble naming it.”

    posted by Melanie on 6-28-2007 at 11:13 am

  57. Our last name is King.
    We had to be careful naming our sons.
    Joseph…no, that would be Joe King (joking)
    William…no, that would be Bill King (bilking)
    Raymond…no, – Ray King (raking)

    You get the idea.

    posted by JMEK on 6-28-2007 at 11:41 am

  58. As a kid I hated my name for the usual reason… no pencils, etc. with my name on it. Plus my middle name is Rae and all the other kids told me it was a boy’s name.

    Now I love it. It is different enough that I have met very few people with the same name (oddly enough I had three classes in college with the only other Sabrina on campus!). But it’s common enough that no one has a problem pronouncing it or figuring out what it is (that said, at my grandmother’s funeral when I was 7 the minister said my name “suh-brine-ah” Where did he get that?)

    I’m way better off than my siblings, Jeff and Kim!

    I have a female lab named Reece (thanks to the shelter) and a CRAZY cat named Stella. She is really evil sometimes, in a sort of lovable and endearing way, and it great when she is being naughty and I can yell “Stella!”

    My parents have barn cats as well. We had sisters named Socket and Toome, and Toomee had three kittens. Before we named them our eldery dog killed two of them (they were about mouse-sized), so we named the remaining little girl Harry, because she was “the kitten who lived.”

    posted by Sabrina on 6-28-2007 at 12:03 pm

  59. My father and mother both chose names for me, Natalie was my father’s pick, (he was infatuated with Natalie Wood) and my mom wanted Nicole. My father won out. I’m glad, because I’ve known many many Nicoles, but only a few Natalies…I think it may be gaining popularity though, I see lots of toddlers named Natalie.

    posted by natlynn on 6-28-2007 at 12:11 pm

  60. Hey JMEK, my fiancee’s last name is Lunn, and the tradition in his family is to name the first boy a name starting with C. We decided a long time ago that we can’t name him Cole.

    posted by Sabrina on 6-28-2007 at 12:50 pm

  61. Two dogs – Sawyer and Thatcher, and 6 cats – Motor, Lionel & Ethel(Barrymore), Clara (Schumann), Helen (She’s mute) and Stella, because it”s fun to call her as Brando.

    posted by Michael on 6-28-2007 at 1:00 pm

  62. My dog is named James Willis – but I unintentionally shortened it to the nickname Jamis (the long A of James and is “isss” of Willis), or sometimes just Jamie. To this day, I don’t know where I came up with it! But I seem to add the ‘iss’ to names, because our cat, who came from the shelter already named Ben, is Benis at bedtime, or Bennie or Bennieboo. And Missy, the other cat, is Baby Miss or Missyboo or even Boo Boo. You know, it’s a wonder these pets don’t have identity crisis – because I’m realizing I call them all sorts of versions of their names!! Funny!

    posted by Brandy on 6-28-2007 at 1:23 pm

  63. I like my name now, very few of us when i was younger. Actually when in gradeschool, there was a Leslie so i was called Leslie as well by all my teachers for 12 years, Luckily in college there were lots and lots of Lindseys, so many I had 4 in a 25 person grad class –very odd

    Also have a cat named Quillen, he came with the name but has yet to answer to it

    posted by Lindsey on 6-28-2007 at 1:49 pm

  64. Jason!,
    Thanks for the suggestions. Those are great. I’ll have to confer with my roommate to pick one. I’ll let you know the results.

    I guess I got you (Jason!) and Jason confused. I wonder why?…

    posted by Amy on 6-28-2007 at 2:14 pm

  65. I don’t remember ever totally disliking my name, just that I liked the name Christina better when I was younger. I’m glad I never seriously considered it, though, because now I love my name and often get compliments whenever I meet new people. I’m named after my dad (George) and while his name is way too common, I like that mine is not as common but still easy to pronounce (for most people, anyway). However, I do occasionally get called Gloria or Georgina.

    posted by Georgia on 6-28-2007 at 6:01 pm

  66. Though I do not plan to have children, I have always wanted to name one. When my mother was expecting with my younger brother, I was not happy so my mom offered to let me help name him. Being a huge fan of the Labynth, I really wanted to name him Jareth the Goblin King. My mom considered Jareth, but when I would not accept him not having “the Goblin King” as the middle name she dropped Jareth from the list. Currently if my boyfriend and I were cursed with a child it’s name would be The Hulk, unique yet pronouncable.

    posted by Sandra on 6-28-2007 at 6:16 pm

  67. I’ve always liked my name. It’s different, but not unpronounceable. I never encountered anyone with my name until I was in high school, and then there were only two people maybe. I think I ran into two more in college.

    My problem is my last name which is long enough that when computers have a letter limit on how long a name can be, the “l” in “Janel” invariable gets dropped, making me “Jane.” My first two days of high school I had to correct all my teachers because they all had me on their rolls as “Jane.”

    posted by Janel on 6-28-2007 at 11:51 pm

  68. My first name is Lizbeth and I was 21 before I met another. I’ve done the occasional online search and would say that at about 98% of the Lizbeth’s who turn up are Hispanic. Not sure how that came about, but maybe it’s a more common name in Latin cultures.
    As far as pronunciation, you would think people could figure it out by reading it, but no one ever reads my name correctly. I am constantly being called Elizabeth, and when I point out the correct pronunciation of my name people say “That’s what I said. Elizabeth.” People really don’t listen. In situations where the spelling is needed (bank, university) I say my name and follow with the spelling and everyone happily ignores me and writes Elizabeth. Conversations go along these lines: Lizbeth L-I-Z-B-E-T-H
    *they write Elizabeth*
    Lizbeth L-I-Z-B-E-T-H. No E, no A.
    *they look at their paper, look at me*
    *I point at the paper* No E, no A.
    and on it goes. I actually have to have this battle for my first, middle and last names.
    My name is uncommon and never on the souvenir stuffs, but also seems common and is often spelled wrong. I don’t own a single key chain saying Lizbeth, but I do own a high school diploma for one Elizabeth Kono. (My graduating class was 250 people and I was in that district for 10 years. Jerks.)
    My middle and last names are Japanese, due to my father’s family. Kei is pronounced K and Kono is pronounced how it looks, though people often try to spell it with a C.
    All in all, I like having an unusual name, but it does have some very inconvenient aspects.

    posted by Liz on 6-29-2007 at 12:26 am

  69. I love my name. But it comes with multiple misspellings:

    Bridgette
    Brigette
    Brigitte
    Brijette(an ill-fated birthday party when I was seven)
    Briget
    etc.

    But feel free to name your children and pets after me!

    posted by Bridget on 6-29-2007 at 12:17 pm

  70. I have a fairly common first name, but not for my generation, so I like it.
    My father-in-law has a very uncommom first name-Rayland. I don’t know of any others. His father’s name is Raymond, so I guess it is a variation on that. My two boys are Henry Randolph and Charles Edward-Henry because we just liked it, and Randolph after my late husband. Charles is my father-in-law’s middle name and Edward is my father’s middle name. Both boys have names that are strong and traditional, but can also remind you of a favorite uncle or maybe even a drinking buddy. Henry goes by H (except as an infant-then he was Heinrich von Stinkbutt. Charlie goes by Bucket (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
    Our 3 cats are named Steve, Marty, and Bob-according to their physical characteristics.
    Steve has crazy tiger stripes, so we name him after Steve Irwin. Marty was named after Marty Feldman because he has huge, buggy eyes. Bob was named after Bobby Hill (King of the Hill) because he is chubby and blonde.
    Our dog is named Satchmo after Louis Armstrong.

    posted by Donna Scholl on 6-29-2007 at 11:15 pm

  71. I’ve always been so very glad to have been named Marnie Justine… Dad did a good job picking them out. Mom named my sister… she got Leslie Nicole. It’s good to be first born on occasion.

    posted by zale on 6-30-2007 at 8:52 pm

  72. My sister had dealt with someone in the hospital she works in who named her twins “Lavoris” and “Listerine.” When asked why, she said that she had been in someone’s bathroom, saw the two bottles of mouthwash, and thought the names sounded “ethnic!” If I have any kids, I’m naming them Kotex and Stayfree (or maybe Tampax)so they learn humility early on !!!

    posted by Gale on 6-30-2007 at 8:54 pm

  73. My name is an old family name; I was named after my greatgrandma. My name takes a few times to get it right but I love that it is unique. For my kids, I”m going to name a boy kid Copernicus and if he wants to, he can go by Nic. I also love “Voltaire” who I’d call Volt. I think those names are awesome! Then my girl names are a bit more common but older names. Augusta, which is a family name and also for Augusta Ada Byron. My other girl name would be Madalyn Hollis after Madalyn Murray O’Hare and a friend of mine. So they’d have names that weren’t totally impossible or even near as confusing as mine yet still be unique!

    posted by Olean on 7-1-2007 at 2:12 pm

  74. Oh yeah, as for pets, the only one of ours that I got to name is my kitty cat. I spend days looking on the internet for name that would suit him. Then one day, I was reading in a list of indian names and I saw Delsin listed. I have this interesting habit of occastionally “dyslexiating” words intentionally just to see how they sound backwards or swapped up and the name Deslin jumped out at me. He responds to his name so I am thinking I picked a great one!

    posted by Olean on 7-1-2007 at 2:19 pm

  75. I have always liked my name because is is not usual, but at every school I ever attended, there was another Jill. My kids are Andrew and Kathryn and I called them Andy and Kate, but they are adults now and call themselves Drew and Kitty. I have had cats for many years with a gamut of names including the worst (Pokey) and the best (Pyewacket from the movie Bell, Book and Candle). Right now I have Spinner, who grew up with a dog named Yo-yo and a cat named Duncan; Boomer; Princess Anastasia (Annie); and Wally. My daughter is pregnant right now and I hope she will come up with unusual names. She is inclined toward Penelope right now, with no clue for a boy’s name.

    posted by Jill on 7-1-2007 at 7:58 pm

  76. i think that we are on a bad road. our dogs are isaac and ella. our daughter is isabelle (not isabella!). and my husband’s favorite name so far for our next daughter (due in September) is eliana. is this too inbred? any suggestions? i think a mellifluous first name is essential due to the German hard edges in our last name.

    by the way, sarah is a common name (my soccer team had 4) but it seems like i don’t see as many these days as i used to. i have changed my geographical regions drastically since my soccer team and think that it is interesting that this could have something to do with it.

    posted by sarah on 7-10-2007 at 12:19 pm

  77. I don’t know how anyone could possibly use names that are the current rage. Give me a break! It’s bad enough that we all try to dress the same. How does Dionn, Tove, and Falen sound for not conforming? They all wanted name-changes as teen-agers, but are very happy now.

    posted by Pearl on 7-11-2007 at 11:54 am

  78. Reading this has amused me greatly. Seriously.

    I love my name. I can’t remember how I felt about it as a child, but I’m in high school now and it’s great. I have never met anyone else with it. My only problems are 1. People who can’t seem to spell it right and 2. My old nickname. Tia. I HATED being called Tia. Luckily, my nickname is now Ralph.

    My full name is Christia Marie Kransky, which I think is pretty cool. As I’ve said, I’ve never met anyone else named Christia. So that’s always fun. :)

    As for pets…
    All my life, I’ve had cats. I think I was around 7 the first time I ever got to name one. My sister and I came up with Mitsy. She had a LOT of litters…and we named most of her kittens before we gave them away, but I don’t remember most of their names. I’ll list the ones I can remember.
    Gray=Flash, because he ran fast.
    Black=Pepper
    White=Salt
    Orange tabby=Marshmallow
    I think they were all in the same litter…

    Later we had a cat named Peepers (we didn’t name her) and she had one litter. They were all gray tabbies like her.
    They were Celeste, Garfield, Godzilla, and Ami Serenity. Ami Serenity was still-born, but that didn’t stop us. We buried her in the backyard.

    Now we’ve got quite a few animals hanging around here…
    Cats:
    Orange tabby=Slice (dad named him)
    Black=Frankie (sister named him)
    Black=Junior (dad named him, it’s after another Black, Eclipse. They act they same.)
    Calico=Cleo, short for Cleopatra because of her attitude. She’s deceased.
    Gray=Slate (mom’s kitty)
    Black=Jacob/Jakie (She’s a pretty little kitty, and I’ve always wanted a female cat named Jacob)
    Black and white=Motor-oil/Dipstick (name pending, he’s a rescue)

    Frog: One-Eyed Willie, Willie for short. Obviously, he was named after the guy in the Goonies. He only has one eye…so it made sense.

    Fish:
    Molly, Mr. Gills, and Paco (the placostamus) my dad named all of them, I think.

    Snails:
    Speedy and Gonzales (I named them.)

    Bird:
    Sonny

    Rabbit:
    George. (female)

    Dog:
    Scrappy Doo, he tends to get called Doo Doo

    Most of those animals were named before I ever met them so I’m not sure where they came from…

    posted by Christia on 7-11-2007 at 1:17 pm

  79. Well, my name is Camille, which needless to say there weren’t a whole lot of growing up. (there actually was one other one in my elementary school) I was named as such because my dad is French and my mom is American and they wanted a name that the whole family could say. On that note, I HATE being called ‘Cammy” because, it’s not my name, and in French my name is pronounced Cam-ee (but not like Cammy in English). My family (and best friend, and obviously, all French people that I know) call me the French version of my name, and a lot of English speakers think that they’re pronouncing my French name when they call me Cammy. It annoys me. I am also NOT Camilla. People also tend to misspell my name, I’m forever saying, “one m two l’s.” It doesn’t help that I have a REALLY unusual last name, Papon, which we Americanized to be pronounced Pahp-own. I won’t even attempt to tell you how it’s supposed to be pronounced. As a teacher of small children, I have heard the following for my last name, pap-on, pap-oon, poop-on, pimple, and pinecone. No, I’m not kidding about the last two. When I was in college, the guy who handed back the id cards was forever mispronouncing my first and last names as Camel Poop-on. Classy. The other issue I run into is the fact that with my middle names (I have 2) I have 29 letters in my name. Camille Lucienne Genevieve Papon. Seriously. On every standardized test that I had to take there were only 6 spaces for the first name and room for 1 middle initial. So, my name would come out, Camilll.
    But, really, be nice to teachers. I had an Artheaveia (pronounced Artavia)in my class once. I have also had a Sema J (pronounced Sem-ah Jay) it’s James backwards. He had a twin with an equally bizarre backwards name. In middle school there was a girl the grade above me called, London England. Her first name was London, her last name was England. The name you give your kids will be with them for the rest of their life, don’t give them some awkward, hard to spell version of a name, or something that is really common.

    posted by greenstrawberries on 8-23-2007 at 2:22 am

  80. Great post, I have to say I enjoyed Jason!’s comments aswell.. while I was reading it one of my coworkers shouted jason! as he was trying to talk over a customer what are the chances.. ha.. might I say it works well.. Jason!

    posted by hannah on 9-4-2008 at 3:48 pm

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