What's in a name?

phaze-3
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What baby name(s) did you chose and why? Also, got any oddball name stories?

DD is Katherine. There are no real family connections, unless you count a couple of Katherines on my side about 200 years ago. We wanted a name that was timeless, convertible, with some "weight" to it. We didn't go with the alternate Kathryn, as we thought she'd forever have to spell it for people. She already has a last name she'll have to spell for people. With any luck, she'll marry a guy named Smith.

Now 6, DD has been Katie or Kate since birth, and Katherine usually only if she's in trouble. Maybe she'll stay Katie, or maybe she'll migrate to Kathy. If she grows up to be, say, a poet, perhaps Kat would be cool. It would go well with the black turtleneck and VW van. Of course, Katherine will always be fine for a bank president or something, and won't sound silly when she's 80.

As for silly names, my friend used to work in an urban hospital, and swears up and down these two are true. I've Googled them and found other examples, which either means they are in fact urban legends, or maybe they really happened more than once. I dunno.

1. Shi´ thead -- accent on Shi with a short i as in "ship." Second syllable rhymes with "need."

2. Fema´le -- accent on the second syllable, rhymes with "tamale." Apparently the happy parents thought the hospital had already named their daughter, as this word was printed on the bassinet ID card.




ticktock
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I named my daughter Sasha

I named my daughter Sasha Belle because I liked the name of the singer in one of my (then) new favorite bands, The Essex Green. Through some amazing sets of circumstances, I'm actually now good friends with the bandmembers. I also help them manage their myspace page at myspace.com/theessexgreen.

In fact, the original Sasha Bell is touring through my resident city today. I found out that she is pregnant, and I told her that she should follow the law of reciprocity and name her baby after me. I also joked that my wife, currently pregnant, may just name the new baby after another bandmember. We've actually chosen names already that are inspired by our favorite TV shows.

It turns out, by the way, that Sasha is short for Alexander, and that the original Sasha was named in honor of her ancestor Alexander Graham Bell.

We still really like the name. It's received many compliments, and it suits our daughter well.



phaze-3
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Sasha Belle

Kinda cool Russian sound to Sasha, there. Belle is interesting, too. I don't think I know another Belle.

Phaze-3

Parenting While Male



Uke_Skywalker
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Xerxes Engbrecht Brown

We had the opposite problem phaze, with a last name like Brown we had to find something different for names or forever have the "are you the Doug Brown on 5th street or on Main?" type question, and since I have a Celtic heritage we thought we would go in that direction, Mackenzie (which we later found out was the most popular name for 2001), Tavie (which is the feminine form of Tavish, which we will be phonetically spelling till the end of time), and then Buddy, oops I mean Ian, who has a nickname that has totally taken the place of his real name, Now I wanted to name all of them Xerxes (after the 486 BC King of Persia, and how many kids have a name that starts with X) but my wife (who is Norwegian) said in that case her favorite name was Engbrecht, so I guess we settled.

db
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Denver_Dad/



phaze-3
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Dr. Seuss said it best

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?

Well, she did. And that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out "Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves'
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn.
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff.
One Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff.
And one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed.
And one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed.
And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt.
And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt.
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate . . . .
But she didn't do it. And now it's too late.

Personally, I like Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face. Sounds like an anchorman.

Phaze-3

Parenting While Male



KPHart
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Izzy

We named our daughter Isabella Lorelei.

I picked the first name, just liked the sound of it and the nickname of Izzy. I always tell people if we have a son his name will be Ozzy.

The wife picked Lorelei, as in the maidens who lured sailors to their death, much like the Greek sirens. We took a vacation to Jamaica while she was pregnant and that is where we decided on the names.

The other middle names we considered were Irie sp? Jamaican for Alright and Sequoia. Just wanted something unique.



Clares Dad
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Clare

This is the first day I've taken a good look around this site, and it's my first post on the boards. I have a naming story though so it's a good place to start.

My wife wanted to name my daughter Clarice because she liked the name from Rudolph's girlfriend in Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. But I told her that most people wouldn't remember that and they'd think of Silence of the Lambs. So we agreed on Clare. It seems like it's become more of a popular name in the past five years too.



phaze-3
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Your last name isn't Starling, is it?

Just be sure never to pack her school lunch box with fava beans and a nice Chianti...



ShoelessWonder
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very interesting.. ours are

very interesting.. ours are all over the naming map.

the oldest is Cali Renee. Cali being after Cal Ripken Jr. (up until the birth we were under the false guide that we were having a boy) so we just kept the name and added a 'i' to it.

Middle child is straight from my Irish Grandfather William Thomas

last one is Mia Love. the wife really likes both names so we just went with it. It has a nice sound to it



Clares Dad
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LOL...if it were Starling I

LOL...if it were Starling I wouldn't even let her name get as close as Clare.



chitownman
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For Family and a friend that passed

My wife and I name our children after members of our families and a friend that passed away. In the Jewish religion, the next member of the family to have a child is supposed to honor the last person in the family that passed away. My Grandparents both passed away in 1996. With my daughter we named her Isabel for my Grandfather Isadore. I definitely will call her Issie for short. Isabel's middle name is Maria, for my wife's best friend who lost her battle with cancer in September 2005. My son is Samuel or Sam in honor of my Grandmother Sara and Sam's middle name is Donald in honor of my wife's father who passed away when she was 17.



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