Author Archives: notwithoutmyhandbag

I’m a big fan of the television show Stargate: SG-1, which recently launched an equally good spinoff, Stargate: Atlantis. I happened to notice the name of one talented young actor on the new show: Rainbow Sun Francks.

I think Mr. Francks is very brave for embarking on a Hollywood career with that name…

Sincerely,
Kara

Straight from my daughter’s first grade class:

Cherighan
Tindall
Cheridan
Sumher
Coleman

-H.

I forgot about the girl who was the cashier at CompUSA here in Dallas. The name on her nametag was such a mix of letters it didn’t make any sense, but I distinctly remember there being a Q and Z and some Ys. It was something like Yzeqlyrta. I said, “Thats’ an interesting name…how do you pronounce it”. She told me how to pronounce and then told me her parents let her sister (about 3 at the time) name her when she was born. So that’s where all the Mydysyns are coming from!

Also, how long before the cutesie, unique spelling of Madison becomes “Medicine?”

-Anne

In grade school I knew a girl whose first name was Brandy. Her last name was Champagne.

-M.

Your site is hysterical! I always feel vaguely nauseous when I hear of yet another person saddling their child with Hunter or M’Kenzie or any other “trendy” name. But, you did ask for some submissions, so here are some names of people who really exist (all of these people I met in Texas):

Kismet Valerie: college friend. She told me that she spent her entire life telling people that her name was NOT Valerie Kismet.

Chivas: went to jr. high together. Yes, his parents did name him after the drink.

Dudley: the fourth GIRL in her family. She was a year behind me in medical school, tall & blonde, and loves her name. Her father (also a Dudley) said that the fourth child will be a Dudley whether or not it’s a boy (it wasn’t). Unusual for a boy, but practically unheard of for a girl. But she loved it and carried it well. More power to her!

Also, I have to comment on the Snopes Urban Legends baby names…most of them aren’t real. I did a two month OB/Gyn rotation in a county hospital and four months of pediatrics (regular, surgery, and psych), and never saw a “body part” name (even though my friend swears she saw twins “molly & femolly” — male and female). Tons of Michealas, Jadens, Hunters, and Destinys, though. Regardless, I did see these names:

Taqueria: lovely name for a girl pronouced “tah KIR e uh”, until mom said she named her for the “tock ur EE uh” resturant down the street (aka: taco stand in Spanish). A brief funny, but nothing serious.

Concepcion Bastard: obviously pronouced “con cep SI own bah STARD”. She was a mom in L&D, waiting to give birth to her 3rd or 4th child (in wedlock). However, we had quite a few patients and their visitors pitch a fit that we had a “bastard” label on her room, since it wasn’t polite to point out such indiscretions.

-S

I went to school with a girl who was, unfortunately, named LaPhreeka. I still wonder what her mother was smoking. She contacted me two years ago after she had turned 18 and legally changed her name. It was actually rather funny. She changed it to Phree and went on about how she was “Phree! Phree at last! Thank god almighty, she was Phree”. It’s not too big an improvement, but it’s better than having “freak” in your name, and it keeps her mother happy because it’s still close to her original name.

-W.

My kindergarten teacher was named Velveethra.

-P.

Your site made me conscious of another problem I’m having: what do you do when a genuine family name is suddenly hijacked by the masses and becomes trendy? I had my heart set on naming my baby girl after my grandmother (were she still alive, she would be 78) whose name happened to be–KAYLA. It’s actually a real name in Yiddish, meaning “crown of laurels”. What should I do now that my Nana’s name has been misappropriated by a pack of Yuppies and people think an 80-year-old name is trendy?

Thanks again for the laughs,

miki

Not a baby name, but I used to work for an insurance company here in Boston whose CFO was named Russell Boner – and he really did go by the nickname Rusty. Not someone I’d trust with my finances.

-J.

Check out all the funky-ass new funk at http://www.bigbadbabynames.net/forum

Cosmetic stuff I’ll be updating over the next week or so, but the important thing right now is making sure the sucker works!

Thanks again for your patience, everybody!

And thank YOU, SuperChin! You’ve saved the day!

Media mention sightings!: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and a Canadian parenting mag! Yesss…yesssss…our northern theater of battle is progressing nicely! Mwah ha ha!