DandNHill

The French are pretty strict on what you can call your baby. Thirty years ago my sister couldn't give her daughter my name as a middle name (Nicola) because it was a boys name... she had to call her Nicole.

In England my youngest son went to school with a girl called Pebbles! Her siblings had strange names too!


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41734079

dbd33

When my children were small they were vaguely friends with Harmony and Neutrina. I often heard the father calling after "Harm" but not her sister.

BristolUK

Was one of them Bam-Bam?

I wish I could remember the joke going around about one of Bob Geldof's kids.

I always liked Reginald Iolanthe Perrin.

DandNHill

Harmony's not too bad. Although Harm doesn't sound nice though.

But fancy calling your daughter Nutella?!

BristolUK

She'd have to spread herself around.

BristolUK

It was the things people changed their names to that made me laugh.

One of our DSS claimants (as we were allowed to call them back then) changed to Freewheelin Franklin, another Margaret Thatcher (he was a bloke with no hint of wanting to change) and we had several who added Elvis.

Someone insisted on just one name, but I can't remember what.

The Rainbow Convoy resulted in a few weird ones.

Anyone remember Swampy?

DandNHill

I had a Buck Rogers when I worked for a mortgage lender!

BristolUK

Good one.

I remember being surprised how many were called John Thomas. Did people not know?

DandNHill

I learnt about that one! Also Michael Hunt!!

Shirtback

2 of my (France-born) children have names which have raised an eyebrow or 2 over the years. I did have to provide documentation for one when registering there.

(No, I’m not going to publish what they are because there are fewer than 10 people in Canada with one of said names last time we looked it up).

The RC church in the UK had a problem christening me with both my (very very common) given names back in the day, until angry grandmother went and dug up evidence of saints...

dbd33

One of mine has an unusual name, she married someone with another unusual name and they now have two children. When each child was born I told my mother the name and she responded "Say that again. oo-er. How do you spell that then?". Fortunately they are both boys, the plan had been to use the father's surname for boys and the mother's for girls creating a baffling hodge-podge. I suppose that may yet come.

Shirtback

My then mil (French side) was the worst about the names/spellings. She still (I think it’s deliberate) can’t/won’t spell them correctly after >20 years.

The surname hodge-podge is becoming quite a thing here in Qc (we may have discussed this before?): hyphenating both parents’ surnames has been common for a long time here, so now we’re getting children with names such as “Serge-Antoine Pelletier-Riopel-Levesque-Duval”...

I was quite relieved when daughter asked me if I’d mind if they only used one of their (both double-barrelled) surnames for grandchild!

Siouxie

The weird spellings of names baffles me at times - is it a genuine wish to have an unique spelling, or is it that the parents can't spell?

https://www.popsugar.com/moms/Best-B...lings-38593277

My one requirement when we named my son was that it couldn't be shortened, lol.

Paul_Shepherd

It used to be just stupid celebrities that were doing this I will always remember the David and Victoria Beckham's kids..... Brooklyn...because the child was conceived there.... WTF? The child isn't a stray dog that they found wondering around Brooklyn....oh I know lets call him Brooklyn because thats where we found him! Then there was the next kid.....Romeo.....I mean really????? Why do that?

Another strange name given by a stupid celebrity...... Beyonce's kids....was it "Blue" and "Sir" or something like that. Just ridiculous.

What is it with celebrities? money go to their head? they think they are trend setting being different, when all they are doing is being stupid.....cue the well know saying "more money than sense".

I don't have a lot of time for your average celebrity, they do a job like the rest of us, but they seem to be a focal obsession by many people these days, I have no idea why, and I think this plays into the stupid name game, and now it seems to be seeping into non celebratory life now too...I just shake my head.

......and rant over and relax! lol

dbd33

Oh, they weren't going to hyphenate, just have siblings with unmatched names, Serge Duvall and Philomena Higgins for example. The parents each use their original surname. My daughters' have hyphenated names in their Swiss documentation, but not in their other passports, so it's already mess enough when the daughter travels with the children. Neither their names nor nationalities match hers. Still, they go back and forth to Europe multiple times a year, I expect she's good at explaining it all now.