Recent nutty names I have heard

[CockneySparra]

Sigh-Anne.

I thought the woman was mispronouncing Sian, then saw the name written down. Sigh-Anne. I mean, what on earth...?

the other was a little boy called Ragen. As in Ronald Regan, but Ragen. Ragen? I am not a name snob, but I do draw the line at deliberately misspelling surnames and then using them as a first name!

Not recent, I know, but about 50 years ago, a man in New York named one of his sons "Loser" and another son "Winner".

Ironically, "Loser" has led a successful life and has been a pillar of the community. His name has had little effect on his life chances because so many people he encountered thought the name was so ridiculous that they did not call him Loser. He goes by the name of Lou.

On the other hand, "Winner" has ended up a career criminal, spending much of his life behind bars.

(It's all in the book "Freakonomics")

I went to school with a Persephone Watkins and a Phaedra Chubb.

Living in Hackney I've come across:
Gypsy
Pirate
Galaxie
Wolf
Pepper (a girl, think she might be the daughter of Graham Coxon of Blur fame)
Raekwon (named after a member of the Wu-Tang Clan)
Ocean
Thor

There's been loads more but I've stopped noticing now - unusual names are pretty standard around here. Both my DSs have odd names so I'm not in a position to judge. In fact I wanted to call them Wolfgang and Magnus but DH wasn't having any of it.

DS1 goes to school with a Destina and a Fatos but think these are possibly quite common Turkish names

My DH taught a Tia Maria. My friend has taught a Dwane Pipe (oh and also a Broderick Broadberry with a lisp)and I went to primary school with an Ivor Payne. Oh yes and also there is a Lil'Lee yes spelt like that at Preschool.

When I was a teenager I promised to call my firstborn son "Wolfgang Volodomir". Thank god I didn't get pregnant until I was nearly 30 and sense prevailed! (I now have two boys and yes they do have sensible names!)

maybe it's a cultural thing but I once had a client with forst name Princess. Maybe she coped well because her son was Prince Nazeem.

In the Ceramic Experience the other day was a lovely wee boy called Woody.

I friend of mine in Aberdeen taught a Pocahontas.

Friend's nephew is Thor.
Knew a Penilla (female). always made me think of antibiotics

My sister always talks of the day she heard someone calling her child across an East Dulwich cafe: Cardamom. As in pod.

I went to school with a Barbie. My sister had a girl in her year called Bimbo.

I had a boy in my year called Maiurin. Pronounced My Urine. I also once temped in university admissions and came across names such as Jesus Ponce Bravo, and Berndt Berger. I don't think any of them had parents who spoke English as a first language though, so I guess they're forgiven.

I also once heard radio phone in on embarrassing first names. One Irish guy rang in. I can't remember how you spell the name, but basically it was pronounced Anus.

I once had a summer job in the local council office and witnessed the staff trying to persuade a new father that whilst "Fanny" did indeed fulfil his criteria of a name beginning with 'F' it would be an astonishingly bad idea in a north Glasgow suburb.

My sister use to work for the police in the child protection agency. She came across some classics including a Chardonnai (yes, spelt like that) and a woman who gave all her daughters the same first name . There was also a great mispelling: 'Abbey-Gale'.

My personal favourite ever is Jeepster (a boy).

I am now shamed though since the name we would have given to a son is on this page (in my defence it is completely normal where I come from).

Cardamom has reminded me of another..Coriander

I had a Hong Kong student called Happy Yip. Reminded me of something Snoopy would do on a good day.

My Gran once had to put a lady straight who was going to name her child gelatine after she misheard my Gran saying Geraldine was a nice name....

I think there are so many mistakes made by people who can't spell sadly - when I registered my DD, the registrar made sure she had it right and I am sure she would steered me right if I had unknowingly misspelt it!

Is a shame they don't intervene more but on the Sigh-Anne thing - If you name a child Shawn instead of Sean, what's a Registrar to do - I imagine it is just a phonetic spelling of Sian?!

I know a 3yo girl called Felix.......

I am particularly pleased with my cousin's friend who is called.........
Darth Clegg.
Fucking genius

Last year went to a party and was a 4 year old called Willow, which I have known for 30 odd years as a girls name, but this was a boy.

At DS1's nursery in SW London a few years ago a boy called Chaise (pronounced Chase - I really struggled with that - surely someone they knew must have done some French at school?)

While living in Africa, I found that Precious was a pretty common name, as were things like Gift. Even there though, the couple I met on a bus were felt to have unusual names: he was called Office and she was Chemist.

I can vouch for the normalness of Fatos in Turkey - it's a diminutive of Fatma and is pronounced Fatosh. Not much can be said to help any poor boy named Ufuk who ends up in an English-speaking country though...

Haven't read all 11 pages of this thread but as for Pepsi and being a Wham fan - her name was actually Helen. Hello!!! People should not give their children first names which were famous peoples' nicknames. I do think people should research names more carefully instead of just copying what they see on a wall or t-shirt. I think old, rare names are nice like Dorcas, Hebe and Jedidiah - but you do have to be careful about ones that have now got strong literary/theatre associations - like Lucretia and Regan. I mean, yes, they sound pretty but in secondary school people will know that one is a rape victim (and not known for much else) or much married woman from a Machiavellian family (again, not a great reputation), and in King Lear, Regan was evil. Misspelling the name doesn't change the associations. If the child is from a foreign culture and the name is foreign, that's fine and we can't really judge. Then again this isn't new, like Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence and Moon Unit Zappa (now uses just Moon) can attest. Famous and successful parents don't necessarily choose kind names!

Sorry, Jedediah (Hebrew for "friend of God"). Tricky typing so many letters at once.

I went to a school with a Merlin - which I now love

Have also come across a Saint, Demi and a Destiny in a local school, and have friends who have named a child Zebedee and also Hepzibar (far from the madding crowd)

I love all those Chinese names (but only on Chinese children I think) snow, china and swan - wonderful.

Also love Titus but resisted due to potential Tight Arse and have also adore Dido but thought helpful school friends would add an L. :)

We know an Elektra which I like very much....

this thread is v amusing!!

Pepsi and Shirlie!! yes she was Helen..and Shirlie is one of my customers! still looks the same..well not the puffball skirts though!

Flame-Carmen, anyone? was a child in DD's ballet class I kid u not !!

Just stumbled across these names on a blog I didn't mean to find: "Koala 17; Carpenter 15; Einstein 13; Michelangelo 11; Princess 9; Jelly Bean 6; Jack Jack 4; Jem 2; 'Baby' due March" Can they be real??? Jem will probably live up to expectation, but as to the rest...

@takethatlady - Mercedes is a very popular Spanish name, very common in south and central America, and is older than the eponymous German car firm. The British ballerina Darcey Bussell's middle name is also Mercedes.

Danilo is eastern European, (I presume for Daniel), just like Jiri is Czech for George.