What's in a name? That which we call a rose would smell as sweet...

[Caleb]

Do you think that names can affect who a person can be when they get older? Personally, I think they can. I can just imagine how a girl I heard about felt, being named "Enough." Then again there are names that you associate with certain people. For example, I associate anybody named "Carrie" with my aunt-by-marriage, or "Audrey", with my Aunt Carrie's sister, who's a farmer's wife in rural Rock Island County, Illinois. Even historically, I can associate names with people. I usually associate the name "Alexander", as someone being tough, like Czar Alexander III. How about you?

[Taren]

John Stossel on 20/20 did a report a few weeks ago that said a person's name influenced their career. He said most Dennis' become dentists and Georges become geologists. Also, that you tend to be interested in those with names similar to yours: like Paris Hilton and Paris Latsis or Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. Considering neither couple is together anymore, I wouldn't put much stock in that.

My name, often misspelled and mispronounced, makes me want to give any future children of my own something easy to spell and pronounce. I definitely think people associate certain names with people that they're familiar with, either personally or through reading. A lifelong favorite name of mine is Elizabeth, because of the positive connotation to the many great Elizabeths, past and present. I consider Angelina to be a nice name, but it makes me think of homewreckers.

[Prince_Christopher]

I agree with you, Caleb, names can make a big difference in a person's life. 

One of my pet peeves is parents who give their children self-created, wierd names.  Or parents who give their children regular names but spell them wrong, or parents who name their child a diminutive, such as naming a child "Bobby" or "Bettie" instead of Robert or Elizabeth.

There are thousands of beautiful names out there, all a person has to do is look.  There are enough names out there for parents to be original and creative, without having to makeup or misspell a name.  Going through life is hard enough without a person being saddled with a misspelled name or having to constantly reapeat one's name for others.  Names from history or mythology are great, I can even deal with nature names, but as an elementary teacher, I can say that I've seen many unfortunate choices.

Sometimes I don't know what these parents are thinking.  I guess they think it's "cute", but giving a child a handle that makes no sense is ridiculous.  Names should have a meaning, either in the history of the name itself, or because it comes from a special person who is remembered by giving that name. 

Really, there should be laws governing naming of children....

[Prince_Lieven]

I agree, I'm not a fan of 'makey-uppy' names. I think it's cruel to saddle a child with a ridiculous name like (for example) 'Brooklyn'. 

[Ortino]

I HATE how parents try and alter common names in order to make them more "unique." Ashley, Ashleigh, Ashlee.....Brittany, Britany, Brittanie.... good grief! In fact, I hate common names in general. There's no reason to have three or four Ashleys or Johns in one class.

I also dislike very odd names, particularly those of celebrities.... Moses, Apple, Suri, Coco....  They may sound cute on kids, but what happens when they grow up?!

I think that children can have more unique names like Rowan, Blaise, Harper, Terence etc. without suffering for it, but parents should take care to name their kids something appropriate.

[Sarushka]

The book Freakonomics has a very interesting chapter on this very subject -- check it out! 

In short, his theory is that parents' socio-economic status plays a significant role in the names they choose for their children. So in reality, it's the children's socio-economic background, not the connotations of their goofy name, that most reliably predicts their future and/or holds them back.

[Raegan]

I hated my name when I was growing up. I wanted a "normal" name, like Jessica or Emily. However, now that I'm grown, I have become very fond of Raegan and I wouldn't change it for anything. I have heard more and more parents name their babies Raegan/Reagan in recent years, and I fear that it will become common sometime down the road. This upsets me because now I want the name to stay somewhat unique.

I love Russian names (like Tatiana, Alexei and Natasha) as well as "classic" names, such as Elizabeth and Katherine. One thing is for sure, no child of mine will be named after a fruit!

[Galactic_Misfit]

I was the same way. I have a very common name, Chrysteene... but obviously it isn't spelt the "normal" way. I don't mind that it is spelt the way it is... especially considering that 6 of my 7 siblings have common names but theirs are also spelt differently. I wouldn't name any of my children any of the new celebrity names, like Apple, but I see nothing wrong with being creative with the spelling of your child's name, unless there is some uncertainty of what their name is.

[Romanov_fan]

I think names can become an important part of a person's identity, certainly. I think if you have a name that doesn't suit you, that you are just not that name, then that is wrong. Often, parents choose whatever name is fashionable at the time, thus stamping you with the decade that you were born in, and little individuality. It not only sounds dated, but there are plenty more out there with the same name. So, you can't really be unique having that name, and most likely it doesn't suit you. Personally, I like Victorian names popular from the 1870s through the teens of the 20th century. My name, Grace was popular from the 1870s through the '20s. I like to have a name from that era, although when I was born ( the '80s), it wasn't used. It has been in the past six/seven years more. I also like foreign names sometimes, especially Russian names despite having no family background there. I don't much like Russian male names, but I like Russian female ones. Irina is much more elegant than Irene to me. Often these days, parents try to be too trendy naming their children, although the full effects of this is never known until those children have to dal with the issue in adulthood.

[Prince_Lieven]

I hated my name when I was growing up. I wanted a "normal" name, like Jessica or Emily. However, now that I'm grown, I have become very fond of Raegan and I wouldn't change it for anything. I have heard more and more parents name their babies Raegan/Reagan in recent years, and I fear that it will become common sometime down the road. This upsets me because now I want the name to stay somewhat unique.

I love Russian names (like Tatiana, Alexei and Natasha) as well as "classic" names, such as Elizabeth and Katherine. One thing is for sure, no child of mine will be named after a fruit!

I know what you mean - I have an aunt called Marie who has always pronounced her name 'MAR-ee' rather than the more usual 'mar-EE'. She used to hate it because people mixed it up so often, but now she likes it because it's unique.

I used to dislike my name because no other young people had it. Now, though, it's apparently quite popuar for babies, especially in England.

[emeraldeyes1969]

It's quite popular here in Canada as well.   


Personally, I dislike the way people are mis-spelling names in an attempt to be creative.  I often find myself wondering if the person just doesn't know how to spell it properly. 

Then there's this little gem: http://www.wallace.net/sheep/legal/phph.html


And am I the only one here who thinks it is incredible that Condoleezza Rice has managed to overcome her name?  She has accomplished so much in her life- but I'm betting there aren't many parents naming daughters after her!

[Margarita Markovna]

tee hee http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

[Justine]

Oh thanks God in polish mis-speling name is almost impossible. But it annoy me very much when I see some names, i.e. in English and they mean same when speling this name is different. Sometimes I really don't know how to say that.
I hate when parents give some strange names. My parents were normal in that way but I didn't like my name much(Justine) in early years, and it wasn't popular name in 90's when I was born.

[emeraldeyes1969]

Ritka, that link is hilarious!  I could only read hte first couple of pages cuz I'm trying to eat right now, and the lettuce keeps flying out of my mouth!

And Grand Duchess Ash, Justine is a beautiful name!

[Prince_Christopher]

I agree, I'm not a fan of 'makey-uppy' names. I think it's cruel to saddle a child with a ridiculous name like (for example) 'Brooklyn'. 

I hate this name, too.  There are two of them in the class next door to mine, one spelled Brooklyn and the other spelled Brookelin.