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Unique's the name - finding it is their game

REBECCA DUBE

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 10:45 AM EDT 07/11/07

Parents are turning to experts to choose a one-of-a-kind identity for their babies. Beware: Ava and Aidan are very, very taken ...Read the full article

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  1. Kay Ay from Canada writes: People need to be careful naming their children.
    You are picking the name but they have to LIVE with it. It's not like naming your teddy bears these are real people.
    I worked with a fellow about 10 yrs ago who had a daughter named Carron (pronounced Karen); they changed the spelling just to be different.
    What if she doesn't want to be different? No thought given to that I bet.

    I also don't see how you can pick out names in advance. A list of choices definately but the actual name has to fit the baby.
  2. Bonnie Lass from Canada writes: I agree that choosing a name is very important and that it should be given careful consideration. Think about the name on a baby, child of four, a teenager of fourteen, a young adult of 24, a professional of 34 and a senior citizen. Does it fit or is it only cute on a baby or 4 year old? Can people tell what sex the person is from the name? Can people readily pronounce it if they're reading it or spell it if they're hearing it?
  3. Delaney Murphy from Toronto, Canada writes: Kay Ay: I couldn't agree with you more. I was chastised by a newer colleague in front of others for calling someone "Dwayne" when their name was "actually" - get this! - "Du-waine" (pronounced "doo-wayne"). At the time, I merely looked at the person and said: "Son, if you are offended by THAT, your troubles have only just begun." Five years later, Duwaine was summarily fired for getting equally pushy with a client. I know. I fired him. People unfortunately equate "different" with "desirable". When it comes to names, that is not the case. For every "Karen" who is spelled "Carron", for every "Kevin" who is spelled "Kevyn" (I know one!), there is LOTS of anger over having to constantly explain, spell, and laugh it off. It takes its toll. Kay, just you wait. Some rapper will christen his daughter "Ho" or "Bytch" and get press coverage, which will move units of that performer's latest release. But little "Ho" or "Bytch" will PAY for her name the rest of her life. Funny Story - I went to school with two sisters with the last name of "Fuchs" (pronounced "fux"). You can imagine the ribbing they took! Two years after graduation, I remember reading in the paper a classified that Mr. Fuchs had offically had his name changed to....."Fux". I am NOT kidding. Some people just cannot think - period.
  4. Paul C from Toronto, Canada writes: Children are not fashion accessories - just give them a regular name.

    Parents who agonize over this are the same ones sitting in on their children's interviews 20 years later. So called 'Helicopter Parents'
  5. Alberto Bayo from Canada writes: Pay a fee to find your kid's name? Bizarre.
  6. Tyler Williams from Seattle, United States writes: This is an area where a government intervention approach could be useful. There are a lot of starving children overseas who could not care less what names are chosen by pampered Western snots for their overfed children.

    Step one: Set the tax rate at 300 percent for the name pampering business - add 300 percent in taxes to the consultant fees, and add an extra 300 percent yearly business tax to business who provide these idiotic services.

    Step two: Set up a 100 dollar fine to be charged to the parents for every time another business has to re-type a document because of the idiotic spelling. So, little John (spelled J-A-U-G-H-N-N) enrolls at kindergarten and the school mis-spells his name? 100 dollar fine to the parents to get the document remade. So, little Kevin (spelled K-E-V-H-Y-N-N) gets a swim card with his name spelled wrong? 100 dollar fine to the parents to get the document remade. An additional government tax of 1000 dollars is taken families requiring more than 2 document re-makes per year.

    All that collected money would go to starving children overseas.

    Wasn't it Robin Hood who came up with the idea of taking excess money from pampered snots and distributing it to the poor?
  7. Corrado S from Hamilton, Canada writes: All I can about these parents who pay people to determine how unique or well a name will work is wow.

    Unrelated to the story, but I would also assume that these are the parents who are or want to be or will be best friends with their children, something I've never understood (because I don't have kids?). When I do have children, I would like to be close to them, have a strong bond, be a good teacher and example to them, but be their best friend? I don't see the benefits of it. I almost see it as selfish on the parents part. It's like clinging to your child and preventing them from having their own life. If someone could be so kind as to argue this point (for or against), I would appreciate it.

    cheers
  8. Susie Q from Canada writes: "Some parents almost treat it like a brand decision," she says. "It's as if you're launching a little product out into the world."

    Geezus... apparently we'll commercialize anything, even our children...
  9. Bonnie Lass from Canada writes: Did anyone read that story a while back...can't recall if it was on this site or CBC...anyway, these people in Australia wanted to call their kid "4-real"...like with the number "4". The government wouldn't let them because you can't use a number in a name. So they named the child "Superman". Seriously. I didn't make this up.
  10. Kay Ay from Canada writes: I think it should be free to change your name if your parents call you something awful like "Superman".
  11. Corrado S from Hamilton, Canada writes: Hey Bonnie,

    I remember that story. It was pretty funny.
  12. whatevah D from Canada writes: Bonnie Lass: I believe the name was 7.

    Delaney Murphy from Toronto, Canada writes: Kay Ay: I couldn't agree with you more. I was chastised by a newer colleague in front of others for calling someone "Dwayne" when their name was "actually" - get this! - "Du-waine" (pronounced "doo-wayne").

    LOL!

    As someone who has had to spell her long, ethnic last name over and over again, I can say it really isn't a big deal, at least for me. Ok, so I hated it when I was younger, but now I love my name. I didn't even change it when I married; it's too much a part of me now. Then again, I did give my son an old, traditional name.
  13. Chrissy Simon from Canada writes: I've met little girls named Princess, Bunny, Pebbles and Cedar. Can you imagine a bank manager, prime minister or neurosurgeon called Princess or Bunny?
  14. Delaney Murphy from Toronto, Canada writes: Hey there TYLER WILLIAMS!

    Hilarious post, BTW, and MOST creative. Also, I happen to wholeheartedly agree with the spirit of your "fine the rich and stupid to feed the poor and hungry" strategy. Well done!
  15. C K from Peterborough, Canada writes: Y thynk spyllyngg naymes difrently is terryfyc.
  16. Janice Cooper from West Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada writes: I have to agree with Chrissy Simon, as I've thought the same thing about those unfortunate mature women with names like those "cute" little-girl names. I know a couple who named their daughter Chelsea and added "Buns" as the second name...all I could think of was how that would sound when spoken aloud at her christening, graduations, wedding, etc. Who wouldn't laugh?

    On the flip side, my 55-year-old sister was one of the first of those "pioneers" of girls who was given a boy's name by our parents, and spent her entire school years being put on boys' team lists, entered into boys' events at school track meets, billetted with boys on school trips, and so on. She hated it until she was about 16, when social timing saved her: luckily she was well-placed to be a 60's flower-child and her name was then "cool".

    One thing about her name, though? No one forgets it, while I blend into all those 1950s Janes, Janets, Janices, Joans and Joannes.
  17. EA S from Ottawa, Canada writes: What's wrong with naming your children after members of your family? I was named after two of my great-grandmothers... Elizabeth and Anne
  18. Velma from Burlington from Etobicoke, Canada writes: I know people who have unique names, and it is always a problem. Even their own relatives can't spell the name correctly, let alone pronounce it.

    My great niece gave her daughters unusual names - one is constantly misspelt, the other is actually a boy's name. I will feel sorry for them when they start school.

    This article is disturbing in that people are paying fees to someone to help them come up with a unique name - people with way too much money and time on their hands.
  19. Kay Ay from Canada writes: EA S: There is nothing wrong with naming your kids with family names. Some families are over-run by duplicates though (we have four kids with the same Mac name...2 boys & 2 girls...you don't want to be on the beach when one of their parent's calls looking for them!).

    Anne & Elizabeth are lovely....and these days they won't have 4 of each in their class at school. However the number of Abbey's floating around is crazy!
  20. H Letien from Canada writes: I know a boy who was named O'Sean (pronounced ocean) this year. You can just hear everybody calling him Oh Sean, Oh Sean...
  21. Thumb Sucker from Toronto, Canada writes: There are thousands of black kids in the US named 'Unique' (or uneek, unike, uhneeke...), I find it funny and ironic.

    Freakonomics had a whole chapter devoted to baby names, breaking them down into the 'blackest and whitest', a very interesting read.
  22. Alberto Bayo from Canada writes: Didn't Monty Python have a skit where every man was named Bruce?
  23. K D from Canada writes: I had 3 major criteria when naming my son.
    1) It had to have one common generally accepted spelling
    2) It could not be easily shortened/changed (eg. no Charles / Chuck)
    3) It had to easily identify his sex
    I didn't care if it was "unique", but I wanted something not that common either.

    I had to hunt long and hard to find just the right first name. I can totally understand why some parents would go online for advice/help. No one bats an eye at people buying multiple baby-name books. Paying a service is the same thing, just more personallized.

    And in case anyone is interested, my son's name is Craig.
  24. Garrett Nicolai from Regina, Canada writes: Having the interesting situation of having two first names, both of which have numerous spellings, I have had to correct both pronunciation and spelling mistakes numerous times. Although occasionally annoying, it's not that big of a problem. That being said, I agree with the majority of posters; a name is a large part of a person's identity and when a parent names a child to be trendy, rather than to identify their child, something is wrong. Anecdotally, my middle name is fairly "normal", being Joseph, yet when I was in junior high, the school documents would always make only one spelling mistake on my name : Garrett Jospeh Nicolai. You can't win.

    "What's in a name? That by which we call a Roahze, by any other name would smell as sweet."
  25. Paul Jones from kitchener, Canada writes: what happened to naming kids something that has some meaning for you? kids are not an accessory that are fun to give 'cool' names to. despite the illegal actions taken by celebs to make them so. when your kids ask, 'whyd you name me.....?' what are you going to tell them? 'A 'professional' helped me pick it out honey.'
  26. Donald Duck from Ottawa, Canada writes: When I was pregnant, my mother gave me this advice: yell the name you've chosen at the top of your lungs at the bottom of the stairs 20 times-as that's how you are going to hear it for the next twenty years. And please, avoid at all costs "cute" variations of spellings: anyone else remember the Breana, Breanna, Breeanna, Brianna, Breann, whatever of the early 90S? Let's give these poor kids a fighting chance-especially since they all hit kindergarten at the same time! For every kid with a "unique" name, is many years of corrections on spelling, pronounciations, and let's not forget it a last name changes. Let's be unique, but not so unique people haven't heard of it. All it takes is a quick check of the birth announcements in the newspaper to see a name's popularity. Gotta feel sorry for the girl named Summer Reign. We named our son Cameron and then he got stuck with Cameron T. as there was another in his class. Some days you just can't win!
  27. Hugh Draper from Canada writes: What silly name suggestions.

    Sniff!
  28. Gwilyn Timmers from Canada writes: I have an unusual name that has served me enormously well - people remember my name even before they remember my face. I will certainly name my children unique names to help them in their lives.

    What I find hillarious is people who believe they can affect what their kid gets called once they leave home for kindergarten. If you name your kid Jonathan but hate Jon or Johnny, you're in trouble. He's going to be called whatever the kids decide, so make sure you think of all the possible nicknames before choosing a name.
  29. J P from Toronto, Canada writes: I've worked in retail for years - can comeone explain to me why every child who throws a tantrum in my store is named "Madison?"
  30. John Silverman from Canada writes: I absolutely hate these stupid unique names. Think what you are subjecting your child to, and everyone else who has to remember the unique spelling you've chosen to give. What's wrong with the names we already have?

    The worst is when "cute" baby names are given to a kid, like "Bunny" or "Star Bright" or other infantile names - which people actually have. THE CHILD WILL GROW UP! Think how bad a name like 'bunny' will be when applying for a job or trying to run for office. The name has to be good at 5, 15, 25, 35, 50 and 70 or else throw it away.
  31. Western Girl from Calgary, Canada writes: Thumb Sucker, I remember that story in Freakonomics. If I recall correctly, the study revealed that resumes where the applicant had a "black-sounding" name, like Lashonda, were summarily rejected more frequently than those with "white sounding" names like Emily, even if the qualifications were identical. The Lashondas were also more likely to be unemployed, or underemployed, than the Emilys.
  32. Lee Turner from Regent Park, Canada writes: Circle? Circle?! I propose that anyone wanting to name their child something so blatantly stupid must also submit to having their own name changed to Dumb A$$, as a warning to the rest of society, so that we can know what to expect when we run into these people.
  33. MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: The comments are far more fascinating than the article. I once wrote a philosophical paper on the act of naming -- hinged I believe in Wordsworth's "naming" poems (which sucked but the paper was fun to write).

    Western Girl writes that employers make HR judgements -- I've also read a study that showed teachers make a lot of judgements based on names. In the US -- and it's years ago now -- they asked teachers to mark the same papers -- but the ones purportedly written by "Jennifers" and consistently scored higher grades than those by the "Griseldas."

    Heck, I even find picking a pseudonym for commenting here requires some serious thought.

    Always hated my first name -- it's a real name but an older and unusual name, so unlike all the Debbys and Karens and Sandys I went to school with, I could never find barrettes or necklaces with my name. :(

    But once I got older enough to change it legally -- I was also mature enough to realize that the people who love me call me my name -- and the people who don't love me don't matter.

    Remember The Far Side cartoon where the new father is holding the newborn baby and looking at his wife and saying, "What do you mean his name is Ralph?"
  34. Vickky Angstrom from Canada writes: KD who named her baby Craig: Nice name, until someone like me comes along and can't stop calling him "Greg". Sorry, sorry, sorry.

    ps. I had to give a shout-out for my vote for dumbest boy name in the article: "Miley". "Miley"? How do these things happen?
  35. MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: Vickky: this is gonna kill ya, but Miley is one of the suggested girls' names...

    and since you're a woman with an unusual spelling for a first name -- may I ask you how has that been for you?
  36. A F from Canada writes: It seems like everything is cyclical. Names fall in and out of favour. My friend is named Stella, and is the only person we knew growing up with that name, but it seems like that has risen in popularity recently and is predicted to become even more popular.

    The one way to end up with a unique name? To pick a truly horrendous name that would repulse most people. But there are no guarantees - someone else might have the same idea!
  37. Dick Nails from Desoronto, Canada writes: Tyler Williams, if that is your name, thanks for the fully unintended laffs. How is the collective these days? Heard there's a movie coming out called the battle of seattle. Maybe you were in the original and probably still there. Robin Hodd, what a cut up.

    When I am the dick tater, anyone named Tyler will be limited to working in mini wage paying jobs. Oh, darn, looks like that law was already enacted.
  38. C C from Canada writes: Don't name your kids after something about your work. Not a word of a lie, I was talking to a principal one time, Erwin, Rommel (history prof's kids), Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Buffy, Muffy, ect. are not good names. I feel bad for people who have really nice names that are spelled funny, Soibahn (I think that's right), comes to mind. I've never seen it spelled another way (it's Shivon) and the girl's parents didn't just make it up. It's Gaelic, and in my neck of the woods, the Gealic spellings of other names are coming back too. Apparently Gealic isn't very efficient because the last name Meagher is pronouced Mar. Anyways, it's ok to name you kid something a little different, but it shouldn't be too hard to spell or pronouce.
  39. Kay Ay from Canada writes: Donald Duck: I definately tried the shouting test! And both names passed with flying colors. I suggested it to my sister and she didn't get it. Of course my nephew is 3 now so she is catching on.

    As for Miley...that comes from a Family Channel show my daughter loves called Hannah Montana...it's stars Miley (daughter of the achey brakey heart guy; he's in it too).

    And yes CC, gaelic names spelled correctly are generally long and painful for the child and all their friends: Meaghann is the gaelic spelling of Megan. My cousin has the first spelling & my husband's cousin has the second. But we are Scottish so there isn't really a choice.
  40. Alex Keuper from Carpinteria Santa Barbara CA, United States writes: If there is profiit in ANYTHING, when is the boundary of privacy breached?
  41. r p from Canada writes: Trendy or not, be sure not to name your child something that rhymes with unpleasant words (e.g. I would advise against naming a child Nantucket)
  42. shani gamble from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Canada writes: I've spent my whole life correcting people on the pronunciation of my name (Shawnee), but I still like it. It means "marvelous" in Swahili (I'm Scots-Irish). My mother did give me two common names for middle names just in case I hated it though. I like having a relatively unique name, at least in my world, and I wouldn't want my child to have something completely boring, but something that is easily pronounced might be a good thing. Also, it's a good idea to run your name choices past an 8 year old...'cause they have a better idea of just how names can be twisted about in order to tease your child.
  43. Vickky Angstrom from Canada writes: MJ Patchouli writes: Vickky: this is gonna kill ya, but Miley is one of the suggested girls' names...

    V: Even worse! Sounds like a parasite found in grain silos.

    and since you're a woman with an unusual spelling for a first name -- may I ask you how has that been for you?

    V: Ickky.
  44. crazy fiddler from Canada writes: Didn't Frank Zappa name his kids "Dweezil" and "Moon Unit"? I seem to recall reading an article in which his daughter (betcha can't guess which one of the two is female!) said she was going to name her first child "Toaster"......

    It certainly takes all kinds.......

    I'm constantly astounded at how many people have trouble spelling my name... (It's "Susan")
  45. MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: Remember the Simpson's episode where they name baby Bart?

    Homer wants to make sure it doesn't rhyme with anything gross (kids can be cruel, Marge) so he goes:
    "Art...
    Bart...
    Cart...
    Dart...
    Eart...
    No, it should be fine..."
  46. Catherine Mann from Lindsay, Canada writes: I enjoyed reading all of the comments about choosing names. I've always liked mine, but spelling is a constant nightmare (like the time when my work email, which was based upon my name, insisted it was invalid... after much investigation I discovered the network administrator had misspelled my name when it was entered. To add further insult, he argued up and down with me that I was the one making the spelling error - everyone knew Catherine is properly spelled as Kathryn. Eventually I convinced him that since I'd been spelling my name correctly for the past 25 years, I was certain the error was his. Finally, it was corrected. Who'd have thought it could be so hard to check the correct spelling?). I have noticed at work that some names seem to come with particular character traits. Every Spencer I have ever taught (and there's been at least one every year) has a great sense of humour and a good imagination, for example. I wonder if this is just coincidence? When naming my own child, we debated for a long time. I wanted a name I hadn't taught and my husband wanted to name the baby after his father (Laurie). We compromised by using his dad's name as a middle name instead (Owen is his first name). Choosing the right name is far more difficult than it first appears, especially when it involves more than one person!
  47. J Snow Clone from O-town, Canada writes: My little 17 month old is named Navy Imani. Everybody asks us where it came from, and we tell people that we picked it because we liked it.

    When my wife was pregnant, when people would ask what names we had picked out, we never told them, because frankly, we didn't care what they thought. I gave an impassioned monologue about my love for the name 'vincenzo'. And then people quickly changed the subject.

    No, I didn't serve in the Navy, although she was born in Halifax. And Imani, which means 'faith' in arabic has personal meaning but would have meant very little if the name wasn't so beautiful.

    Some of you are going to love this.... our nickname for Navy is 'beans'. (Navy beans). I think if she can have fun with herself at home, then she'll be confident in the classroom and at work. Although I really have no credibility with this because I was one of five 'John's' in my class.
  48. Delaney Murphy from Toronto, Canada writes: Dear Kay Ay:

    The "shouting test" is something I first heard about from my grandmother. Her story went like this: Gran's friend Mary married a man named Earl. When their first-born was a boy, Mary told my Gran that she would likely call the baby Earl. My Gran said: "Mary, stand on your back porch and shout out 'Earl! Earl! Earl! Earl!' as if you're calling your son in for supper. What you'll hear is yourself sounding EXACTLY like a seal, Mary. You don't want your son to think you sound like a seal, do you, Mary? So don't call your son Earl." TRUE STORY.
  49. Jay O'Hara from Calgary, writes: Names are funny things and the world often works in ways we don't understand. For both of our daughters we had picked out several names beforehand and in both cases, upon seeing our new bundles of joy we picked a complete new name.. out of the blue. Nothing we had picked seemed to fit.

    For our youngest, it turns out that the name she ended up with (again, out of the blue) was her great great grandmother's name - both first and middle names!!

    You can plan all you want, but do realize that we're up against some powerful forces. ;)

  50. Leon Russell from Gatineau, Canada writes: Names are meant to distinguish people from one another, so there's a certain logic in avoiding common names. However one point that has not been brought up is that at about 3 and 4 years old, the child is always asked her name, and if he or she has to repeat it twenty times in their little lispy voice so that the grownup can understand it, it doesn't probably do wonders for their speaking confidence. They must wonder why the adult doesn't understand when they are talking clearly : "my name is Myriad" "Myriam?" "no Myriad" "what? Muriel?" "Myriaddd!" ...etc.
  51. D K from Canada writes: Adolf is horribly underused.
  52. Luna Nova from Canada writes: My lovely husband has a completely normal name, but family folk lore has it that his parents originally wanted to call him Bjorn (pre-ABBA days). Thankfully, his Aunt stepped in and told his parents they could not seriously do that do their child. He sends her flowers every birthday. I'm kind of glad I don't need to say, this is my husband, BJORN! I would love him anyway, but I'm just saying...
  53. Gaynor From Ekfrid from Canada writes: Well my mother picked a doozy and called me Gaynor. You don't see that on any list. At least there was never two of me in any classroom. Gay as a short version is not very desirable when you are straight.
  54. Clovis Sangrail from Canada writes: I go into different schools as a guest arts instructor, and in one rural school that I went to there was a little girls named Mirage. I'm guessing that she was an unexpected complication in the lives of a couple of teenagers, who hoped that if they blinked really hard this baby would prove to be nothing more than a ... mirage.
  55. whatevah D from Canada writes: what I find is interesting is my nine-month old son's name is on one of the lists for upcoming hot names at the end. How is this possible? I picked an ethnic first name that reflected half of his heritage(mine). It was underused, very underused, way down on most lists. I hope it won't be popular, but it's weird. Is it a collective psyche thing or what?
  56. Delaney Murphy from Toronto, Canada writes: Hi D K from Canada:

    Yes, you are absolutely correct when you write that "...Adolf is horribly underused. ..."

    D K, at the risk if inflaming local passions, I would suggest that no Ontarians will be naming their babies "Dalton" anytime soon. It's a prissy, wussy, persnickety kind of name to begin with, but it has come to mean so much MORE here in Ontario - all of that "more" being QUITE undesireable in a child.
  57. J S from Toronto, Canada writes: Siobhan is a perfectly respectable Irish name and people should not be discouraged from using it .
  58. C C from Canada writes: J S, I totally agree, I love the name. Evidently I still can't spell it. But I really like it. I had a classmate by that name, and every time (or at least very frequently) we had a substitute, or at the start of the year, or if her name was called on the PA, there would be an awkward silence followed by a mangled attempt at pronouncing it. After a while, when she knew that her name would be called she'd just tell them how to say it if there was a pause! That's the only thing that would deter me from using it, or at least I'd take it into consideration.
  59. whatevah D from Canada writes: CC from Canada: That's exactly how I dealt with people who couldn't pronounce my last name. During exam roll calls in university, profs would suddenly pause during the "D"'s. And I would raise my hand and say 'I'm here."
  60. Vickky Angstrom from Canada writes: mj: Good remembering. Did you use a mnemonic?
  61. R B from Vancouver, Canada writes: Hey Gaynor: I went to school in the 60's with a boy called "Gayphen" - I have no idea where that came from. All of my children have Gaelic names with traditional Gaelic spellings because that is their heritage, but one thing I always find strange is using a name which doesn't match the ethnicity of the owner - I told my wife I wanted to name one of our son's "Jaswinder", just to get back at the overabundance of "Liam"s in our society.
  62. My sentiments exactly from Canada writes: On the TV programme Resident Life, a southerner by the name of Jim Bob said that he sort of slid through school to become a doctor. "Nobody expects much of somebody named Jim Bob," he said. Food for thought.
  63. Michael Brown from Kingston, Canada writes: When one decides on a child's name it is important to see how it looks with its last name. Diego O'Sullivan looks weird, while Diego Alonso does not.

    Look out for combinations like Pete Moss, Rose Gardiner, Al Packer, June Flowers, April Raine, Doug Hole, or Paris Hilton (Kinchasa Hilton next?)

    Remember, your child will have to live with the name you pick!
  64. Duncan McCockenue from Canada writes: Can someone explain why Toews is pronounced "Taves"?????
  65. MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: Michael Brown: Drew Peacock.

    I also understand one should try to make a name more mellifluous by balancing syllables -- so a short name with a three-syllable middle name, or visa versa: Victoria Rose, but not Joan Rose.

    and Vickky: no mnemonics but I have a ridiculously reliable memory -- entire conversations, gestures, facial expressions, clothing -- it comes out in the weirdest ways, but I like it.

    You ickky comment made me spit-take my coffee this morning. Thanks for the early am smile!
  66. mondo pinion from Canada writes: I think re: future names that Annabel has it right. Those down-to-earth names will fit best with the coming conservationist mood. And could include interesting seldom-heard names from traditional ethnic communities, such as Celtic names Eastern European names.

    Personally, I'd like to name a kid Borat.
  67. Kay Ay from Canada writes: Michael Brown: We have friends with a lovely little girl named Daisy Hills.
    They did it intenionally. (That's the name of the puppy farm Snoopy came from.)
    The son's name is Ben.
  68. mondo pinion from Canada writes: Just gotta add this true story -- a few years back, in the '40s maybe, there was a Texas governor named Hogg. He named his two daughters Ima and Ura. You can look it up.

    We used to pass the time on long trips by playing ' If you married a man named --- what would you call your kids?' Like Hammer, or Ryder, or Hiscock. I guess old Hogg just got tired of being kidded about his name . . .

    In my own life I wanted to name my first child, a son, Justin. My husband said OK but only if his middle name is Other. So I chickened out and named him Richard. But Richard turned out to be a neat kid with a great sense of humour, and would have loved being Justin Other.
  69. mini wheat from Toronto Area, Canada writes: Ickky Vickky....thanks for the laugh. 2 kewl.
  70. Lawrence Koch from Canada writes: Duncan: Can someone explain why Toews is pronounced "Taves"?????

    Because it's German/Mennonite, although it should really be more like [tøvs]
  71. tal tal from United States writes: many people use list of names to help them chose there baby name , like this site http://www.babyhold.com/

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