In Germany I heard a mother calling "Maximillian!" That's a very grand, imposing name, full of symbolism and power. It creates a sense of expectation. So I was surprised when Maximillian turned up - a tiny little scrap of a child, knee-high to a grasshopper. I suppose he would grow, but at the time it made me smile.

Hey African Americans can not be the only people who name their kids badly. My GF sister and boyfriend named their kid CoCo. Yes there is a designer with that name but I will always thing of a dog first when I hear that name!

Heh, in the "African Americans don't have a monopoly on bad baby names" vein, my parents had a plethora of hilariously stupid Celtic names picked out for The Fetus That Would Be Kim, before finally putting down the peyote and settling on the only sensible selection of the bunch. (Thanks for the sobriety, Mom and Dad!)

A century ago or so, it was poor whites who were ridiculed for giving their children odd names. My Ozark grandmother provided several examples. Her own name was Maude (normal at the time), but her younger sister was the last the great-grandparents intended to have, so they named her Omega.

Her first three took the ordinary names Jewell, Pearle, and Leora, but then my mother, born on Easter Sunday 1913, was called Easter LIly. Made her shy about meeting new people; she knew they were going to laugh when they heard her name.

After that Grandma picked names as odd as her younger sister's: Isaloy, Menales (MEN-a-lus), Clellie Argil, Ephraim James, and Colin (COE-lin) Lee.

But it's ironic that you mention Jews in the title. My daughter and her husband converted before they were married. They adopted the names Rachel Leah (RAH-hel LAY-ah) and Yehuda. They named their children Hinda
and Yisroel, nicknamed Sruli.

She should have introduced herself as "Lily"... a perfectly sensible name.

What's wrong with Colin? I guess I like the call-in prononciation better, but still...

I had a huge crush on a Colin (Call-in) in the 6th grade...

Well, I knew one lady, years ago, who named her new baby Thor.

And I knew one dude back in high school named Odin.

These were all white folks. Some kind of Scandinavian thing, I guess.

Axman: Those are all really common names among Orthodox Jews.

Another Yiddish name I've heard among blacks is Kayla. I did a double take the first time, but I'm used to it now.

Well, you could name your child This.

"UPDATE: For the uninitiated, Hadassah is a Hebrew word for "myrtle," and also a big Jewish organization for women."

Oh. [Slaps forehead.] I get it now, thanks. Not being Jewish, I just assumed "Hadassah" was a fanciful pseudo-African creation.

NicoleK, Mom did introduce herself as Lily, but not till she had been away from home for many years. And nobody in our area knew that "Colin" was a traditional English name (hence the odd pronunciation that made an awkward homonym).

"What's wrong with Colin? I guess I like the call-in prononciation better, but still..."

Given the pronunciation, I would imagine he garnered the nickname "sphincter" in school.

Well, you could name your child This.

Are those people freaking nuts? Now I've seen everything.

By the way, I've known of women being called Myrtle, but I've never known what the heck a myrtle is. What's a myrtle?

Isn't a Myrtle a type of tree?
I have cousins named Blue Riversong, Precious Silky, and True Rayne. Hippie parents. I guess it's not in the same vein as taking a name from a completely different culture that you have no knowledge of, though. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the lady thought the name sounded Muslim.
My name is actually Roxanne, which is Persian ("dawn of light"...eh?), and I was born right around the time the lovely Police song came out. Nice. It would be a good song if it had someone else's name in it.

My parents are hippies but they kept the weirdness to middle names. My brother and I each have 2 middle names, the second of which are trees. His is Oak and mine is Catalpa.

My mother likes to joke about strange hippy names (we know a Heron and a Songbrook) and says (jokingly!!) that I was going to be named Sugar Magnolia after the Grateful Dead song. Thankfully they weren't THAT big o' hippies.

I went to grade school with a Mormon named Adolf Cooper, after his grandfather. Also went to school with a Williard Williard. In college I knew a Native American woman named June Floods. I thought that was such a poetic name.

And Malcolm is a great name. So's Roxanne, especially if you're a Kipling fan!

My name is John, as is one of my grandparents, two of my cousins, three second cousins, one uncle, four great uncles and two nephews, and the guy my aunt just married

I hate familly reunions

I was almost names Crystal Dawn. Like my parents wanted me to be a stripper or something. We are scotch and Choctaw, but my first name is persian. I like it, very unigue but not too weird.

I really don't get the black "make up a name" thing.

I just read Barack has made an appearance upward in the names list. Poor kids.

My DH is Rudy. There are something like 12 living Rudy's in that family right now. He refuses to pass it on.

lujlp, I have a friend named John who complains, "Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named John."

> It's kind of like naming your Jewish child NAACP.

Umm, no, it's more like an English parent naming her daughter Diana. Hadassah was the Hebrew name of the Jewish Iranian princess also known as Esther.

If you prefer the botanical meaning, it's like naming your daughter Myrtle, a perfectly respectable (if old-fashioned) name. Or Willow, well known as Buffy's Jewish Lesbian friend.

I know any number of Jews named Mark, Luke, or Paul, apostles whose names are unknown the Old Testament. (Yes, I know Paul was originally Saul. Doesn't count. I know lots of Jews named Joshua or Josh but not one named Jesus, even if they are cognates.)

Personally I have never forgiven my parents for giving me such a goysiche name.

My paternal grandparents wanted to name me Misty Summer. Thank G*d that my mother held onto the old family tradition of naming the first born daughter after the maternal grandmothers.

I did the same w/ my daughter, but with a twist. There is a Scandinavian? name that we both loved and it's very close too my Grandmothers name, so it worked. (There is also a famous female golfer w/ the same name.)

I was @ the bus stop right after she was born and there was a little black girl with her name. I told her mom that my daughters name was the same and the mom just looked at me. She told me that she had made it up. (errr.. NO!) I didn't argue with her, but the name is very old.

The only thing that drives me crazy about her name is people constantly mispronounce it. It's a hard A, not a soft one, and there are two N's not one! It's also not that famous Jewish holiday that happens around Christmas.

DD is old enough now to correct people and she does it with such flair. :) (Always politely too!)

I had a friend in high school, last name Smith

Father - Sylas
Mother - Susan
Son#1 - Sean
Son#2 - Spencer
Son#3 - Steirling
Son#4 - Steven
Daughter - Sarah

The real kicker, they were of german heritage

I read an interesting thing in Slate about the Chinese adopting Western names...
The Name's Du Xiao Hua, But Call Me Steve

They are doing it for a completely pragmatic reason; commerce. It's prolly the reason a lot of people eventually adopt names that are more common wherever they live, whatever their goal is. The tradition of having a middle name help with making sure that treasured names are carried foreward. Or never spoken of. "What does the "R" stand for?" 'Don't ask...'

A myrtle is a plant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtle_(plant)

It's like naming your kid Rose or Lily or Iris or Ficus.

It's like naming your kid Rose or Lily or Iris or Ficus.

Tell that to my cousin Bladderwort.

> Tell that to my cousin

Bah-dum-PUM! He's here all week! Try the veal!

"I knew one lady, years ago, who named her new baby Thor. "

Let me guess. First born. Weighed 11.5 pounds. Head shaped like an American football. Thor? Wouldn't you be?

I think it might be a Christian thing as a lot of families I know - black and white - use Old Testament names for their children. I used four for my own children - Sarah, Daniel, Hannah, and Benjamin. I don't know any Hadassahs but I do know Isaiah, Caleb, Deborah, Rachel, Rebecca, etc.

And when I was in High School I knew two black guys named Isaiah and Ezekiel...maybe it is because I live in Brooklyn, NY - the City of Churches!

Then there is Oprah, who says that her name was supposed to be Orpah!

I went to school with a black girl named Crayola. She was quite mean, probably due to being given a name like that.

It could have been worse. She could have named her "Madrassa."