Kitanzi&#39;s Colloquium

Yeah, I thought of that... I can't tell if this was a man or woman. Bizarre, regardless. Parents do pick strange names, though - I had a housemate once whose legal name was And. She wasn't too fond of her parents.

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I have to say - in the indusry that I am in you would be amazed at some of the names we hear on a regular basis.

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I probably wouldn't be, actually... but you're welcome to try and amaze me. :)I'm always entertained by odd and unusual names, especially when it's not some celebrity who is trying to out-unique her competitors and saddling her kid with some baroque mouthful and a half.

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Well, we do have an employee named Taquilla - and amazingly that isn't the only Taquilla we've worked with.

We also hav an employee named Classic.

Jynevelyn

Montoya (that is her first name...no Inigo involved)

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But wait...there's more!

(my computer froze up on me for a minute...)

Journee
Princess
Precious
Retonya (I guess the first Tonya wasn't good enough so they had to retonya!)

Tonjolyn

Zealretta

Epiphany

And that is all for now...

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I rather like Epiphany, but it's got to be hard to shorten into a nickname. Piph?

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Eph? Eff? Naaaaaah, I think we'd best not go there, poor kid, especially if her last name starts with U.

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Fanny, maybe...

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That would probably be the best of a bad lot, yeah.

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Wow. Ok, yeah, you got me. I've seen some weird ones, but those are up there. :)I did have a caller once who claimed ALL her daughters (I forget how many) were named Precious, or maybe it was Princess. I took that one with a grain of salt, as maybe a nickname or a description or something, but that's what she said. People are weird. I did come across someone named Eureka once, and as I said I used to have a housemate named And. This was, in fact, her legal name - I saw the birth certificate. She didn't have much to do with her parents, as I recall!

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poltr1

I used to work with a "Mister Ross" -- Mister was his real first name.

mariasmom has a few unusual name stories.

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I issued a library card to James Kirk once. I didn't quite have the obnoxiousness to ask his middle initial, the kid was only about 14 years old

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In the comic strip Jump Start, one of the kids (grade school age) is named Doctor Appleby. He wears scrubs all the time and makes appointments for the other kids (several months off, at least) when they need a cut or scrape bandaged. This seems to be his parents' idea, but he's fully bought in to it.

Ann O.

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Yep - and I'm convinced he'll grow up, hit Jr High, completely rebel, and eventually become a mechanic who goes by Doc. :)

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elgecko.livejournal.com

Excerpt from a conversation I once had in a bar...

"Hi... I'm Alex!"

"I'm Feral."

"I don't doubt it."

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*grin* and did the conversation STAY that entertaining?

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elgecko.livejournal.com

No way. I took her at her word and backed away.

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Hey, I can top that. We used to regularly get calls from someone named "Dickover." From the Navy, no less.

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And the last name Cox, or variations on it, is pretty damn common.

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We used to get calls from a lady whose last name was actually spelled Cocks. And she insisted on spelling it every time she called.

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technoshaman.livejournal.com

*snerk* when I was a boy I remember thinking the cartoon was named "Dennis the Minnis." It never occurred to me until years later that the word "Menace" referred to the kid in the overalls. Or that that was a hint as to what the old man next door thought of him.

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madfilkentist

Aside from unique names and unfortunate combinations, I think the worst given name is "Alexia."

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Why is that?

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Er? What's wrong with that? Sure, it's not common, and it probably means "oops, we wanted a boy," but it's not nearly as bad as some of the whoppers we've seen in this thread.

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Banana fana, fo... uh, let's not. (:-/

As I recall, Liverson was a mangling of your first name, right? Is Menace a first or last name?

Doesn't Carla Ulbrich have a Weird Last Name Club on her web site where she invites folks to e-mail her stories about their own weird last names? I seem to recall e-mailing her about sex change operations for Chosen One and me. :)

Ann O.

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As far as I could tell, Menace was a first name - this was on a fax form. Menace as a last name would be odd, perhaps, but not so unfortunate over all. Carla does have something like that, but I think it's for names that are hard to spell, like Ulbrich! Sex change operations, is it? Shall I congratulate you then? *G*

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"names that are hard to spell, like Ulbrich"

I don't remember if it's spelling or pronunciation. Ulbrich isn't particularly pronounced like it's spelled, iirc.

"Sex change operations, is it? Shall I congratulate you then? *G*"

Actually, misspelled first names on junk mail. If you stick the letter u in the middle of Chosen One's first name, the gender changes. I wondered to Carla if I'd have to tack an a on the end of my first name to keep us a heterosexual couple. So no, you can hold the congrats. :)

Ann O.

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I've never understood the problem with "Ulbrich." It looks perfectly pronounceable to me--you just have to know it's German, and then pronounce it with an American accent. :)

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Stop the Presses!!! I just got a new one. We get new ones every day.

Primitiva

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stevieannie.livejournal.com

I remember joining a mailing list for pregnant women when I was carrying Jared. I knew I wanted a different name for the baby (which has proven both a blessing and a curse), but was astounded at some of the choices.

One woman called her baby "Bean". Not as a nickname for a foetus, but as the full, legal first name.

The woman who called her daughter "Chlamydia" reduced me to tears of hysterical laughter.

Seanan once *swore* to me that she knew a girl called "Chandelier" which struck me as pretty funny.

Re: the unusual name - there's a reason I did one slightly odd name (Jared - although it's become a lot more popular recently) and then one normal one (Eleanor). Jared loves being different, but would kill for the telepathic ability to make people spell it correctly. Or not call him "Gerald". Anyone can spell "Ellie" though!

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I can understand Jared's wish. I still remember the Christmas my own brother spelled my name wrong on a gift card. *G* And honestly, I did have a list of at least 30 completely wrong names people had called me on the phone at work, AFTER I told them my name at the beginning of the call. I also remember one woman who said "You know, your people come up with some of the most creative names! How do you think of all of them!" As I recall, I bit my tongue (well, I was mostly too flabbergasted to say much of anything, really) and refrained from asking just who she thought my people were. Call centers get weird sometimes. Remind me to tell you sometime about the guy who thought he was calling a sex line - and when I told him he had the wrong number, asked if I'd talk to him anyhow.

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"your people come up with some of the most creative names!"

Ever get a telemarketing call telling you to call a number and ask for, say, Harriet? Harriet is probably a code name for the call's specific offer, and any number of "Harriet"s will be there to take your call.

Buggeryou Creek Steak House gives the waitstaff false, frequently oddball names. "Hi, I'm Belinda Lou and I'll be serving you this evening". Which gives some protection / privacy to the employees, I guess, as well as adding a dash of humor to the evening.

So this isn't unheard of.

Ann O.

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