What's the weirdest baby name?

Specialties Ob/Gyn Nursing Q/A

Hi, I was wondering about some of those weird names that you've probably encountered in L&D and PP. I remember when I had my maternity rotation a couple of weeks ago, one of the nurses said she remembers a patient that named her child Placenta. I couldn't believe it that some child has to live his life named after disgusting afterbirth!

anyone who finds this thread not to their liking can choose to avoid it.

some of us are grateful to have a place to vent (away from our patients).

its a a womans right to name her child what ever she pleases

while this is technically true, there are many children walking around today who wish their parents had given a bit more thought to the consequences of endowing a child with a challenging name.

as far as this thread being ethnocentric, i think retrn77 said it best:

to presume racial motivation, one has to assume the parents' ethnicity, as i've never seen ethnicity mentioned, except as noted above.
we have brought up specific celebrities and some of their "interesting" choices. moxie crimefighter (penn gillette's daughter), kal-el (nicholas cage's son) and chanda lear (daughter of the jet designer) come to mind.

and there have been many, many references to names that caught our attention when paired with a particular surname (the long ago heiress named ima hogg, for example) or considered with their siblings (leaf, liberty and river phoenix).

we have also talked about the unfortunate tendency of some parents to use the occasion of naming their child to make a statement or declare their own interests--tequila, brandy, and daquiri or mercedes, a-lexus and porsche. two of actress susan st. james's children are named sunshine and harmony. not so bad, except that harmony is a boy. maybe during his teen years he changed it to harm to sound little more menacing.

so, it would appear there is plenty of amusement and amazement to go around.

i'm a little tired of the jell-o twins and meconium and the other well-known members of the urban legend kindergarten class, but i'm thankful that we can come here and cut loose a little. makes it a bit easier to stay calm, cool and collected when a patient says her child is going to be known as strawberry sugarsnap wildebeest smith. :uhoh3:

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My friend went to school with 3 brothers - Carha (Pronounced Car Ha), Chevrolet and Camry.

The dad LOVED cars apparently...I don't know what a "Car Ha" is though :confused:

Not a weird name, but in Australia there is a sports team called the Eels, and on one news type show they had a family where the dad was a giant fan of the team. He had two pet eels, and when they died he put them in his fridge and froze them, his whole house was decked out in the Eels team colors, he was obsessed etc. When his first son was born, guess what he called him ? Lee...Eel backwards :lol2:

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Anyone who finds this thread not to their liking can choose to avoid it.

Don't worry, I've been mostly successfully avoiding it for 8 years. I think I've clicked on it three times in the almost decade that I've been posting here.

Will go back to ignoring it again. :)

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
a woman in the grocery store yesterday showed off her new baby, who was absolutely positively adorable. she pronounced his name dee-wane.

is that an alternate pronouncation or is it weird?

i have heard that name several times in the past. only it was spelled dwayne. could it be how she mentioned the name that made it sound so strange? maybe she has a different accent?
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I'm sure in various cultures, typically Anglo-Saxon names are considered strange. And that is fine, they ARE strange names to people of those cultures.

As the great Jack Handey once said, "I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people."

Go ahead and laugh at me...it's the best medicine, after all. :)

Me too. I love humor. :up:
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..

How about Sonny & Cher naming their daughter Chastity, and Michael Jackson and his wife naming their children their wierd names. I don't even remember them. Anyway, from reading the old testament, I located lots of names that aren't used anymore that I know of like Methuzelah, Hilkiah, Milkah, Neamiah, Jezebel, Athaliah, Moses, Ramses, Cain, Abel, Elkaniah, etc.

I saw some show on TLC which featured a woman named Universe. :uhoh3:

Specializes in CMSRN.

Jack Handey has it right. Any name can sound weird if you let it.

Some parents want a unique name for their child. They think its sooo cute when they are little. Picture this....your new boss..I mean "THE BOSS" ... her name is Tarqueshana or Sharquitta.. or Shunquashous. That seems so unprofessional. But people just dont think of what that little baby will turn out to be in 20-30yrs from now.

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I worked with a woman called "Gugu" (Goo Goo) once, it was short for something like Gugulathemia...I think it is/was a fairly common name where she came from in Africa.

Some parents want a unique name for their child. They think its sooo cute when they are little. Picture this....your new boss..I mean "THE BOSS" ... her name is Tarqueshana or Sharquitta.. or Shunquashous. That seems so unprofessional. But people just dont think of what that little baby will turn out to be in 20-30yrs from now.

There are some name patterns that actually render people essentially unemployable. Shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I once worked at a hospital that had an OB/GYN on staff whose name was "Tawny" but the spelling, in addition to being unique enough to identify her which is why I won't post it here, conjured up "California beach bunny/airhead". The woman was very plain in appearance, and an excellent doctor.

Someone on this thread or maybe one of the other "odd name" threads worked in child psych, and said that there was a name that he (male nurse) said seemed to guarantee eventual admission to the unit, but then didn't say what that name was. :confused:

Specializes in PACU, OR.
I worked with a woman called "Gugu" (Goo Goo) once, it was short for something like Gugulathemia...I think it is/was a fairly common name where she came from in Africa.

That's interesting; there is a suburb of Cape Town called Gugulethu. The name is derived from igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for "our pride."

Here's a word of warning for all those who use "exotic" names for their children. I had a young patient yesterday, 22 years old, who boasted the first name "Rhonwen." One wonders whether HIS parents ever looked up the name before bestowing it on HIM. Ah well, hopefully he never emigrates to Wales, he might find himself in for a bit of ragging.

The moral of the story is, no matter how nice the name sounds, make sure you pick one that reflects the correct gender.....

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