Thursday, April 13, 2017

My Quora Post about Given First Names, or What Not To Name Your Baby



Any names you have found over the years that were funny, interesting, or just awful that you would not name your child?

Given your last name, what would you not name your kids?
One kids’ name that I read about was “Shi-Thead” (pronounced as Shi-Tead). Horrible!

LizzaCat
LizzaCat, "Teach people how to treat you."




Gay. or Gaye.
I am grateful to see the post, further down, from another woman who has had to endure “Gaye” as a first name. Born in 1950, I, too, suffered from this name, spelled “Gay” on my birth certificate. What made it harder is that (1) our family surname has a “y” and a “g” in it, which made my name sound guttural and unfeminine; (2) My parents went on to have four more daughters who got normal names; Susan, Catherine, Margaret and Nancy.
I loathed my first name; at the age of four, I actually said to my mother: “Why did you name me Gay? I’m not a happy child.” I made up several aliases for myself throughout grade school, junior high and high school.
Yes, I endured Gail, Kay, and mockery. In junior high I added the “e,” thinking “Gaye” would at least look more sophisticated.
The only thing I loved about my name Gaye was that it was fun to write.
I started college in 1968. One of my friends had to take me aside and tell me that I should NOT introduce myself by saying “I’m Gaye.” I had no idea what the term “gay” meant - it was just coming into use to mean “homosexual.”
At age 27, I had had it. I read a book called Born to Win, which made me realize that I could take control of this curse. I immediately dropped my first name and started going by my given middle name, Elizabeth, which I’ve always loved. (My parents were relieved) I officially announced it at work. I went back over old drawings I’d done and altered my signature. I even got a new Social Security card and drivers’ license.
I wanted a middle name but it seemed very weird to just pick out something. Sometimes I would tell people my middle name was Amanda, because that is actually a name in my family.
Then, a friend of mine who did not receive a middle name publicly gave herself “Rhiannon” as a middle name. That seemed reasonable to me. If she could do it, why couldn’t I? At the time, the singer Enya’s sister, Maire Brennan, named her newborn daughter “Aisling.” It means “dream” or “vision” in Irish/Gaelic and can either be pronounced as spelled or as ASH-ling. I’m Swedish, not Irish, but I fell in love with that name and claimed it for my middle name in 1996, and I have been Elizabeth Aisling ever since. My boyfriend calls me “Lizza,” which I love.
Later poor Maire sold out and started calling herself “Moya” as her sister Eithne did earlier, to become “Enya.” They probably got sick of the mispronounciations.
I still don’t know why I didn’t get the name Joy, or Felicity or Felicia (my grandpa’s name was Felix!) or even Hilary if they’d wanted a cheerful name—or Abigail or Gail if they were going for that G-gay sound. The only G name I can think of that is ickier than Gay/Gaye is Gladys. Even Gertrude would have been fine. Gaia is beautiful, but no one would have known how to pronounce it. I’ve even heard of MEN named Gay - not Gaylord - just Gay. Bevare oss väl!
It is because of this unfortunate moniker that I have been fascinated, to the point of obsession, with bad baby names. There’s a wonderful website, Best of Bad Baby Names that gives some choice examples.
For years I would not disclose what my first name was, but when Facebook came along, I had to out myself at times so my high school friends could find me. I am no longer embarrassed about my given first name; I will tell people what it is if the subject comes up. I have decided to own it. Damn, though, I am very glad I got to put Elizabeth on my passport. And even though my father was an avid genealogist, no one is going to find me under the name Gay, because I just found out that you can actually have your birth certificate changed. I’m going to look into it.