If you think your name is bad…
March 13th, 2008 by Treena Shapiro…then you must read John Tierney, sorry, J. Marion Tierney’s “A Boy Named Sue, and a Theory of Names,” which ran in the New York Times on Tuesday.
The article looks at research on whether kids with “weird” names are doomed to be emotionally disturbed.
I read with trepidation, especially since my daughter’s name — Sloane — was mocked on the HBO show “In Treatment” recently.
But the article isn’t about less common names. These names are BAD.
Here’s a bit from Tierney’s column:
“Some of these mental problems might have been genetic — what kind of parent picks a name like Golden Rule or Mary Mee? — but it was still bad news.
“Today, though, the case for Mr. Cash’s theory looks much stronger, and I say this even after learning about Emma Royd and Post Office in a new book, “Bad Baby Names,” by Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback.
“By scouring census records from 1790 to 1930, Mr. Sherrod and Mr. Rayback discovered Garage Empty, Hysteria Johnson, King Arthur, Infinity Hubbard, Please Cope, Major Slaughter, Helen Troy, several Satans and a host of colleagues to the famed Ima Hogg (including Ima Pigg, Ima Muskrat, Ima Nut and Ima Hooker).
“The authors also interviewed adults today who had survived names like Candy Stohr, Cash Guy, Mary Christmas, River Jordan and Rasp Berry. All of them, even Happy Day, seemed untraumatized.”
– John Tierney, The New York Times
I think my favorite name was Lotta Beers. I can’t imagine what would possess a parent to pick that name, but it’s hardly the worst of the bunch. Imagine going through life named Medusa.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Okay Treena, nice name and all, but not common, yeah? Never heard of any other Treenas, so how did your parents come up with your name? I know a lot of people with very common last names will try to make their first name unique so they won’t be among the thousand John Lees.
Growing up, I had a friend named Abraham Lincoln, no kidding. Real good guy and all, but what name to live up to…how can you be as good as Honest Abe?
March 13th, 2008 at 8:36 am
hemajang: My parents said they found my name in a cookbook… the Galloping Gourmet’s wife’s name is Treena.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:09 am
i have a very usual average name, samantha, yet growing up i still got teased!! i remember a bunch of boys calling me sammy davis jr…i dunno, boys are dumb! LoL! jus kiddin’ but because of that i didn’t like being called sammy! well nearly 20 years later and i’m okay…most people don’t call me sammy, but if i happen to hear it i don’t cringe like i used to. i could never understand why some people would give their kids the weirdest names…like apple?? its like they want their kids to get teased!! but kids are kids and they’re all gonna get teased, if not about their name, about something else. its just apart of life.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I like your daughter’s name. It reminds me of Sloane from Ferris Beuller’s Day Off. “Oh Sloane dear, come along now.” Haha. Now I had a tramatizing name. I used to get teased all the time. Imagine being called “Moogoo”…nah nah. I do have an usual name for a boy and in my younger years there was a famous lady with my same name. Now though, there’s quite a few men with my name so it’s a no brainer. Now that I’m older I like my original sounding name, and I get surprised when I meet someone else with the same name.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:41 am
i can be so mental sometimes!! thanks to snow for connecting the two blogs for me! today on the dish we’re discussing the NY Gov who spent $80K on hookers…his wife’s name…silda spitzer!! talk about a weird name and spitzer, when we’re talking about hookers…ooops, its a family blog!
March 13th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Treena - I used to LOVE watching the Galloping Gourmet (of course, at the time, I didn’t know he was drunk!)… but I never knew his wife’s name. Now, I do! Interesting! I was named after a Mouseketeer! LOL… (no, not Annette!) But, I have a relatively common name that, now, sounds “old.”
On Cat’s blog, JuSaMee mentioned the name of the wife of the former Governor of New York - “Silda Spitzer.” Now, that name is unusual and, somehow, it just sounds so unflattering!! Eek, just found out that her name is “Silda Wall Spitzer! They say her name Silda, is a vriation of Serilda, which means “Teutonic war goddess.” Ohhh… kay.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:47 am
JuSaMee - I was typing my comments at the same time… but, LOL… I didn’t even think of the hooker connection… TOO FUNNY. (I should have said “What? I don’t get it… ???)
March 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Haha! I was actually trying to figure out a way to write about Spitzer in a family blog. The only thing I could think of was telling my son to cover his ears when a story about it came on NPR and I didn’t want to turn it off because I wanted to hear.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am
there was a player on the La Tech women’s basketball team that played here last week.
her name:
Tiawana Pringle
um. why?
and the link above is to a name that i cannot type here. (you’ll see why) i heard about it the other year. what were his parents thinking?
and he played football. you can imagine the other team and other fans had a field day with him.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
There must be a gap where there are no people named Regan and Damien.
Ahh….Graham Kerr. I used to get so hungry watching his show.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:37 am
hey chawan_cut…if i were the parents i would’ve changed my own name! lol!! as a woman i might’ve suggested that my hubby take my last name when we got married!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:39 am
chawan_cut - boy, i would SO not want to have that guy’s name if i played football!! but, at least it wasn’t his first name… heh heh.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I agree with JuSaMee about the name chawan_cut pointed us to… Why wouldn’t the parents have changed their names?
March 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Here’s one for you all….my name is THORA-JEAN…..think about it…if I remember correctly, my mom said that there was a Miss Chinatown contestant (who was competing the year I was born) whose name was Thora-Jean….I went through most of elementary school with everyone stumbling over my name until a teacher in my 4th grade year came up with T.J. as a nickname for me…..It’s stuck ever since….but you wouldn’t believe how many people misspell T.J….go figure!