Scene from paternity court: Everybody has named their daughters Nevaeh.

[eyesroll]

Seriously, this name came out of nowhere, and about a third of the female babies whose parents show up in paternity court have this as a first or middle name. It's not a terrible name in itself, though pronunciation isn't obvious and seems to vary (nuh-VAY-uh seems to be the most common)...but really, in kindergarten classes 5 years from now, there will be Neveah H. and Neveah J. and so forth. It will be the Jennifer of the early '10s.

Worse, I've seen Navieh and Neveah and other botched spellings. I wonder how you explain that one to your kids--"Mommy, where'd my name come from?" "Well, it was supposed to be Heaven backwards but we screwed up."

Edit: This seems to transcend race, too (I don't know if it transcends the age of the parents, though, because my firm does GAL work for minor parents, so I don't see the adult hearings).

[DS1]

1. Oh. Heaven backwards

:facepalm: for not seeing that and :facepalm: for its origin

[jpgray]

3. A different sort of :facepalm: to the parents?

:hide:

[DS1]

12. sure, why not

:D

[boilerbabe]

20. What's :facepalm? Is that a smack upside the head?? N?T

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. I'm hoping to see a lot of kids named "Liaf" in the future.

[JVS]

6. Liaf Cipe

[snailly]

16. That is perfect timing

I'm joining weight watchers online tonight and was stumped for a user name. Thanks and yes, I'm serious.
Wish me luck!

[JVS]

17. You know, someone's going to figure it out and they're going to say that you're bringing the wrong..

attitude to the weight-loss thing. But good luck anyway.

[snailly]

21. I thought about it but I didn't do it

I am trying to be positive about this. BTW, the epic fail was me, not anyone else who belongs to ww.

Just thought it was funny for a minute.

[JVS]

22. I know. It would be funny, but if you demostrated such self-depricating humor, they'd put you on...

the virtual couch and analyze the hell out of you.

[rug]

2. I once came across a birth certificate with the name Placenta Previa.

I suppose the parents thought it sounded good.

[eyesroll]

5. Eech.

Assuming they learned of this "name" because the mother or someone close to them had the condition....why on earth?

[boilerbabe]

19. EEEK! n/t

[Lavender Brown]

7. The whole Nevaeh phenomenon made the cover of the NYT...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/us/18heaven.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Nevaeh&st=cse&oref=slogin

Bizarre. The spelling looks nothing like the pronunciation.

[eyesroll]

9. It's really weird.

My supervisor was the GAL for a dead guy. (His ex-GF was pregnant when he died and we were trying to posthumously establish paternity...I googled and found he was murdered in his studio.) That was also weird.

Weird day.

[Bucky]

8. Is there a famous person with that name?

I teach 15 year olds. There's all kinds a crazy shit out there.

[RainDog]

10. this bald guy I know wanted to name his kid "propecia"

don't know why. :)

[eyesroll]

14. I saw a "Germany" (little girl) today too.

Mom was 19 and African American, alleged Dad was 17 and Latino. I doubt either of them had been to Germany or had any German heritage (though you never know).

[undeterred]

11. Is it pronounced "Never"?

[eyesroll]

13. Nuh-VAY-uh is the most common, but it varies--Neh-VAY, Nivea like the skin stuff...

:shrug:

[Swede]

15. Isn't that cold cream?

:shrug:

[boilerbabe]

18. Neveah heard of it before!

But I neveah had kids, so that might be why I missed out on all that naming stuff! Sounds almost like a Maine accent to me ayuh!