The Most Hated Baby Names in America

[cbdo2007]

The Most Hated Baby Names in America
LiveScience.com Stephanie Pappas, Livescience Senior Writer,

When it comes to names, everybody's got an opinion. But while figuring out what names people like is pretty simple -- the U.S. Social Security Administration keeps a list of the most popular baby names each year -- figuring out what people hate is trickier.

It turns out that in the case of names, love and hate aren't mutually exclusive. A new informal survey of the most disliked names in America finds that popularity often breeds backlash, as a quick track to baby-name fame seems to also trigger hate for that name. Among the most-hated "trendy" names are Jayden, Brayden, Madison and Addison.

The most commonly cited name that put people's teeth on edge was Nevaeh, or "heaven" spelled backward. That name didn't exist until the 1990s, but it took off in popularity in 2003, shooting from the 150th most common baby name in that year to the 31st most popular in 2007 (as of 2009, it stood at No. 34).

"Nevaeh in particular seems to stand as this symbol … for what people don't like in modern baby names," Laura Wattenberg, author of "The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby" (Three Rivers Press, 2005), told LiveScience.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110428/sc_livescience/themosthatedbabynamesinamerica

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Ha! Madison! I totally hate that name.

It's beyond trendy; it's become a caricature of trendiness. I know of one couple who went even further and tarted up the spelling: Madyson. Take a stupid, trendy name and then misspell it.

:puke:

[Lugnut]

93. My great-granddaughter's name is Madison.

The other two are Ariel and Joseph. One niece's son is Kayden. Barf. The other's is Mason, which I like. My kids have normal names - Joseph and Andrea.

[Dulcinea]

2. There's a "Maddisun" at my kids' school.

I absolutely despise the name Madison, as well as all those horrible genderless Southern-belle-yuppie names.

And, nothing quite says "My parents are rednecks" like names ending in "-yden" (Brayden, Jayden, etc.) :puke:

The most rednecky name EVAH: Kaydance. Really.

[zanana1]

17. It's ugly and they didn't even spell it right.

Poor kid.

[Arugula Latte]

34. wrong place

[XemaSab]

3. I hate boys' names that sound like

the mom pulled it from a Harlequin romance novel.

"And then Brayden Tanner firmly but gently ripped her bodice open." :banghead:

[Bake]

4. +100

Breathlessly, I'm sure!

:hi:

Bake

[WolverineDG]

11. as if steel & whale-bone bodices could be ripped

:banghead: :banghead:

dg

[provis99]

68. Storm, Cody, Tanner, Brice, Brick, ad nauseam.

I've met parents who've named their little boys these names.

Then there are the dads who gave their little daughters porn star/stripper names:
Candy, Amber, Fancy, and Misty. All real names.

[DBoon]

111. Aren't those dog names?

I imagine a german shepherd named Storm, or a lab named Cody. "Sit Brick". "Brice, heel!"

and yes, stripper names for girls are gauche

[RedCloud]

119. Why did your story stop all of a sudden?

[blueamy66]

5. My great nephews are

Ryder Nicholas and Bentley Joseph

eh

Neither is called their given names...they have many nicknames.

My niece is pregnant again and is toying with the name Maxwell Danger. Ugh.

But the boys are absolutely beautiful and I am NOT partial.

[kentauros]

21. If Danger is the last name

they should most definitely go with Nick! :D

He can then have the "Third Eye" added later in adulthood :P

[SteppingRazor]

35. I lobbyed hard for my son's middle name to be Danger, but my wife wasn't having it.

I mean, come on! How awesome would it be to say "Danger is my middle name" and actually mean it?

[Arkansas Granny]

6. It's not the names that I hate, but everyone tries to come up with unique spelling.

I can't tell you how many ways I've seen "Caitlin" spelled. Just for starters:

Caitlin
Caitlyn
Katelyn
Catelyn
Kaitlin
Kaitlyn

Then you get into multiple n's and an e on the end and switching places with the y's and i's.

[Throd]

12. I spell my name "Mmmichael"

I get uppity and treat people like idiots when they don't pronounce it thusly.

[CBHagman]

15. I don't think I can take much more of that.

It's gotten out of hand.

And because of alternative spellings, it seems a fair number of people don't realize Elisha is a name for a boy and not merely an alternative spelling for Alicia.

:grr:

[LiberalEsto]

30. There was an Elisha in the Bible

2nd Kings 2:15 to 2nd Kings 13

http://faithofthefathersbiblestories.blogspot.com/2006/06/story-of-elisha.html

[Maine-ah]

7. McKenna is on that list

that's my daughter's middle name. We chose it, because of my husband's family history, and name.

[Quantess]

96. Or she could change her name to Makena, the town in Maui.

:) I think it's a cool name.

[Quantess]

97. (duplicate)

[hifiguy]

8. Gads I HATE "creative" spelling even more than these awful names...

I will never have kids (long boring story - bottom line is I'm Asperger's) but if I'd ever had a son he'd have been named Robert (for RFK and a great uncle of mine) or William (for another uncle); girls would have been Stephanie, Carol or Sandra.

"Regular" names are a lot more distinctive than trendy ones these days.

[AngryAmish]

9. Tucker!

every damn Tucker needs a spanking.

[geardaddy]

19. Agreed.

And Taylor, Hunter, Tanner, Sawyer, Plumber, Butcher, Baker, and CandlestickMaker.

[Odin2005]

77. Hey, my name's Taylor!

:rofl:

[elehhhhna]

28. Miles. All Miles' are naughty. Ask my nephew. He's 5.

[Cid_B]

73. I'm all about Miles...

2nd son is getting that one... My wife just doesn't know it yet.

If I can convince her it is Irish I think I can swing it. I'm not going to tell it her it is from a fictional character in Dune.

[wickerwoman]

92. Myles na gCopaleen is one of Flann O'Brien's pen names.

So it is kind of Irish.

I wanted to name my kid Myles because of that and also Milo Minderbinder from Catch 22.

[Odin2005]

79. The Miles I knew when I worked at a day care was a little brat!

[elehhhhna]

29. Miles. All Miles' are naughty. Ask my nephew. He's 5.

[cyberswede]

10. Eek! I know a "Neveah"

And I think she was born in 2003. I never noticed the backward-heaven thing. Gross!

[Phentex]

14. How is it pronounced?...

Ne vee yah? or Ne vee?

Other?

[cyberswede]

44. I think it's "Na-vay-a"

Short "a" in the first syllable (the "schwa" sound), long a in the 2nd, and short a (schwa) in the third.

Now I'm dying to ask the mom if she meant to spell heaven backward, or just liked the sound of the name.

My 10 year old and his friends have fun spelling their names backward and using those as nicknames (Nodnarb, Kered, Kcaj, Notloc, etc). I hope Neveah doesn't get a big surprise when she and her friends do this in a couple years. LOL

[MountainLaurel]

16. That's my niecelet's name

*shudder*

Apparently, she is not the only one in her kindergarten class.

I was somewhat excited when I found out her baby sister (due next month) will be named Amelia. Until I later learned that it will be spelled Amilya. Apparently the traditional spelling was too "boring."

:banghead:

[cyberswede]

45. I guess that's better than "Lleh" LOL

But really - Amilya? :eyes:

I hope she doesn't feel cheated when she spells her name backward and finds out it doesn't mean anything (aylima).

[mzteris]

83. tell the parents

she'll be forever called amil - ya (long a, m, short i, l - followed by "yah")

[Sentath]

117. Oh, that is how that is pronounced

Till you put them side my side I would have called her ah-Mill-ya.

[WinkyDink]

13. Still never found the girls' names.

[NewJeffCT]

23. Here are the girl's names

Girls:

Nevaeh ("Heaven" spelled backward and one of the most divisive names around, according to Wattenberg.)
Destiny (People dislike names that confer a virtue onto a child, Wattenberg said — and many felt associated this name with exotic dancers.)
Madison
Mackenzie
McKenna
Addison (An example of a masculine named turned feminine, which many people dislike, Wattenberg said)
Gertrude (People said this name is "ugly.")
Kaitlyn (For its "made-up" spelling.)
Makayla
Bertha
Hope


My daughter has a Madison in her class and a friend named Mikayla, which I'm not sure is the same as Makayla or not.

[Dulcinea]

26. All those names are hideous, except Hope.

Mackenzie is a name for an Old English sheepdog, not a daughter.

[xmas74]

71. I don't know.

I hate the trendy sounding ones on the list but, if a person wants their child to have a strong character then Bertha or Gertrude would be the way to go.

The best part is that no one in their class would have those names.

[astral]

110. "Bertha" is not bad.

Gertrude is so bad I don't believe I have ever met one . . . .

[Cid_B]

74. I know two little girl McKenzies...

One is 8 and the other just turned 5 to help place the time range.

[laundry_queen]

89. I have a dd with a name on that list

We used a creative spelling too, but there was a reason for it, basically I wanted a different name, to name her after my grandfather and her father liked the original girl's name so we combined the 2 and it ends up being a 'hated' name with very creative spelling, lol.

All my kids have 'creative' names though. I like them. I have zillions of relatives and all of the plain names were all used up! I had to come up with something else. As it is, one of my dd's had a name very similar to one of my cousin's. In a large family you have to mix it up. :)

[TZ]

18. I hate the name David.

I think they should all be renamed "Geddy"! :evilgrin:

[Dr. Strange]

20. +2112

[kentauros]

22. +1001001

[Dr. Strange]

31. SOS!!

[CreekDog]

39. 666

:thumbsdown:

[TZ]

40. Thats the mark of .....

The DevilDog......

[hifiguy]

24. You mean Gary Lee Weinrib?

"Lee's stage name, Geddy, was inspired by his mother's heavily-accented pronunciation of his given first name, Gary, and it later became his high school nickname before he adopted it as his stage name."

"Geddy Lee explains; "My born name is Gary. My real name, now, is Geddy. Okay, it's like the same story of 'Leave it to Beaver'. (laughs). The story goes: my mother is Polish and she has a very thick accent. When I was about twelve years old, I had a friend who, whenever he heard my mother pronounce my name, he thought she was calling me, 'Geddy'. He started calling me 'Geddy', and eventually, all of my friends started calling me 'Geddy', and eventually my mother started to call me 'Geddy', for real"

On a more serious note, Geddy's parents were Jewish refugees from Poland who had been survivors of Nazi concentration camps Dachau and Bergen-Belsen during World War II.

That is something I didn't know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geddy_Lee

[TZ]

Exactly.

I love that story.

[hifiguy]

42. Geddy and his mom - sweet picture

[Quantess]

98. Thank you for that. I did not know that.

I'm one of the oddball, female Rush appreciators.

I visited Dachau in the late 1990s, which was a very heavy, weighty, dismal, experience. There was an aura of doom in the atmosphere, there. The creepy bell was almost unbearable.

[Rosie1223]

25. Is that popcorn I smell?

Why yes, yes it is.... :popcorn:

[TZ]

27. Now why would you say that?

Its not like I actually know any Davids...:rofl:

[Dulcinea]

84. I actually like that name...

Better David than one of those overused soap opera names.

In my kids' school, one family has Dallas & Austin. I want to ask if they ever considered San Antonio or Corpus Christi for names,too.

[cemaphonic]

32. Freakanomics had a pretty interesting chapter about the trajectory of name popularity.

Also, that Baby Name Wizard website referenced in the OP is a real treasure trove of statistical information about names over the last century, with a really ingenious graphical presentation.

[BlueIris]

59. I've read that.

Something about names popular with the upper class in one generation becoming popular with those of the lower class in the next generation (or the one after that?) Kind of sad.

And I LOVE the Baby Name Wizard graphs. That's how I found out that the name Urban was last popular in the 1890s.

[csziggy]

76. Trendy names can make strange family situations

I have two nieces, Kristen and Sara. Their parents divorced and their new step-dad had daughters, Kirsten and Sarah. The two pairs of girls with similar names were less than three months apart. Very surreal.

[Arugula Latte]

33. Oh gawd yes, Neveah -- Worst name ever! ...Another name that BLOWS: "Shelby"

Shelby! GAG!

And Nevah name a kid Neveah! :puke:

I'm happy our kids have classic, timeless names.

[KamaAina]

37. Shelby is actually OK -- for a Southern male

e.g. Shelby Foote.

[Arugula Latte]

38. I've seen it used almost exclusively for girls these days, though.

[arbusto_baboso]

43. Or Shelby Stanton

[provis99]

69. too many southern men named "Gray". Most annoying name ever.

Confederate gray, get it?

on edit: and that name Clayton sucks, too. Hell, I'd rather be called Billy-Bob than Clayton.
stupid plantation families...

[KamaAina]

88. And yet the most (in)famous Gray is from CA

that'd be Gray Davis, whose rare ability to be both bland and annoying at the same time got him Total Recalled by Ahh-nuld. :(

[Arugula Latte]

120. If I'd been a boy I would have been named "Grayson" --> "Gray"

But not 'cuz of the South, definitely not. :)

[arbusto_baboso]

36. Kameron or Camron.

First of all, it's C-A-M-E-R-O-N, secondly it's a LAST name, and finally it's a family name of one of the fiercest, most independent clans in Scottish history. So, unless you think your kid can actually pull-off living up to that moniker, I'd suggest something a little more "safe" for your rugrats.

[RandomThoughts]

41. Lo there do I see.

Lo RE Ena

Loreena McKennitt- Beneath a Phrygian Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siXe7bKt1q0

13th Warrior Ending Battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhm7DMvapGA

(side note, no person or animal was hurt in the filming of that educational story)


"How do you know our language?"

"I listened"

Some other great quotes from that movie.

Skeld the Superstitious: (Skeld shrugs) He insisted.
Weath the Musician: Give an Arab a sword, he makes a knife.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: It works.
(He tosses it into the air, twirls it around, then holds the blade to Weath's neck)
Weath the Musician: When you die, can I give that to my daughter?
(laughter)



Buliwyf: I have only these hands. I will die a pauper.
King Hrothgar: You will be buried as a king.
Buliwyf: A man might be thought wealthy if someone were to draw the story of his deeds, that they may be remembered.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: Such a man might be thought wealthy indeed.

[redwitch]

63. Love her!

Saw her a couple of times and she and her musicians are wonderful!

[LeftishBrit]

47. In my case, sadly, it makes me think of the Tory Prime Minister

[CherokeeDem]

48. I had an uncle named Cameron Campbell....

Most definitely Scottish and he lived up to the name.... I have always loved the name Cameron for a boy....

[ElboRuum]

52. There is but one Cameron... the rest are sad imitations...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

46. Stuff with too many random apostrophes and Qs.

Dereon and Deunte. That's Dee-awn-tay.

completely made up and meaningless.

If they wanted something meaningful they could name them something in Swahili, like the values of Kwanzaa, Imani and Umoja.

[ElboRuum]

49. Anything ending in 'ayden' regardless of spelling is irksome.

I don't know what this trend is or where it came from, but I beg this country to please just STOP.

[ElboRuum]

50. Self-delete

Darn DU.

[Throd]

86. THANK YOU!

In my community it seems half the boys are Braden, Jaden, Caiden, Aiden, ad nauseum...

[Dulcinea]

102. See post #2. eom

[ElboRuum]

51. I'll counter your Nevaeh with Leh, Sadeh, and Yrotagurp. n/t

[Heddi]

53. I can't believe no one has yet linked to "Baby's Named A Bad, Bad Thing"

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/

I have ROFL'd at this site for the last...7+ years? It makes me LOL my pants.

with such great names as:

Ariana (aw ree AH nuh)
Aubriana (aw bree AH nuh)
Ambria (am BREE uh)
Avery (AY vree)
Brinley (BRIN lee)
Charity (CHAIR it ee)
Demi (DEM ee)
Desirae (des er AY)
Havana (huh VAN uh)
Jade (JAYD)
Jerica (JAIR ick uh)
Kamrei (KAM ree)
Karis (kuh REESE)
Kaylana (kay LAW nuh)
Kiarne Rhukaya & Paris jewel.
Denver Kade Lional
Karson Cole Lorne
Cody Walker Royal

etc etc

[BlueIris]

60. I LOVE that site. The Big, Bad Baby Names discussion forums are also great.

[fizzgig]

87. i'd completely forgotten that site

and it's been updated since i was there last

:rofl:

[wickerwoman]

94. Ooo, they've updated it!

There's a woman who wants to name her daughter "Sailor". What could possibly go wrong?

:rofl:

[Dulcinea]

103. Christie Brinkley named her daughter Sailor.

Nuff said.

[nolabear]

54. I both love and hatre Penn Gillette's name for his daughter.

"Moxie Crimefighter Gillette". I mean, a kid's gotta EARN a name like that!

[pacalo]

56. How about Moon Unit Zappa? :)

(I love the Zappas!

[nolabear]

66. Zappa gets a pass on everything!!

He can do no wrong.

[nolabear]

55. I know a guy whose first name is Middle and his middle name is

well, you know.

[pink-o]

57. I believe you should name your child as if his/her life depends on it!

I find that people tend to live up to their names, so if you call your daughter Bambi, she will be a stripper. Your son Tucker is gonna be a huge douchenozzle, since he's gonna be hearing the obvious rhyme/nickname from the 3rd grade well into his 30s. (I'm sure that's Tucker Carlson's primary issue)

I went to school with a kid named Bruce Honey--seriously, if your last name is Honey, shouldn't you have considered calling him John or Duke or something? Yes, he grew up gay. (don't flame me--he was obviously genetically predispositioned to be so, like 10 percent of the entire population. I just think the name mocked him.) I also lived through the hippie sixties, where I knew kids called Rainbow, Serenity, Lysergica (no lie!) who've all changed their names to Linda, Christine or Catherine. Parents, PLEASE!!! Don't hurt your kids from the moment they're born, take their names seriously!

The latest: I work for the airlines and check in kids with horrid names every day. I actually had a dad who was traveling with his son named Annakin. How he could show his face in public is amazing!

Okay, for my own story: I was born 23 inches long and 6 pounds heavy at the end of 1954. Didn't take a lot of foreshadowing to figure out I wasn't gonna be a petite lady at any stage of my life. However, my mom gave me a petite name and called me Nancy. NANCY!!! Once I hit my full stature of 6'1" I changed it faster than you could blink. (no, not to Pink-O, that's just what I was called all thru the Vietnam war years) So I tell you, take everything into consideration before saddling your kids with a shitty name.

[BlueIris]

61. Totally. A baby name is an *opportunity* to *give* your child something good.

Something s/he will carry throughout life as an impression of what you thought of them and their eventual destiny at the time they were born. I don't understand how anyone could make a joke out of a child's name, make it bizarre, or pick a name so thoughtlessly it leaves the child open for massive teasing and possible professional difficulties.

[Dulcinea]

104. I'll take Nancy over a lot of names.

Shelby, Quinlan, and one that makes me cringe...JANICE. Horrid.

[pink-o]

107. Janice is a boomer name fer shure...

I never hated it, cuz the Janices I knew as a kid were cool and edgy. Debbie is the boomer name that makes me cringe, too bad because Deborah was one of the coolest women in the Old Testament.

But let me tell you what drives me crazier than anything else: Parents who name their kids AFTER THEMSELVES!!!!!! Enough with the John Smith Sr, Jr, III IV, et al!!! My cousin was a Fourth, and had a stupid nickname all thru childhood to distinguish him from his dad. Like all those Ivy league idiots who get called Biff or Scooter or Muffy well into middle age:puke: :puke: :puke:

[femmocrat]

58. All those little Nevaehs are in elementary school now.

I have a Heavenlee and a couple of Heavens who are now in middle school.

There are endless variations of Makayla and Mackenzie. Drives me crazy. A few years ago, it was a million variations on Alica, Haley, Kaitlyn, and Lindsey. I really don't know how parents expect teachers to keep them all straight. And don't forget all the Arianas and Brianas!

What ever happened to Susan, Linda, and Sarah? But -- I was happy to see a couple of Marys this year! :-)

[yankeepants]

62. I really hate to admit this but . . .

My step daughter named her first child Ayden, which, when I heard it I thought "Ok good Irish name" but then when I saw the spelling I thought "Oh. Fucked up trendy name."

When she was pregnant with baby boy #2 and was fishing for names Mr.Yankeepants and I voted for Owen, Instead she called a first grade teacher friend and asked her what was a popular boy's name. It Turned out to be Gage.

I love my stepdaughter but what a trite way to pick a child's name.

[Danmel]

64. Tiffany

I really hate Tiffany - sounds like something you'd name a poodle.
I once saw it spelled "Tiphanie"
what would possess someone to do that to their child?

[provis99]

70. a lot of female names ending in y are horrid.

Mandy, Brittany, Tiffany, Destiny, Nicky, Cherry, Roxy, Hayley, Chastity, they all sound white trashy.

[xmas74]

75. I almost named my daughter Flannery

but I was on a Flannery O'Connor kick during my pregnancy, so I wasn't trying to be cutesy.

[tabbycat31]

65. most names I don't like have another reason for it

Typically because I associate that name with someone I don't like (past or present). For example on another forum, a poster talked about the name Fiona for her baby (ended up being a boy so moot point) and everyone was associating it with the Shrek movies. I hear the name Fiona and think of the bitch who made my life absolutely miserable in school. I can't see beyond her when I think of that name.

I could say the same for so many other names.

[provis99]

67. well, there's a poor kid in Winnipeg named Adolf Hitler.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/weird/2010/08/06/14942681.html

I guess Adolf would be the most hated baby name in America...

[Lasher]

90. That one wins the prize for most hated baby name.

But little Adolf is from Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

[quickesst]

72. Children....

... who have no control over their parents designation as to what they will be called until such time as they become adults, and can choose to change that designation are the targets of the so-called "liberal" kind of make me ashamed to be associated with such. You should all be ashamed. Those children, who you should embrace as potential future liberals, will reflect upon your opinions of them, and will base those opinions upon how you think of them and their parents. Shallow crap. Thanks.
quickesst

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. We're not making fun of the children

We're making fun of their idiotic trendoid parents.

[Odin2005]

78. My cousin's newborn girl is named Taylynn. ACK!!!!!!!!

[Broken_Hero]

80. Reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8CrY_ZfFk

[woo me with science]

81. That's awesome.

There was also an SNL skit where the camp counselors were calling out kids' names and they were all creative ones like "Latrina," "Cholesterol," and "Diarrhea."

[Dulcinea]

85. I used to work with a LaTrina.

Her mother must have been a sadist.

[Zephie]

114. I had an aquaintance in high school whos name was Shi-Thead

(Pronounced Shh Thee De) I always felt really bad for her.

edit for changing am to an in header

[Aristus]

91. I f*****g hate some of those names, but what I really hate are names

that the parent(s) simply misspelled due to bone-stupidity.

I had a well-child check one day with a young patient, whose name on the chart read 'Kadain'. I walked into the exam room and introduced myself to "Ka-dayne", only to be told by the mother that his name was pronounced 'Kaiden'. She didn't seem to understand that the problem was the way the stupid lump spelled her spawn's name, rather than the way I pronounced it.

We should hire spelling-nazis to be the ones to prepare birth certificates in the hospitals. Than this wouldn't happen...

[Quantess]

99. I knew a little girl whose name was spelled Teeyonna

Clearly, mom liked the sound of the name, and wanted to make sure no one ever mispronounced it.

[Kablooie]

95. Murgatroyd is moving up in popularity though.

[A HERETIC I AM]

100. The late comedian Dennis Wolfburg had a funny bit on names...

He was a teacher before he started his stand-up career and talked of a girl named "Fallopia"

"Can you beleeeve it? That's like naming your son "Testicles" (pronounced "test - i - cleez")

If you aren't familiar with Dennis, look him up on YouTube. Well worth it.

[BlueIris]

101. My personal Most Hated include any U.S. state name. ie--Alabama Gypsy Rose and the like.

I have an Internet acquaintance who once claimed that her friend who worked in Child Services told her the children they had to, um, repossess most frequently all had U.S. state names as first names. (Bad parental judgment from the start, methinks.)

I also don't love the names of countries as first names. Ireland, Egypt...blech.

[Arugula Latte]

105. Other annoying ones that come to mind:

Reilly, Sawyer, Peyton, Bailey (which is also now a name for approximately 29 percent of dogs in the USA)

[WinkyDink]

106. I prefer names that wouldn't sound silly preceding "Ph. D." or following "President."

[cherish44]

108. I've never liked "Destiny"

It's kind of white-trashy sounding. The wild popularity of Madison also has me dumbfounded. Most Madisons are called "Maddy" anyway. My niece is Maddy but she's Madeline which is much prettier I think. Oh the boys names ending in "ayden" don't even get me started....BIGTIME majorly annoying! My daughter has a somewhat trendy name...Kayla. But to be honest I had picked that name out before it became trendy. I went to school with a Kayla in the 80s and thought it was such a pretty and unusual name. Most of the kids around here are the Kayleigh or Kaitlin variations instead of Kayla so I'm a little relieved. It was the #11 most popular girl's name in the year she was born (1996) so I'm sure she'll run into more Kaylas when she gets out in the real world...

[valerief]

109. I've never heard of Nevaeh before. Is that a joke?

If not, I nominate Kcufehttahw as the next trendy name.

[Arugula Latte]

121. No, Nevaeh is a real name, especially popular with the fundies.

Oy vey.

[kath]

112. "Kennedy" as a first name for a girl - ACK! Awful, just awful

And surprisingly common. WTF?

[Zephie]

113. We're considering Aria for a girl or Sean for a boy

Honestly when I was going through the baby name lists a few weeks ago I felt like vomiting at half the popular names right now. And then there were some that were just really, really strange. I swear to god, one list has Moon-Unit on it. Moon-Unit? Really? And as of right now, 73 people are considering it! (http://www.babynames.com/name/MOON-UNIT) What the heck is that?!

[hifiguy]

115. Frank Zappa and his wife Gail

named their eldest daughter (who must be in her mid-40s now) Moon Unit. She goes by Moon.

But this was FRANK ZAPPA and as an earlier poster said, he got a pass for everything on general coolness/absurdist grounds.

[JitterbugPerfume]

116. I know a 7 yr old Precious Rose

what a BRAT!

[kick-ass-bob]

118. Here's a good one: La-ia

How do you say it?

La dash ia.

Because the dash won't be silent.

Yes, this is a real name on a real birth certificate.

Here's another one:
Abcd

pronounced ab se dee.

Enjoy :)