h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

you a TOP member then?

or do you mean UT&T?

UT&T. I also lurk in Forum! What's TOP?

Hell, takes me all my time to keep up with this place, never mind everywhere else!

I Use Forum, click on my Space and send me a message and i will see it when i get home! phew i was wondering how to contact you without putting an addy on here! yay

Er, I quite like having an unusual name, I shortened it to Andi at school, and sometimes still do, but most of the time I like being Andromeda. That's why I use the name online!

All of my family (four of us) have unusal names, Mira, Amalthena, and Orion and me.

Amalthena got bullied at school, so when she changed schools cos of bullying she asked them to change her name to Annie, she still got bullied, so I think it was just because she was a bit weird, not because of her name.

Orion likes hers, but people usually assume she's a man, (or at least people who are bright enough to know about stars) like Ben and Az said I think that's a career advantage.

I think there's a limited amount of unusual names in the world, and whilst it was fairly cool 15 years ago, now every child's got an unusal name. Parents are just going to be totally bizarre to be orginal. When I have children I like the idea of Mary for a girl, and Jonathan for a boy, by then they'll be totally unheard of names among all the Trinitys Neos, Freyas and Kaylieghs.

My brother in law is a transsexual but he had a uni sex name before (Jo -> Joe) which made it easier for people.

I like the idea of unisex names because kids might not turn out to be the gender you think they are. You can call your son Rocky and make him play football, but when he gets to 14 he might start wanting to wear dresses and be called Racheal.

As someone who was nearly named 'Z' in real life I think I had a lucky escape.

Though Dr Z would have been fairly cool.

I went to school with a brother and sister who were called Tacita & Ptolemy. Tacita was shortened to Tass most of the time, and Ptolemy to Tom. Ptolemy recently co-presented that "save-the-historic-building" programme with Griff Rhys Jones.

RF

When Mrs. D and I were watching that she was commenting about how nice a name Ptolemy is...

Presumably the parents were ancient Roman scholars. Err, scholars of the ancient Romans I mean, not umm...

Yuss. I think he was a high court judge or summat.

RF

I remember one of the statire programmes on Radio 4 saying 'wanting to save this building is weird, almost like having a child and naming it Pltolomey.

Ptomley was the 'also ran' in the power struggle between Mark Anthony and Clepatra. Calling your child Ptomley (in the context of the satire) is like wanting him to come third in everything and be forgotten by history.

...and I can't spell .

Sounds a lot more Yorkshire, does 'Ptomley'.

B

Jasper was nearly Jasper Valentine, but he hung on until the 15th of February and escaped with Jasper Matthew.

I've just found someone on our database here at work with the name Bony Adams.

Ptolemy was the guy who knew everything and was killed in a volcanic eruption right?

If I was to have little boys, I could imagine calling one Byron. I like the name, and at the same time it doesn't seem too weird. Maybe also Dante, but that is a bit weird.

I wonder if there is a special circle of hell reserved for people who give their children silly names?

Err, do you mean the mathematician one? I was talking about the Egyptian/Roman soldier one.

Sorry, it seems I meant Plinius.

Bony? He's not Bonaparte is he?

(I like Tacita and Ptolemy, but they should be middle names.)
My ex called his daughter with his first wife, Dimity Clare, and now she goes by Clare. (Dimity as a name is not known here in NZ, and when I first met her when she was 8, I thought - wow, this child is named after a fabric.)