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

I am unique. I am one with the angry Squirrel. Shout 'I am the unique. I am unified with the badger overlord.' People will run away. That's because they're jealous. JEALOUS..

But I knew that already...

RF

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I too am Scottish and appalled by it, but every second woman in America is calling her child (daughter, seeemingly it's a girl's name!!) some variation of it eg McKenzie, Mackenzie, Mekenzee, Makinsee and many other bizarre combinations

Mykynzy being my current "laugh at" favourite!

Were you people born middle aged or something

Karl Blick is myname and some dimwits cant spell that.

So odd names or normal names there will always be some hard of thinking type out there who will get your name wrong.

Ive got beautiful neices and Nephews named Raesian, Devante, Zallika, and the latest Destiny I say so bloody what its only a name. Mirldred, Hortence, Edwin, Sylvester, were old names any better or are we just more familiar with them.

Im unsubbing in cases fuddy-duddyness is catching.

It's not being a fuddy-duddy - it's just avoiding unecessary cruelty.

I'm sorry, but calling a child Devante, or 'Deviant' in the playground, is just unfair. They have to live with that name until their 18 at least...

sprout

Sprout's got a point Blicky, sticking kids with terrible names is bloody stupid, those kids are going to get the piss taken something rotten.

I should have unsubbed.

Unecessary cruetly

So if we didnt name our children any differently to previous generations then they wouldnt get teased?

Try saying that to anyone who is about 14 and is called Hussein.

Devante is unlikely to ever be bothered by anyone calling him Deviant as hes severly autistic, but that's not the point. I was not teased by anyone over my name but then I was fat and black so unless Id been called adolf Hitler it is unlikely that any name would have been a more tempting target than my skin colour/volume.

I dont see any girls getting teased for being called Kylie specifically any kids that do get teased for their name its more likely to be linked to some greater underlying cause.

Id agree that some care should be taken to avoid "R. Sole" combinations and such like but those aside. You cant name your kids so they dont get teased. Who knows who the next figure of villany will be in Dr Who or the names of up and coming soon to be disgraced footballers will be?

Shirley Crabtree is a point in the other direction where the unusual name improved the character of the man due to dealing with the teasing as a boy.

Oh, on the subject of Doctor Who, I once knew three kids with the misfortune to be called Adric, Nyssa and Tegan. Well done guys, name your kid after the companion that no-one likes because he was a whinny sexist brat. Self-fufilling prophecy alert .

I actually quite like the name Nyssa.

Nyssa's okay. It's Adric that bugged me. Plus, with all three named after companions, it does look a bit naff.

Leela is quite a nice name.

B

There was a girl in my year at secondary school called Zebedee. Guess what tune people hummed at her...

Somebody mentioned Americans taking Gaelic names and changing them. I get amused by Meaghen and Reece and now that Catherine Zeta has named her child Cerys I'm just waiting to see what they can do to one of my favourites.

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It never ceases to amaze me that some people can't spell simple names.

It REALLY annoys me when people give their children Christian names that sound like they should be last names, ie. Fraser, Spencer and definitely McKenzie! There are a lot of names that I like but aren't so keen on the abbreviations - this would make me a very annoying parent, since children don't like being told not to abbreviate their names!

my name is one of those that can be either a first name or a surname. The difference is one letter. Question is, does it matter that people no longer seem to make the distinction?

There has always been a blurred line between first names and surnames in all cultures worldwide. I don't see what the big problem is. In Portuguese countries, people are often known by one name to save the trouble. It is also interesting to note how much sci-fi has dispensed with the 'two name' idea altogether.

B

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I wish you'd tell my Portuguese boyfriend that! He goes by the rather unwieldy name of Luis Fernando Jose Almeida Pinela do Santos! Or Ze to his friends!!

And what do you call him? Or shouldn't I ask?

B

'Oi you' works wonders!

Hereabouts, he is formally known as Mr Deakie!

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Oh, no, and the poor victim was a girl! Oh, some parents just don't think, do they?