I'm all for unique and clear identifiers for everything, including people, but jesus christ, imagine yourself in elementary school having a weird name. Why would parents choose a hard mode for their progeny?

[–] Fonderthud@lemm.ee 65 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I'm a big proponent of normal/semi obscure normal first name, weird middle name. John W Smith if you work in sales, J Wolfgang Smith if you're an author. Perfect compromise.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

We gave our daughter a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant. We just wanted a name that wasn't religious but still normal enough that she wouldn't get bullied for it (she got bullied anyway). We realized later that it actually made sense in terms of her ancestry because her mother has a plant name, her grandmother has a plant name and her great-grandmother had a plant name. One long lineage of plant names.

[–] crazyCat@sh.itjust.works 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Dude I see you around here on the regular, so I’ll mention that this is ironic for me to read this, because we also named our daughter an old, obscure but “real” name that is also a plant (a flower, specifically).

It’s from France, so I asked a French friend before using it if it was ok to use and not a weird name, and they said “sure it’s ok, but it’s like an old grandma’s name no one uses anymore.” And that’s when I knew it was the one!

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

Yep, that was basically our reasoning. Vintage name, so it's memorable, but not a weird one and spelled normally.

And absolutely not religious.

[–] whereBeWaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Wait, it's all bullying?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago (2 children)

She was bullied for other reasons. Most significantly being as eccentric as her parents.

[–] trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That does tend to happen to children that are half human and half flying squid

[–] hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

At least she can spray ink on her enemies and then fly away.

[–] trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Good tactic for almost any situation in life imo

[–] Zekas@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Honestly being bullied for a weird name just feels like victim blaming. It's just someone else's shitty behaviour we're expected to dance around? That was the one problem with the name.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't disagree, but it's also a parental responsibility, in my opinion, to help your child avoid bullying. It's not possible to avoid entirely, but there are definitely ways to make it worse. And a weird name is one of them.

[–] Spendrill@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago

Give a kid a weird name and the bully will pick on them but set a bully on fire... no... wait, I think I got that wrong.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It may be someone else’s problem, but as a parent , you should consider your child’s well being when naming them, and try to avoid obvious pitfalls

[–] Zekas@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

I mean yes obviously, but still. Just angering me we have to fight human shittiness with something like this

[–] atx_aquarian@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Always has been.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant

Describing it like that makes it really tempting to try and guess the name. Out of respect for your and her privacy, I won't, though.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Okay, I admit it. Her name is Cannabis Indica.

[–] hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What an awful parent you are, doxxing your own kid on the internet!

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Never post while high.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 6 points 7 months ago

Same boat. I think I guessed it, and it's absolutely killing me knowing I'll never know if I'm right. But also, my brain itch doesn't trump doxxing a person (or even a squid) or their kid.

[–] Korne127@lemmy.world 17 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Ngl having "Wolfgang" as an example for a weird name was really strange to read for me… but I'm German.

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

It's a pretty common practice where I live for a kid to be named after someone for their first name, but go by their middle name. So I think it's perfectly fine to have one normal name and one weird name in any order.

A. John Smith is an accountant. Atreyu J. Smith is a musician who wears leather pants and some sort of studded headband.

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Let me introduce you to Marijuana Pepsi:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana_Pepsi_Vandyck

The kicker is her parents and siblings have normal names.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 months ago

In the fall of 2019, Vandyck sponsored the Marijuana Pepsi Scholarship for first-generation African-American students at UW–Whitewater.

If someone with a brand name… name… starts a same-industry business in their name, or offers a scholarship for nazis, I wonder what kind of recourse the original brand has.

[–] hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Now I'm really curious about how people call her in day-to-day life.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 4 points 7 months ago

That may be one case where a non medical PhD would be justified in just going by Doc

[–] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 months ago

mari, or mary.

[–] awwwyissss@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Imagine you're a seven years old little fat kid and your name is Leviathan

[–] deafboy@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

That one I actually like. It's easy to short it to Levi in public, but still be able to flex among friends.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

I guess if everyone has a weird name, that doesn't matter. Maybe kids don't make fun of weird names anymore. Who knows, maybe it's the Johns and Marys who get made fun of for having uninteresting names.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 months ago

My name is a standard name, but super uncommon here. It's not that bad, since I got picked on about as much as anyone else. It's not like they won't just because your name is unremarkable.

[–] Tolstoshev@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Narcissism

[–] Adramis@midwest.social 2 points 7 months ago

If you don't get bullied for your name, you'll just get bullied for something else. At least with the name you can blame it on your parents, maybe. Kids are assholes.