Today, however, a topic has struck me. I was inspired by a video I just watched on YouTube to do a little thinking about really bad names. Here is the video that provoked such random nonsense:
I do strongly believe this man has had WAY too much caffeine, but he does hit on a topic I've always found interesting, BAD NAMES.
While investigating this topic further I found a very interesting article about bad names from the New York times citing the worst name as Iona Knipl. I have to say that one is definitely a contender.
When I think of horrible things to name people, celebrities always seem to pop into my head. It could be that some of my favorite bad baby names come from celebs, I suppose. There are the standard crazy names like Apple and Coco, but they do tend to get stranger than that. Jason Lee named his son, Pilot Inspektor. If you thought Michael was the only Jackson to misname his children (cite Prince Michael and Blanket here), you'd be wrong. Older brother Jermaine named his son Jermajesty. A personal favorite of mine are the names director Richard Rodriguez (Spy Kids and El Mariache) named his four boys, Rebel, Rocket, Racer, and Rouge. I'm quite certain I will not be answering that phone call for a babysitting job. A new favorite is Speck Wildhorse, John Mellencamp's son. Nothing like giving your child a serious self esteem problem. I can hear it now, "I know why no one loves me! I'm just a speck!!"
Sometimes what I feel really takes the cake are the middle names. For example, Sage doesn't sound like a terribly horrible name, especially if you are wise or like herbs. However, pair it with the the middle name Moonblood and you've got a real winner. Apparently Stalone wasn't thinking that one through. Another, slightly different example of this is when the first and last name fit together to make a catchy saying, like Tu Morrow. Yikes...it's just asking for ridicule and it takes all the creativity in other kids figuring out how to change your name around to tease you.
Outside of the world our Hollywood, some real life names I've encountered have stuck with me as unusal. I'm sure this list will continue to grow and grow and grow. Spider. There is a boy where I grew up with that name. I hope he's not afraid of them. Lemonjello and Orangejello (pronounced le-mon-ja-low and oar-an-ja-low respectively). Also, the fun phonetically spelled name Cardeair. Love those diamonds, but French is difficult to spell correctly.
If you know of any other ridiculous names, I'm always curious. Please share them with me.
In addition, here is the link to the 33 worst celebrity baby names for your reading pleasure: http://www.babble.com/celebrity/celebrity-style/33-worst-celebrity-baby-names/?page=1
