Thursday, February 25, 2010

North of the Border

While I'm preparing press info for the new book, I came across an article on names in Canada (specifically Alberta)... They just released statistics for babies born last year

They broke down a list of "unique" names (as in, only having appeared once last year)...Here are some of the more usual ones:

Crazyhorse
Alias
Lightning
Philopateer
Wrath
Yak
Iex
Eloquence
Fury
Poetic
Qhloe (seriously???)
Society
Xanet
Gallary

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Science agrees with me...go figure

I must post this because this is not only ironic, but well...you'll see.

So currently on the front page of Yahoo! 9via Live Science) is an article entitled
Parents Choosing More Unusual Baby Names Now

I'm thinking...I LITERALLY just wrote the book on this but ok...what's funny is, the article points out that giving children odd names is akin to narcissism.

So I had to add my two cents to the comment page of course and then a comment exchange caught my eye (I think someone in the conversation missed the point but again you'll see what I mean...) I've highlighted the key points...LMAO

XXXX wrote:

I think one reason people are choosing more unusual names is that they do not want their child to be one of many in a classroom sharing the same name. For example, Lily S. and Lily W. in the same class. People may also want their child's name to reflect their ancestral background. Also, we are exposed to far more names than any previous generation thanks to immigration and the media. What I do not understand are the people who give their child a popular name and change the spelling, as if that somehow makes them different. I feel sorry for the kids whos parents make up stupid names.

AND THEN DIRECTLY BELOW THAT

XXXX wrote:

Some names aren't unusual, they're just spelled differently. I named my daughter Aydrienne Alecx. My name is very common, and in a high school class of about 400 I had several girls in my class with the same first name. I wanted something unique for my daughter because nothing common interested me and my ex-husband. Common names are safe. Unique represents my personality. Nowadays, uncommon is the new common. My fiance and I have also picked unique names for our future children. I'm not picking "unusual" names for my benefit. I want my child to be unique. I believe in individualism. Why does everyone have to be the same? Why do I have to conform & name my children a common name like Mary or Robert? My name is Sarah & my fiance's name is Steven. I have several friends named Jenny. Sometimes common isn't always better!

*major eyeroll and facepalm* Extra points to whoever can tell me how many rules that name broke.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Your Honor...

So, two full days in and the EJB book is already generating some funny names stories...

Let me start by saying I have some awesome supportive friends!!

This story comes via my friend AJ.

AJ is a motivational speaker and a member of Toastmasters. She ordered a copy of the book on the day it was released. As it happens she had to give a humor speech at her Toastmasters meeting so she structured it around the book.

She messaged me to say, not only did she win her competition, but here's what happened next...

Apparently one of her audience members laughed to the point of tears. He came up to her afterwards and told her that he was a law student. Ironically, he'd just had to sit through a trial where one of the participants had a rather "unusal" name...

It was so bad in fact the judge (who was apparently one of those old school southern types) actually had trouble calling this woman by her name. That's because her name was...(wait for it, wait for it...)

Clitoris

...and I'm done. ROTFL.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Really?

I had to laugh this morning.

Stuck in traffic I found myself flipping radio stations and landed on the Rickey Smiley morning show. I'm not usually a huge fun, but every week they do a segment called "Paternity Test Tuesdays," where they have a couple in the studio live to find out the results of a paternity test.

Today...

Today...smh

Today... they had a couple who were getting a paternity test for their 17 year old (???--yeah 17 ??? why now??? I don't know).

Well the mother's name was Beth. The father's name was Sam. And the girl's name...

Boquisha

[insert scooby doo noise here]

I thought I had misheard this, but the hosts started snickering...and then one of them asked first for the parents to spell it...and then if the name had any special significance.

Dad's answer: "well I was a big fan of Bo Jackson, so we just ran with it"

*head smack*

aaaaaaaaand I'm done.

PS. She wasn't his daughter

Friday, February 12, 2010

Lion-O...You Are NOT the Father

The advantage of being snowed in for a week...you get to catch up on all the talk shows.

In particular I love Maury... because constant episodes about paternity testing means lots of babies and lots of babies means lots of weird baby names.

In this case it wasn't a paternity test, but a guest who was sure her sister was cheating with her boyfriend or some such mess. I probably would've tuned it out except her name was...

Cheetara

You may be thinking to yourself...hmmm... that name sounds vaguely familiar.


*Face palm*
Thundercats! Thundercats! Thundercats...hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Monday, February 1, 2010

I'll Take You...Shopping?

I forgot about this one until someone reminded me on Facebook...

The Staple Singers...the patriarch of the group was Roebuck "Pops" Staple. What most people don't know is he had a twin who's name is... Sears