Non-Traditional Names
This is not something I'm proud of, but I have a prejudice against names like Shaneeta or Gifty. I once embarrassed myself chatting to a (very nice) girl at work when I made a crack about names with apostrophes in them - it turned out her name was La'Shan.

The thing is, I totally understand that names coming from other cultures are going to be different, and don't necessarily map to a traditional spelling when they're based on non-English names, places and people. I can't defend my prejudice, but I can't seem to get rid of it either.

This is only going to get worse - I'm moving to the US next year.
(Seebeedee, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 16:49, 11 replies)

I talked a friend out of naming his daughter "Coco"
it's going to be her second name though.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 16:56, closed)

I'm not so down on these myself...
... given the cultural point. It's the wilful mis-spellings of names to make them more "individual" that annoy me. Yeah, they'll mark you out as individual - as an individual who can't spell.
Just like the tattoo of a butterfly/Chinese symbol above your left arsecheek will mark you out as similarly "unique" to the other 500,000 dunderheads with the same thing.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 16:59, closed)

I'm told that there is such a name (in the USA, where else)
as Shithead, pronounced Shaw-Teed.

Someone I chat to online heard a nurse trying to call out a patient called Shithead Something-Or-Other and failing miserably, through a combination of giggles and panic.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 17:00, closed)

You know how people use terms like bud or guv'nor
when having brief interactions with people (male, generally) they're never going to get to know (delivery men, parking attendants etc). I knew a chap who always referred to them as Ted. To him it was an abbreviation of shit 'ed.
(Cave Duck, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 17:31, closed)

One of my late uncle's friends used to call his brother "Ark"
Short for "Our Kid"
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:22, closed)

Where?
What part of the US? That will determine largely whether or not you see what you call strange names.
(Magus Zeal reloading since, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 18:16, closed)

A mate & I play
American Footballer daft name top trumps. Examples:

Lawyer Milloy
Plaxico Burress
Laverneus Coles
Keyshawn Johnson
LaDainian Tomlinson

And, as I once (badly) joked on Sickipedia:

In most of the world, Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea and Syphilis are sexually-transmitted diseases; in Harlem, they're girls' names.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:33, closed)

You're forgetting...
Other great NFL names such as:

D'Brickashaw Ferguson
Captain Munnerlin (which conjures an amazing image of a sea captain with a bushy beard)
King Dunlap

I also like Ritchie Incognito but that's obviously not due to his first name.
(rich.cicatriz should be doing something more constructive on, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 20:44, closed)

Plaxico?
*snigger*
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Wed 7 Apr 2010, 10:48, closed)

A friend of mine had three girls called Casey in her class one year.
They all had different spellings.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Tue 6 Apr 2010, 20:21, closed)

Yikes
From the first paragraph, I assumed you *were* in the US.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Wed 7 Apr 2010, 10:37, closed)