However, not allparentswant to follow the prevailing trends and opt for more, let’s call them, creative choices. You might have a few examples in your own inner circles, too. Or be one yourself!

Interested in the unusual, we even discovered a couple of online threads where people share those that they believe should never, ever be used—but somehow are.

This post may includeaffiliate links.

I used to work for a company making yearbooks. One year we found the kids of the Sheets family. 2 girls named Silk, and Satin, and a boy named Cotton.These kinds of names make me wonder why parents hate their children.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“There has been a shift toward unique, non-traditional names as parents seek individuality for their children. Additionally, pop culture, celebrity influences, and evensocial mediatrends have introduced new names into mainstream use. Meanwhile, vintage and classic names have made a comeback, as parents look to the past for inspiration,” Ketley explained.

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True story:I’m in a Target, in the bath section, I think I was looking for like a shower curtain or something. From the a couple aisles over I hear this woman call her kid. I freeze, do a doubletake, assume I MUST have misheard. There’s NO GODDAMNED WAY SHE NAMED HER KID THAT.I head over that way as I got what I came for and it’s in the direction of the registers. Woman calls her kid again. I DID hear it correctly.Her daughter’s name was, and I s**t reddit not, Hashtag.I’m not a violent person but part of me wanted to put that woman into the towel display.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Mother: “Her name is See-ann.”Me: “What an interesting name. How do you spell that?”Mother: replied, “ S E A N”Me: “Isn’t that Sean?”Mother: “AUUUUGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! Why do people keep saying that!? So many ignorant people in this world!!!!!!”And she storms off in a huff.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

My mother was substituting teaching in a high school. When she called the roll, she stumbled on one name and said, “I know this name is wrong on the roll, so help me Ms. Jones, please say your name for me. She said it just as it was on the roll, “Urethra”. I hope her parents were aiming at Aretha, like in Franklin, and just missed a little. Either way, parents should get the name right and not harness their kids with a horrible name for life. Ooooops.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

It used to be Nevaeh, until I realized there was a Jizzabel at the elementary. Not Jezebel, JIZZabel. I wept.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

The researchers also noticed that some names cycle in and out of fashion between generations or become popular because of a positive association with a public figure or event, such as the early 2000s surge in Mileys—after the rise of teen star Miley Cyrus.

However, as spikes in the popularity of certain names became more frequent in the 21st century, those names also eventually fell out of fashion due to overuse.

Nevaeh, WE KNOW ITS HEAVEN BACKWARDS ASWELL! you don’t have to mention it every time.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Some countriestakeactive measures to save children from possible embarrassment due to an unorthodox name. For example, Iceland has a list of 1,853 female names and 1,712 male ones, and parents must pick from these lists or seek permission from a special committee. Similarly, when Japanese parents register newborns, local authorities can say no if they don’t think the name is appropriate. But, the UK and the US have much more liberal naming laws.“I feel that regulating names, such as putting bans in place for certain names, would perhaps infringe on people’s freedoms,” Kirsty Ketley said, reminding us that there’s a whole range of possible solutions. “Perhaps having guidelines instead, which help parents choose culturally appropriate names that are non-offensive, practical, etc. So not strict rules, but advice.”

Some countriestakeactive measures to save children from possible embarrassment due to an unorthodox name. For example, Iceland has a list of 1,853 female names and 1,712 male ones, and parents must pick from these lists or seek permission from a special committee. Similarly, when Japanese parents register newborns, local authorities can say no if they don’t think the name is appropriate. But, the UK and the US have much more liberal naming laws.

“I feel that regulating names, such as putting bans in place for certain names, would perhaps infringe on people’s freedoms,” Kirsty Ketley said, reminding us that there’s a whole range of possible solutions. “Perhaps having guidelines instead, which help parents choose culturally appropriate names that are non-offensive, practical, etc. So not strict rules, but advice.”

I know this woman. She’s in her early 20s, maybe 22–23. Her name is Ballgown. I am not joking. Her parents named her “Ballgown”. She quite hates her name, but does not want the cost of changing it. She has thought about nicknames, but being called “Ball” could have associations with beach balls, tennis balls or s*x. And “Gown” isn’t that great either. So people call her Ballgown.And guess what poor Ballgown’s brother is named. Inflato. WHY WOULD YOU NAME A CHILD “INFLATO”? I lose respect for parents once I start thinking “wow, that name is hilarious”. Just don’t name a child crazy things. It will make the child’s life a lot harder.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

I know a girl named Felony.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Twins were called Corona and Covid.Btw this was actually true.applepiepirate:Someone in my parents’ neighborhood did Korrona and Kovid.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Met some kids named Cain and Abel. Like seriously, if you want to flex your religion on everyone it is uneccessary. Then I realized “Oh wait, Cain killed Abel”. I was quite confused. Why would you name your kids after someone who killed the other? WHY?

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

As a teacher, I regularly see names that make me cringe, though not necessarily ready to commit violence.I once had a girl named Bo-peep. Her sister Bambi was in my class the following year.I had a boy named Elohim (Hebrew for God) one year, and his brother Adonai (also Hebrew for God) the next — I was so glad that there was not a third brother, since Jehovah was the next logical name choice.I had a girl whose first name was Rice — and her middle name was Aroni. Yes, like the side dish known as the “San Francisco treat".Another young lady was Summer, which sounded great — until I saw her middle name was Eve. Yep, like the disposable feminine hygiene products.One girl was named Marriott — born 9 months to the day after her parents' wedding because “that’s where she was made.” (A direct quote from her dad.)Yep — there are names…

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Sanitiser. Parents have actually named the child like that.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

My first year working in a school. My job was to help ECE teacher register their children. As she read the name of the children. If they weren’t crying they sat on the rug.As I had a mass of children crying around me. She left her assistant reading to the children on the rug. It was then our job to decipher the cryers names.It to us awhile. But we were down to 3 kids. We asked them numerous times what their names were. But neither answered. I told the teacher to read the names. But it was only one name.She asked the girls which one was K 8. Puzzled I asked “K8?” She showed it to me. Astonished I told the letter and number went together. The girl’s name was K8, Kate. Her parents named her K8.When the parents picked up the kids from school I waited at the door. I had to find out what parent would name their daughter with something so closely related to K9.The mother explained that in her family the first granddaughter was named Kate. She wanted her daughter to have it uniquely written. I told her that her daughter would be teased as she progressed in school. As the school psychologist I worried about this.After 2nd grade her husband had his wife legally change her name. It was not Kate. The girl wanted to be named Tiffanie.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

A child in my son’s preschool had a name that the teacher couldn’t figure out. The name was La-a. The parent got impatient with the teacher and told her that “the dash ain’t silent”.Pronunciation was Ladasha. I wonder if that girl changed her name when she turned 18.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

I worked at an elementary school for 24 years and heard lot of unusual names but the worst was “Chaos”. At first, upon seeing this name in writing, I thought perhaps it was pronounced differently and when I questioned the mother how they said it, she said, “Just like it’s spelled”. I lost all respect for her and the child’s father.When “Chaos” arrived in kindergarten, he proved true to his name. He ended up requiring a paraeducator to attend to his behavior the entire day and essentially ruined the learning environment for all the students in the classroom.Clearly the child wasn’t “Chaos” when he entered the world but became such as a result of what his parents expected or wanted due to naming him with complete disregard for his future.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

I used to work in recruitment and saw a cv with the name Goodness and Mercy on it. That was her full name. I had to call her up like “is this Goodness and Mercy?”.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Met a young couple with an adorable little girl.I held her for a few minutes and asked what her name was.They replied “Grendel.”I said that she was going to be a real man-eater when she grew up.They didn’t know what I was talking about.I told them to Google or Wiki the name ‘Grendel.’I would have paid a lot to be there when they did that … !

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Stuff like Precious, Chanel or Diamond.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

A place I worked at had a student named MLE. as in “Emily”.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Really aggressive “masculine” names like Jagger, Axel, Diesel, Gunner. Also naming siblings very similar names ie: Emma and Emily, Jack and Jake, Taylor and Tyler. No, it’s not cute that “they match! “…Let your kids have their own identity!same goes for Steele, Magnum, Blaze, and Hunter.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Khaleesi. Or any other name from whatever tv show / movie is popular at the time they’re born. By the time they’re ten, 99% of the time that name will be all but meaningless to most people, except as a ‘remember that thing that nobody cares about any more?’ sort of reminder.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

When I was around 12, I knew a kid named “Store”. The f**k kind of name is store?

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Any liquor based name.You have damned your child to, at the very minimum, a life of stripperdom.I went to school with a girl named Taquila. Guess what she does for a living.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

My father knew someone in grade school names Jack Hass. When teachers would as his name, he’d say it right out as natural as can be. There was a very good lady in Texas in the 1920s, or so, named Ima Hogg. My last name is Storton. When my first son was on the way, I went around telling people I was going to name him Norton. lol

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

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As my husband calls them.. the McNugget kids. He worked with a guy that had a McKayla, McKinsley and McKenzie. Dude was a level 4 aerospace engineer with either terrible taste or with a domineering wife that had terrible taste.Best part was when he found out we have identical twin boys with traditional Italian family names that aren’t matching at all. He couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t have gone with something like Brayden and Brandon.Listen sir, their faces already match so their names don’t have to.

My mother once had a student named Cinderella Famous Aquanet.I had a friend who had a student named Tyquan Doe ( Tai Kwan Do)When I used to substitute teach, I had two kids in different classes that had crazy names.A little girl named Nicorette. And a little boy named Kodiak Baer Trapp.

When I was growing up, we had two sisters as family friends. Candy and Sugar. Their last name was Cain.

Bout 8 years ago the New Zealand Government took legal action to prevent a couple calling their child a**l.

Uber (a parent actually named their kid this).

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Either a Jr or a rework of their own name. Narcissism at its finest. (Also I went to school with a girl named Neila. Her dad’s name is Neil. But they obviously didn’t think it through because everyone called her Alien.).

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Apple.

Mackeyinsleigh or s**t like that, I’m talking about Addiesawn, or Braedear.

I know a woman named Lovely …and she really is not I suspect her parents were optimists…but she’s a horrible person and no not pretty either.I just used her last name after a while.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

My daughter’s kindergarten teacher had a student registered as Pharpel. When the mother learned her son was being addressed as such she exclaimed, “His name is Parnell !” The teacher was all apologetic that the school record had his name wrong. The mother replied, “That’s how we spell Parnell !”

I taught a girl named Ra’Jame. Looking at that name, I bet you could think of three or four different ways to pronounce it.They’re wrong. I guarantee you that no matter what you are thinking, it’s wrong.Ready for the real pronunciation?You sure?Okay….Ray Jean.No, not a typo. Ray Jean. With an “n”. And a long “e” sound.Her parents were either illiterate or drunk. Or both. That poor kid.

I came across someone named Immaculate today lmao.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

I know someone who named their daughter Neveah and 3 years later named their son Messiah.

Princess. Tiara. DiamondI get it, she’s precious.

My mom wanted to name me “Puck”. It’s one letter away from the Swedish equivalent of dumbs. It’s like naming your child Dum or Dolt. Thank fk my dad didn’t let that fly. Wtf was she thinking?

My mom used to work on a maternity ward. One mum called her boy Diesel.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Taking foreign names and butchering them because “they’re too hard to spell or say”. Yeah, it’s not English or Latin based, so it does not look familiar, if you don’t like that it is foreign, then why choose it? Aidan is not aydynn, Síobhan is not Shivaughn (wtf is that) and I will laugh in your face if your “source” is an American website with no actual credit to it when the name is Irish, check Irish websites, Gaeilge (not Gaelic) is our language, so we sort of do know what we’re talking about.Don’t take a name from elsewhere and butcher it, just don’t, and don’t give Irish surnames to your kid without checking their meaning first. Kennedy actually means “The chieftain’s helmet”, does that sound like a name for your daughter? Really? Dylan is Welsh and means “son of the sea”, Brannagh is Irish and means “Welshman”. By their very definitions, they’re not female. Cailin is pronounced “Cah-leen”, not Kay-lynn so don’t get annoyed if Irish people call you the former, thankfully, that is a feminine word and means “Girl” in Gaeilge. If you want to call your daughter these names, no one can stop you, but I will not understand why you would and if you are going to do it, learn the meaning, for the love of whatever you believe in, learn it.

I once met a hippie family. The dad was Phil, the mom was Synesthesia Wild, and the daughters were Playalina, and twins Kissandra and Kissy Mae. I thought I had misheard the twins names, but then the mom said, “their names both begin with Kiss” and realized I hadn’t. I thought those names would set the girls up for bullying and worse as they grew up (they were probably 2 and 4 at the time).I heard from someone else that the parents had given the children LSD at a big party. I often wonder whatever happened to those kids.

Any notable brand names. Chanel, Celine, Armani, Versace.. Bonus points if they have a few kids and all of them are named after brands. Just… why?

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Me and my mum ran into a girl, around 6 years old. She said, my name is a-b-c-d-e! My mum laughed and told her good job on the alphabet. The parents, one of which was definitely drunk, said that’s her name. Abcde. I could help but turn around to hide my laughter. Poor girl. This was last year.oh, and Kristen, only spelled Kris-10. Like at least spell it. I like the name, if you don’t spell it like that. Also, those kinds of names makes the programming system in my dads company not work for that client, so it makes life complicated. And, I have to assume, we kids aren’t the nicest, so there’s that.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

I was doing a presentence report interview. For the family section, I asked the defendant what her kids' names were. She said she named one daughter “My Kisses” and the other daughter “Luv Deep.”I wondered if those poor girls used their real names on stage 20 years later, when they were both undoubtedly stripping…

There was a kid I went to school with who had the first name Dietary. The parents got the idea from a hospital worker who had a badge on who worked in Dietary and thought that was her name, so they named their son Dietary!

Chardonnay.

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

Boy/girl twins - Peter and Peta.

There was a couple who loved Celine Dion’s music. They had two daughters, one named Celine and one name Dion.

Jayden, or any bastardization of two or more words that make no damn sense.

Saw a r/AITA post about someone’s sister naming their kid “Anakin Skywalker Lastname” without ever having seen a Star Wars movie. The whole post, I was just thinking “Poor, poor kid..”.

My ex was in the Air Force with a guy who refused to give his whole name when instructed to they ended up court marshaling him. Even then he would not say his full name so finally the judge told him to whisper his name to him the guy said his full name was Julius Master Bates!! Thankfully he was told he would only have to say his 1st and last name. My ex asked why he didn’t change his name and he said that he couldn’t dishonor his family like that!!

Espn.

Le4’che Henry.

I came onto this thread to see if anyone hated my name.Anyway, I’d like to nominate twin’s names.Some twins’ names are okay, But Molly and Maddy are on thin ice. Brayden and Aiden are WAY too close. Taylor and Tyler? Ella and Emma?There were two sisters that went to my school, both named Olivia.Family friends named their two daughters Emma and Emma-Kate.I knew one family who named their girls Rose, Daisy, Lily and Poppy. They named their boys Ash, Birch, and Thorne.Don’t give your kids matching names.

I have two.A lady in my hometown gave birth to a little girl. When they came in to fill out necessary paperwork and get the little one’s name, the mama said “ Her name is Femahly”.: When asked if that was a family name, the mama told them no, that the nursery staff had named her. When they questioned that, mama said, “It’s right there on that pink card in her bed. See, it says F E M A L E. Femahly".Another, woman gives birth to twin boys. She wanted something a bit unusual so one was named Lemangelo; the other was named Orahngelo. They weren’t spelled like these, however. They were Lemonjello and Orangejello (lemon jello…orange jello).

“Guess What She Does For A Living”: 30 Of The Worst Baby Names People Have Encountered

When I was a freshman in college, the resident assistant at my dormitory was Irish-American with the last name Lingaas. A notoriously foul-mouthed guy walked up and said “So how’s your cousin Connie?” She looked stunned and asked “How did you know I had a cousin named Connie?”Yes, her cousin’s name was Connie Lingaas. And no, it never occurred to her parents that there was anything wrong with the name.My oldest sister was a candy striper in high school. One of the girls she worked with was named Nancy Drew. She was a bit stockier than the girl in the books but wore a similar hairstyle. I wonder how many jokes she had to put up with.

I knew many a tribal woman with Western names, all of them meaningful and sweet. “Princess”, “Sweetness”, and my personal favourite “Pudding”.There was one woman named “NoFurniture” as her mother had … no furniture.Several Gonorrheas and Syphilis. Women in labour asking medical students their name, so they could call their child after the doctor who helped them. That does make me cross.But the worst here in the UK is a “Tsofia”. From a woman who wanted her child to have a unique spelling. Of course no one knew how to pronounce it, which irritated her immensely. Just stop. It’s a lovely name and it is spelled Sofia!

I had some tenants who adopted a little girl named Pestilence. Thankfully, they changed it as soon as they adopted her and she was very young so she wouldn’t have endured any ridicule yet.Also know of a couple named Harry and Rosie Butt. Poor Harry had no choice but I can’t believe Rosie didn’t just keep her maiden name!

I knew twins named Saffron and Sapphire.

Many years ago, when my daughter was an infant, I moved into a 4-plex. Because my daughter was still nursing, I kept her in bed with me at night. After all, if she can eat while she’s sleeping, it’s only fair that I should be able to sleep while she’s eating.Anyway, I woke up in the wee hours because the weirdo upstairs had broken into my unit and was in the process of crawling into my bed. I freaked out - mainly because I didn’t know if the weirdo was after me or my daughter. I jumped out of the bed screaming and yelling and chased this weirdo’s scrawny ass out of my home. Then I called the police.While waiting, I started looking around to see if I could figure out how he got in. I knew I had locked the deadbolt, but when he ran out, he didn’t unlock the door. Which means that he prepared in advance for a quick getaway. I finally discovered that he had removed my kitchen window - frame and all. Left his tools and clothes on the ground under the window.Police arrived, and they did some investigating of their own. They discovered that there were tool marks on ALL the windows and told me, “This guy was coming in.” Believe it or not, the idiot was still hanging around in the yard outside when the police came. So, they arrested him.I never learned his name until we went to court - Harry Legg. THAT’s when my sense of humor finally kicked in.

Naming your kid any gem like diamond, any article of jewelry, “Faith”, “Charity”, or anything like that is awful (in my opinion).

Chadwick. Why. Just why.

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Larysa Perih

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Shelly Fourer

Parenting