The Origin of Strange Names

Name, the Macquarie dictionary definition of names is “A word or a combination of words by which a person, place or thing is designated or known”.

People and places have had names as long as history knows, from Adam and Eve. This tradition of giving a new born baby a name still exists in the 21st century, however the types of names people are given have changed. Peoples facination with being different have brought about some unusual names.

Think of the strangest names you can possible think of! Do you wonder what their parents were thinking at this time. Some great examples of strange names can be found in hollywood. Some of these are:

Fifi Trixibelle (Paula Yates and Bob Geldof)

Moon Unit (Frank and Gail Zappa)

Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin)

Satchel (Mia Farrow and Woody Allen)

Peaches (Paula Yates and Bob Geldof)

Tiger Lily Heavenly Hirani (Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence)

Unique names are not only found by the ’strange’ sounding names but the normal names, however given to the opposite sex. I refer to a traditional boy’s name being given to a girl and vice a versa. A prime example of this is the wonderful and classy looking Hayden Panettiere who when i first saw her i didn’t realise she was the girl in the film.

Then we come to names that don’t go together (the first and last names). By itself the first name of the person sounds normal but when in whole you think the parents must have been on drugs and didn’t realise what torture it might bring to their small one.

Mary Christmas

Sue Aside

Candy Bar

Eric Erik

Tim Morrow (tomorrow)

Similarly are names of siblings within families such as brother and sister called Jack and Jill. Just think of the stories they would hear about their names, seriously!

Then we come to the just plan stupid names. Most people related to Adolf Hitler do not want to be affiliated with him but some small child called Hitler would not be the most fun name to tell people. Then we come to:

Derek Parlane Stein Jackson Hunter McCloy Kennedy Scott Forsyth Henderson Boyd Robertson O’Hara Johnstone Miller Dawson Armour McDougall McLean McKean Fyfe McDonald Jardine Young Morris Denny Hamilton Watson Greig Wallace McQueen

A young man from Glasgow who is named after the entire 1974-75 Rangers title winning team.

So where have all the good ‘ol names like Bob and Bill gone? We’ll the world is changing and so are names apparently. This is ever increasing by the use of Nicknames where people don’t even use there birth given name anymore. So what does the future have install for names? We’ll I couldn’t start to imagine, maybe we will have numbers instead.

However here is my philosphy, however strange it is, as to why names have got so different. Think of the children’s book character Winnie the Pooh. He is accepted into many households as a loved fictional character, but who seriuosly thought up that name. Imagine meeting someone called Winnie the Pooh! With parents having more freedom in choosing names and influences of outrageous names i guess people think their child has a unique but sensible name compared to some people (or fictional character). However strange your name may be, its yours and the stranger it is the more uniquely different you are!!!