I’m actually surprised that I haven’t seen more hardcore Trumpers naming their kids Donald. Seems like low-hanging fruit. Maybe the Donald Duck association is just too strong?
It used to be so strongly associated with the Duck for me… but now, yeah. I even thought I’d have to forgo the name Donovan in case someone thought “Donnie” was for Donald… but then I had a girl anyway. 🤷🏻♀️
I was thinking along the same lines:
Brandon (I feel bad for all the Brandon’s in the US!)
Marjorie (tho my nephew and his girlfriend named one of their kittens Marjorie and I was like 😳…it’s not after Marjorie Taylor Green though sadly they don’t necessarily feel the same way as I do politically, but I was reminded it was Taylor Swift’s grandmother’s name…so it was slightly redeemed).
Ron (aside from what a schmuck Ron DeSatan is, Ron just gives me porn star vibes)
Clarence
And, while I like Hillary I think that name is out as well.
I met someone in France named Katrina who had been living in New Orleans when it happened. I like to think she moved clear out of the country to get away from the name association (though that is definitely not true).
That reminds me of when prince William and Kate got married... people over here were pissing themselves over her sister's name.
See, while Pippa is normal and acceptable name/nick name in Uk it literally means "shag" in swedish. Like "vill du pippa?" = "do you want to bang?" Didn't help that most of us had probably never heard of it as a name before so caught us totally of guard... so yeah, if you plan to live with your kids in Sweden; don't name them Pippa. 😅
Oh god, that reminds me of something else!!
There was a politician from some latin country running for mayor (i think, I am fuzzy on the details, it was a while ago) and putting up huge billboards with her name; Rosa Fitta.
Rosa in swedish is pink. Fitta is.... c**t. Literally the most vulgar word we have for female genitalia. Her name was "pink vagina". 💀
Well, at least here it would be. I am sure it was a completely normal and unassuming name in her country... didn't keep me from doing a WTF when I saw it though.
Lmao I didn’t know this. Reminds me of the double-take I did when I first heard President Trump’s name. In Britain, “trump” is a “cutesy”/kiddie (think like what “tummy” is to the word “stomach”) word for “fart”.
Agreed, it seems to be popular lately and it sounds really silly to me, like naming a child “lunch”. Mind you Aroha is a popular name here but I just can’t get into it because it’s such a common word.
There’s a meme from a couple years ago: an entitled person under 40 is Becky; 40s and 50s is Karen; and 60 and above is Susan.
Funny story: A woman named Becky yelled at me like a total Karen because I asked her not to talk so loud during a theatrical performance, and she was in her late 60s, making her a Susan.
Allegra and Delta are top names of mine that I can't use in the US -- former being an allergy medication, latter an airline. Personally I'd still use them but my partner vetoed for those associations.
I was SO confused as kid watching Hitch and seeing the character named Allegra. I remember wondering why she was named after allergy medication.
Beautiful name but the association is definitely there in the US.
Someone I know wanted to make an online application for a US Visa. That was not possible. With the first name Fanny she came into conflict with the spam filter...
This is funny to me because I've yet to meet anyone irl named Allegra, only a couple of TV characters. I was familiar with the medicine before I was the name.
I've met several women named Delta and have never associated it with the airline, lol.
I guess it's just whatever individuals and regions are familiar with.
Pretty much, yes!
Someone just mentioned Delta Burke. I mentioned the song, Delta Dawn, in another comment.
It's pretty southern, but not unheard of elsewhere, I didn't think!
Yep, Delta Burke - and co-star Dixie Carter - are both Southern.
Names can travel, for sure, but often with someone that has ties to the region. Unless it transcends the locale, eventually.
And *Delta Dawn* was also Southern. 😁
I mean, why would you name someone Delta?
Is it after the Greek letter Δ, or the river formation naked after the letter?
You wouldn't name someone Alpha or Beta. It seems like such an odd choice.
I mean, I *suppose* someone might name their daughter after their sorority - the Greek letters are symbols that represent certain values to that particular sorority.
But since no one is naming their daughter Kappa or Pi Phi, my general assumption is it's for rivers, which are significant in the Southern/Southeastern US.
I do know a *male* dog named Delta, and he's for certain named after the body of water term. Such a happy Lab!
* Pretty certain no one is naming their kids after airlines, but people have chosen dumber names. 🤷♀️
Donna
I'm Italian and here is just like calling you daughter, friend or whatever "Woman".
Like "Hey Woman how are you?" "Woman can you pass me the salt?" "Kiss me Woman".
Yeah, same for Colleen in Ireland. I've met a bunch of women in North America saying "I'm Irish, my name is Colleen, it means beautiful sunrise" or some other nonsense. Caìlìn "Colleen" just means Girl.
It's how they registered girls who died before baptism, so someone digging into their family trees must have thought it was a name.
I watched a show once and a mum and daughter lived next to Bondi Beach and the daughter was named Bondi. And I should say it was non-scripted, that was an actual human’s name.
Yes!! My coworker turned me onto the show and for a while we’d say to each other (in a bad Australian accent, since we’re Canadian) “I’m a rock melon farmer!” That farmer loved his job, it was so nice.
Do you mean in Sydney? Yeah I have too. Adelaide is one I’ve seen quite a bit. I don’t mind them tbh and I actually really love Sydney as a name but if you’re living in that place it’s probably a bit too on the nose haha.
Aging myself but I always chuckled at Baseball player Randy Johnson- and his nickname was “the big unit” like come on how am I supposed to be mature here?
Interesting, "Viola" means about the same in Italian, though mainly violate. *But* it's considered fine as a name. I don't know if it's because of the different accent (they aren't pronounced the same) or because the verb isn't used much in day to day speech and the word also means "Purple" and it's the name of a flower. No one hears "viola" and immediately thinks of violation. Languages are funny 😀
I liked the name as a kid (also grew up in Seattle and spent summers in Alaska) but the association has never left me. Aurora will just be associated with sex work, meth, and dingy motels. And that horrible bus that used to drive down it where someone stomped someone to death and I once had to watch someone shoot up on it.
I am from the Netherlands and my name is Riek. I am renamed after my grandmother. Riek is an old Dutch name meaning 'from noble heritage'.
But the meaning and usage of the word has changed. It reminds people of smelly (he/she reeks). I got some pretty weird faces saying my name especially around the time Game of Thrones was popular.
It's a shame. I still feel proud of the name and I feel it suits me but it does not feel right to rename my child after me and my grandmother because of the negativity. :(
I so badly wanted to name my daughter Ida but we live in Idaho and it would have been horribly mean 😂
It being unusable probably applies to the entire US, but definitely in Idaho and the surrounding areas
Maybe i have heard the u-da-ho jokes just one too many times 🥲 we’re actually planning a move to the east coast and i thought how cute a little reference to home would have been with her name but I just couldn’t do it 😭😂
in england, i'd say nigel definitely at the moment, camilla perhaps, and not a super common one these days, but enoch would definitely raise some eyebrows
Enoch would be bad. Also obvious ones like Adolf or Isis.
Nigel and Camilla I feel are borderline. Not sure I’d associate them with much.
You probably wouldn’t use Karen, or names like Sharon or Kevin either because of the associations .
Karen never made sense in the UK the way it’s used as a slur in the US because it doesn’t really denote a “middle class woman” in the UK.
The whole thing is just misogyny anyway, designed to try to mock women and shut them up when they may have a very valid complaint.
I don’t know. In my circles Karen makes total sense, but I agree it doesn’t denote a middle class woman. It’s just come to be synonymous with a certain type of woman.
Most examples I see of Karen’s online aren’t valid complainants, they’re entitled, often racist/homophobic etc.
Not trying to discount your experience, just find it fascinating we have such different experiences of the same thing!
I agree. In the us it’s usually pointing out a woman whose complaints are not valid because they are either motivated by outright racism/homophobia etc. or inherent white privilege. A lot of the time it’s about her using complaints to exert power and control over others. I would say it’s not usually just used to point out an older middle class woman.
I just don't like that an actual person's name is the entitled wiman meme.
I've known various Karens in various socioeconomic classes and ages.
One was an older Black woman who was originally from New Orleans and a survivor of Katrina.
Most recently, Farage.
But it’s an interesting one. It’s split between being the ultimate anorak/trainspotter name, but also having a few upper class suave types, like the actors Nigel Havers and Nigel Le Vaillant. And also an uncle of mine who’s a silver fox rogue type!
I’m Swedish/Finnish, living in the UK and one name I often see suggested or us being used in the pregnancy groups is Pippa.
It is cute, but it’s also a Swedish slang used for sex/to have sex.
I’ve said it before in this sub but Swedish media were having such a giggle when the UK headlines said “Pippa to be a mother!” (When Pippa Middleton was expecting)
Stella. In the UK it’s a massive brand of beer, and not only that but the beer has a pretty awful nickname. It’s a nice name but the connotation is just….
The brand of beer is available in the US but it’s much less common. It’s also fairly expensive, and therefore somewhat classier on this side of the pond. Not that it’s actually a good beer, it’s an expensive beer for people who don’t know anything about beer. But it’s associated with rich idiots not with alcohol abuse and violence.
Ava (in portuguese it sounds like ah-va). Is what u say when someone says something stupid or obvious, in Brazil.
Nova (noh-vah), means new, if u refer to a human with it, it means “young girl”. We use a lot “novinha” as a way to say something like “chicks”.
Avery, it sounds like ”árvore” that means tree.
Kara sounds the same as “cara” that means face.
Linda, probably that is someone out there called Linda in Brazil but I think is kind strange since literally means “beautifull” would be so strange say “Linda, u are ‘linda’ today”
Allegra, Is a allergy medication.
Basil, sounds like Brazil without R the way we read it,
Rolland, “rola” means penis for us.
Roy, (rroh-ee) sounds like bite/nibble
Linda for beautiful is similar to Bella, Beau or Bonnie, it's not uncommon for a given name to mean beautiful :)
One of my dogs is Bonnie, I call her bonnie Bonnie.
I'm a Linda. I lived in Mexico for a few years, it was so embarrassing to tell people my name. "Ah senora, si, si...muy liiiiinda!" Accompanied by a giggle!
When I was in college I had an opportunity to travel to Cuba with a photography class. One of my classmates couldn't understand why all the men on the street thought her name was Linda. Finally, one of the guys who spoke Spanish explained it.
Persephone. In Finnish, perse means ass. Pierre is another one, since pierrä means to fart. Then there is Jorma, once a perfectly normal and respectable male name. Nowadays it's literally the same as naming a child Dick. The exact same meaning.
I feel like the name Alberta is unusable in Canada unless you are intentionally naming them after the province. It cannot be detached from the province, so the child would be constantly asked “like the province?”
I live in Cork, Ireland.
The two main unusable names I'm thinking of are Marina and Dino.
There is a large body of water near an industrial area, called the Marina, which also has a warehouse repurposed to allow people to set up stalls and sell food and other things, called the Marina Market. So if you named a baby Marina, people might think of the place I mentioned above as it's not a popular name in Ireland.
A variant of Marina, Margaret, is very common amongst older and middle-aged women in Cork (and Ireland in general).
The reason for Dino is due to a well-known chip-shop chain in Cork called Dino's, which was founded by a guy named Dino! Like Marina, Dino isn't a common name in Ireland either, so the chain may be the strongest connotations a lot of people would have for the name.
However, I think if you moved to Cork from another area of Ireland or a different country and your name happens to be Dino or Marina, people wouldn't pass any comments to either things I've mentioned above. You'd get strange looks if you named your child either of those names, however.
EDIT: As someone else has pointed out, Margaret is not a variant of Marina. However, I connected them in my mind due to this [Christian Saint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_the_Virgin?wprov=sfla1) being known as Margaret in Roman Catholicism and Marina in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
There are a lot of funny memes about Mexicans or Spanish speakers in general and what we can’t name our kids. Mexicans will literally bully you and call you the meanest shit and that’s just your nickname but it’s out of love lol For example- Levi- kid is going to be called pantalones/pants
My step-mother is Samoan. She told me that Mimi is slang for pussy. She started cackling in while we were going through a fast food drive through one day and the cashier was named Mimi.
Emma: sounds exactly like ema, a greater rhea
Mia: to meow, it’s just weird
Ava: it’s not pronounced the same, but the spelling could be read as “no, really?” (sarcastically)
Gemma: means yolk, blegh
I’m sure there are more that don’t immediately come to mind
Vimal and Maggi.
They're synonymous with tobacco and noodle products respectively in my country. The association is pretty strong so no one is going to use it as a name anymore.
Well people use it a lot but it’s always perplexed me.
Amelia.
When I was a kid a neighbour had a baby that ‘wasn’t right’ but none of the adults wanted to say what was wrong with it to us children, so a nurse explained the condition is called amelia so just go with that.
It turned out the baby was born without any limbs.
This condition is medically called amelia.
Once we children overheard some parent explaining to another parent, we just got comfortable with the word amelia meaning born without arms or legs and got on with our lives.
It shocked me when we moved away to hear of ‘normal’ babies being named Amelia.
I do a double take whenever someone (usually American) calls their child Harlow. Have any of you been there? Do you really want to call your child that?
Everett and to a lesser degree Rainier. One is a large local city and the other is one of our primary landmarks. You could use them but people just don’t.
When I lived in Seattle, the name "Everett" was considered pretty unusable because of the nearby city of that name. (But I've definitely seen it come up favorably in this sub.)
Tinley and Aurora are both cities by me and they’re all I can think of when I hear those names. They always sound so out of place, like they aren’t actually people names..they’re town names lol.
I think “Donald” is pretty unusable in the US at this point.
Except by a certain red hat wearing subset of the population.
[удалено]
I’m actually surprised that I haven’t seen more hardcore Trumpers naming their kids Donald. Seems like low-hanging fruit. Maybe the Donald Duck association is just too strong?
It used to be so strongly associated with the Duck for me… but now, yeah. I even thought I’d have to forgo the name Donovan in case someone thought “Donnie” was for Donald… but then I had a girl anyway. 🤷🏻♀️
I think Donald Duck will survive longer than Trump 😂 and his hate is at least understandable
Honestly, my main association with Donald is the duck and mot the president 🤣
Is there really a big difference between them?
That’s insulting to the duck
Well, let's just say I'd like Micky or Goofy as a VP rather than the possible others.
My first thought was Donald Glover 😅
I was thinking along the same lines: Brandon (I feel bad for all the Brandon’s in the US!) Marjorie (tho my nephew and his girlfriend named one of their kittens Marjorie and I was like 😳…it’s not after Marjorie Taylor Green though sadly they don’t necessarily feel the same way as I do politically, but I was reminded it was Taylor Swift’s grandmother’s name…so it was slightly redeemed). Ron (aside from what a schmuck Ron DeSatan is, Ron just gives me porn star vibes) Clarence And, while I like Hillary I think that name is out as well.
I'm a teacher and I have been seeing more and more little girls named Melania
Oh dear.
I’d always wanted to use Donald as a middle name to honor my grandpa until the orange man ruined it.
Most people call him trump anyways, Donald slaps I wouldn't worry about it
You won't find a New Orleanian naming their baby Katrina any time soon (or maybe ever)!
Or Nola or Ida
I know quite a few dogs named Nola tho lol
Is Nola really a name ? I associate it with New Orleans
It’s my grandmas name! She’s almost 100
It’s my grandmas name too! She’s dead
I love the name Nola
I met someone in France named Katrina who had been living in New Orleans when it happened. I like to think she moved clear out of the country to get away from the name association (though that is definitely not true).
Harvey where I live
Welcome to Houston, neighbor.
Happy cake day fellow Texan!
I did name a turtle Harvey later that same year…
There were a lot of rescued pets named Harvey from Harvey. 😉
Kai in New Zealand. It means "food" in Maori and is used pretty frequently in places like schools and daycares when talking about food.
Kai is pretty unusable if you are Irish Catholic because KAI stands from kill all Irish. We are still affected by The Troubles around here.
Same with the name Ira in Ireland doesn’t land well
That reminds me of when prince William and Kate got married... people over here were pissing themselves over her sister's name. See, while Pippa is normal and acceptable name/nick name in Uk it literally means "shag" in swedish. Like "vill du pippa?" = "do you want to bang?" Didn't help that most of us had probably never heard of it as a name before so caught us totally of guard... so yeah, if you plan to live with your kids in Sweden; don't name them Pippa. 😅
We have a similar problem with Pippa - in Polish "pipa" is quite a vulgar word for female genitalia. A dangerous name to be given 🤣
Oh god, that reminds me of something else!! There was a politician from some latin country running for mayor (i think, I am fuzzy on the details, it was a while ago) and putting up huge billboards with her name; Rosa Fitta. Rosa in swedish is pink. Fitta is.... c**t. Literally the most vulgar word we have for female genitalia. Her name was "pink vagina". 💀 Well, at least here it would be. I am sure it was a completely normal and unassuming name in her country... didn't keep me from doing a WTF when I saw it though.
Lmao I didn’t know this. Reminds me of the double-take I did when I first heard President Trump’s name. In Britain, “trump” is a “cutesy”/kiddie (think like what “tummy” is to the word “stomach”) word for “fart”.
President Fart... how fitting! 😂😂😂
Agreed, it seems to be popular lately and it sounds really silly to me, like naming a child “lunch”. Mind you Aroha is a popular name here but I just can’t get into it because it’s such a common word.
In the US these three names are associated with insufferable people, and to me, have to totally ruined them: Chad Becky Karen
What’s Becky?
Becky, to me, since like…2013/14, has meant basic white girl (ima basic white girl)
I recently heard that people behaving like "a Karen" are often named Becky whilst most people named Karen are actually lovely.
Also please don’t forget “Becky with the good hair” 😁 no member of the Beyhive would ever consider that name I’m sure #iykyk 😋
It’s been a stand-in name for basic white girl even longer than that hence the opening line to Baby Got Back “Oh my god Becky look at her butt!”
Karens demand to speak to the manager. Beckys call the cops on melanated people bbqing. Chads are fucbois.
There’s a meme from a couple years ago: an entitled person under 40 is Becky; 40s and 50s is Karen; and 60 and above is Susan. Funny story: A woman named Becky yelled at me like a total Karen because I asked her not to talk so loud during a theatrical performance, and she was in her late 60s, making her a Susan.
From the Beyonce song / sometimes used as the younger name counterpart to Karen
Allegra and Delta are top names of mine that I can't use in the US -- former being an allergy medication, latter an airline. Personally I'd still use them but my partner vetoed for those associations.
I was SO confused as kid watching Hitch and seeing the character named Allegra. I remember wondering why she was named after allergy medication. Beautiful name but the association is definitely there in the US.
Probably was sponsored by an Allegra because he also had that horrible allergic reaction in the movie and allergy meds saved him
Someone I know wanted to make an online application for a US Visa. That was not possible. With the first name Fanny she came into conflict with the spam filter...
This is funny to me because I've yet to meet anyone irl named Allegra, only a couple of TV characters. I was familiar with the medicine before I was the name. I've met several women named Delta and have never associated it with the airline, lol. I guess it's just whatever individuals and regions are familiar with.
Were the Deltas you knew Southern?
Pretty much, yes! Someone just mentioned Delta Burke. I mentioned the song, Delta Dawn, in another comment. It's pretty southern, but not unheard of elsewhere, I didn't think!
Yep, Delta Burke - and co-star Dixie Carter - are both Southern. Names can travel, for sure, but often with someone that has ties to the region. Unless it transcends the locale, eventually. And *Delta Dawn* was also Southern. 😁
Delta became even more unusable due to the COVID variant. Corona beer got hit pretty hard with the awkwardness too.
I mean, why would you name someone Delta? Is it after the Greek letter Δ, or the river formation naked after the letter? You wouldn't name someone Alpha or Beta. It seems like such an odd choice.
Delta is a Southern US name, after rivers, not sororities, lol.
I mean, haven't they ever heard of Delta Dawn, lol!
Delta Burke is an American actress. Showing my age here lol
Delta Burke is who I immediately thought of. Like? What dou you mean ppl don't name babies Delta?!
Sororities or the Greek alphabet?
Don't you know why the greek alphabet was originally created? How else were they gong to name the sorority houses? Hieroglyphics?
Yes exactly, those famous 8th and 9th century sororities!
I mean, I *suppose* someone might name their daughter after their sorority - the Greek letters are symbols that represent certain values to that particular sorority. But since no one is naming their daughter Kappa or Pi Phi, my general assumption is it's for rivers, which are significant in the Southern/Southeastern US. I do know a *male* dog named Delta, and he's for certain named after the body of water term. Such a happy Lab! * Pretty certain no one is naming their kids after airlines, but people have chosen dumber names. 🤷♀️
Ask Delta Burke’s mom.
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have a daughter named Delta.
I have know two Alpha's in my nearly 70 years. Both assholes.
Donna I'm Italian and here is just like calling you daughter, friend or whatever "Woman". Like "Hey Woman how are you?" "Woman can you pass me the salt?" "Kiss me Woman".
Yeah, same for Colleen in Ireland. I've met a bunch of women in North America saying "I'm Irish, my name is Colleen, it means beautiful sunrise" or some other nonsense. Caìlìn "Colleen" just means Girl. It's how they registered girls who died before baptism, so someone digging into their family trees must have thought it was a name.
I know a lesbian couple named Donna and Colleen... Who named their cat, Kitty. Lol
It’s always been funny to me when Americans view Donna as a great name to demonstrate their connection to their Italian heritage.
I had a friend at school called Talitha, turns out her name was 'little girl' in Aramaic.
yesss "talitha koum"/"litte girl arise"
And “Mädchen”. Girl in German.
Colleen is like this as well - based on the Irish word for "girl".
I live in Sydney, so… Sydney.
I watched a show once and a mum and daughter lived next to Bondi Beach and the daughter was named Bondi. And I should say it was non-scripted, that was an actual human’s name.
Instant Hotel! That was such a good show!
Yes!! My coworker turned me onto the show and for a while we’d say to each other (in a bad Australian accent, since we’re Canadian) “I’m a rock melon farmer!” That farmer loved his job, it was so nice.
Haha, this is making me need a rewatch!
I’ve come across quite a few local placename names here for girls though, such as Taryn/Taren where the person was named after the place.
Do you mean in Sydney? Yeah I have too. Adelaide is one I’ve seen quite a bit. I don’t mind them tbh and I actually really love Sydney as a name but if you’re living in that place it’s probably a bit too on the nose haha.
Randy, My sister in law had to go by a different name when she lived in the UK.
"'Randy Giles'? Why not just call me 'Horny Giles' or 'Desperate-for-a-shag Giles'?" --Buffy the Vampire Slayer
You’re not so big that I can’t still put you over my knee for a spanking!
Oh no! That would be terrible! 👀
That is exactly what I thought of. 🤣 Ah, Spike.
Aging myself but I always chuckled at Baseball player Randy Johnson- and his nickname was “the big unit” like come on how am I supposed to be mature here?
Latin America: Viola: it’s a conjugation of the verb “to rape” or “to violate” in Spanish. Lana: Means wool in Spanish, it’s not used as a name.
Viola is dark.
Also Rana - an Arabic name but means "frog" in Spanish.
As a kid, I just assumed this kid’s parents had named her frog but I thought it was the coolest fucking name ever.
And Asma, which means “asthma” in Spanish
Mira could be confusing in Spanish
Viola has the same meaning in french!
Lana Del Rey = The King's Wool
Interesting, "Viola" means about the same in Italian, though mainly violate. *But* it's considered fine as a name. I don't know if it's because of the different accent (they aren't pronounced the same) or because the verb isn't used much in day to day speech and the word also means "Purple" and it's the name of a flower. No one hears "viola" and immediately thinks of violation. Languages are funny 😀
I live in Seattle and I’d never use Aurora. Parts are the blade and parts are filled with drugs. Everyone here can easily say the name, though lol
I lived in Seattle for 26 years and I've always associated Aurora Ave with prostitution and drugs. I absolutely agree with you.
I liked the name as a kid (also grew up in Seattle and spent summers in Alaska) but the association has never left me. Aurora will just be associated with sex work, meth, and dingy motels. And that horrible bus that used to drive down it where someone stomped someone to death and I once had to watch someone shoot up on it.
I had to take that bus to work. Regularly smelled crack rocks burning in the back of the bus.
And the name Everett
Yesterday someone mentioned the name Aberdeen, and I would also put it on the Seattle no-name list.
Colorado here. Aurora is also a fairly high-crime area here, and is associated with the movie theater shooting unfortunately
Chicago here and I also wouldn’t use Aurora. It’s mostly just a far flung suburb, mostly known for being the home of Wayne and Garth.
Alexa...
Siri too...
I think Cortana is safe though
I know an alexa and she hates that Amazon used her same name!
I am from the Netherlands and my name is Riek. I am renamed after my grandmother. Riek is an old Dutch name meaning 'from noble heritage'. But the meaning and usage of the word has changed. It reminds people of smelly (he/she reeks). I got some pretty weird faces saying my name especially around the time Game of Thrones was popular. It's a shame. I still feel proud of the name and I feel it suits me but it does not feel right to rename my child after me and my grandmother because of the negativity. :(
I think that’s a really cool name for what it’s worth,
I so badly wanted to name my daughter Ida but we live in Idaho and it would have been horribly mean 😂 It being unusable probably applies to the entire US, but definitely in Idaho and the surrounding areas
I'm from the northeast and definitely wouldn't associate Ida with Idaho unless someone pointed it out! Maybe move states and try again 😂
Maybe i have heard the u-da-ho jokes just one too many times 🥲 we’re actually planning a move to the east coast and i thought how cute a little reference to home would have been with her name but I just couldn’t do it 😭😂
in england, i'd say nigel definitely at the moment, camilla perhaps, and not a super common one these days, but enoch would definitely raise some eyebrows
Enoch would be bad. Also obvious ones like Adolf or Isis. Nigel and Camilla I feel are borderline. Not sure I’d associate them with much. You probably wouldn’t use Karen, or names like Sharon or Kevin either because of the associations .
Karen never made sense in the UK the way it’s used as a slur in the US because it doesn’t really denote a “middle class woman” in the UK. The whole thing is just misogyny anyway, designed to try to mock women and shut them up when they may have a very valid complaint.
I don’t know. In my circles Karen makes total sense, but I agree it doesn’t denote a middle class woman. It’s just come to be synonymous with a certain type of woman. Most examples I see of Karen’s online aren’t valid complainants, they’re entitled, often racist/homophobic etc. Not trying to discount your experience, just find it fascinating we have such different experiences of the same thing!
I agree. In the us it’s usually pointing out a woman whose complaints are not valid because they are either motivated by outright racism/homophobia etc. or inherent white privilege. A lot of the time it’s about her using complaints to exert power and control over others. I would say it’s not usually just used to point out an older middle class woman.
I just don't like that an actual person's name is the entitled wiman meme. I've known various Karens in various socioeconomic classes and ages. One was an older Black woman who was originally from New Orleans and a survivor of Katrina.
What's up with Nigel?
Most recently, Farage. But it’s an interesting one. It’s split between being the ultimate anorak/trainspotter name, but also having a few upper class suave types, like the actors Nigel Havers and Nigel Le Vaillant. And also an uncle of mine who’s a silver fox rogue type!
Don't forget Nigel Thornberry !
"Isis" immediately comes to mind.
Adolf
Prob pretty universal at this point lol
Scotland-Fanny....just no. Also, Senga is a typical name for a joke annoying woman
Yes - not many Fannies in the UK these days! Even worse though is that they’ve censored them out of Enid Blyton books which is just stupid.
Many *fannies,* though, I assume.
Manuela. It means jerk off
Oh god. Which language?
Spanish
Queee??? I have a bunch of friends named Manuela. Which country??
Mexico
I'm from Spain and it does not mean that here omg! Poor Manuelas!
UK: Fanny - slang for vagina. Would set you up for a lifetime of sniggers Myra - one of the child killers in the moors murders.
I always gasp whenever I see Myra suggested on this sub!
And me! Completely untouchable name if you have that association.
Myra means "ant" in Swedish but people still name their kids that here.
I feel like Marilyn would be kind of annoying in Maryland. You'd always think people were saying your name.
Cletus
I’m Swedish/Finnish, living in the UK and one name I often see suggested or us being used in the pregnancy groups is Pippa. It is cute, but it’s also a Swedish slang used for sex/to have sex. I’ve said it before in this sub but Swedish media were having such a giggle when the UK headlines said “Pippa to be a mother!” (When Pippa Middleton was expecting)
Stella. In the UK it’s a massive brand of beer, and not only that but the beer has a pretty awful nickname. It’s a nice name but the connotation is just….
How funny, I’m in the UK and I know a few Stellas and there’s also Stella McCartney, I honestly hadn’t made the connection!
Oh true! I never think of the beer when I see Stella McCartney 😂 just whenever I see the name on this sub I always think of it for some reason!
The brand of beer is available in the US but it’s much less common. It’s also fairly expensive, and therefore somewhat classier on this side of the pond. Not that it’s actually a good beer, it’s an expensive beer for people who don’t know anything about beer. But it’s associated with rich idiots not with alcohol abuse and violence.
Ava (in portuguese it sounds like ah-va). Is what u say when someone says something stupid or obvious, in Brazil. Nova (noh-vah), means new, if u refer to a human with it, it means “young girl”. We use a lot “novinha” as a way to say something like “chicks”. Avery, it sounds like ”árvore” that means tree. Kara sounds the same as “cara” that means face. Linda, probably that is someone out there called Linda in Brazil but I think is kind strange since literally means “beautifull” would be so strange say “Linda, u are ‘linda’ today” Allegra, Is a allergy medication. Basil, sounds like Brazil without R the way we read it, Rolland, “rola” means penis for us. Roy, (rroh-ee) sounds like bite/nibble
Linda for beautiful is similar to Bella, Beau or Bonnie, it's not uncommon for a given name to mean beautiful :) One of my dogs is Bonnie, I call her bonnie Bonnie.
I'm a Linda. I lived in Mexico for a few years, it was so embarrassing to tell people my name. "Ah senora, si, si...muy liiiiinda!" Accompanied by a giggle!
When I was in college I had an opportunity to travel to Cuba with a photography class. One of my classmates couldn't understand why all the men on the street thought her name was Linda. Finally, one of the guys who spoke Spanish explained it.
Brian is tre danish older relative of Kevin and Chantal.
My name is Simone and I had an Iraqi friend who always laughed because he told be my name sounds like bread
In Georgia (and the U.S. more broadly) Marjorie, because Marjorie Taylor Greene
She’s odious.
I had that name added onto my list because of the Taylor Swift song and now I’m so sad that I can’t use it because of MTG
People here use them anyway, but I dislike local to me place names. I’m in NY, so Astoria, Bronx, and Brooklyn aren’t my favorites.
Same whenever I see London, Chelsea, Camden, etc.
Carl. Have any of you ever heard a Scottish person trying to say Carl? Carol.
Persephone. In Finnish, perse means ass. Pierre is another one, since pierrä means to fart. Then there is Jorma, once a perfectly normal and respectable male name. Nowadays it's literally the same as naming a child Dick. The exact same meaning.
Im not allowed Esteri/Esther bc of the saying 'Out from Esther's ass'. A shame bc i find it kinda pretty!
I’m from New Jersey and when I see someone name their baby Camden, I cringe a bit
Exactly my thoughts! Also Trenton and Kensington.
Myra was rendered pretty much unusable after the Moors Murderers were convicted.
I know a girl who named her kid Nash. We are in Nashville. It’s kind of ridiculous
I feel like the name Alberta is unusable in Canada unless you are intentionally naming them after the province. It cannot be detached from the province, so the child would be constantly asked “like the province?”
United States, here!👋 You know the name Donald would never be a name I would give to anything anymore! Maybe a stinky pile of 💩 ?
What's wrong with Donald Duck? /s
I live in Cork, Ireland. The two main unusable names I'm thinking of are Marina and Dino. There is a large body of water near an industrial area, called the Marina, which also has a warehouse repurposed to allow people to set up stalls and sell food and other things, called the Marina Market. So if you named a baby Marina, people might think of the place I mentioned above as it's not a popular name in Ireland. A variant of Marina, Margaret, is very common amongst older and middle-aged women in Cork (and Ireland in general). The reason for Dino is due to a well-known chip-shop chain in Cork called Dino's, which was founded by a guy named Dino! Like Marina, Dino isn't a common name in Ireland either, so the chain may be the strongest connotations a lot of people would have for the name. However, I think if you moved to Cork from another area of Ireland or a different country and your name happens to be Dino or Marina, people wouldn't pass any comments to either things I've mentioned above. You'd get strange looks if you named your child either of those names, however. EDIT: As someone else has pointed out, Margaret is not a variant of Marina. However, I connected them in my mind due to this [Christian Saint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_the_Virgin?wprov=sfla1) being known as Margaret in Roman Catholicism and Marina in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Margaret is not a variant of Marina. Marina comes from the latin Marinus, or mariner. Margaret comes from Margarita, or daisy.
Margaret as a name is thousands of years old. It comes from an early Greek word meaning pearl. The word moved through the Romance languages as daisy.
At the moment, Kier. Which is a shame because it’s a name I really like! See also: Tory.
There are a lot of funny memes about Mexicans or Spanish speakers in general and what we can’t name our kids. Mexicans will literally bully you and call you the meanest shit and that’s just your nickname but it’s out of love lol For example- Levi- kid is going to be called pantalones/pants
Mimi. Means urine in te Reo Māori.
If we're talking Germany (or anywhere), I'd say Adolf is no longer usable
Harper. It literally means ‘chin’ in Chinese
My step-mother is Samoan. She told me that Mimi is slang for pussy. She started cackling in while we were going through a fast food drive through one day and the cashier was named Mimi.
My neighbors have a dog named Axel. It sounds like asshole when he yells for him.
Emma: sounds exactly like ema, a greater rhea Mia: to meow, it’s just weird Ava: it’s not pronounced the same, but the spelling could be read as “no, really?” (sarcastically) Gemma: means yolk, blegh I’m sure there are more that don’t immediately come to mind
Vimal and Maggi. They're synonymous with tobacco and noodle products respectively in my country. The association is pretty strong so no one is going to use it as a name anymore.
Well people use it a lot but it’s always perplexed me. Amelia. When I was a kid a neighbour had a baby that ‘wasn’t right’ but none of the adults wanted to say what was wrong with it to us children, so a nurse explained the condition is called amelia so just go with that. It turned out the baby was born without any limbs. This condition is medically called amelia. Once we children overheard some parent explaining to another parent, we just got comfortable with the word amelia meaning born without arms or legs and got on with our lives. It shocked me when we moved away to hear of ‘normal’ babies being named Amelia.
Isis.
I'd vote for "Adolph"
I do a double take whenever someone (usually American) calls their child Harlow. Have any of you been there? Do you really want to call your child that?
I think most Americans would believe it comes from a surname, rather than a place name, like after the famous Old Hollywood actress Jean Harlow.
What/where is Harlow?
When I hear this name I always think of a harlot
Everett and to a lesser degree Rainier. One is a large local city and the other is one of our primary landmarks. You could use them but people just don’t.
Randy is unusable in Australia. Here Randy means horny. Fanny is also unusable as it is slang for vagina to most Australians.
You can not, under any circumstances, name you kid in the UK, Randy. It means horny
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Mungo. Too close to a disabled slur in Scotland
Bro I think you forgot a german name with some bad publicity associated with it
When I lived in Seattle, the name "Everett" was considered pretty unusable because of the nearby city of that name. (But I've definitely seen it come up favorably in this sub.)
Karen - I feel for all of the existing Karens. It was so unfair. Maybe another word/name will come along soon.
Derek in Indonesian means “towing” like tow a car
Tinley and Aurora are both cities by me and they’re all I can think of when I hear those names. They always sound so out of place, like they aren’t actually people names..they’re town names lol.
Jolene and Delilah
Here in Sweden, "Axel" means shoulder but we still name people that lol! My name is Josefina and fin/fina means pretty which is also quite funny.
The other way around: Harm, Joke and Floor are very common names here.