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It’s not an everywhere in America thing. There are definitely hot spots for tragedieghs (looking at you, Utah). There are also socioeconomic and demographic predictors. Two college educated parents with good jobs name their baby Jackson, not Jaxxun, 99.99% of the time. Khymburleigh’s mom did not go to MIT.
And then there's Elon Musk, who graduated from Wharton and named his kid X Æ A-Xii. This is an example of what nomenetymologists call the shoehorse tragedeigh theory: as an individual approaches the top or bottom 1% of wealth distribution, the tragedeigh-level of their offspring converges.
Well that may have more to do with the child's mother, Grimes, as the rest of his children are named closer to normal. Her 2nd child is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk.
Don't they live in California? Doesn't California have laws that say that if a letter isn't in the English alphabet it cannot be used for a name? That includes tildes and accent marks.
It did when I was little.
The Wiki page for naming in the US has all the answers you seek.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Some%20states%20(for%20example%2C%20Alaska,have%20to%20renew%20their%20documents.
Edit: stupid thing won't hyperlink properly so fuck it.
Thank you.
I was trying to ask why the hell they're getting away with it? Which, unfortunately, is not within this particular link. I checked, the link works, btw!
Sometimes reddit just has issues, not you.
I can see this but I feel like it’s literally impossible. How can that be his legal name when it can’t be input into a system like medical/dmv records?
I only know who Grimes is because she had Musk's dumpster fire named child, so could you please elaborate for those (me!) who have no idea what you're talking about lol
She and a friend tried to sail the Mississippi and it did not go well lol.
[here's the link to an old article](https://pitchfork.com/news/45488-the-tale-of-grimes-insane-2009-houseboat-adventure-the-best-thing-youll-read-all-day/)
Oh man, the [Star Tribune article](https://www.startribune.com/this-boat-don-t-float/49134952/?c=y&page=all&prepage=1#continue) linked from the one you posted is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this!
ETA: Those who have been to Minneapolis might get a kick out of the Star Tribune's [map](https://web.archive.org/web/20120223095510/https://www.startribune.com/newsgraphics/49148677.html) of Grimes's river adventure (via the Wayback Machine).
It’s that thing of either “my kid is definitely going to amount to something using my wealth, so I need to name them something that stands out” or “my kid might not amount to something big because of our wealth disparity, so I should give them a name that at least stands out and is unique so that they always have something”. and sometimes the easiest way to be unique is to take an existing name and spell it differently lmao
Moon Unit, Dweezil (Ian Donald Calvin Euclid), Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Muffin.
[More here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/v0p8bm/the_legacy_of_frank_zappas_children_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) TIL the nurse refused to put Dweezil on the birth certificate so Frank rattled off a bunch of musicians’ first names. At age 5, his son heard that story and insisted on changing his name legally to Dweezil.
I know Diva; she told me that she was given her name because she was screaming in the background on the phone when her mom Gayle was in the hospital talking to Frank on the phone (he was on tour), and the strength of her voice made him say "Oh, she's a Diva." . Moon was given the middle name "Unit" cause she was the oldest and made them a family unit. Ahmet was named after the imaginary house servant the two of them had when they first got together and didn't want to get out of bed. And Dweezil was what Frank called Gayle's baby toe.
I didn't know about him changing it as a kid, though. :)
Makes perfect sense to me. Like reactionary politics. You go too far right or too far left you meet full circle and you're both the same kind of stupid.
Nomenetymologists? Is this an actual title, or just a way to be fancy like calling crossword puzzle enthusiasts *cruciverbalists?* (I learned that word from a sophisticated intellectual source, *Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.*)
And Penn, of Penn and Teller: His daughter is Moxie Crimefighter. ;)
And of course Frank Zappa, the original tragedeigh namer (I know his daughters and it was fun hearing the stories of how each kid was named....one of them was named after his mom's pinkie toe).
Utah definitely has a lot of weird and strange names I think in part because everybody wants to be unique or wants their kid to be unique. Of course Hollywood probably has a lot of influence in strange and odd names. How many times have we seen various celebrities with the most random off the Wall names for their kids?
Honestly a lot of celebrity kids with weird names at least spell them right, it’s usually just a weird noun or adjective that you wouldn’t think of as an actual name lol
For most that's true but there are a few people out there that spell their kid's names very weird and very strange. If you include numbers in your kids name you are really really bizarre.
My theory is that celebrity kids have weird fake names for the public, but it's not the kids actual name. They probably have completely normal names close friends and family use
I've always thought it was kind of a rich people flex, like saying "haha we can name our child whatever dumb shit we want because they will be home schooled by private tutors and will never have to hold down (or even apply for) a regular job and therefore will never be in a position to be bullied or disadvantaged because of their name." Like they're just showing off another thing rich people can do without consequences that poor people can't.
And yet because they have weird strange names that the public believes are their actual names it causes people to be okay with naming their kids weird names.
I've seen some "fun and games" posts like "what would you name your kid if you were famous?" It's fun to do ridiculous names, sure, but it really made me think about this, and if I was any kind of "celebrity", I'd probably do a fake name and give them normal names.
West Coast Mormons, particularly in Utah, can take only express individually in their children's names. Combine that with large families, obedience to family elders, and merging family naming traditions and we've reached the point we're at. Hollywood elites want marketable names. There was an issue recently where one of the Kardashians (I think) tried to copyright her new child's name. It didn't work, so she made a business LLC with her child's name and copyrighted that as a lifestyle brand. It's easier to market your children when their names are similar to places and object versus traditional names.
You mean trademark, not copyright. There's an article [about it here](https://dawn-ellmore.medium.com/keeping-up-with-the-kardashian-trade-marks-4b7fa569c51a). Names can't be copyrighted.
Hahahaha my mom has a masters degree and gave me a name she came up with, on drugs, almost a decade earlier as a teenager herself. Ironically a significant part of her following career was centered around her ability to write analytical documents flawlessly. So there is that...
Did you deliver the kid or are you his father?
[a kid named Meth](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/19/can-you-name-your-baby-methamphetamine-rules-in-australia)
States with higher rates of religion and lower education standards, in general. Though, maybe Utah is unique in that all the Mormon wives had to start getting creative with spelling in the same family.
I saw something saying that there’s a lot of tragedieghs in Utah bc of the Mormon population. It talked about how Mormon culture led into spelling variations (I think smth about stealing names? Or like something about wanting it to be unique but also generic?). So it might have hotspots based on that.
I figured it was because there is so much pressure in mormon culture to fit in and be the same, that a name is the only way you have to be unique.
Meet my daughter Eauxqueleigh.
I dunno. My mom, who did not have her masters degree, was the driving force behind giving me a normal name. Had she gotten the c-section, my dad would likely have named me Zubeneschemali, after one of the claws of Scorpio.
There's a lady in my (small, rural) town called Chelcy Lynn. She's the type to always be posting busy-body, annoying stuff on the community Facebook page. My SO and I have started referring to her as ChelkyLynn, as in "ChelkyLynn is stirring shit up on Facebook again".
But seriously what a dumb way to spell Chelsea
Brazil is big on tragedeigh names, and I don't mean ethnic or cultural, but genuine white people, middle class tragedeighs.
Like this guy who named his kid Roleston after the Rolling Stones.
I personally know a Vaneymen and a Clábison, both "unique" inventions / variations by the respective parents.
There was a Khellyy in my class.
One of my favourite facts is that after the English footballer Gary Lineker (known for crisp adverts and shitting himself during a game once) was the top goalscorer in the 1986 world cup, there was apparently an entire generation of Brazilian kids given the first name ‘Lineker’ (pronounced lin-eh-ker).
Both. Some poorly educated parents misuse foreign names and words in an effort to make their children more unique or special: Maicom as a misspelling of Michael is a classic one.
It's not just poorly educated ones. Like I said, this is also a middle-class thing. I know, because I'm middle class, and I went to a private school in Southern Brazil. We had a Maicom and a Khellyy. A friend's daughter is named Cleybiana.
Especially in the Utah/Idaho corridor. When you and all your friends/family are having 7+ kids like they’re fashion accessories, there’s a huge incentive to make your kids names more unique to give them some individuality in a sea of cultural homogeneity. It’s sometimes well meaning, albeit horrifically misguided.
OP, I used to think the same, until I changed jobs and now I have to interact with many children and babies from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
I can promise you that the tragedeigh pandemic has very much got a grip on British parents too.
Can confirm. I used to work in two towns in north east England that would be classed as deprived. In those areas there's definitely an influx of unnecessary leigh, mae and lynn ending names. Also in the early two thousands there was a trend for calling girls Demi-jo/lee/leigh/may/Mae. I swear I met a Demi-Demi once! 😂
Its so strange how we grew up thinking all the Demi-Leigh, Sienna-Mae/Sienna-Grace, Summer-Rose, and Neveahs were tragedeighs and now they seem so normal compared to what people are calling them recently. I met an Ocean today.
I don't know who invented the smartphone but a Canadian invented the telephone so yeah most Canadians I know (I am one) don't name their kids tragedeighs we also have naming laws for what we can and can't name our kids so not at all like Americans.
In your previous comment, you referred to him only as Canadian, not Scottish-Canadian. Frankly, even the latter seems like a bit of a stretch, but the former is just bonkers.
He was born in Scotland to a Scottish father and an English mother. He didn't move to Canada until he was 23; he moved to America only a year later, married an American, and ultimately obtained American citizenship. As an adult, he spent many of his summers in Canada, sure, but going around saying _"he was Canadian"_ when really he was Scottish with multiple citizenships, is just a bit weird IMO. He wasn't born in Canada and neither were his parents, and he spent most of his life living elsewhere.
I never knew before reading your previous comment that apparently many Canadians think Bell was solely Canadian and consider the telephone a solely Canadian invention, but a bit of googling reveals that apparently this is a common notion. Very bizarre.
Can't sell one of your products to every household if people are trampling all over their neighbours' BOUNDARIES by asking to borrow the paint stripper / gutter snake / ladder / car vacuum etc etc etc
In the USA, 49% of adults cannot read at a high school level. Furthermore, the culture places a precedent on individuality, accumulating wealth, soaring self-confidence, and the endless pursuit of consuming and pleasure. So yeah, it's just a bunch of stupid, confident people.
* On average, **79%** of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024.
* **21%** of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024.
* **54%** of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (**20%** are below 5th-grade level).
* Low levels of literacy costs the US up to **2.2 trillion** per year.
* **34%** of adults lacking literacy proficiency were born outside the US.
* **Massachusetts** was the state with the **highest rate** of child literacy.
* **New Mexico** was the state with the **lowest** child literacy rate.
* **New Hampshire** was the state with the **highest percentage** of adults considered literate.
* The state with the **lowest** adult literacy rate was **California**.
[National Literacy Institute](https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/literacy-statistics)
Well, not all levels. The word "precedent" makes no sense in that sentence. Perhaps u/Melodic_Pressure7944 meant "premium"?
Anyway, *quod erat demonstrandum.*
To be fair to the low amount of high school level reading, the UK government information is aimed to a reading level of a 9 year old. The expectations here are low.
Government information needs to be available to everyone though, it’s not a metric for judging reading ability. Literally the entire point is for the worst adult readers to be able to understand it.
It’s not that the expectation is low, it’s likely an attempt to be more accessible, to people with intellectual disabilities and learning disorders, as well as the general populace (regardless of reading level). I took a class on disability and we were required to write all of our papers at a “fifth grade or lower” level to help prioritize accessibility of the information presented.
Oh, we have them. For sure. The -eigh is an American thing but we get babies with super tacky misspelled names. Really depends on the area & the social circles, like if you're an aspiring WAG you're more likely to have Scadeiye (Sadie) etc
My favourite one, although obviously I can't comment on the spelling....
"DESTINY! Get over here and DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD" like... babes. BABES. 😂
The -eigh comes from traditional spellings of Ashleigh and Leigh being misapplied to substitute for any -ee, -ey or -y ending. Like, no, it doesn’t work outside of where you might expect to see it
lol it was just an info dump meant for other readers, the fact that you already knew it was an American thing I knew you knew, didn’t really mean to sound like I was explaining to you
Ashley was a boy's name here. It was one of the early examples of boy names being used for girls in the US that I came across. I was then surprised when I discovered my surname was a popular girl's name too. I never liked it much as a surname so found it weird. We seem to have fewer tragedeighs here, but I think it's spreading.
I've seen a lot of girls with "[name]-Mae" names and quite a lot of boys with surnames for forenames, but there does seem to be less"[random-syllable]eighlynn" on this side of the Atlantic.
A whole lotta Americans are obsessed with being unique. An individual. Independent (I don’t follow the crowd.) what most of them fail to notice is that their unique style is in fact replicated by all the other “unique” people. Yeah, sure, your name might be a one-off, but in the U.S. there are millions of one-offs. Humans are a helluva lot more alike than not.
https://earlgraytay.tumblr.com/post/188648731403/the-thing-about-those-white-people-baby-names-is This seems to be a pretty good explanation. I think the latest reply is from an ex-Mormon.
I thought it was an American thing until I got sucked into Brazilian culture. Brazilians might actually be worse with the terrible names. Instead of -eigh they like to end names with -leide
Chilean lower class as well. Let me find examples for the lolz
- Yam Clock (yes, for Jean-Claude Van Damme)
- Alysshhann
- Bed-naimie
- Hachley
- Kalell
- Kenlove
- Josetecy
Etcetc xd
It's not just an American thing, though it is rampant in America. Enough so there are a large amount of parody videos. This is, perhaps, the best one:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss)
It’s mostly an American thing. People crave attention, and having their child have a more unique name is one way that helps them feel less generic as parents. I (amab) was given a girls name for pretty much this same reason. And I was told that if I’d been born as a girl, I’d have been given a boys name. Little did she know that it was a constant source of discomfort for me.
Purely out of curiosity, did you change your girl-typical name when you (presumably) transitioned? I find the idea of choosing your own name very interesting and sometimes wonder what I’d call myself if I was transgender or NB.
It's so bad that when my SIL made a doctor appointment for my baby nephew, Max, they spelled it Maxx. When she told them it was misspelled, they asked how to spell it.
Max.
They asked how to spell.....Max.
Well I think one is a statistics thing. The US has 330 Million people. And it stretches the length of London to Kazakstan distance wise. Really in terms of history and settlers who came to the various areas etc--it's 5 countries minimum rolled into one. So just by sheer size alone--you're going to get more opportunity here to get more possible wacky names.
Also culture.... The UK for many years--up until more recent times--has always been a place that prized a more uniform culture. Or a ruling class culture maybe more accurate. Not saying that's terrible. And it's certainly not as strong there as say the undercurrent in like Germany for instance. But there's always been a thread of propriety there. America was founded on a fantasy by big dreamers and risk takers. I mean early days you had to be nuts or a convict to come here. So there's just always a thread of that in America. There's actually a book about why Christian people in America are so bonkers compared to other 'Christian' countries called Fantasyland that talks about this. "Being different' and wanting to stand out is just built into our culture and soul at this point.
And then there's ethnic mix here. US is only 60% white and those come from everything from English background, German, Scandies, Eastern Europe, etc etc. UK is 80% and mostly are just influenced by English/Scottish/Irish history and names. So the US just has a lot more influences all coming together into a giant melting pot than the UK. And so in the US people are like well my one grandma was Yvette and my other grandma was Deborah so lets honor both and call the kid Yetah. lol.
Canada is also diverse culturally like the US but we don't have anywhere near the same amount of stupid names as the US does so I don't think the mix of different ethnicity can be the only cause of this phenomenon. I think it's the fact that there are just more people in general that allows for such a wide range of names.
Well I did state two other reasons. And I sort of put them in order of what I think are driving factors. Number 2--American exceptionalism (though of course that term doesn't usually mean in regards to names I think the term can be extended to it) is probably the biggest factor. Americans like to think we're 'special'. And since there are--number 1--a ton of us, there's a lot of 'special' people. And some people just have to be that much extra 'special'.
I live in Canada and I’m sure there are tragedeighs here but I’ve never seen one irl.
But then that begs the question, do the -eigh names fall under the cultural rule?…
I've been lurking on this sub for a while and one thing I haven't seen discussed is how girls raised with the usually religious expectation to have children tend to choose alternate spellings for names. I grew up in a very religious area/family and a common topic I remember coming up in kindergarten is what we were going to name our kids and sometimes you fall so in love with a name that you just know is perfect, like say Emily and then your cousin has a daughter named Emily even though that was your perfect name. So you tweak it and end up with Emileigh.
Just gonna leave this here. Just because you don't know any, doesn't mean they don't exist. On this list: Dzyre (pronounced Desire).
https://www.ukdeedpolloffice.org/worst-baby-names/
You mean British born Jamie Oliver’s kids names aren’t tragedeighs? Or those of Ed Sheeran, Gavin Rossdale, Katie Price, Bear Grylls, Rosamund Pike? How about Ireland’s native son, Bob Geldof? Aussies Madeline West and Rhys Muldoon? (His poor son) I could go on.
I personally know a Filipina named Fraulein. I think it’s become somewhat universal now.
Tragedeigh is mostly restricted to English speaking countries (a grouping which the Philippines kinda belongs to... kinda). It's by no means universal.
Across language barriers, silly naming choices by parents look wildly different, and work very differently. You can't look at them within the framework of tragedeigh anymore.
Don't most other countries have rules or an approved list of what you're allowed to name your kids? The US doesn't have that... you can name your kid pretty much anything you want with very few exceptions. I feel like we DO need more rules since people name their kids silly shit like they're naming a doll and not a person.
I also think some of the silly names originate from people named something super common and they hated being Jessica A3 all through school and just decided to go wild so their kid so they're the only one with that name. I went to school with many Jessica's and one said if she ever had a daughter she'd name her Pepsi, I hope that was just the high school talking and she didn't do it.
My kids have names that aren't popular (not in the top 100 was my requirement) but are real and spelled correctly. I did do PTO for years and I have seen some names, some of my favorites are Tyranny, Ransom, Kaiszyle (it rhymes with Paisley), Jaylie, Zylie, Diamonique, Euphemia (I know that's a Saint, but that one threw me for a loop), and Tai'jayanna.
I pronounce it Kuh-sizzle personally. The mom of the kid has a normal but not ultra common name so I don't know why they decided to inflict that name on their poor kid. I've always felt that everyone should get a freebie name change at 18, you can use it or not. But if your parents landed you with some dumbass name or dumbass spelling you can fix it once you become an adult.
lmfao there are no rules on what you can name your kid in the UK. maybe you can’t call them Shit Cunter or whatever but there’s no restrictions I’ve ever heard of.
We do, just not as strict as others. No obscenities, no impossible to pronounce and no numerals or special characters. Also no inference that a person holds a title ie no calling your child lord darnley or doctor strange.
One of the England footballers has just had his 4th kid with his wife and called the poor sod ‘Rezon’ the other poor mites are called Roman, Riaan and Reign. With his mistress he has ‘Kairo’ and a girl but I don’t know her name.
It’s fairly predictably done by status-anxious parents who simultaneously want to appear to be “not basic like other parents” while following the exact same atrocious name mangling as other parents.
How many kids do you know under 10? It’s not exactly a new phenomenon over here, but it has only become widespread in the past decade. I wonder what names are like for gen alpha in the UK.
Also UK, also agree with everything you said. We do have Kayleigh’s and Ashleigh’s and Leighanne’s from the 80s and 90s but I did know an American boy called Brick back in the 90s who’s parents used to visit distant relatives near my gran in Ireland.
I was a weird kid, a weird kid who was fascinated with phonics, a weird kid who was fascinated with phonics who hated their name. From age 4 to 13, I experimented with ways to spell my name. I'm in my 50s and still use what I created at 13. It's unique. I love it. And it confuses everyone...despite it being rather simple.
I went to high school with someone named Holly Wood. My mom thought that was awful.
One teacher swore he taught a student named Petroleum.
No, I'm not from Utah. But, the oh so lovely deep south.
It’s funny, you say Utah because I met a person who who, though not from Utah to my knowledge, was Mormon and who vetoed the name Holly, which she always liked, when she married a guy whose last name was Wood.
“Hunter”? That’s what you landed on as “strange b/c it’s based on a job?”
You realize a lot of “traditional US surnames” are just British peasants who a million years ago didn’t have a family name and picked a profession, right?
Baker, Gardener, Mason, *SMITH*, Thatcher, Taylor…the list is endless.
All your surnames (and thus many of our surnames) are tragedeighs.
“Hey, what’s your family name?”
“Well, we’re poor and uneducated, and can’t remember. But I guess we’ve been feudal bricklayers for the last 300 years. So, let’s go with ‘Mason’, then.”
Yeah. Sounds super sophisticated and not at all cringey as shit.
Hunter is not a family name, it’s a given name. What a weirdly passionate argument that has nothing to do with my post, is your name Hunter by any chance? Surnames could not be more different from first names, the whole point is that you don’t choose them. Nobody has the first name Gardener mate.
Idk man I think most of us Americans are just flaming narcissists. But I do think it’s a millennial thing. Can’t remember other generations doing it but maybe I’m wrong.
My little girl came home with lots of tragedeighs on her end of year signed shirt this week. I had several absolute prizes on my order list this week too, one so bad I actually showed my husband, but I’ve gone completely blank on what any of them were.
It’s sadly not just a US thing, it’s here too. Be glad you have been spared in your area!
For example, whatshername, Colleen Rooney? I had kids at the same times as she did and remember thinking hen, wtf are you smoking, when the names were announced. Klai? Can’t remember exactly, but bloody awful.
Yea there's a couple versions of it depending where you are. Ive been noticing a lot of younger people with improper nouns as names recently too, kinda weird.
Names in the US have definitely been getting weirder (or “more unique,” as some people might see it. That said, I know a lot of people my age who have young children, and none of those children have unusual names (no unnecessary-eighs that I’m aware of). That said, whether or not a name is unusual is definitely in the eye of the beholder; I don’t think of Hunter as an unusual name at all.
Lots of narcissistic parents who want others to oooh and ahhhhh over how...clever they are.
Saying they want a child to be unique therefore the child needs a unique name (traditional name or co-opted surname with a mangled spelling) is awful to me. The message that gives is you're saying if you name your kid John he's not unique or special. Rubbish!
I've heard that in Uruguay there are no laws regarding baby names, no one stops you. I've heard of people called silly names like "Mayo" (may), or stupid ones like "Trademark"... or names that should be illegal like "Ad * lf H * ttler" + family name.
It’s not just America. France definitely has its share of similar dumbassery (although in French).
I’d argue however that France’s share is definitely not as widespread at the US’s.
I worke with the English a lot, and back when I lived in Australia also saw a decent bit of Brit immigrants with tragedeigh names.
Here's some UK examples I've collected throughout my life: Aarun, Aidunn, Aydam, Benjayminn, Chelsay, Chelsei, Etjam (Ethan, said it was a typo on his birth certificate, right hand placed too right when typing), Jeleiet (Juliet), Khayden, Merghuerita (went by Meg), Ollyvar, Pethar, Rhandahl (Randall), Sushannah (now just Hannah)
And my absolute favourite: Marfinn
Used to have Greetje on the list, but then found out it's a Dutch diminutive of Margaret.
UK names that I've come across that aren't tragedeigh, but just tragic: Apple, Bagsley, Book, Dill, Dreamy, Lemon, Pouch, Satchel, Shatter
Yes, it is a US subculture thing. I believe it started in the ‘70s with the new counter-culture movements but has been expanding and getting worse since then. People think American society is oppressive and want their kid to identify more with individualism and stand out.
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It’s not an everywhere in America thing. There are definitely hot spots for tragedieghs (looking at you, Utah). There are also socioeconomic and demographic predictors. Two college educated parents with good jobs name their baby Jackson, not Jaxxun, 99.99% of the time. Khymburleigh’s mom did not go to MIT.
And then there's Elon Musk, who graduated from Wharton and named his kid X Æ A-Xii. This is an example of what nomenetymologists call the shoehorse tragedeigh theory: as an individual approaches the top or bottom 1% of wealth distribution, the tragedeigh-level of their offspring converges.
Bahaha I like the bell curve visual.
Well that may have more to do with the child's mother, Grimes, as the rest of his children are named closer to normal. Her 2nd child is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk.
Don't they live in California? Doesn't California have laws that say that if a letter isn't in the English alphabet it cannot be used for a name? That includes tildes and accent marks. It did when I was little.
Yes.
The Wiki page for naming in the US has all the answers you seek. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Some%20states%20(for%20example%2C%20Alaska,have%20to%20renew%20their%20documents. Edit: stupid thing won't hyperlink properly so fuck it.
Thank you. I was trying to ask why the hell they're getting away with it? Which, unfortunately, is not within this particular link. I checked, the link works, btw! Sometimes reddit just has issues, not you.
They legally had to change it, but they haven't shared what his legal name is (afaik)
Did they? I assumed it was a a "rules for thee, not for me" thing because he's rich.
I can see this but I feel like it’s literally impossible. How can that be his legal name when it can’t be input into a system like medical/dmv records?
I'll never forget her trying to live out her riverboat fantasy LOL
I only know who Grimes is because she had Musk's dumpster fire named child, so could you please elaborate for those (me!) who have no idea what you're talking about lol
She and a friend tried to sail the Mississippi and it did not go well lol. [here's the link to an old article](https://pitchfork.com/news/45488-the-tale-of-grimes-insane-2009-houseboat-adventure-the-best-thing-youll-read-all-day/)
Oh man, the [Star Tribune article](https://www.startribune.com/this-boat-don-t-float/49134952/?c=y&page=all&prepage=1#continue) linked from the one you posted is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this! ETA: Those who have been to Minneapolis might get a kick out of the Star Tribune's [map](https://web.archive.org/web/20120223095510/https://www.startribune.com/newsgraphics/49148677.html) of Grimes's river adventure (via the Wayback Machine).
Thank you for adding it! I meant to edit my comment to include that one for more info but I forgot lol
Lol that's hilarious, thanks!
Musk and grimes. Two words that truly go hand in hand. They’re perfect for each other.
It’s that thing of either “my kid is definitely going to amount to something using my wealth, so I need to name them something that stands out” or “my kid might not amount to something big because of our wealth disparity, so I should give them a name that at least stands out and is unique so that they always have something”. and sometimes the easiest way to be unique is to take an existing name and spell it differently lmao
He didn’t actually graduate. Maybe that’s how it happened.
Yes, Frank Zappa is an older example of this. To a large degree, offspring of the wealthy are shielded from the fallout of a bad name.
Moon Unit, Dweezil (Ian Donald Calvin Euclid), Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Muffin. [More here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/v0p8bm/the_legacy_of_frank_zappas_children_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) TIL the nurse refused to put Dweezil on the birth certificate so Frank rattled off a bunch of musicians’ first names. At age 5, his son heard that story and insisted on changing his name legally to Dweezil.
I know Diva; she told me that she was given her name because she was screaming in the background on the phone when her mom Gayle was in the hospital talking to Frank on the phone (he was on tour), and the strength of her voice made him say "Oh, she's a Diva." . Moon was given the middle name "Unit" cause she was the oldest and made them a family unit. Ahmet was named after the imaginary house servant the two of them had when they first got together and didn't want to get out of bed. And Dweezil was what Frank called Gayle's baby toe. I didn't know about him changing it as a kid, though. :)
Like celebrities naming their kiddos Apple or Blue or North West or Moon Unit.
Outliers continue to be outliers.
Makes perfect sense to me. Like reactionary politics. You go too far right or too far left you meet full circle and you're both the same kind of stupid.
Legit how does he actually pronounce that?
Nomenetymologists? Is this an actual title, or just a way to be fancy like calling crossword puzzle enthusiasts *cruciverbalists?* (I learned that word from a sophisticated intellectual source, *Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.*)
It is, much like the rest of the comment, a bit of buffoonery.
And Penn, of Penn and Teller: His daughter is Moxie Crimefighter. ;) And of course Frank Zappa, the original tragedeigh namer (I know his daughters and it was fun hearing the stories of how each kid was named....one of them was named after his mom's pinkie toe).
And George W. Bush graduated from Yale and went to Harvard business school, everyone knows he’s a moron…
Utah definitely has a lot of weird and strange names I think in part because everybody wants to be unique or wants their kid to be unique. Of course Hollywood probably has a lot of influence in strange and odd names. How many times have we seen various celebrities with the most random off the Wall names for their kids?
Honestly a lot of celebrity kids with weird names at least spell them right, it’s usually just a weird noun or adjective that you wouldn’t think of as an actual name lol
For most that's true but there are a few people out there that spell their kid's names very weird and very strange. If you include numbers in your kids name you are really really bizarre.
Very true, but for some reason Sevin/Seven has been rising in name popularity recently which I absolutely hate
Sevin is a pesticide so that seems like a poor choice 😂
Oops I thought it was Sevin but it’s actually Sevyn: ranked 547 for girls and 784 for boys in 2024 😅
Sevyn is even worse than Sevin.
How else is George Foreman supposed to differentiate his children? Smh
My theory is that celebrity kids have weird fake names for the public, but it's not the kids actual name. They probably have completely normal names close friends and family use
I've always thought it was kind of a rich people flex, like saying "haha we can name our child whatever dumb shit we want because they will be home schooled by private tutors and will never have to hold down (or even apply for) a regular job and therefore will never be in a position to be bullied or disadvantaged because of their name." Like they're just showing off another thing rich people can do without consequences that poor people can't.
And yet because they have weird strange names that the public believes are their actual names it causes people to be okay with naming their kids weird names.
I've seen some "fun and games" posts like "what would you name your kid if you were famous?" It's fun to do ridiculous names, sure, but it really made me think about this, and if I was any kind of "celebrity", I'd probably do a fake name and give them normal names.
Wonder if they try out new nicknames, like Bob.
Like Zowie Bowie who is and always was Duncan Jones.
West Coast Mormons, particularly in Utah, can take only express individually in their children's names. Combine that with large families, obedience to family elders, and merging family naming traditions and we've reached the point we're at. Hollywood elites want marketable names. There was an issue recently where one of the Kardashians (I think) tried to copyright her new child's name. It didn't work, so she made a business LLC with her child's name and copyrighted that as a lifestyle brand. It's easier to market your children when their names are similar to places and object versus traditional names.
You mean trademark, not copyright. There's an article [about it here](https://dawn-ellmore.medium.com/keeping-up-with-the-kardashian-trade-marks-4b7fa569c51a). Names can't be copyrighted.
Hahahaha my mom has a masters degree and gave me a name she came up with, on drugs, almost a decade earlier as a teenager herself. Ironically a significant part of her following career was centered around her ability to write analytical documents flawlessly. So there is that...
[Dr Marijuana Pepsi Van Dyke](https://freakonomics.com/podcast/hello-my-name-is-marijuana-pepsi/) enters the chat
OMG, this really should be the link on the sub description, narrating the struggles from the child's perspective.
There’s a little girl named Mescalina out there somewhere with a very similar backstory
I’m Dr. Candyflip, pleased to meet you
Did you deliver the kid or are you his father? [a kid named Meth](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/19/can-you-name-your-baby-methamphetamine-rules-in-australia)
Give her a hug for me. I am only here to mock parents who are too selfish to give their kids meaningful names. I am never here to mock the recipients.
I think it is mostly low income undereducated rural parents on one end and the super entitled wealthy "personalities" on the other end..
States with higher rates of religion and lower education standards, in general. Though, maybe Utah is unique in that all the Mormon wives had to start getting creative with spelling in the same family.
I think like usual, took a little time, but the upper middle class whites biting off the tregediegh trend pretty hard right now.
I saw something saying that there’s a lot of tragedieghs in Utah bc of the Mormon population. It talked about how Mormon culture led into spelling variations (I think smth about stealing names? Or like something about wanting it to be unique but also generic?). So it might have hotspots based on that.
I figured it was because there is so much pressure in mormon culture to fit in and be the same, that a name is the only way you have to be unique. Meet my daughter Eauxqueleigh.
I dunno. My mom, who did not have her masters degree, was the driving force behind giving me a normal name. Had she gotten the c-section, my dad would likely have named me Zubeneschemali, after one of the claws of Scorpio.
Oh, you have plenty of college-educated people wanting speshul names for their kids.
No, I've met a Chelzie just the other day. I try and forget those types of names as fast as I can
There's a lady in my (small, rural) town called Chelcy Lynn. She's the type to always be posting busy-body, annoying stuff on the community Facebook page. My SO and I have started referring to her as ChelkyLynn, as in "ChelkyLynn is stirring shit up on Facebook again". But seriously what a dumb way to spell Chelsea
I knew a Chelcie which I thought was bad enough.
As a Chelsea this made me shudder 😭
Brazil is big on tragedeigh names, and I don't mean ethnic or cultural, but genuine white people, middle class tragedeighs. Like this guy who named his kid Roleston after the Rolling Stones. I personally know a Vaneymen and a Clábison, both "unique" inventions / variations by the respective parents. There was a Khellyy in my class.
Okay but Roleston is a pretty cool name. And the story of how they got that name would be really funny 😂
As far as tragedeighs go, this is a good one. 😁
True that!
One of my favourite facts is that after the English footballer Gary Lineker (known for crisp adverts and shitting himself during a game once) was the top goalscorer in the 1986 world cup, there was apparently an entire generation of Brazilian kids given the first name ‘Lineker’ (pronounced lin-eh-ker).
Sadly, I never met one in the wild, but I've heard of Linekers.
There's a very talented Brazilian singer named Liniker.
Is this impacted by a language barrier or is it to be different?
Both. Some poorly educated parents misuse foreign names and words in an effort to make their children more unique or special: Maicom as a misspelling of Michael is a classic one.
It's not just poorly educated ones. Like I said, this is also a middle-class thing. I know, because I'm middle class, and I went to a private school in Southern Brazil. We had a Maicom and a Khellyy. A friend's daughter is named Cleybiana.
I'm from São Paulo, and growing up, names like these were the hallmark of poor education.
Mormons
Especially in the Utah/Idaho corridor. When you and all your friends/family are having 7+ kids like they’re fashion accessories, there’s a huge incentive to make your kids names more unique to give them some individuality in a sea of cultural homogeneity. It’s sometimes well meaning, albeit horrifically misguided.
My thoughts exactly. Loved the "sea of cultural homogeneity."
As George Carlin said, “when you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America you get a front row seat.”
OP, I used to think the same, until I changed jobs and now I have to interact with many children and babies from lower socio-economic backgrounds. I can promise you that the tragedeigh pandemic has very much got a grip on British parents too.
Can confirm. I used to work in two towns in north east England that would be classed as deprived. In those areas there's definitely an influx of unnecessary leigh, mae and lynn ending names. Also in the early two thousands there was a trend for calling girls Demi-jo/lee/leigh/may/Mae. I swear I met a Demi-Demi once! 😂
Its so strange how we grew up thinking all the Demi-Leigh, Sienna-Mae/Sienna-Grace, Summer-Rose, and Neveahs were tragedeighs and now they seem so normal compared to what people are calling them recently. I met an Ocean today.
Neveah will never be a normal name to me, it's up there with Abcde in names that make me cringe hard lol.
I've lived in the US, Japan, and UK and I can tell you there are *plenty* of "tragedeighs" in the UK.
I lived there in the early 80s. Met a guy named Henderson. Was a little bemused.
From the land that brought you airplanes and smart phones, we present you with TRAGEDEIGHS. Because we're just like so clever 🤓🤓🤓
I don't know who invented the smartphone but a Canadian invented the telephone so yeah most Canadians I know (I am one) don't name their kids tragedeighs we also have naming laws for what we can and can't name our kids so not at all like Americans.
> a Canadian invented the telephone Alexander Graham Bell was Scottish.
He's Scottish-Canadian if you didn't know! =D
In your previous comment, you referred to him only as Canadian, not Scottish-Canadian. Frankly, even the latter seems like a bit of a stretch, but the former is just bonkers. He was born in Scotland to a Scottish father and an English mother. He didn't move to Canada until he was 23; he moved to America only a year later, married an American, and ultimately obtained American citizenship. As an adult, he spent many of his summers in Canada, sure, but going around saying _"he was Canadian"_ when really he was Scottish with multiple citizenships, is just a bit weird IMO. He wasn't born in Canada and neither were his parents, and he spent most of his life living elsewhere. I never knew before reading your previous comment that apparently many Canadians think Bell was solely Canadian and consider the telephone a solely Canadian invention, but a bit of googling reveals that apparently this is a common notion. Very bizarre.
Inanimate objects as names = spot on 🤣 This is because we Americans value individuality, no matter how stupid or dangerous.
Can't sell one of your products to every household if people are trampling all over their neighbours' BOUNDARIES by asking to borrow the paint stripper / gutter snake / ladder / car vacuum etc etc etc
In the USA, 49% of adults cannot read at a high school level. Furthermore, the culture places a precedent on individuality, accumulating wealth, soaring self-confidence, and the endless pursuit of consuming and pleasure. So yeah, it's just a bunch of stupid, confident people.
* On average, **79%** of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024. * **21%** of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024. * **54%** of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (**20%** are below 5th-grade level). * Low levels of literacy costs the US up to **2.2 trillion** per year. * **34%** of adults lacking literacy proficiency were born outside the US. * **Massachusetts** was the state with the **highest rate** of child literacy. * **New Mexico** was the state with the **lowest** child literacy rate. * **New Hampshire** was the state with the **highest percentage** of adults considered literate. * The state with the **lowest** adult literacy rate was **California**. [National Literacy Institute](https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/literacy-statistics)
I don't know about that percentage, but the rest checks out
83% of all statistics are made up on the spot, especially on internet forums such as this one.
Not sure why this is getting downvoted because it’s 10000% accurate on all levels.
Well, not all levels. The word "precedent" makes no sense in that sentence. Perhaps u/Melodic_Pressure7944 meant "premium"? Anyway, *quod erat demonstrandum.*
Correct, wrong word choice but I know what they meant. Places a premium/the culture establishes a precedent of
To be fair to the low amount of high school level reading, the UK government information is aimed to a reading level of a 9 year old. The expectations here are low.
Government information needs to be available to everyone though, it’s not a metric for judging reading ability. Literally the entire point is for the worst adult readers to be able to understand it.
This. Poverty and illiteracy have a high correlation.
It’s not that the expectation is low, it’s likely an attempt to be more accessible, to people with intellectual disabilities and learning disorders, as well as the general populace (regardless of reading level). I took a class on disability and we were required to write all of our papers at a “fifth grade or lower” level to help prioritize accessibility of the information presented.
Oh, we have them. For sure. The -eigh is an American thing but we get babies with super tacky misspelled names. Really depends on the area & the social circles, like if you're an aspiring WAG you're more likely to have Scadeiye (Sadie) etc My favourite one, although obviously I can't comment on the spelling.... "DESTINY! Get over here and DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD" like... babes. BABES. 😂
I hope Destiny names her first-born Beyonce.
I see what you did there!
Not everyone was ready for that jelly.
I’m from South Wales and my reaction on reading this post was !?!? Like what you on about babes, we’ve got such a big varigherty of tragedeighs!
Hahaha yeah I'm white trash, gotta represent! Sorry, I mean... Rehprizaentte
Whytte T’rashe ✨
The -eigh comes from traditional spellings of Ashleigh and Leigh being misapplied to substitute for any -ee, -ey or -y ending. Like, no, it doesn’t work outside of where you might expect to see it
I had a female friend called Leigh, I am aware. Those names exist here too.
lol it was just an info dump meant for other readers, the fact that you already knew it was an American thing I knew you knew, didn’t really mean to sound like I was explaining to you
Cool thanks!! I think we get Neveahs here sometimes. I'm so glad I never had kids! My niece and nephew got off pretty lightly
Ashley was a boy's name here. It was one of the early examples of boy names being used for girls in the US that I came across. I was then surprised when I discovered my surname was a popular girl's name too. I never liked it much as a surname so found it weird. We seem to have fewer tragedeighs here, but I think it's spreading.
I've seen a lot of girls with "[name]-Mae" names and quite a lot of boys with surnames for forenames, but there does seem to be less"[random-syllable]eighlynn" on this side of the Atlantic.
Good question. We don't have this in Germany, I think. There is no Klaus spelled Qlauuz or shit like that. :D
IIRC Germany has more strict rules about naming than a lot of countries do. Which I approve of.
Qlauuz is the absolute perfect tragedeigh spelling of Klaus, well done!
A whole lotta Americans are obsessed with being unique. An individual. Independent (I don’t follow the crowd.) what most of them fail to notice is that their unique style is in fact replicated by all the other “unique” people. Yeah, sure, your name might be a one-off, but in the U.S. there are millions of one-offs. Humans are a helluva lot more alike than not.
Little do they know, their quest for a ‘unique’ name just ends up with their kid being labeled as another Tragedeigh.
https://earlgraytay.tumblr.com/post/188648731403/the-thing-about-those-white-people-baby-names-is This seems to be a pretty good explanation. I think the latest reply is from an ex-Mormon.
I thought it was an American thing until I got sucked into Brazilian culture. Brazilians might actually be worse with the terrible names. Instead of -eigh they like to end names with -leide
Chilean lower class as well. Let me find examples for the lolz - Yam Clock (yes, for Jean-Claude Van Damme) - Alysshhann - Bed-naimie - Hachley - Kalell - Kenlove - Josetecy Etcetc xd
It's not just an American thing, though it is rampant in America. Enough so there are a large amount of parody videos. This is, perhaps, the best one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss)
Hahahaha! I’m so glad someone posted this classic sketch.
You must not know any Dominicans. The combining the parents’ name trend has the country in a chokehold.
That happens in Jamaica too!
It’s mostly an American thing. People crave attention, and having their child have a more unique name is one way that helps them feel less generic as parents. I (amab) was given a girls name for pretty much this same reason. And I was told that if I’d been born as a girl, I’d have been given a boys name. Little did she know that it was a constant source of discomfort for me.
Purely out of curiosity, did you change your girl-typical name when you (presumably) transitioned? I find the idea of choosing your own name very interesting and sometimes wonder what I’d call myself if I was transgender or NB.
I’m still using my name (Kendall), but I’ve never really been fond of it so I’m definitely considering changing it.
It's so bad that when my SIL made a doctor appointment for my baby nephew, Max, they spelled it Maxx. When she told them it was misspelled, they asked how to spell it. Max. They asked how to spell.....Max.
lmao 🤣😂
Well I think one is a statistics thing. The US has 330 Million people. And it stretches the length of London to Kazakstan distance wise. Really in terms of history and settlers who came to the various areas etc--it's 5 countries minimum rolled into one. So just by sheer size alone--you're going to get more opportunity here to get more possible wacky names. Also culture.... The UK for many years--up until more recent times--has always been a place that prized a more uniform culture. Or a ruling class culture maybe more accurate. Not saying that's terrible. And it's certainly not as strong there as say the undercurrent in like Germany for instance. But there's always been a thread of propriety there. America was founded on a fantasy by big dreamers and risk takers. I mean early days you had to be nuts or a convict to come here. So there's just always a thread of that in America. There's actually a book about why Christian people in America are so bonkers compared to other 'Christian' countries called Fantasyland that talks about this. "Being different' and wanting to stand out is just built into our culture and soul at this point. And then there's ethnic mix here. US is only 60% white and those come from everything from English background, German, Scandies, Eastern Europe, etc etc. UK is 80% and mostly are just influenced by English/Scottish/Irish history and names. So the US just has a lot more influences all coming together into a giant melting pot than the UK. And so in the US people are like well my one grandma was Yvette and my other grandma was Deborah so lets honor both and call the kid Yetah. lol.
Canada is also diverse culturally like the US but we don't have anywhere near the same amount of stupid names as the US does so I don't think the mix of different ethnicity can be the only cause of this phenomenon. I think it's the fact that there are just more people in general that allows for such a wide range of names.
Well I did state two other reasons. And I sort of put them in order of what I think are driving factors. Number 2--American exceptionalism (though of course that term doesn't usually mean in regards to names I think the term can be extended to it) is probably the biggest factor. Americans like to think we're 'special'. And since there are--number 1--a ton of us, there's a lot of 'special' people. And some people just have to be that much extra 'special'.
Plus poor literacy
I live in Canada and I’m sure there are tragedeighs here but I’ve never seen one irl. But then that begs the question, do the -eigh names fall under the cultural rule?…
I've been lurking on this sub for a while and one thing I haven't seen discussed is how girls raised with the usually religious expectation to have children tend to choose alternate spellings for names. I grew up in a very religious area/family and a common topic I remember coming up in kindergarten is what we were going to name our kids and sometimes you fall so in love with a name that you just know is perfect, like say Emily and then your cousin has a daughter named Emily even though that was your perfect name. So you tweak it and end up with Emileigh.
Just gonna leave this here. Just because you don't know any, doesn't mean they don't exist. On this list: Dzyre (pronounced Desire). https://www.ukdeedpolloffice.org/worst-baby-names/
Yes, it’s a tradition that started in the US south amongst low middle class suburban white family’s and spread outward
Hunter funny example because it's so mainstream even the presidents kid is named that.
You mean British born Jamie Oliver’s kids names aren’t tragedeighs? Or those of Ed Sheeran, Gavin Rossdale, Katie Price, Bear Grylls, Rosamund Pike? How about Ireland’s native son, Bob Geldof? Aussies Madeline West and Rhys Muldoon? (His poor son) I could go on. I personally know a Filipina named Fraulein. I think it’s become somewhat universal now.
Rich people are weird though, they don’t really represent real people. The majority of posts here are just normal Americans, right?
Tragedeigh is mostly restricted to English speaking countries (a grouping which the Philippines kinda belongs to... kinda). It's by no means universal. Across language barriers, silly naming choices by parents look wildly different, and work very differently. You can't look at them within the framework of tragedeigh anymore.
Don't most other countries have rules or an approved list of what you're allowed to name your kids? The US doesn't have that... you can name your kid pretty much anything you want with very few exceptions. I feel like we DO need more rules since people name their kids silly shit like they're naming a doll and not a person. I also think some of the silly names originate from people named something super common and they hated being Jessica A3 all through school and just decided to go wild so their kid so they're the only one with that name. I went to school with many Jessica's and one said if she ever had a daughter she'd name her Pepsi, I hope that was just the high school talking and she didn't do it. My kids have names that aren't popular (not in the top 100 was my requirement) but are real and spelled correctly. I did do PTO for years and I have seen some names, some of my favorites are Tyranny, Ransom, Kaiszyle (it rhymes with Paisley), Jaylie, Zylie, Diamonique, Euphemia (I know that's a Saint, but that one threw me for a loop), and Tai'jayanna.
How exactly does Kaiszyle EVER rhyme with Paisley??
I pronounce it Kuh-sizzle personally. The mom of the kid has a normal but not ultra common name so I don't know why they decided to inflict that name on their poor kid. I've always felt that everyone should get a freebie name change at 18, you can use it or not. But if your parents landed you with some dumbass name or dumbass spelling you can fix it once you become an adult.
😄😁😆😅🤣😂😆
lmfao there are no rules on what you can name your kid in the UK. maybe you can’t call them Shit Cunter or whatever but there’s no restrictions I’ve ever heard of.
We do, just not as strict as others. No obscenities, no impossible to pronounce and no numerals or special characters. Also no inference that a person holds a title ie no calling your child lord darnley or doctor strange.
Too late! I knew siblings named: King Marvelous, King Superior and Queen Amora. Apparently they weren't shortened when being called upon by others.
King queen prince princess etc aren’t banned. Think along the pronoun route. Mister, doctor, lord etc.
What's the difference between "king" and "lord"? Both are titles. As is "doctor".
I went to school with some kids their moms name was Pepsi. It’s already in the wild.
One of the England footballers has just had his 4th kid with his wife and called the poor sod ‘Rezon’ the other poor mites are called Roman, Riaan and Reign. With his mistress he has ‘Kairo’ and a girl but I don’t know her name.
It’s a states’ rights thing in the US. Several states have laws banning the use of obscenities, numbers, and dingbats, among others.
It’s fairly predictably done by status-anxious parents who simultaneously want to appear to be “not basic like other parents” while following the exact same atrocious name mangling as other parents.
It's happening in Canada as well.
How many kids do you know under 10? It’s not exactly a new phenomenon over here, but it has only become widespread in the past decade. I wonder what names are like for gen alpha in the UK.
Also UK, also agree with everything you said. We do have Kayleigh’s and Ashleigh’s and Leighanne’s from the 80s and 90s but I did know an American boy called Brick back in the 90s who’s parents used to visit distant relatives near my gran in Ireland.
I think it’s more of a “country” thing (country as in southern, per se) or a rich parents thing.
It started as a black American thing which then metastasized to the American lower class as a whole.
I was a weird kid, a weird kid who was fascinated with phonics, a weird kid who was fascinated with phonics who hated their name. From age 4 to 13, I experimented with ways to spell my name. I'm in my 50s and still use what I created at 13. It's unique. I love it. And it confuses everyone...despite it being rather simple. I went to high school with someone named Holly Wood. My mom thought that was awful. One teacher swore he taught a student named Petroleum. No, I'm not from Utah. But, the oh so lovely deep south.
It’s funny, you say Utah because I met a person who who, though not from Utah to my knowledge, was Mormon and who vetoed the name Holly, which she always liked, when she married a guy whose last name was Wood.
My kids’ new headteacher is called Ashleigh. Definitely happens in the UK.
Ashleigh is a very old name. Originally, "Ashley" was a masculine name and "Ashleigh" was the feminine verison (old English).
“Hunter”? That’s what you landed on as “strange b/c it’s based on a job?” You realize a lot of “traditional US surnames” are just British peasants who a million years ago didn’t have a family name and picked a profession, right? Baker, Gardener, Mason, *SMITH*, Thatcher, Taylor…the list is endless. All your surnames (and thus many of our surnames) are tragedeighs. “Hey, what’s your family name?” “Well, we’re poor and uneducated, and can’t remember. But I guess we’ve been feudal bricklayers for the last 300 years. So, let’s go with ‘Mason’, then.” Yeah. Sounds super sophisticated and not at all cringey as shit.
Hunter is not a family name, it’s a given name. What a weirdly passionate argument that has nothing to do with my post, is your name Hunter by any chance? Surnames could not be more different from first names, the whole point is that you don’t choose them. Nobody has the first name Gardener mate.
It's white trash that gives their kids these stupid names.
Idk man I think most of us Americans are just flaming narcissists. But I do think it’s a millennial thing. Can’t remember other generations doing it but maybe I’m wrong.
It's a continent-wide thing in the Americas, the tragedeighs get even wilder south of the US.
My little girl came home with lots of tragedeighs on her end of year signed shirt this week. I had several absolute prizes on my order list this week too, one so bad I actually showed my husband, but I’ve gone completely blank on what any of them were. It’s sadly not just a US thing, it’s here too. Be glad you have been spared in your area! For example, whatshername, Colleen Rooney? I had kids at the same times as she did and remember thinking hen, wtf are you smoking, when the names were announced. Klai? Can’t remember exactly, but bloody awful.
Yea there's a couple versions of it depending where you are. Ive been noticing a lot of younger people with improper nouns as names recently too, kinda weird.
I wish my name wasn't so damned normal. My kids have fairly common first names and unusual middle names.
Names in the US have definitely been getting weirder (or “more unique,” as some people might see it. That said, I know a lot of people my age who have young children, and none of those children have unusual names (no unnecessary-eighs that I’m aware of). That said, whether or not a name is unusual is definitely in the eye of the beholder; I don’t think of Hunter as an unusual name at all.
Lots of narcissistic parents who want others to oooh and ahhhhh over how...clever they are. Saying they want a child to be unique therefore the child needs a unique name (traditional name or co-opted surname with a mangled spelling) is awful to me. The message that gives is you're saying if you name your kid John he's not unique or special. Rubbish!
Lol. The -eigh is a southern and country US thing that has spread forth to the masses.
It's a feature brought about by abysmally poor education and being raised by wolves. 😁
England here and I know two kids called Hunter. We’re not immune. Not as bad, but not immune. The real tragedeighs come with the hardcore chavs.
I've heard that in Uruguay there are no laws regarding baby names, no one stops you. I've heard of people called silly names like "Mayo" (may), or stupid ones like "Trademark"... or names that should be illegal like "Ad * lf H * ttler" + family name.
It’s not just America. France definitely has its share of similar dumbassery (although in French). I’d argue however that France’s share is definitely not as widespread at the US’s.
I’m English and work in Child Protection- it’s not an American thing unfortunately
There are some tradeighs in Canada too. It doesn't seem as common, but trends usually make their way up here eventually
I worke with the English a lot, and back when I lived in Australia also saw a decent bit of Brit immigrants with tragedeigh names. Here's some UK examples I've collected throughout my life: Aarun, Aidunn, Aydam, Benjayminn, Chelsay, Chelsei, Etjam (Ethan, said it was a typo on his birth certificate, right hand placed too right when typing), Jeleiet (Juliet), Khayden, Merghuerita (went by Meg), Ollyvar, Pethar, Rhandahl (Randall), Sushannah (now just Hannah) And my absolute favourite: Marfinn Used to have Greetje on the list, but then found out it's a Dutch diminutive of Margaret. UK names that I've come across that aren't tragedeigh, but just tragic: Apple, Bagsley, Book, Dill, Dreamy, Lemon, Pouch, Satchel, Shatter
It’s unfortunately an Australian thing too. Braydee, Jaxin, Eelye are all kids at my daughters primary school
I’m gonna need help with pronouncing Eelye..
Eli 😂
Ohhhhh, it’s not Eel-ye
My dad's cousin has adult kids called Tiger and Jaguar (girl/boy). And my friend was on the same college course as a Geccika -_-
Yes, it is a US subculture thing. I believe it started in the ‘70s with the new counter-culture movements but has been expanding and getting worse since then. People think American society is oppressive and want their kid to identify more with individualism and stand out.