Sigfried
Eli
Ludwig
Gustav
Tobias
Thea
Heinz
Yvon for a guy
Here's a batch from Elizabeth, who works in a hospital. I worried a bit about posting them all at once, because if you threw this list at Google, I bet you could track Elizabeth's movements the last 6 months within about 3m:
Arabella
Kentyn & Kyler
Raleigh & Savannah [twins, cities]
**Female (FEE-mal-E, this is just sad. The mother didn't know how to read and thought that the hospital named her baby because she saw 'female' written for the baby's gender) [ ed note; Wouldn't she have named her "Checkbox" or just "F"? And wouldn't someone have mentioned it to her? Until I see the driver's license, I'm gonna assume this is one of those stories that gets passed around at those wild OB Nurses Association Annual Conferences in Reno.]
Brightynn ( like Brighton) [ed: same here. Everyone knows it's spelled Bryghtynn.]
Boys' Names:
Crew
Lincoln
Michaelangelo Francesco Santini (all 3 are his first name, and his parents use all 3 names when they talk to him) [ed note: it won't last into pre-school, I guaran-damn-tee it. Though I did have a friend growing up who, when you'd call her house, to ask for Marie, her mom'd go, "We don't have a Marie here. We have a Marie-Chantelle." in this weird singsongy voice. Every time. And you'd be like, "Lady, I live across the freakin street, I know."]
Lucky
Sterling Harrison III (but there is no I or II, his parents just wanted him to have a distinguished first name, I asked) {shoulda gone all the way to V or VI or something, then. Or maybe he can pronounce it Eye-Eye-Eye.]
Did you come across any interesting or unusual names that I can riff on after three all-nighters? Send them to names [at] daddytypes [dot] com
To be honest, I haven't gotten out from under the desk for a while.
hey! lincoln is my 3-month-old's name. either elizabeth works at our hospital, or there's a naming trend afoot.
and, yes, my name really is thurston. but not howell, and not the third.
You can spend all day on this at http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/
It's the happy place I go to when I need a good laugh.
hey,
it's Elizabeth and I personally saw the mother whose daughter's name is Female. The mother had the baby at another hospital, so I have no idea why no one asked her about it; but from personal experience I have learned NEVER to question parents about their child's name. I love all the unique names that have been cropping up and another thing that I think a lot of people would be surprised to know it that a lot of babies leave w/o a name. We try to get the parents to decide on a name, but we can't force them to. Just yesterday a new mom and dad were fighting about what the baby's name should be. After dad left for the night, the mom told me that she was going to fill out the birth certificate and pick the name that SHE wanted. I quote "It will be a very cold day in hell before my son's name is Arthur William, Jr. (named after his father, her husband)!! Yikes. So she picked the name she wanted and today the new dad met his son--Jackson Miles. I'm glad that I was not working that shift.
One of the best sites for this if you haven't yet seen: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html
With such gems as Espe Do Wop Jones, and a whole lot of Neavehs.
[blogged about those people a while back. pure baby naming gold. -ed.]
The "FEE-mal-E" name showed up in Paul Schrader's 1982 remake of Cat People with the character played by Ruby Dee. Her explanation for the name was the same as the one you provided.
[mom can't read, but is a Nastassja Kinski fan? I guess I'm ok with that. -ed.]
There's also a very interesting Snopes entry here: http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.htm