Yeah, Almost everyone calls me Tess.

I have a lot of problems with banking and such things because people often spell it "Telsa". 90% of America seems to be dyslexic or something, haha.

Tesla's a pretty cool name
Frankly, it beats Sex Fruit any day... though I can see where they got it form.
It's just so silly to name a kid with something so... weird, it's just bizzarre. My name is a normal name that my parents decided to spell in the very conventional, very rare way and then added to that is my middle name that's essentially a word in a language that's not spoken anymore and.... it leads to interesting conversations. But still, I'd hate my parents for naming me 4Real.

Moving on from that, if like 40% of parents give their kids said weird names, it wouldn't be as unusual and the so called 'freaks' stop being freaks....

I think parents should be able to name their kids whatever they want within reason. An approved list of names would never work in the US, I myself would tell the gov't "f you and your stupid list of names, I'm naming my child what the f I want to fing name them". The name 4Real is incredibly idiotic and shows a lack of intelligence, what's next "Fashizzle Manizzle"? (I sure hope (c)rap dies and soon..or at least goes back to when rap was good) I'm all for some "out there" names like "sunshine" and such but really only if they're middle names. I've already picked out 2 names for my kids that I'll most likely never end up having(sighs), for a boy he's gonna be named Caelum and for a girl I'll name her Azhure, they'll be named after 2 of my favorite characters in the books I'm currently reading, though Caelum is just a baby in the books but it's such a wonderful name lol

Actually, the parents of 4Real weren't able to name him that, so they named him something along the lines of Superman. I think parents should be able to name their children what they want to an extent. If it sounds just horrendous, than perhaps somebody should just tell them to choose again. I like pretty normal non-weird names-Ian and Alexander for boys, Abigail (but called Abby for short) and Hannah for girls. I like my name, I have no problems with it (Chelsea). I'm sure glad my mom didn't name me Shanaynaytootlafur or something of the like, thats just silly.

Being (very) pregnant myself right now, this subject hit close to home. I have always been a fan of unusual names, especially girl names. Of course, I get pregnant with a boy and my husband hated every single name that I come up with. They weren't out of the galaxy odd, just different (example: Kamden, Ace, or Bronson). It took us a very long time (about 4 months) to finally agree upon Ethan Dallas. Definately nothing unique or different about it (at least not his first name).

Now, having said that... I do not think that our government should "regulate" names, but they should have to approve them like someone was saying about Europe and other countries. I understand that names have different meanings and such, so perhaps we would have to fill out a form that explains why we want to name our child this and what it means in order to seperate out the ones in different languages and such. Then the stupid ones like 4real, and Orangejello (yes, that says Orange Jello... and yes it's actually someone's real name because that's what his mother craved when she was pregnant with him!) would not get approved and the parent(s) would have to actually be responsible and choose another name.

Of course, this goes completely against my feelings that our government rules enough of our lives, so... *sigh*

I just feel really, really sorry for these poor kids that have to live with these ridiculous names.

I think parents should be allowed to call their kids anything they want within reason; some names are just silly and beg for the kid to be teased though so I think they should think long and hard about it before they decide to give the kid a name that'll annoy them until they can change it.

I wish my parents had been a little more inventive, I'm named after a dead relative and as the rest of my family does simillar things when it comes to naming, I share my name with an aunt and a cousin.
I am thankful though, growing up I knew people with the strangest names ever, there was Monty Piton (Pronounced Python), a girl who had an ethnic name that is spelt as a word I can't use on this forum and Cinderella who (I kid not) had a younger sister named Tinkerbell...

Hmm, unusual spellings actually irritate me more than unusual names.

Tesla is a freaking awesome name for a girl! Sucks that you got teased but damn that rocks my multicoloured toe socks. Mainly because of the scientist.

I'm okay with alternate spellings to a point... But Azhure looks less like Azure (which is sort of strange on its own) and more like Assure to me. Also, they'll totally get called Asshair.

On the subject, here's a great, hilarious site that makes fun of bad baby names: http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/

I strongly agree with the author of that site on most of it - especially the tendency for alternate spellings that just slap y's in place of about every possible vowel - like "Maddysyn" and "Jaysyn" and that kind of crap. Just spell the name properly and you won't have poor little Stephanie needing to explain to everyone it's actually spelled "Steffannye" or something else equally ridiculous for the rest of her life.

soapstar - As long as those doing the approvals aren't overly critical and allow unusual but not too weird names, it'd be fine. - i.e. Sunset, Tesla, Maddysyn, and Steffannye would be fine, but Sex Fruit, 4Real, and FM2030 would be denied.

Doddi, I do hope that was sarcasm. Y'know Spectra's a kind of car, right? And a cheap one at that.

I like unusual names. My mom named after the princess in sleeping beauty... Aurora and growing up I loved my name. I didn't have any problems with it in school and I was always the only one in class with that name. When I had my daughter I was going to name her Daphne but decided aginst it because of Daphy Duck. In the end I ended up naming her Rhoan Marie..... still a bit unusual. It's hard to find a nice name that kids wont make fun of.

I think parents should be able to name their kids to an extent. I mean I feel bad with all those kids with those horrible names. So maybe names should be checked or something just so the kid won't be made fun of too bad in school.

Aw, I'm sorry about the teasing. But personally, I also think that Tesla is a beautiful name!

Anyway, I do think that parents should be able to name their kids whatever they want to...within reason. For example, I'm not a fan of names with y's in place of pretty much every vowel, but if two parents really want to name their kid something like that, they have every right to.

I draw the line when it comes to names that will obviously cause major problems for the baby later on in life (Sex Fruit, anyone?) or that the kid will have trouble filling in on those standard answer forms. Seriously, that stuff can even affect enrolling for school- in both schools that I've gone to, I've had enough trouble enrolling because the computers didn't recognize the apostrophe in my last name. So, in my opinion, naming your child Number 16 Bus Shelter or Talulah Does The Hula? Um....try again.

I really love the spanish name Azura, And if i have a daughter that will be her name

I think that there should be some kinda limit on naming children. If a kid had a name like 4Real or Sex Fruit, They probibly wouldnt get to do stuff like people with normal names do. Like they posssily could be denied a job.
Could you imagine announcing it in a supermarket?.. "could Sex Fruit come to the checkouts please?"

Well, I voted "Yes, but nothing offensive/stupid" or whatever the third one was. I was named after the first person my mom hit with a car. Good thing his name was "Taylor". ^.^

And the child's name was "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii". She was not from Hawaii, herself, because if she were, she'd be an American citizen and New Zealand would have no authority to make her a ward of their courts and change her name.

Now, I lived the latter half of my teens and most of my 20's in a rural county in Virginia, at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Think Moon Shine and Bluegrass). NASCAR is really big there. The assistan manager at the VABC (Virginia Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control) store, where I worked, named her son after a prominant figure in NASCAR. No, his name wasn't Dale, but it was close. His middle name, and the name that everyone uses to address him, is 3. And no, it's not even spelled out, just the number 3. That's right, named after Dale Earnhart's car NUMBER. I could have just slapped her when I first heard that. It's bad enough that every child she's had has been named with a name starting with the letter "J" (talking about 5 or 6 kids, mind you, only a couple have actually made it through high school), but now she's gone to numbers. I wish someone would take her kids away from her, just for that reason alone.

Same here. There is a girl in my class called Meaghan. ITS MEGAN.

I also dislike it when people give their child names that are like another name but are stupid. Like Anfrany. Or Danella. Everyone who goes on Maury has a ridiculous name like that. One kid was called Da'marie. And he was a boy. What kind of name is that?

I like the name Tesla too, but that's because science is cool. A Tesla Coil is one of the absolute coolest looking science gadget out there. My own name is quite old-fashioned and I got teased in school too. People who want to give you a hard time will find a way.
I think people should be able to name their kids whatever they want. If you're not going to stop the ingorant, stupid and cruel from having kids, why put your foot down on a name? Perhaps one should be allowed to apply for a legal name change at an earlier age though. Especially if your parents are so cruel or neglectful that you ended up in foster care or group homes.

and hey HP? I sometimes use that site to name my sims. Although I would never name an actual child (or probably even a dog) any of those names, I think it's funny to give my sims silly names. Although, sometimes I read it when I just need a laugh.

Someone else made a good point, about so-called "Ethnic" names. One thing I learned, growing up, is that many of my african-american classmates had regular anglo-european names, but their parents put a "Ka", "La", "Qua", "Da", or "Sha" on the beginning to make it "more ethnic". Or, they'll throw in a pointless apostrophe. My mother works with a woman who's name is pronounced "shuRON". Yup, Sha'Ron is her name. Because, I guess, "Sharon" was just not "ethnic" enough.

I read where a Sergeant in the US Army changed his name to Optimus Prime, and after discussing with his wife and kids, re-adopted his children so their last names were Prime as well, but that was at least a choice they ALL made as a family, so I can support that (And because Prime was awesome).

The worst names of all I think are "tryndee" names. Like Madison turned in too "Madysson" or Kennidy in too "Kennidee".
There are names listed on here that are 'tryndee'
http://badbabynamesverified.com/

I just don't see why people butcher some good names. I can understand a different spelling sometimes, but it goes way overboard. (Also, tryndee = trendy )

I'm sure a lot of people would think my name is "weird" or "would give me problems in the future." If there was somebody pre-approving names, I would probably have ended up being named something else.

But I'm proud of my name. I feel like it's a strong part of my heritage.

Why would somebody tell me what I can name my child? So what if someone's name is Superman? I think that's pretty awesome. Your kid is going to be teased about something regardless of who they are.

I think someone who's already in their lives should smack them, but the thought of government regulating what you can and cannot name your child is a horrifying idea.

I agree with you all that names should atleast be regulated to a degree. Have a small list of guidelines. No Numbers or symbols and atleast legible. Possibly under a certain amount of letters- like no name past 12 letters- My daughters name is 9 letters long, but we just call her Lizzy- so she would never have to spell her full name unless its official or she prefers it. Her father gave her an unusual middle name Aeowyn, he wanted it as the first name- but I told him it was middle only as I didn't want her having a hard time in school and life in general. Alot of people have trouble pronouncing it as is when you have to list the middle name.
I really do like unusual names, but there should be a limit to how unusual it should be. Nothing sexual at all! A child should not have stuff like that in relation to them- if they wanna change thier name when they are adults to something insane and provacative, they can do it on thier own. Case in point Amanda Bumpass- she changed her name legally as she wanted a more proffessional name- my husband met this lady when he was working... Thats just asking for trouble if you name your kid something like Hotlips Muffinbum.

Seriously... Superman? Yes, children are going to be teased, but the ones doing the teasing certainly don't need the teased child's parents' help in doing it. You seem to think that parents naming a child "Waste of Space" would be just fine, regardless of what it does to a kid's life. Carelessness in naming a child can really mess that child up. Hell, the little girl in the article told everyone to call her "K" because she was too embarassed by her own name. Her name didn't even have a "K" in it.

But, what the hell, let's just name our kids all sorts of malicious names, let them get really fat so they're unhealthy and have a low self-esteem. And then we'll tell them that we love them, despite all the harm we've voluntarily caused them and when they don't believe us and become An Heroes we'll put on a t-shirt with their face imprinted on it saying how noble and angelic they were.

After all, they're going to be teased about something, right?

What would happen to all the ethnic names? There are many different ethnic groups in American, and many other places in the world.

My name is 2 names combined, and I love it. I know lots of South Indian's names who add "Sri" (pronounced "SHri") in front of names, and the elder wo/men have very long names, going over 12.

My last name goes over 12, and I have a Greek friend who actually had to change their last name because it wouldn't fit in the boxes, and people butchered it to no end. I hate how people automatically assume that box's are enough. I barely make it...3 to 4 boxes to spare.

I know I would never, ever change my name (first and last) because I love it to death. If I have children, I know I would love to name my son Ashish (Ah-ShiSH) and my daughter Payal or something else Modern-Indian.

I'm so sorry, but I totally read that as saying "Paypal" at first glance. Yeah, greek names are well-known for their ability to be butchered by anyone speaking an anglo tongue, just for their length.

I'd say, in terms of actually phonetic difficulty, the original gaelic Irish names have to be some of the craziest.

If you want to name your kid something really weird, extremely unusual, or (as many examples in this thread have been) just plain stupid, either make it a middle name, or a nickname. You want your kid to be called Superman, fine - he can be Timothy Superman Jones - or even better, Timothy Eric Jones (or whatever), and you can call him Superman all the time at home. But he doesn't have to deal with that being the name the kids at school call him, or having to write it on job applications. Same with any really weird not-actually-a-name. Give the kid a nice normal first name - it can be something pretty, even moderately unusual, but an actual real name.

Why should the government be able to control what you name your kid? Same reason the government already controls what you can do to your kid. You can't tattoo "I am an assface" on your kid's forehead just because it's your kid - why would you want to saddle them with a ridiculously stupid name which will get them made fun of just as much?

There's nothing wrong with calling your kid what you want, but their actual legal name is their first impression to the world, and if you want to name them something asinine just for the sake of "I'll name my kid what I want" then you're being horribly selfish and short-sighted. There's a reason there are actual names and nicknames, and if you're going to have a kid, you should have the wisdom to see the difference in the two.

kustirider2 - Azura's also the name of a daedric prince (female - there are no daedic princesses) in the Elder Scrolls (Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion) mythos. One of the few nice daedric princes.

i know, thats where i originally found the name, In one of my fave games :D

I don't think the goverment should have a list of approved names, just becuase there are too many diffrent names out there and especially in a place like the U.S that has alot of diffrent cultrues within it and the names that come with it. It'll just be too hard. Plus it's got a bit of a Brave New World vibe to it, where there are only ten last names in the whole world (except in this case it's first names).

I have a weird ethnic name that kids made fun of. But I still love it. Nowandays I have people telling me that it's pretty and they want to give their kids that name too. Kids will find any reason to make fun of another person. Though I don't agree with the really ridiculous names such as 4real and such. Trying to make sure the kid's name is free from being teased is unrealistic. I've seen kids make fun of the name Amanda, let alone all the ethnic names they poke fun at.