I read a book by a Utahn, and at the end, it said his wife's name was CherRon. It took me some staring to figure out it was probably proncounced "Sharon." That's so wrong.
alabamabelle - that's actually not too weird in many countries. Some countries have a list of approved names, and if you want a different name, you have to submit it to some govt agency for approval before you can use it. I heard about it when someone in a Scandinavian country was trying to name their son Gandalf when the LOTR movies were coming out.
In Ukraine, people also stuck to tried and true names, and I think there was govt involvement but I'm not sure. What it meant is that every other woman is named Natasha.
"Hi my name is Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl."
(And those fellars lived in Vermont on The Newhart Show. What kind of parents would give two of their kids the same name?) Or was New Hampshire? Can't remember. It was some New England state.
Naming a child. . . when we named our kids, I remembered how people reacted at my high school graduation a decade before when kids I went to school with had to get up and grab their diploma when their REAL name got announced. I haven't laughed so hard since.
Nothing like finding out that "Beanie" was really named Richard Edward Gustav Hargreaves, III. Hilarious! I would have been called something else, too!
So, in keeping with reality, we stuck with good old fashioned, traditional names for our boys and girl (dog).
Son #1 is named Treyton Jamarcus Zaire (we call him "Bud")
Son #2 is named Kevontay Niko Reyhaul (we call him "Bud Bud")
Our female blue heeler is named Gypsy Rose Lee because she likes to get out of her collar and run around 'naked'.
Sure, her nudity creates a scandal at the neighborhood barbecue, but so far no puppies have come home, so we let it ride.