A Rose By Any Other Name

Rose is a lovely name for a girl, unless of course her last name is something like Thorne or Redd. And how do you account for a boy with the last name Phillips getting Phillip as a first name, too.

What are parents thinking?

My wife and I used to joke that we would name a son, Reid Alexander. That's sounds fine until you realize that his name would have been Reid A. Story.

Some kids may like their unusual names, but I don't understand how you can run the risk of dooming a kid to a life of ridicule for a moment's chuckle. Here's what some kids in the UK had to say. Unfortunately, the girls may also have to run the gauntlet when they marry.

Celebrities are notorious for this practice, but my favorites are the ones that are seemingly innocent. Some of you may remember controversial industrialist, Armand Hammer. And there are plenty of other strange combinations as well. Here are a couple more I like:

Shi T. Wu - A college professor I knew
Jaime Cardinal Sin - former Archbishop in the Phillipines
Ima Hogg - Texas philanthropist
Shanda Lear - Daughter of Lear Jet mogul
Picabo Street - Olympic skier

What are some of the strangest or funniest names that you've run across?

[Ed. note: We've all heard the urban legends of kids named after jello or street signs or unfortunate body parts, so please don't trot them out again. Limit your picks to people that you knew or those that can actually be verified. And try to keep them PG-rated.]

Unusual Names