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What's in a name, you ask? A whole lot, especially if it’s an eccentric one like Genifyr or Dementia. See, while unique baby names have long been the domain of celebrities (X Æ A-Xii, anyone?), that no longer seems to be the case. The days when parents wanted their kids to fit in are long gone. Now they want them to stand out — without putting too much thought into how many funny looks, mispronunciations, and misspellings will follow them for the rest of their lives.

"People with stupid names, how's life been treating you?" Redditor MrsLadyMadonna wondered when they reached out to members of the 'Ask Women' community to share their experiences. From jokes in school to annoying comments that made them change it completely, some people have been dealt a bad hand from the get-go.

We at Bored Panda have gathered some of the most interesting responses to share with you all. Some of them will spark a smile, others will reveal the real struggles people with rare names have to face in life. So sit back, pull your chair closer, and get ready to take a peek inside a world of living with an unfortunate name. Scroll down to upvote your favorite stories, and if you have any similar experiences to share, be sure to let us know all about them in the comments.

#1

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I hated it so much I legally changed it in 2016. Much happier now.

It wasn't stupid before that song "Stacey's Mom" came out, but since that song my name has been the bane of my existence. Even at 25, people would start singing the lyrics when they learned my name, just to get it out of their system.

I changed it to Anastasia, since I'm Greek and that's what my father wanted to name me originally. Now I get "Like the Disney princess??" And honestly that's much more bearable.

Anilxe , Sofia Alejandra Report

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TheAquarius1978
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't complain lol, my dad though it would be a good idea to name me after a very famous Singer in this country, i SPENT the 1st 25 years of my life listening the the same stupid joke " também tens dois amores " ( do you also have two lovers ) which was the title of One of his songs, i'm 44 now and i STIL listen to that stupid joke, though not as Often these days thank what ever Deity you follow....

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#2

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going Not me, but I know someone who’s surname is Potter, and she had a son about a year before the books came out who she named Harry. He’s probably totally sick of it.

anon , Warner Bros. Pictures Report

#3

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My legal name is Kimber, which most people think is pretty cool (I do agree). Some people however, throughout my entire life have found it pertinent to yell “TIMBER” and then look at me expectantly like it’s the funniest thing ever and like I’ve never heard it before.. it’s not that funny and y’all ain’t as clever as you think.

edit: spelling

Kjadews6 , Lukas Report

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#4

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going A guy I work with is named Daniel Daniel Daniel. He takes it in stride since a lot of people ask if this is really his name. He gives ever changing Joker like answer about how he got the name. My favorite is his dad lost a poker game and had to name his kid the same name first, middle, and last.

jvlpdillon , Warner Bros. Pictures Report

#5

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My daughter's neonatalogist had a last name Doctor. So everyone called her Dr. Doctor and her name tag said Doctor Doctor. I guess it was inevitable that she'd become a doctor.

shimbio , RF._.studio Report

#6

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I am Egyptian and my name is Moaz elgharib "pronounced mo'aaz al-ghare'eb" moaz means a place fortified by god and gharib means strange. Most people including arabs dont know hit to pronounce it so they call me mohammad because its the only name they know how to pronounce easily, its been 16 years of being called mohammad and close people call me strange or dr strange for I was studying pharmaceuticals.

moazelgharib , charlesdeluvio Report

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Crouching hippo hidden panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How hard is it to say Moaz? Ppl actually add a syllable and call him by a completely different name. So disrespectful

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#7

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I once taught a kid named Tequila and her younger brother Jack middle name Daniel. I wish I was making this up.

I also had a PE teacher at school called Mr. Game. He was a cool dude and clearly had the perfect profession!!

quellerosiel , Fidel Fernando Report

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#8

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going Not my name, but my daughters first pediatrician office had a board with pictures of various kiddos and some had names.

Spotted one with this cute little girl and I see the name “Demi” ... I go to read the full name above it thinking I’ll see Demetria, but I didn’t see that name.

Dementia. Was her name. I think of this little girl often and wonder how the world is treating her.

StellaFartois , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

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Down With Agent Hedgehog!
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, I think Dementia would be a really cool name if it’s not for the definition and creepy atmosphere

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#9

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My sister has what should be a very standard, normal name, but for some reason my mum decided to go the "unique" spelling route. Think Genifyr instead of Jennifer. So now she has to spell it out even though it's a name that everyone knows how to spell correctly. Having to point out your name is essentially spelt wrong every time you have to give your information must be so annoying - if I were her I'd just legally change my name to the correct spelling.

anon , Taylor Grote Report

#10

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I have a friend named Isis. She has not legally changed her name, but, about 5 years ago, at the age of 30, she had to start going by her middle name due to the associations.

clekas , Pixabay Report

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Deborah Harris
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Such a shame as its a Goddess name. I know Marks and Spencers changed their perfume that had this name too

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#11

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I have an extremely uncommon name, to the degree that when I tell it to people I often get asked what my *real* name is, because they assume it must be a nickname.

I think having a unique name has served me well in life, but one consequence people with common names may not think about is that it makes me seem rude sometimes.

I am slightly worse than average at remembering faces and names but, frustratingly, no one *ever* forgets my name. So when I forget someone's name, I always look like an a*****e, even if we met so briefly that forgetting a name should be entirely understandable.

anon , fauxels Report

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Sonja
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Similar here. Key to success is to have ready a set of questions from which you can find out from where you should know that people. Act casualy and ask questions like "yeah, hi! Haven't seen you for ages..how long it was since we last saw each other?"

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#12

I had a patient last week named Ti’Lapia. I don’t think she knew tilapia was a fish.

Guess it was better than being named Tuna or Tunah

rninnj Report

#13

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My name is really beautiful when it’s pronounced properly, but when it’s pronounced phonetically it sounds like ‘wiener moaner’

I hated it growing up but I think it’s hilarious now. Most people pronounce it correctly, but I don’t correct people who get it wrong. My 65 year old lecturer called me wiener for an entire semester, it was f*****g magical.

I really don’t know what my parents were thinking though. I’m thinking of using a different name professionally.

anon , Jussara Paulo Report

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#14

Here's a slightly different take on stupid name. My parents played it really, really safe. My first name was in the top 10 most popular for the entire decade around my birth reaching #1 not once, but twice. My middle name? In the top five of all time. Last name? Top five most common surnames. Do you know how many people there are with my exact name? When I first moved to a metropolitan area there were 5 of us in one apartment complex. None of us were related or even from the same part of the country.

GreebleSnort Report

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Karen Grace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My name is Karen...fun, I know. But it is also so common that I run into the same situation. At one nursing job we had 5 Karen's. Fortunately our last names started with different names so we became Karen B, or Karen L, etc. I'm currently in a group online where we have 3 Karens.

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Karen Grace
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wish we could correct. Ok, the last names started with different Letters...lol

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Sarah Green
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This I can relate to. Try going to a Christian school with the name Sarah. There were 6 of us in one class. Not quite so bad anymore but I despised it growing up.

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Sammie 19
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my primary school class we had 5 girls, including myself with the same first name of which only 1 had a different spelling as hers was spelt without the i in hers. I hated it lol

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Sonny Kohler
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know the feeling... my first name was so common in the 70's when I was coming up that there were 12 of us just in my neighborhood. My grandpa was so frustrated by it that he gave me the nick-name that I've used since I was about 12 based on the ending of one of my middle names. Sometimes I can't believe that people actually think that my nick-name is my legal name.

carag avatar
Cara G
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My name frustration resides at the intersection of this one and the actual theme of the list. While Cara is very easy to pronounce, it's not all that common so when I tell people my name, their brains hear Tara, Sara, Carrie, or Karen. So my repertoire goes like this: If they're taking a food order, I repeat it as "Ca-RUH". If they're over the age of 60, I say "Cara Mia! Like the song!" in my best Italian accent since I actually was named for it. If all else fails and they still aren't getting it, I use one of the rhyming names and actually make an ASL letter C to show them how it's spelled and pronounced. Also it's not Care-uh or Car-uh. It's Caah-ruh. Like the aaahhh at the start of a sneeze.

carag avatar
Cara G
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Another weird thing about my name is that, despite its uniqueness, I've never had a job where I was the only Cara/Kara. I'm the only person in the United States with my exact name the way it's spelled but I did learn that someone else has our name but spelled differently last year when I saw her notary stamp at work!

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Cara G
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Elizabeth is a gorgeous name! My favorite historical figure is Queen Elizabeth I, her portrait hangs above my bed. I love meeting people who bear her name. I do also love Libby as a nickname. My cousin's youngest daughter is named Libby ❤

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majandess
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband's name was Michael. When he was in college, he lived in a dorm apartment with five other Michaels. That was a fun year.

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SobyKay
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually prefer more unusual names to having this scenario. I had a popular name all my life that drove me nuts. I not only did not relate to it on a personal level, but having a name so many other ppl did was annoying. I legally changed it just over a year ago to a super unique name, I dont know anyone with this name and ppl I meet always comment on how different it is. Im much happier!

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G'ma B
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No … Wednesday Thursday Friday? At least it will be right 3 times a week!

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backatya
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

there's a lot of people on this planet. And names only go so far. Live with it.

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Stymied Egan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My friends son has an unusual last name and a common first name. He had been in a hospital and received bills for care a week after he'd been in the hospital. After lots of calls there was a patient with his name that came in one week after he was there. He had gotten bills for our friends son too. They bills were hit and miss.

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Josurf
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had a bunch of Karine, Carine, Karen, etc....at the office. All in the same age range. When they had kids they called them Lauren, Laura, Laure, etc.... Names comme so often in waves of fashion.

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Shasta Morris
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My first, middle, and last birth names are all extremely common... like the second and first most common English female given names in history + the most common English surname. People like first name+surname together bc it is alliterative and "sounds nice". I had to point out to a creative writing teacher who liked it that it was "already taken" and I certainly wasn't going to try to be the second or third or tenth poet/writer with the same name. Haven't willingly used it in years.

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TheElderNom
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I'm the only one in the world with my combination of names. My first name is a very local (village) nickname of a more common name and my middle name is quite rare. Last name is normal enough but it is Danish and I live in Sweden and my first name is Swedish.

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Carneirinha87
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My ex's name is so common that when we flew together once he was stopped at the airport because they were looking for someone with the same name. Thankfully it couldn't have been him due to age.

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Seabeast
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I knew at least four Cheryls growing up, some of whom were spelled with an S instead of a C. It was an extremely common name at the time and now you pretty much never see it in anyone under age 50.

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Amanda Rose
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amanda checking in! I had five fellow Amanda's in my fifth grade history class alone. Who knows how many in the entire school. My family calls me Mandy, which is also too common. 😂

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River Daski
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

gods, this is the literal reason my spouse is changing their name and taking my last name. WAY too common of a name, to the point he was arrested for it when cops were looking for a different person with the same name!

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#15

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My Lithuanian maiden surname meant "a little wh**e". So yeah, that was fun growing up: from teachers and kids laughing, to doctors and various professionals, my sister even won a contest for the worst surname in our country. I quite liked all the attention and had a fun time growing up with this surname but now, even when I'm divorced, I'm not planning on changing it back.

Dids Report

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keighterz
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah I really want to know what all these names are, otherwise this thread is kind of annoying ngl

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#16

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My mom gave me a name she made up when she was fourteen (think Renesmee or Neveazulu only uglier sounding). I changed it by deed poll at 17.

anon , Camila Bou Report

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zububonsai
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My condolences for your first 17years. Hope you're better now.

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#17

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going Not going to say what it actually is, but my first name is an animal. Not like "cat" or something that's actually a name, or something vaguely foreign-sounding like "okapi." Blatantly an animal. Think like "Tiger" or "Dolphin."

Life's pretty good. I like my name. Sometimes I use another one in coffee shops or somewhere that they call my name because if I use my "animal" name then people are just like "what? what did you say? what? how do you spell that?" so it's easier to just say like amy or something lol

ChuushaHime , Choi sungwoo Report

#18

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I have a "unique" name that's spelled absolutely stupid. Think "Larin" instead of "Lauren".

Every. Single. Person. Pronounces. It. Wrong.

"LAY-rin? Is there a LUH-AY-RUN here?"

No, it's pronounced just like it's stupidly common counterpart.

Ill get it changed some day.

Midgar-Zolom , Pavel Danilyuk Report

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Jaden Alexander
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Parents who are considering naming their children ANY of the regular(ish) names with the most God awful spellings should read this post 4-500 times and take notes. This could well be your future child right here.

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#19

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My first name is Walker and I am female. My old highschool had me listed as Male for about 6 years until I decided to go back to college. The secretary who was getting my transcripts for me goes, “uh, do you want me to change this now??”

Also get countless emails for “Mr. ______.” When I finally speak to that person on the phone they trip up for a solid 20 seconds, “err... um... is Walker available?” Yes, it is I - the shockingly female Walker. I then typically get an apology email later.

Also, I have a joke that anyone who makes a Texas ranger reference goes into the “75%” category and we cannot be friends. No bargaining. Get outta here.

I will say that people rarely forget my name and that helps with life in general.

madamwalkerrose , Pixabay Report

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Sonja
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some time ago, here on BP there was a thread about names of children. There was a baby called James and it was a girl. I thought that one day the girl would go through something like this OP.

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#20

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My name is the same as a very famous hurricane (I was born about 8 years before it happened). Our class had to do a big case study on it in secondary school and the jokes pretty much never stopped. Almost every time I introduce myself to someone in a non-professional environment their reaction tends to be “oh, like the hurricane?”

schwarz_infernus , JD Designs Report

#21

I have a Gaelic name and the area I grew up in was not Ireland. When I was little, ages 6-12ish I'd get very upset at people mispronouncing my name. And then I just kinda got over it. People tend to think it's a lovely name and aren't offended when I correct them. Half the time I don't even bother correcting, as long as you're in the ballpark I'm good. If I'm making reservations I just use my husband's name, it's easier.

I was always annoyed that I could never find my name on any souvenirs.

niroby Report

#22

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going "Oh like the Borealis?" - Every damn time I meet someone new. I usually give up and just go by my middle name.

Dawn36 , Luke Stackpoole Report

#23

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My surname is pronounced very similarly to my username. Unfortunate, but not the worst. Back in school people tried to use it to make fun of me, so I just adopted it as a nickname.

It's kinda stuck ever since and I actually like it, it makes people laugh which is all that matters :)

arsequeef , Mikhail Nilov Report

#24

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I'm named after an unmistakable American state. I'm European. People call me all sorts of American states names, or even Mexico and Canada, as a pun.

But everybody seems to forget that hearing this sort of stuff since you're a child really narrows the puns that are actually original. Most are just improvised and lame, and people realise this after saying it and I just condescendingly smile, and are immediately embarrassed.

I tend to evaluate people who I meet by the originality of their reaction to my name.

zeeeeeeeeee , ATC Comm Photo Report

#25

My name is not stubid in my country but in english my name can be pronouced as *Titty*

So yeah nice professional name when working with foreighers.

Tyza010 Report

#26

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going I don't know if it's stupid but I always found my name stupid. It's Lithuanian and it's spelled Jaune. Now in Lithuanian Jauna means young (in feminine form), which is what my mother named me after saying eternal youth and all that stuff. I always hated it thinking it will sound stupid once I'm a granny. Like it pretty much literally means young. It's like naming your child 'kid' or 'toddler' in my eyes.

Somewhat luckily, I moved to the UK later on in my childhood and started going by June, and later on exclusively Jane. So I guess it's better, although I still don't like either of the alternatives. I'd change my name but it would be crazily expensive to do it through the embassy or through gaining a UK embassy so not anytime soon. Sometimes I do have people asking me if my parents spoke French though. Now I'm more annoyed about my stupidly long Lithuanian surname, which I got from my Dad that I've not seen for 12 years and absolutely do not care about.

nucifera_no , Danie Franco Report

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#27

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My mother couldn't decide which name she liked better so she kind of mushed the spelling together. My name is Russian and sounds very pretty when pronounced correctly but the spelling is just... Why? People can never spell or pronounce my name correctly, and I've been called "Nat", "Tahlia", "Stacy" (I don't even know), "Tasha" and many more. None of my family is Russian, and I often get asked if I am from Russia because of my name.

WaifuD**k , Mehrpouya H Report

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zububonsai
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And now I'm sitting here, trying to imagine a mushed-toghether version of "Natasha" and "Anastasia": Anashtasia? Natasia? Tashasia?

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#28

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My name is a classic name but it is the same as the word "Donkey" in my native language, so in school, the kids would often make donkey noises at me or tease me about it. It stopped in high school or junior high and has had no effect since; in fact, I had not initially thought about it when reading your question, until I read a comment about someone with another animal name.

No_regrats , TS Sergey Report

#29

"I Hated It So Much I Legally Changed It": 30 People With The Most Stupid And Unfortunate Names Describe How Life's Going My Chinese name has a beautiful meaning, but unfortunately sounds very similar to the Chinese word for gross. I hate it so much and am very hesitant to mention it. Luckily most people only ask for my English name

hellostrangerhi , Lukas Report

#30

I have what's apparently a rare Norwegian nickname as my legal name. I've given up correcting people I don't know, and just let the coffee and phone people call me Linda.

neko Report

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