When we’re painting we talk about all sorts of weird things that we probably wouldn’t otherwise get around to. And while painting the bedroom we got to the topic of “names that our parents almost gave us.” Get this. My mom wanted to name me Gina. We would have been John & Gina. That made us titter. Not sure if it’s a had to be there thing though. Either way, John’s dad’s choice of names takes the cake. He wanted to name John… wait for it… Lars.
Lars Petersik.
How funny is that? If I had seen tall dirty blond John at work and asked a coworker “oh who’s that?” and heard them respond with ” that’s Lars Petersik, he’s an account manager.” Let’s just say I would have been all “niiiiice to meeeeeeet you Laaaaars” with that over-enunciated-because-I’m-not-sure-you’re-great-at-deciphering-super-speedy-NY-talkers connotation. The same long drawn out delivery I use with my only-speaks-Italian grandmother. It would have been hysterical. John probably never would have let me live it down. Or asked me to marry him a year-ish later.
But that’s not all. Apparently John’s dad also wanted to name John “Vector.” Because he liked math. How I was able to continue painting with tears of laughter streaming down my face is beyond me. So it got us wondering what you guys were almost named. Come on… someone out there can beat Vector and Lars, right?
Melissa says
John & Gina, haha that’s so funny! My dad almost named me Sunshine, but my mom wouldn’t have it! lol
Spring says
I was going to be Elliot if I was a boy.
My mom considered Ruby and Alice as names (my cousin born 6 day after me wound up with Alice). Instead she went with Spring.
I was born in August. Go figure. :)
Kate S. says
I was going to be…Joe. Nothing too exciting there. Katherine Margaret suites me much better, considering the lady bits and all.
My boyfriend’s mother, however, was going to name him Wolfgang. Thank heavens she went with Harry Ernest instead. Kind of an unusual name still, but I don’t know if I would have gone out with a Wolfgang, except in broad daylight with lots of friends around.
Shannon says
My name is Shannon and my identical twin is named Chantelle. But, originally, my dad wanted to name us…wait for it…Champagne and Chablis1
Uhg…Awful. I am so grateful my mom veto’d that one. I say, when naming a kid, be unique but be kind. It’s not the name that sets a kid apart from the group, it’s their personality.
Janet says
hey…my sons name is Henrik Lars and he is 9months old:)
Well, I guess I have an excuse because I’m German and I actually really like that name…
But everybody has a different taste…
Sarah K. says
Well, not sure if I have everyone beat because I didn’t read through everyone’s comments, but I was going to be named Ora. That’s right. Ora. Like Oral but without the L. Also, Lars cracks me up. My husband’s name is Larry and he has a certain group of friends from high school that call him Lars.
Melissa says
My mother almost named me Ciara, after the musky perfume she’s been wearing since junior high. My father insisted on naming me “Jack” whether I was a boy or girl because he wanted me to be erm…”tough”.
I ended up with Melissa Catherine and was called “Catie” for a week until they switched it up to “Melissa”. My family writes letters to newborns on their day of birth and all of mine say “Dear Catie”.
Weirdos!!
Tracie says
Haha, I love posts like this. My father was from Alabama, and his name is Robert, so if I was a boy he wanted to call me Robert Lee Nelms. His name is chose for a girl was Electra. My mother, needs to say, shot that down. She wanted to name me Colleen. They settled on Tracie.
Whenever I play video games, my female characters are named Electra. What would be an awful real-life name is a pretty cool imaginary alias. :)
Michelle says
My parents would have named me Suzy, but before I was born they got a puppy and named HER Suzy. So there went that name choice!
Beth says
Had I been a boy… My grandfather was pulling for my parents to go with Munro Bruno Rateau. Granted my dad’s name actually is Munro Rateau. Thank goodness I was a girl. However, my mom didn’t even call me by my first name. Or second name come to think of it.
Stef says
My Grandmother lobbied for me to be named after her father, Flavius. In the age of Flava-Flave I am eternally grateful that my parents did not name me Flavia.
Annalea says
Well, there was only one candidate for my name: Annalea. But. My mom had plans for the two other girls she wanted to have: Merrilea and Saralea.
Can you imagine?
Annalea
Merrilea
Saralea
The playground ridicule would have been tremendous!
Jaimie@AtHome says
That is awesome! Vector would have been a fantastic name. Hehe! I believe when I was born the nurse suggested that my parents name me ‘Blodwyn’. I think it may have been her name. I can’t say how thankful I am that my parents chose Jaimie instead.
Julie B says
Thank goodness I missed out on the grandma names. Edna for one grandma and Dorothy for the other. My longtime friend had grandma names of Myrtle and Dorothy.
For years, our parents laughed that we missed out on being EdnaDort and MyrtleDort!
Julie and Tina
Christina says
Awesome! All my baby stuff says baby Valerie because my name was Valerie for all of 5 days or so. When I popped out, my sister named me Valerie, my mom wanted Christina, and my dad wanted Michelle so now I have Christina Valerie Michelle Araiza. Fun!
Claudia says
i think you should frame each name – lars and vector – and hang them up somewhere in the house! they’ll be great conversation starters when people come over, which will lead to lots of laughter (and crying)! :)
Marissa says
Glenda! I’ll take ‘Marissa’ any day…
Charity says
My parents actually had pretty nice names for all of us, in our own opinion of course. But I married a man who has quite the sense of humor when it comes to names. Our last name is West (don’t stalk me :P ) and some names he has lobbied for in the past are: Easton West, Wes Westley West, and Tinky Winky West. His explanation for that last one: “It just rolls of the tongue.” Oh, and Tiberius, which his cousin actually (actually!) just named his son, so I guess it runs in the family.
Needless to say, I am not on board with any of these, but I have graciously allowed him naming rights to any children he should have on his own.
Marlene says
I don’t have a comment about names but I do know that my husband and I have found painting to be very companionable and have had some great conversations with brushes and rollers in hand!
Taylor says
This post is hilarious! I love your “new” old-school spontaneous blogging style.
Am I crazy, or did the “Show All” comment button go away? I used that almost every day with all the comments you’ve been getting lately! It makes it easier sometimes when your replies are one page but the original question was on another.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Taylor,
So sorry! We had some technical stuff going on so we removed that for a bit. We’re hoping to get it back up soon!
xo,
s
Michelle says
This is always a funny topic because my parents named me on their 2nd date. They were out to dinner and my dad just said, “We’re going to have a girl and her name is going to be Michelle Elizabeth.” My mom hadn’t even decided if she really liked the guy yet! Somehow that didn’t scare her away though. They didn’t know I was going to be a girl, but they were so sure that they didn’t even have a boys name picked out. Lucky for them I was a girl. Who knows what my name would have been if I were a boy! :)
jenny says
My mom almost named me Janelle….which may not seem that bad until you realize that its basically a combination of my mom’s first name (jane) and her maiden name (which ends in elle)
ugh!
Beth J says
The name my mom gave me is quite a mouthful, but it’s way better than Augusta Autumn. Thank GOODNESS my grandmother put her foot down!
Liz says
My mom said if I was a boy my name would’ve been Perry! After Perry Como!!! LOL
Mego! says
Oh do I have a story for you….my dear father thought a german name would be great….
While at the hospital my name was undecided….if it hadnt been for a pair of monogrammed girls bloomers in the giftshop….i would have been named….WAIT FOR IT….Gretchen or Ursula!!! Yes, Ursula…of the little mermaid variety. I’m so thankful they saw the bloomers and named me Megan instead….
Anna says
Well, it’s not me, but what I almost named my daughter, Sarah. I was a huge John Prine fan, at the time I was carrying her (29 years ago). I was going to name her Darcy. That wasn’t bad, but my ex-hubs wanted her middle name to be Rose. I went with it until my best friend said “please don’t, it sounds like a dancer (and not the good Broadway type dancer). That ended it. Her name is Sarah and she has no middle name.
Lindsey says
My grandmother begged my mother to name me Dorcus! I am so glad my mom didn’t listen! I would have hated going through high school with that name!
Angela says
My mum jokes that she could have named me after my great grandmother – Minerva Rose. And called me Minnie for short. No thanks! Turns out Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, but still…
Molly says
What a fun post and great comments. Mom was going to name me either Julie or Andrew (guess who her favourite singer was?) and then out of the blue saw the name Molly in a newspaper (hopefully not some ax-murderess) and switched to that. My maiden name was Noyes and my husband loves to joke they should have named me Lotta. Cute.
Jenifer says
My Grandpa’s nickname is Lars! His real name is Larry – it’s just something cute my Grandma calls him. Her name is Doris, but he calls her Dixie – go figure.
My “alternate” name was Amanda. Yep, from one of the world’s two most popular names to the other. Creative, parents. They did decide to spell Jenifer with only one ‘n’ though. Let me tell you, that creativity was not always appreciated. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve had to say, “Yes, that’s only one ‘n’. Yes, that is interesting. No, I don’t know why my parents chose to do that.”
P.S. Keep it comin’ with posts of all shapes, sizes, and topics:) I think the 500+ comments on this post are reason enough. You just moved for goodness’ sake. Were those two people expecting you to park the U-Haul and break out the sledge hammer in the next second? (Although, that’s kind of what you did in the old house with that strange wooden divider thing by the door, Sherry. Hehe).
JennileeElaine says
If I were a boy my name would have been more usual, such as ‘Jason’ or ‘Jeffrey’ (after my dad). Mine is a combo, after my Mom’s sisters, Jennifer Joy and Julie Elaine. Since my Aunt goes by Jenni, I can’t shorten my first name without it getting confusing (although I did try for a week at summer camp in middle school, however, when anyone said my name, I assumed they were speaking to the three other Jenny’s that were in my cabin!) It was a lot easier to appreciate my name after that!
My parents joke they would have named my little sister ‘Julifer Joy’, so it would be the opposite of my name. How horrible would that be? She was actually named Julia Rebecca (after great-grandmothers). So maybe a bit old-fashioned, but pretty. After my mom was born, my grandmother decided she didn’t like her first name, Debra, so my mom has always gone by her middle name, Jill. Although we all speculate that was to keep ‘J’ names running in the family (I am related to 15 J’s total!). My MIL wanted to name my DH ‘Lyle’, but thought the name was too old-fashioned, so he is ‘Kyle’, which was really nice of her!
Tracey says
Oh, I got a doozie for ya! I was adopted and named Tracey Heather which thankfully is way better than the name I was given by my birth mother.Ready for it? Charlene Laverne. LAVERNE! For the love of God! My husband does a killer Squiggy (Lenny and Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley???) impression.
HULLO LAVERNE!
Nan says
My PARENTS named me Michelle but when my dad went to pay the hospital bill he asked them to change my name to Nanette. He didn’t tell my mom for days that he changed my name upon check-out.
Arrie says
My boy’s name was going to be Joseph Constantine, which is crazy enough, but my brother’s girl name would have been Anastasia Rose (and yes, this is long after Cinderella made Anastasia the ugly stepsister!).
Katie says
My parents thought they were having a boy, so I was supposed to be Mario…yikes!!! (I’m Italian, if that helps.) So, when they were surprised with a girl, I was almost Amanda, but last minute changed me to Katie…not bad.
My husband’s takes the cake, for us at least. His name is Ross, but he was almost Hannibal!!!!!!!!!!!! Like Hannibal Lector!!!!!!!!! BUT, this was before the movie…maybe that almost makes it worse! lol!!
Shannon says
If I was a boy, my father wanted to name me Fester Malone Weed. That way, if I joined the military I would be WEED FM. (think radio station)…
Thankfully, I was a girl… and my mother refused pain medication during the labor so she would be alert for the naming process!
Katie says
My parents named me Katherine Ann and always called me Kate or Katie. I didn’t realize how much they loved the name Ann, though, until I got married and switched my maiden name to my middle name. My mom then adopted a dog and named her Casey Ann just so there was still an Ann in the family!
Aimee says
Love the name contemplations! I have the best REAL name yet…
My parents went to high school with (wait for iiiittt)
WAYNE DWOPS.
I have nothing else to say because every time I say it or type it, I start rolling again.
Ally says
My husband’s potential name beats out everyone’s I’ve met-Gludevitch Wolfgang! :shudders: Thank God most parents come to their sense before the big day.
Wendy G says
My parents were going to name me Amanda Lynn…until they realized that they would be naming me after a musical instrument (a mandolin). Thank God they changed their minds on the way to the hospital!
LA says
Yay! The “Show All” button is back! Thank you, thank you!
Taryn B says
My mom has joked for years that she was going to name my brother Bongo. I’m pretty sure she’s just joking, though.
Kristen says
Nothing too exciting here…if I were a boy I would be Christopher instead of my girl name, Kristen.
Totally off-topic question: do you have a local (Richmond) elecrician you can recommend? Searched some of your older posts but didn’t see a company named anywhere. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kristen,
Capital Electrical in Richmond. They did awesome work for us a few years back!
xo,
s
Laura says
I knew a guy who knew a boy in his highschool who’s parents were from India. His name was pronounced Sha-heed but it was spelled Shi#head. I’m sure you can imagine how fun that one was when a substitute teacher was in the class.
Becky says
HA! Yes, I believe I may be able to one up the Lars or Vector…maybe?!?
DEENIE SUE…seriously?!?!? Oh.my.word. am I ever so Thankful my mom went with Rebecca!!!
Jennifer B. says
I have a friend with the last name “Day”, and he wants to name his first son “Judgment”. I don’t know if he’s serious or not, but could you imagine your children having a classmate with the name Judgment Day? No thank you. :)
I also knew a “Stormy Winter Snow”, a “Rainee Dae Flood”, and a “Krystal Claire Waters” (close enough to “crystal clear waters”) at various times in my life.
Jennifer B.
LORI says
OK….so I’ve been reading everyones post….while I dont have a “name” I cant stop laughing at Wayne Dwops!!!! too funny!
YoungHouseLove says
That one got us too Lori!
xo,
s
Lyndsey says
My mom is from Scotland and had always loved the name Siobhan…my dad put the kibosh on that very quickly. I kinda like it
Lonely Wife Project says
My mom wanted to name me Tawny, but my dad won the name game and chose Sabra, which is strange, but I’ve learned to love it. My husband James was about to be Clarence after his grandfather. I can’t even imagine if we were Tawny and Clarence!
Kristen M says
My parents wanted to name me after my great aunt – Matilda Wilhelmina. That’s like murder for a kindergartener. My name wouldn’t have even fit on one line.
Thankfully my mom didn’t think I looked like a Matilda :)