Shudder!

[elfs]

Omaha sent me out to the store to get milk and a few other things, and while I was there I heard two little girls, probably six and seven and blonde and ordinary, standing in front of the Halloween display, call to one another: "Mary-Kate, over here!" "No, Ashley, come look at this!"

Who in their right mind would do that to their kids?

Comments

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

I'm grasping at straws here, but maybe they were pretending? Kids don't often make it a point to call each other by name unless they're play-acting.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

No, the display was sufficiently large and they were sufficiently far apart that I'm convinced they were just trying to get each other's attention. When Y-chan & K-chan play-act, there's a tone to it that's obvious. It was not there with these two. I'm sure those were their real names.

[spiralsong.livejournal.com]

I work at an answering service and you would not BELIEVE some of the things people name their children.

Bad enough is the mock-celebrities... In the course of my daily work, I've talked to the parents of Christian Slater, Johnny D. Epp, Richard Geare and Richard-Dean (that's right, hyphenated) Anderson.

Worse is the inner-city twisting of COMMON EVERYDAY WORDS to make names out of them, like the 3 year old girl named Nos Mo-King (as in, No Smoking,) and Kawasaki. (Of course, I also once had a woman tell me that she thought her son caught kawasaki from the boy next door... I assumed she meant coxsackie...)

I also work with a (fantastically wonderful) lady named after a common automotive chemical (Ethylene Glycol,) a very famous painting, (the Mona Lisa,) and an equally-famous fictional character (Little Lord Fauntleroy). That's right, IN THAT ORDER.

I still maintain that the worst name title, however, goes to my 7th grade English teacher, Mr. Dick Packer. Dick was on his birth certificate; it was not short for Richard. (I am NOT making this stuff up.)

So really, Mary-Kate and Ashley is not so bad, even if they WERE sisters, in the grand scheme of things. ;)

[solarbird]

Avarice. No, really. Let's play "growing up Goth."

(Spotted on a mailing list by a friend.)

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

"Nosmo King" was the stage-name of a British music-hall/variety performer. He did that to himself, and it worked for what he wanted.

[spiralsong.livejournal.com]

Good for him, then! But I must say, the likelihood of this particular caller knowing of this gentleman is very slim. I suppose it's possible, though. :)

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

The Nosmo King name, and variations, seems to be floating around as a story of modern silliness, without much evidence. The music-hall act is documented. I'm still not sure what's so wrong about the names Elf heard; they're not ridiculous as such so I suppose there's some particular association. All that comes to my mind is Gone With The Wind

Names are odd things. We mostly don't care about the original meaning, but we have some expectation of what a name should sound like.

[kavri.livejournal.com]

"...they're not ridiculous as such so I suppose there's some particular association."

Yup, the association is that they are twins who are actress/celebrity/brands, check out their web-site at : http://www.mary-kateandashley.com/usa/

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

Thanks...

There's something faintly naff about the whole style of the advertising. They're still not silly names, but with that in the background?

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

Were they actually siblings? It might just be an unfortunate coincidence.

[solarbird]

A friend of mine had named her daughter Violet and was thinking of naming their son-to-be Dashiell when The Incredibles came out and she had to come up with something else instead.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[(Anonymous)]

Someone named their daughter "Clitoris?" Who the hell did that? Reminds me of a friend of mine's story about taking down a missing persons reports only to learn that the young lady's name was pronounced "shih'thaid,", and spelled, yes, "Shithead."

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Roommate: "Those people should have their parenting licenses removed. And be smacked."

[redhipple.livejournal.com]

You know, my best friend has a sister in law named Holly Wood. And this is her given name. Parents did it deliberately. And this woman named her son Nike and her daughter Sailor-Moon. My husband also happens to work with a woman named Aquanet and her btother's name is Arrudis. It's amazingwhat people consider suitable to stick their children with for life.

[hlmt.livejournal.com]

I about lost it when I had to cash a check from a gal named Merry... ayup, Merry Christmas.

[marketeer]

My sister and her husband, who teaches arboriculture at a community college, insisted on naming their children after trees. They have two girls named Laurel and Holly (numerous people slip and refer to them as Laurel and Hardy). I keep egging them on to try for a boy so that they can him Douglas Fir.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

People are cruel when it comes to naming their kids. My sisters got off easily. I got the creative spelling.

As for my own kid with an associated name? My excuse is that he was 5 when Pirates of the Carribean came out. (and if you look at the line, it's a VERY common name)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]