Names with negative connotations

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

This post brought to you by the recent obsession with the name Loki.

Does anyone actually read the mythology behind Loki? He is one nasty, evil god. Why would you want to name yout kid that? Even if you just view him as a necessary trickster/badguy in the lore, he still ends up chained to a rock with his son's entrails and venom dripping onto his face. He gets to stay like that until the end of the world, according to the mythology. What a lovely story to tell your kid about his name.

I, for one, could never give a child a name with a historically negative connotation. Juliet even bugs me because she does (spoiler!) kill herself at the end of the play, after all. Ophelia, same sort of issue. Damian, Lucifer, and related names are all awful in my opinion and should doom the parents to a hellion of a child. (Don't anyone get the idea that Hellion's a lovely name.) Same with Adolf.

If Lolita's okay (not that I think so) then why aren't people offering up Humbert as a boy's name? Humbert Humbert is a great literary figure, after all. And Bert is such a nice nickname.

So in conclusion:
1) What's your opinion on using names with negative backgrounds?
2) Any other good examples of names with bad history?

Comments

[queenfionnuala.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. I think Ophelia is a beautiful name, but would never, ever name my child that. Juliet bothers me a little less, simply because yeah, she kills herself, but it's not in a circustance nearly as negative as Ophelia's.

Another name I feel this way about is Delilah. She is not a good character in the Bible, and that name will never have anything but negative connotations to me. Again, beautiful name, bad connotation. I guess this partly depends on your upbringing, though. People who weren't raised hearing Bible stories probably don't have a problem with the name.

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

Yep, Delilah is another one I wouldn't use personally, for the same reason.

[mainsqueeze867.livejournal.com]

I just personally wouldn't use Delilah because of the annoying national radio personality. I would not use Juliet either, but not because her character killed herself, but rather because she is such a known figure. And I really don't care for Romeo and Juliet. Ophelia on the other hand, is a lesser know character, and I wouldn't mind that name, I think its beautiful and I love Ophelia in "Hamlet", regardless if she killed herself.