Just for fun...

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Some of my friend's (close friends as well as facebook, haha) names that are more on the unique side, including the origin for some of them...

Amaris (properly pronounced "'am-uh-riss", but she pronounces it "uh-'mar-iss and her spanish-speaking family pronounces it "ah-'ma-ree" with a rolled "r")
Feraaz (pronounced "fuh-'rozz". He was raised Muslim in Trinidad)
Nadeera (pronounced "nuh-deer-uh". Feraaz's sister.)
Trenton (some call him Trent, but for the most part, we say his full name)
Soraya (pronounced "Suh-'ry-uh.")
Kailii (yep, pronounced "Kay-lee")
Kaly (a dude)
Kali (another "kay-lee)
Sanya (pronounced "'sun-yuh". She is muslim)
Ayse (pronounced "'eye-shuh". Turkish)
Naida (pronounced "'nye-duh" although she first introduced herself to me as "nay-duh" and I've been unable to make the transition to the other pronunciation, haha. She is Haitian.)
Chantha (pronounced "'shon-tuh")
Siana (pronounced "sea-'ana")
Litasha
LyTysha (when I met her, she joked about how she had a "black" name, but she's white)
Milena (pronounced "mil-ay-nuh." she's Brazilian.)
Emerson
Amandalea (pronounced with a long "e")
Thalita (pronounced "tuh-'lee-tuh". Brazilian)
Paola (pronounced "Pa-'oh-lah." Also Brazilian.)
Aleksandra
Kadi (pronounced like Katie)
Shae
Naria (pronounced "'nah-ree-uh")
Shree (pronounced as it's written, as one syllable. I think her name is Persian)
Loren (He's a guy)
Reena
Alexine
Tercini (pronounced "ter-'sea-nee")
Erma (she's Greek)
Ketyllen ("'ket-uh-lin")



Friends' new babies or babies on the way:

Judah Blue
Jemma Rain
Kaleb Noah


Finally, my twin niece and nephew who just turned 1:

Noah and Emilee


DISCLAIMER: Just because these are people I know personally doesn't mean I'll be offended if you absolutely hate some of these names...I don't like them all, either ;-p

Comments

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

My best friend is Kayleigh and I've actually always loved her name. But Kailii and Kali and all the other kreative spellings out there... ugh.

When I see Amaris I always pronounce it uh-mare-iss.

I like Aleksandra.

I've always loved Loren for a boy! My friend's grandfather is Romanian and his name is Loren. I don't think I'd ever use it though, because of the popularity of Lauren and I'm sure he'd get teased.

Love Judah. Ew Blue.

Noah and Emilee are a cute sibset, although both names are so popular which would put me off. My name is Emily, so there's also some bias there ;). I prefer the spellings Emily or Emilie, though.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, trendy spellings are pretty annoying, especially when it's extra unnecessary letters.

Kali is actually a deity...i think she's the goddess of war and destruction or somethjng like that, in Hinduism, except it's pronounced "kah-lee," so at least it's kind of a real name and makes it a tiny bit less annoying...although who would want to be named after a goddess like that?

I love all variations Emily :) for some reason, it's the only name wherein the trendy spellings don't bother me. And I agree: it's a shame that they're popular names, because theyre very cute together

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

On Loren: he turned out pretty well for being teased ;) he loves his name and I like it too!

For Blue, they chose it because it's a family name (I think it was the grandfather's name)...that's the only redeemable thing about it, for me. Otherwise I think it's weird, too.

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

That's not so bad since it's a family name, and at least they used it for the middle. But it first made me think of Beyonce and Jay-Z's Blue Ivy. And then, oddly, I thought of Blue's Clues... yeah. :P

Yes, I knew that Kali was a name, but the mispronunciation totally makes it worse... I imagine she has to correct people all the time.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

I knowwww, that is a horrible use of the word "Blue" in general, yuck!! Haha, Blue's Clues ;-p

[hicat.livejournal.com]

Every Loren I know (... three?) is a boy, it's a guy's name. I mean, I'm sure there are girls named it, too, but I've always encountered guys with it. So it makes sense!

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

Kali is not a creative spelling of Kaylee...it's actually a different name, and I'm baffled as to why the parents chose to christen it a variant of Kaylee.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

I think they either didn't realize that it's a Hindu goddess, or they liked the name but not the way it sounded. As annoying as the whole spelling of it is, I think it sounds better as a name for an American girl than the "Kah-lee."

[queen-islanzadi.livejournal.com]

Kailii

One minute, I have to try and un-cross my eyes...

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Haha!! I feel the same way every time I see it! So much so that I've considered hiding her on my newsfeed. She's a nice girl, it's just unfortunate that I don't want to see her name on my screen all the time.

[queen-islanzadi.livejournal.com]

I do feel sorry for her though, I imagine she has to spell it out all the time.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

I love Loren! I think it's a great name for boys. It's unfortunate that Lauren is so popular for girls these days. This is coming from a Lauren. I don't much like my name.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

I agree, also. I like Lauren and I wish it wasn't so common.

[nobodynomore.livejournal.com]

Eeee, I really like Judah :)

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

It's definitely cute, especially for him. We call him Ju-Ju for short, which I think is cute, too.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

And your icon made me squee :D

[nobodynomore.livejournal.com]

Giraffes are my favorite!

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I like Aleksandra and Noah.

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

I like:
Soraya
Sanya
Milena
Emerson
Alexine
Noah
Emilee

[home-to-me.livejournal.com]

I sort of like Trenton. But I live in New Jersey, and it's our capital, so that's my association with it. (I know someone whose son's middle name is Camden. Which is a really bad city here in Jersey. And it makes me sad, lol. I know associations are different for different people, but it sort of makes me cringe because I picture the city I'm scared to drive through when I hear his name, haha).

I like the way Ketyllen sounds, but wouldn't use it, and it doesn't LOOK pretty to me. Just sounds pretty.

And Emerson is one of my guilty pleasure names, but for a girl (blame Teri Hatcher, I guess).

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Yeah I feel you on that! Thats a pretty funny association you have for a little kid ;-p

I've never considered Emerson for a girl, hmmm...

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about Trenton and Camden - I live in NYC and I have family in NJ, and lived there for two years myself. Camden in particular I will never be able to dissociate with violence and urban decay.

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I like Soraya, Feraaz and Nadeera. I think I like Chantha, can't decide. I also like Amaris.

Kali is a Hindu goddess, and a pretty badass one at that, so it irritates me that someone decided to use that as a variant spelling of Kaylee. In the English language that doesn't even make sense.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Yeah that's one reason I don't like it, either. But then again, I don't even like the correct pronunciation of it to begin with. It's just an overall bad name, I think.

I also don't like it because she was a girl in high school that tried to steal my boyfriend (now husband...all is forgiven, haha) and my name is Hali (pronounced hail-ee) so you can imagine how annoying it would be to have a girl just one letter off trying to steal your man, haha.