Heh - when I was a kid I used to be quite frustrated because of my name - it was quite uncommon at the time. But now its oh-so-boringly common

     by pengovsky on March 23, 2007 at 8:08 am

What still surprises me that that post received astonishing 239 comments. Mostly of people who were horrified and offended.

     by Sunshine on March 23, 2007 at 9:07 am

Oh, there are people who suggest Slovenian parents give their chidren really REAL Slovenian names…

     by alcessa on March 23, 2007 at 9:07 am

My friend is going to be an uncle for the second time soon. I suggested the name Klotilda to his sister.

     by Sunshine on March 23, 2007 at 9:27 am

Thanks for linking to the Worst Baby Name Ever. I’m still laughing. For me, the real pay-off was in the pronunciation guide.

And yes, the sign would certainly encourage them more.

     by A. Medved on March 23, 2007 at 10:21 am

@alcessa: interesting list of good ol’ pagan names. though most of the names are more than a bit anachronistic nowadays there certainly are good ideas among them. and some make music in the ears….definitely and magnificently my favorite: Å Ä?enedraga

     by ahim on March 23, 2007 at 1:21 pm

Ahim: yes, I prefer that one, too. My daughter would be grateful.

     by alcessa on March 23, 2007 at 1:53 pm

Alcessa, your daughter would be even more grateful as absolutely nobody in Germany would be able to pronounce that name. A quite common question would also be “What? Could you spell that?”

     by Dietmar on March 23, 2007 at 3:06 pm

In the book Freakonomics by Steven D.Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner(translated in Slovene as OdÅ¡tekonomija), there is an example of a girl in the USA called SHITHEAD but their parents pronounce it as Shatiid…Scary or what?!?

     by Barbara*P on March 23, 2007 at 3:30 pm

You also had bizzare moments in Yugoslavia when people named their son “Jugoslav”… Imagine someone being named “Sloven”

     by pengovsky on March 24, 2007 at 1:35 pm

Pengovsky, maybe you will be surprised (I definitely was), but according to the statistical office there are 30 Jugoslavs and 14 Slovenkos (sic!) in Slovenia.

     by ahim on March 24, 2007 at 2:07 pm

So sad to see my name is not on the list of “real” Slovenian names! But it really stands out in Australia. I have spent my whole life, almost 34 years, explaining to people how to spell it, say it & of course, what nationality it it is, etc. I suppose it is an old-fashioned name in Slovenia now, as I was named after my father’s cousin who would probably be 80 years old or so now! As a school teacher I encounter a lot of kids with really bad names inspired by Hollywood &/or parents who can’t spell. Eg. Taylah, Kaylah, etc. I think it’s good to have a name that represents your ethnic background rather than some short-lived fashion or soap opera star.

     by Marinka on March 24, 2007 at 2:10 pm

Marinka: I don’t think your name is old-fashioned in Slovenia. I actually know a woman your age having it and also a man, a bit younger, with an -o at the end of course. It does not sound old-fashioned either.

     by alcessa on March 24, 2007 at 2:14 pm

Hi Alcessa,
thanks for that! I have not met anyone else yet with my name. I think it must be quite rare in Australia! I went through a stage of not liking it but now I’m proud of it & like that it’s “unusual”, even if many people still can’t pronounce it or spell it properly!

     by Marinka on March 24, 2007 at 2:20 pm

Talking about bad spelling of the names. Freakonomics states 10 different versions of one name: Jazmine, Jazmyne, Jazzmin, Jazzmine, Jasmyne, Jasmina, Jazmyn, Jasmine, Jasmin, Jasmyn. And there’s so much room for improvements. Just think of all the options if you change the first “J” into a “Y”.

@ Marinka: If I remember correctly I named my baby doll Marinka, when I was about 5.

     by Sunshine on March 24, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Sunshine, if I ever get to run a jazz joint, I’ll definitely call it The Jazzmine

     by Cornelius on March 24, 2007 at 8:10 pm

What I love, is that in BiH Jasmin can be a man’s name, it sure isn’t among people from India, and Mirza is a man’s name in India, but I met a Mirza that was female in BiH. For days I was going around thinking I was about to meet my first Balkans gay couple! and my Significant Other thought this was so funny he shared it with them, Thank God they were a couple with a GREAT sense of humour!
In the States you see those Chavy names like Kaylah, Paegan, Hilton, and so forth and it makes me mad. There’s so many cool and unique names that no one should have to make up some name likd Shithead. If I was that kid, I swear I’d kill my parents at the first opportunity and make it look like a totally tragic accident.

     by Katja on March 25, 2007 at 12:15 am

@ Sunshine,
that’s cool about you calling your doll Marinka!
What really gets me are those weird “creative” spellings. The kids are always really uppity about how they are meant to be pronounced, too. As if I don’t already understand what it’s like to be mis-pronounced & my name should be easy because it’s said exactly how it is spelled!
@ Pengovsky & Ahim:
about place names as first names- at least those ones are relevent to where the person is from. I have heard of a lot of kids here with names like India, China, Dakota, Montana, Paris etc. & of course they are not even from these places!

     by Marinka on March 25, 2007 at 5:03 am

I’ve heard of some pretty bad Slovene names, my mom told me she had a kid in her class with the last name Predikaka. Which means something like “front kaka”, so they all called him Zadajlulat which is “in the back, pee”

     by Nina on March 29, 2007 at 1:29 pm