ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 24, 1996 TAG: 9612240111
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON WORD ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hate your name?
Consider these doozies: Vasoline Lewis, Emancipation Proclamation Cogshell, Winnie Mac Pough and Texas Moon. Or Toyota Corona Maria Collier, Ima Rose Bush and Rose Royce Hood.
Come on, you say, nobody would stick a little baby with one of those.
But they have.
The Florida Office of Vital Statistics, the state agency that keeps track of all births, deaths, marriages and divorces, has collected unusual names over the years.
Michael and Ashley were the most popular names for boys and girls born in 1995 in Florida.
But there were still some people who insisted on giving their children names like Cotton-Eyed Joe Smith, Just Right Brown, Cherry Dacquiri (sic) Sour or Chickenbone Robinson.
They may sound funny, but whoever has to live with such a moniker may wonder what his or her parents were thinking.
``A name can be a burden. It can be a hindrance,'' said Albert Mehrabian, author of ``The Name Game'' and a psychology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.
But Sandy Beach, who lives in Pinellas Park, Fla., loves her name.
``It's kind of a fun name,'' said Beach, adding that she didn't even realize what her married name would be until a few weeks before her marriage 17 years ago.
``When I was pregnant, people would ask me if I was going to name the baby Ima Beach, Pebble Beach and Rocky Beach,'' she said. ``I wouldn't do that.''
Holiday names are popular on the list of unusual names: Melody Gay, Santa Claus, Ever Green, Merry Christmas Alsen, Cute Valentine Smith, Green Holley and Chris and Carol, twins born Dec. 25.
Twins are not immune to strange names. Consider Shadrack and Meschak; Bigamy and Larceny; Early and Curly; Nip and Tuck; A.C. and D.C.; Pete and Repeat, and Syphilis and Gonorrhea.
And some names are foreboding: June Flood, More Payne, Dilemma Lafern, Loveless Babies, Clyde Killer, Nomore Brown, Young Sixkiller, End of the Line, Royal Fink and Desperate Jones.
And other names sound more like menu items: Lemon Ham, Sugar Sweet Smith, Spicer Hamn, Belle Peppers, Etta Apple, Peter Egg, Sweetie Smith, Beard Cake, Orange Vanilla Hunter, Cherry Pye, Baby Ruth Pugh, Tootsie Roll, Luscious Smith, Eg Turner, Candy Box and Sweet Tart.
Think your name is too long or too hard to spell? Try this one:
Truewilllaughinglifebuckyboomermanifestdestiny Georjames Mashburn.
Or:
Kekpalauliionapalihauuliuliokeeloolau David Kaapuawaokamehameha Jr. (or Kekoa for short).
Mehrabian, who has spent a lifetime studying names, said people's given names can cause them constant difficulty.
``A name becomes an appendage. It is part of the individual. It becomes entwined with their self-image,'' he said.
``There are lots of studies showing people with more common names tend to be more successful in school situations, professionally and so forth. People with less common, unique or unusual names don't seem to be doing as well,'' he said. ``If a person's name is somewhat bizarre, they are less likely to be taken seriously.''
Classical names seem to occur with more frequency than trendy names, which can spend a year or two on the Top 20 before dropping in popularity, Mehrabian said. Trendy names, he said, include Ashley, Brittany, Kayle, Alexis, Jasmine, Tiffany, Austin, Tyler and Zachary.
``The classical names have associations with great historical figures, great biblical figures and will reoccur for many decades,'' he said.
Mehrabian's research rates names for success, morals, popularity, warmth, cheeriness, masculinity and femininity.
Both the most popular boys' and girls' names in Florida rate high on his scales.
There were 2,153 baby boys named Michael in 1995 in Florida, followed by Christopher, Joshua, Brandon, Austin, Matthew, Nicholas, Tyler, Daniel and David.
Ashley topped the list of girls' names with 1,666 that year in Florida, followed by Jessica, Sarah, Emily, Samantha, Taylor, Brittany, Amanda, Alexis and Kayla.
In the 1990 U.S. Census, the most popular female name was Mary, followed by Patricia, Linda, Barbara, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Maria, Susan, Margaret and Dorothy.
The most popular male names in the census were James, John, Robert, Michael, William, David, Richard, Charles, Joseph and Thomas.
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