Let’s say you have a friend who’s soon going to be adopting a bouncing baby boy. Nice, huh?
And now let’s also say that they’re naming that bouncing baby boy ….. Tor.
What do you do?
Now I, personally, do this:
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
GGGGODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????
UMMMM…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
But, I’m just curious ….. (and we seem to be on a name theme, lately) …..
Do you
Would you
Could you
Have you ever
SAID anything to a friend on the verge of this kind of blatant child abuse????
No joke – there was a kid in our neighborhood named Thor. As in THE Thor, son of Odin, God of Thunder, Asgardian Hammer-Slinger. It was pronounced “Tor” but that H was there.
They had the excuse of actually being Norwegian immigrants. I suggest that your friend pick out something less odd, like Cuthbert or Roland.
My son and dil are expecting next month. They have chosen the name Remington. (The baby is a she). My youngest daughter is begging me to say something, but it seems their (her) heart is set on the name and I’m not one to interfer in other people’s decisions. But if I had been asked I would have suggested Abigail, but Remi is growing on me.
Maybe a unique name isn’t so bad. My name is incredibly plain, I hate it.
Pat, Remington would be an awesome name for a boy, and it could totally grow on me for a girl… but then again, I’m a gun nut. 🙂
But Tracey, Tor… The baby is being adopted so the birth mother can give him a better life than she can give him. So YES, you have to say something.
For me it was the odd statistical truth that people with “unique” names don’t do as well academically and are more at risk for poor outcomes (dropping out, being unemployed, etc.) that caused me to choose old, normal family names.
I guess Marigrace is the most unique one in the bunch. But that was also my Irish grandmother’s name, and she was born in 1900, so it’s not like I made it up. And, like my grandmother, she often goes by Grace.
I like that my kids have nicknames as well as formal names. It gives them kind of a choice when they grow up.
Um, yes, but tactfully in the innocent question kind of way: “Have you considered that the other kids might call him ‘Tor the Wh___’?
My daughter had a kid in her senior class named Choler. Can you hear it?
“Hi, we’re the Humors. This is our son Choler and this is our daughter, Phlegm.”
absolutely, totally, rhyming (and other types of name-devolution, like Marcus being able to be changed into mucus) needs to be considered.
And also – think of the teachers! Every semester I get my student enrollment list, and every semester there’s someone with a crazy invented-spelling name that I can’t correctly pronounce because it makes no logic with any Indo-European language’s rules of pronunciation (and YES, I am including Irish Gaelic in that even).
So I will have a name that looks like “Mysxzelcrum” and it turns out it’s pronounced “Mike.”
And invariably, when I mispronounce it, and get corrected, I get the Glare of Death from Mysxzelcrum/”Mike,” as if to say, “Stupid woman – can’t you even properly pronounce a normal name?”
Incidentally – is this person all into neo-pagan Gaelic spirituality? Because I vaguely remember from my long-ago reading of “The Mists of Avalon” that a Tor was an important structure in the Celtic-pagan world. (Tor is also the name of a SF/fantasy book publisher).
“Tor” also doesn’t exactly strike me as a baby name. I’d worry about that kid having super-human strength or being able to rotate his head through a 360* or something…
sarahk — /But, Tracey, Tor … The baby is being adopted so the birth mother can give him a better life than she can give him./
Hahahahahaha! But also true ….
Um, Choler? CHOLER? Was it pronounced “collar” or Choller or WHAT?? “Hullo. Meet my daughter Choler and my son TYPHOID.”
ricki — No, they’re not into neo-paganism. Just your basic Christians, actually. BUT her husband is very big into his Norwegian heritage — although he was born and raised in the US, as were several generations before him. But they had a old Labrador named Odin — which was fine. But again, that’s a DOG.
But a kid? A poor little kid? And she’s told me the middle names (yes, NAMES), and they’re perfectly normal, lovely names. PLEASE give the child one of those names!!
Good Lord! I would probably not have the guts to say anything, but I would greatly admire anyone who did. And that kid may thank you one day!
Yeah – make Tor the middle name. PLEASE. Swap them. The kid will go by that name anyway, so make it official.
This whole thread reminds me of the joke we used to tell in college, that the first of us who had a daughter had to name her Orthodontia Pontifica Sue.
Re: Remington – as a boy’s name, sure, “Remy” has a cajun tang to it. For a girl, I’m not really certain.
Based on my last comment I guess I must go on record and say, YES, tell her. Just ask the question, what do you think the advantages or disadvantages are of having an unusual name? That could start the converstation without sounding critical. I think we’ve all given you sufficient ammo about the weird name thing!
If you put Tor in the Google translator and translate it from English to German you get Felsen. Then if you take Felson and put it back in the translator and translate from German to English you get Rock.
Could you go for Rock? as in “The Rock” or Hudson?
***Edit*** it is Felsen with two e’s. Sorry.
Is it a family name? I mean, what on EARTH makes them think that this is a good idea?
Gently, lovingly suggest they reconsider. After all, “Tor” distinctly sounds like a name for a Neanderthal.
“Me TOR. TOR eat mammoth and make fire.”
i don’t have time to read all the comments (right now, but you know i will later 🙂 but i say “NO” – don’t say a thing.
no good will ever come of it, they won’t change their minds but you will throw distance between yourselves.
keep close to them so you are able to fall in love with the baby and in the end the (admittedly absurd) name.
p.s. – i just want you to know that i read you all the time and make all the appropriate sounds but just lack the time to comment.
and you are beautiful and look so much like one of my favorite faces, helena bonham carter. did i ever tell you that? now you know.
later, love.
He’ll just have to be like the scores of us who go by a middle name, or a nickname of their middle name. Parents have their reasons for naming their children the way that they do. No matter how wacky it may seem, it’s just a right that a parent has. How unfortunate for some! The boy could always legally change his name later if he can’t stand it.
I’m inclined NOT to say anything, actually. I mean, I guess. But of course, whine about it here with gusto!
I was stunned when she told me the name. Luckily, it was in an email, so I didn’t have to arrange my face just “so.”
Shannon — Hahahaha! It does sound Neanderthal, you’re right.
But — jaymarie and Kathi are right, too. I don’t want to put a wrench in the friendship and it IS their right to name THEIR child. I’m sure little “Tor Eat’im Mammoth” will have questions about it soon enough.
Oh, and ricki? /“Mysxzelcrumâ€/ I keep laughing at that one. “Um … it’s Michael — DUH!!”
Pat — I don’t know if you’re a man or woman, but, well, I really like the name Pat. Um, a LOT. 😉
You’re right, Tracey. And jaymarie and Kathi. Still, there’s this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_Johnson
Shannon — Oh … wow … hope their kid is better lookin’ than that.
Shannon – HAHAHAHA! How could I forget Tor Johnson, MST3K All-Star for his turn in “The Unearthly”?
Time for go to bed! HAHAHAHAHA!