50 Times Parents Thought They Were Setting Up Their Kid With A Unique Name, Only For It To Be A “Tragedeigh”

Moderator Kristina was kind enough to share her thoughts on 'tragedeigh' names and why some parents opt for them. She also shed some light as to why social media groups about such names are such a popular niche online.

"I think the trend we've been seeing for crazy, bizarre names comes from people wanting their child to stand out. To be special," she shared with Bored Panda.

"I can't even tell you how many friends I had named Ashley or Justin growing up. And every girl either had Nicole or Marie or Anne as a middle name. Having such cookie-cutter names in our childhood sparks something in the new moms of today to give this new generation a sense of individuality," Kristina said. "Unfortunately, that manifests in the form of one tragedeigh name after another."

"A tragedeigh name isn't just a name that people dislike. It's a name that's been fabricated to be extremely unique or different," she explained.

"I might not personally care for the name Monica for example, but that doesn't make it a tragedeigh. Mawnyka would be a tragedeigh. Also, cultural names don't qualify either. You can't just take an Irish or Hebrew name and say it's a tragedeigh just because it looks strange in your language," Kristina detailed what does and doesn't constitute a 'tragedeigh.'

"Google is free and easy, and for some reason, people never seem to check before they submit a name for approval," she urged all current and future members of the Facebook group to do a bit of background research into names.

In the moderator's opinion, why groups like the one she moderates are so popular on social media depends on a few things.

"Some people might just want to laugh at ridiculous content. Some people might want to validate the questionable choices they made while naming their kids. Some people might just want to say, 'Hey I may have XYZ going on in my life, but at least my name isn't Jeeplyn or Mackynleigh or Wrennix,'" she quipped.

"With a group this size, there's always going to be more than one reason for people being here."

The ‘This name is a tragedeigh’ Facebook group calls itself the ‘Wild West of Ridikulus names,’ and specifically misspells the words. It’s a clever meta-commentary on just how oddly some people’s names are spelled. Though remember that all of these posts made on the Facebook group are just opinions—if you love your name, good on you. Also, keep in mind, all of this gentle mockery of ‘bad’ names doesn’t apply to names from other cultures.

It’s one thing to move to another country and see people have difficulty pronouncing your name: it takes a lot of effort and energy to make sure everyone is respectful of your heritage. It’s an entirely different thing if your parents are locals who want to impress their family, friends, and complete strangers with their ‘brilliant’ naming ideas and end up confusing everyone in the process.

The Facebook group encourages people to be respectful of each other and avoid getting heated over each others’ opinions. The moderator and admin team explains what a tragedy, aka a ‘tragedeigh,’ actually is.

For instance, the name ‘Denyss’ (with two s’s) would fit the bill “because it’s spelled stupid.” Meanwhile, someone naming their child Anakin is also up for some criticism because someone clearly loves Star Wars and is pushing their hobbies on their kids.

Meanwhile, some other popular ‘tragedeighs’ include names that aren’t real names, like Tractor. What’s more, made-up names that sound real, like Mayleigh or Bryleigh, are also fair targets for some gentle mockery.

However, some names that are not ‘tragedeighs’ include Schuyler (a common foreign spelling of the name ‘Skyler’), Wilson (a last name in place of a first name), Raleigh (which is the name of a city), Aoife (an Irish name). Just because a name doesn’t look English, is overly common, or foreign, doesn’t make it worthy of posting on the group.

In the rush to help their kids stand out from the crowd, some status-seeking parents completely forget that their children will have to live with the names they’re given. Well, until they come of age and can legally change them to something cool or (dare we say it?) slightly more ‘normal.’

There’s no excuse for bullying. However, kids can and do tease each other over various things, from someone’s weight to whether someone’s wearing glasses. And, yes, if you do have an unusual name, you’re increasing the chances that they’ll get teased for it in the playground.

Strangely spelled names are setting someone up for being teased, whether by their fellow students or even the teachers themselves. Why make your kid’s school life harder from the get-go when there are plenty of conventionally wonderful, meaningful, and beautiful names out there to choose from?

There’s only so much you can get away with if you’re not a celebrity or your child already has a strong sense of pride and identity, and knows how to stand up to bullies.

Maybe ‘Ashleigh’ is proud of her name and how it sounds, but wants to be called ‘Ashley,’ like all the other girls. And maybe ‘Banjo Henry’ would rather go by ‘Henry’ than introduce himself as a gosh darn musical instrument for the rest of his life.

After all, he might not be aiming for a musical career down the line… and even if he was, how do you imagine people would react when they hear that the best violin/piano/saxophone player in the world is named ‘Banjo’? In the interim, he’d have to deal with lots of teasing that probably involves jokes about the US South and the ‘Banjo-Kazooie’ video game series.