50 Hilariously Unfortunate Names

Bored Panda reached out to Pamela Redmond, the baby name expert and creator of Nameberry who’s known as the world’s leading expert on baby names. When asked about new trends for children’s names, Redmond said that they are seeing a strong trend toward gender-neutral names for boys. 

“For decades girls were getting unisex names but parents shied away from them for boys, but now we're seeing that heading in the other direction. Some gender-neutral names rising in popularity for boys: Cameron, River, Angel, Rowan, Sawyer, and Amari.”

Moreover, nature names just keep getting stronger, Redmond said. “There are flower names like Flora and Azalea but also tree names such as Oakley and Maple, water names like Ocean and Wave (Cardi B and Offset's baby boy), sky names such as Luna and Jupiter, animal names like Birdie and Wolf,” she explained.

Interestingly, mythological names are also huge. “Mythological names popular on Nameberry are Aurora, Freya, Penelope, Daphne, and Maeve for girls; Atlas, Finn, Magnus, Aurelius, and Orion for boys,” Redmond told Bored Panda.

According to the world’s leading expert on baby names, there are literally thousands of names given to fewer than five babies a year that doesn't even appear on the Social Security's extended list. “Some of these are names most people are familiar with. You could call these undiscovered names instead of unpopular names. For boys, these include Oberon, Gulliver, Bard, Florent, and Drummer. For girls, Delphi, Ianthe, Bluebell, Desdemona, and Zephyrine.”

Redmond believes that the “name for a child is hugely important not because it determines your child's entire future, but it contains the code for your family identity, your values, and priorities, whether you're conscious of it or not.” 

Moreover, “your child's name says a lot about how close you are or want to be to your family, how much your religion or cultural origin means to you, how you view gender identity, whether you'd rather fit in or stand out, how you feel about your own name.”

When asked to share advice for parents who can’t decide on the name for their baby, Redmond said it’s a good idea to hire their name consultants. “If you've already devoted hours to finding a name and can't come up with a choice you love, you can consult with an expert for a few hundred dollars and get choices that fit your style that you may not have thought of.”

There is also the free name generator called Baby Name DNA which is also pretty magic at analyzing your individual name style and matching you with names that fit. So check it out!