My friend told me once that if she had a daughter, she would name her Annabelle, because you could shorten it to Ann, Anna, Annie, or Belle. I told her that she's not allowed to name her kid that, because Annabelle is a cow's name (no offense to any Annabelle's out there.) Seriously, I think of a big cartoon cow everytime I hear that name. Luckily, my friend changed her mind (after I made fun of her a bunch of times
).
My boyfriend's boss's name is Karma. She is not Indian, and her last name is an Irish name, which makes it sound even worse. My boyfriend, who is Indian, told me that no Indian person would really name their kid Karma, because it's a word, not a name. He said it would be like naming your kid Book or Tree. (BTW, I am dreading having children and having to find an Indian name that can be pronounced correctly by me and my super-white family.)
My cousin's name is Tia Marie, and my aunt swears that she was not named after the liquor. We don't really believe her.
I really don't like repeating names within a family - I have 2 cousins named Jennifer (same last name). It's so confusing, and it's not even like you can differentiate by calling them by their full names, like Jen Smith and Jen Jones. I also don't like naming sons after fathers, because if the name isn't something that can be shortened a few different ways (i.e., William Sr could be Bill and William Jr could be Billy), it gets confusing. Plus, the kid eventually gets sick of being called "Little" (name) after awhile.