When we’re painting we talk about all sorts of weird things that we probably wouldn’t otherwise get around to. And while painting the bedroom we got to the topic of “names that our parents almost gave us.” Get this. My mom wanted to name me Gina. We would have been John & Gina. That made us titter. Not sure if it’s a had to be there thing though. Either way, John’s dad’s choice of names takes the cake. He wanted to name John… wait for it… Lars.
Lars Petersik.
How funny is that? If I had seen tall dirty blond John at work and asked a coworker “oh who’s that?” and heard them respond with ” that’s Lars Petersik, he’s an account manager.” Let’s just say I would have been all “niiiiice to meeeeeeet you Laaaaars” with that over-enunciated-because-I’m-not-sure-you’re-great-at-deciphering-super-speedy-NY-talkers connotation. The same long drawn out delivery I use with my only-speaks-Italian grandmother. It would have been hysterical. John probably never would have let me live it down. Or asked me to marry him a year-ish later.
But that’s not all. Apparently John’s dad also wanted to name John “Vector.” Because he liked math. How I was able to continue painting with tears of laughter streaming down my face is beyond me. So it got us wondering what you guys were almost named. Come on… someone out there can beat Vector and Lars, right?
Katharine says
My husband was thisclose to being a Lars as well! Thank goodness his father won that battle and he was named Brian instead.
Got to love those Scandinavians.
Lauren says
Sherry, I was almost a “Gina”, too! And if you’ve ever seen the speed dating scene in “The 40 Year Old Virgin”, I’m sure you’re as glad as I am the our parents had second thoughts…
The other name my mother was considering for me was “Thomasina”. I’m glad she let the drugs wear off before making a final decision!
Suni (Sunny) says
Well, I don’t have a lot of room to talk, but my mom did think I was going to be a boy, and I’d have been Ryan. That isn’t bad… BUT, to the girl who was almost Sara Lee. I know a girl who married into the name Sara Lee… and it’s true! No body doesn’t like Sara Lee! My grandparents take the cake, though. On my fathers side: Marian and Marion. And on my mothers side, my grandma married into the name (and I’m not kidding here) Minnie Vann. LOL!
Claire says
I was almost Mildred. Had I been male, I would have been Lee. I’ll have to ask my in laws what other names my husband could have been. His name is fairly common but the spelling is strange- Eavan. It’s pronounced Evan (which is almost impossible for me to type correctly) but they just wanted to add that extra vowel in there!
Lars Petersik certainly has a ring to it…
Sarah says
My dad told my mom that, if I turned out to be a boy, he’d name me after two of his favorite people in history – wait for it…
Mahatma
Harpo
When I was finally born (thankfully not a boy) there was a giant banner waiting for my dad at the bar that said “Congratulations on NOT having Mahatma Harpo Ziegler”.
Tami says
My parents had just finished building their house when I was conceived [nice house warming gift, no?]. Anyway, IF I came out a boy, dad wanted to name me ‘Rofus’. Last name, Redes. So I would have been Rofus Redes. But it doesn’t stop there. Dad wanted/insisted that his first born son have a roofing company too [he was proud of his roofing job he just finished and thought the over-the-top-roofing-genes would be passed down]. So, all together, that would be Rofus Redes Roofing Company.
Nice dad.
Lindsey Kennedy says
My dad wanted to name my brother (before they knew it was a boy) Thor. Can you imagine?? My mother refused (PTL) and his name is Adam.
hi-d says
That’s funny…names are so interesting. I love looking up their meanings as well. So, just for fun, I looked up Lars. It came up with “From the name Lawrence.” So I typed in Lawrence and it means, “Laurel-crowned.” http://www.name-meanings.com/
Jennifer says
I went to high school with a Tequila Sunrise (first and middle name) No joke. She pulled it off well, at least.
julie says
@Janet
Janet Talia….wow, that is hilarious!
Mary says
If I would’ve been a boy my parents wanted to name me Sven. Thank goodness I was a girl!!!!
dana828 says
My mom’s name was Penny. My dad’s name is Bill. They thought it would be funny to name me Nicole (nickel), in keeping with the money theme. Thankfully they went with Dana instead. (though I hated my name as a child because it’s a unisex name) :)
Stephanie H. says
I might be able to beat that. If I had been a boy, my mom was going to name me Xerxes. ‘Cause, you know, two x’s are awesome :P
Mira says
I didn’t spend time looking through the comments to see that no one else had said this already and you guys have probably already thought of this. However, you should keep that huge mirror and throw a frame on it. Use it somewhere else in the house. Mirrors are expensive, no reason to toss that one out!
Kristi J. says
Okay so no lie…BUBBA!! I know right!? My parents didn’t know if I was a boy or girl so the entire time (while in the womb) I was called Bubba because my dad wanted a boy so bad and it would have actually been my real name once born. Niiice. ;)
Brianne says
So it’s not about me, but my parents almost named my brother Justin, which is a totally normal name, except that his last name is Payne, so his name would have been Justin Payne. Thankfully they realized in time and changed it to Cody!
Jackie says
I might have everyone beat….My parents thought having me help in naming my younger brother (of 4 years) would allow me to feel more included. What they didn’t realize was that their daughter was obsessed with a character from Happy Days. Nope not the Fonz, but Chachi! It took a little while for them to determine how to not break my heart but eventually they opted to use Chachi’s real name (Scott Baio) as my brother’s middle name….Scott. Yes, my brother is extremely thankful! :)
Sarah says
I love that John could’ve been named “Lars” because you guys remind me a little bit of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, and Ryan Gosling has indeed played a “Lars”.
“Vector” reminds me of “Seven Costanza”.
My name is “Sarah Elizabeth”…nothing unusual, except that my dad’s mother’s name is “Sara Elizabeth”…no “H”. Why? Because my mom liked “Sarah” long before she met my dad and she likes the “H” more. So I’m kind of named after her, but not really. And my sister’s middle name is “Catherine” and my dad’s sister’s name is “Katherine”…it’s a wonder that my mom doesn’t get along very well with my dad’s family…
Kelley says
Well my dad being the smartalec he is, always joked with me when I was growing up, saying that he and my mother wanted to name me Russetta, in the honor of his greatness. (FYI: his given middle name is Russell!) But mom was always quick to follow with, a rendition of, HE’S LYING! He has also always claimed that if I had been born a boy, it would have been William Ray (also in honor of his greatness.. his given first name is William..) Which would have made me Billy Ray for short! Thank goodness I popped out a girl, and dad came to his good senses and allowed my mother to name me! Kelley being my maternal grandmothers maiden name! Which I prefer immensely over Russetta!
Jules says
My parents were going to name me Sam Adam Meredith, so my initials would be the same as my name and it would be easier to remember. Apparently they figured if I was a boy they wouldn’t be very smart. They were supposed to name me Whitney but a lady they ran into being discharged when my mom was being admitted to the hospital said she named her baby Whitney, “After Whitney Houston!” and they made a last minute change. They came up with Deirdre, horrible name, so I go by my middle name, Julia.
Becky says
My dad wanted to name my little brother Herman!
Dina McCausley says
My parents names are Jim and Angela but their parents almost named them *drunroll* Godfrey and ELZIRA. I’m not joking. The last name is Zwickert too…Elzira and Godfrey Zwickert? Uhhhh….
I’m a twin and my mother almost named us ‘Sasha (me) and Shane’. SO glad she didn’t cause I know about 27 dogs named Sasha. *whew*
lauryn says
ooooo I forgot to write this earlier! An old coworkers name…Richard Ball. This is how he introduced himself to me: “Hi my name is Dick Ball. Yes…DICK Ball. You heard me.” He was the FIFTH in his family. AHH!!! When he had his baby he said he couldnt do that to him and chose a more normal name.
Liz says
My brother was born when Halley’s Comet was coming around in ’86 so his name is Timothy Robert Halley Lastname. Also, my uncle loved the ballplayer Gorman Thomas so my cousin is Gregory John Gorman Thomas Lastname. Guess our family loves obscure super long names!
Beth says
I think mine might be the worst. My dad wanted to name me Pastinaca Sativa. (Past a nack a sat i va) is how it’s pronounced). He is a biologist and loves plants. The name is the scientific name for wild parsnip. Thankfully my mother had more common sense. Unfortunately, dad didn’t care for mom’s choice: “Kathleen” so I became Beth. Anything’s better than dad’s choice!
Audrey says
I was almost Olivia – not bad at all. If I had been a boy I would have been Todd though, and I’m not a huge fan of that.
My dad works with a guy who named his daughters Venus and Valkyrie. Last name Savage. I think that might beat Vector – sounds like porn star names!
Alex says
ok, so my name was never in question because my mom *knew* she was having at least one girl, as for the other twin she wasn’t so sure. My brother, had he been a girl, would have been Jaclyn.
To date this is the best way to get under his skin. hehe
Dana @ House*Tweaking says
I think I may have you beat. My mom wanted to name me Taca. That’s taco with a capital T and an ‘a’ instead of an ‘o’ at the end. I think it was the pregnancy hormones or something. My dad, being the rational one, bought my mom a dog which she named Taca and then he was free to name me Dana. Yikes! That could have been a rough childhood.
Mandi says
Apparently my dad wanted to name me Stone… My name would have been Stone Stevens. My mom, on the otherhand, wanted to name me Amanda Stephanie Stevens. My initials would have been A-S-S. They nixed that idea pretty quickly, thankfully! :)
M. Case says
Brooke. Brooke Case. And my dad failed to see what was wrong with this.
karlee says
My mom wanted to name me Starla (which sounds like a porn star)and my dad wanted to name me Gertrude. Not sure how I ended up being a Karlee.
Bethany says
My mom wanted to name me “Peter John Wilson” they didn’t even pick out a girl name because they were positive I would be a boy. (Youngest of 5 kids, 3 were girls.) So I spent the first few days/hours nameless until my mom saw my name in the Bible.
Just now putting together the similarities that would have been in my name had I been the opposite sex. Peter John-John Petersik.
KathyG says
What else was Clara almost named?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kathy G,
Scroll back for some info on that. We keep all future possibilities close to the chest, but some loved but couldn’t use names have been revealed in previous comments!
xo,
s
Christine says
My sister’s name is Joanne. However, my Mom wanted to name her … Audra. For whatever reason, my Dad HATED the name Audra and told my Mom that he refused to have a child named Audra. He said, “If you plan on naming her Audra, also plan on raising her alone as a single parent because I’m leaving if that’s going to be her name!”. Haha. They agreed on the name Joanne. =)
Vic says
my husband’s dad was going to name him either Pagasus or Lancelot.
I am glad my husband was born pre-mature and ended with Justin :)
Katie says
My husband seriously wanted to name our first born Zvonimier and call him “Z” I still tell myself that he was joking, but he insists that he would have done it. So maybe Finn will one day relay that story to his wife and they will laugh just as hard. As long as he telss her that it was his father’s idea.
reb says
I was supposed to be named “Hezekiah” (my brothers and I were all named after bible names). I’ve got two older brothers, Adam, Josh, so natural progression would of course be Hezekiah! With this being said, the doctors all told my parents that I was going to be a boy! When they held their bouncing baby girl, they originally wanted to name me Rachel, but thought it was too popular a name, hence their next choice, Rebecca. Oddly enough, my mother-in-law always told my husband that he was destined to marry a Rachel. I guess he almost married his Rachel :)
Michelle says
My dad wanted to name me Margaret . . . and didn’t want me to go by Maggie (which I think is cute) but Margaret Thayer? thank God my mom won that argument!
Karla @ {TheClassyWoman} says
My dad wanted to name me Meegan, which in Dutch (my mom’s side of family) sounds like a word or is the word in dutch that means ‘to pee’. My mom wasn’t having that! They settled on naming me after my dad with an ‘a’ on the end oh, and a K instead of a C. ;)
Ellen says
I was almost named Gladys after my grandmother. So glad they decided against that one!
Oona says
My name was going to be Adam. The doctor thought I was a boy.
“Vector” totally reminds me of Despicable Me! Have you guys seen it yet? It’s hilarious. John just needs a yellow warm-up suit. lol
tab says
I have a very unique name that I love, (nickname is above) but I was almost named Tapioca after the pudding, and if I was a boy I would have been Torbian.
Andrea says
Oh yes, Lacey. My parents almost named me Lacey. You know what makes it even better? My last name also starts with L, so as if Lacey by itself wasn’t enough, my name would have been alliterative. And also reminiscent of a stripper.
Amber says
I was almost named Skye, because of my blue eyes. I actually like that name. Instead I was named after a “well known to the guys” character from a book. Go figure.
Dee says
I’m pretty sure I have most everyone beat. My Dad was/is a karate enthusiast and he wanted to name me Washina after a Japanese style karate called Washin Ryu. Needless to say Dionne isn’t all that bad.
Alissa H. says
My parents named me Alissa Jayne. My dad didn’t like names that started with vowels, so if he couldn’t get used to Alissa they were going to call me Jayne. Both my name options were pretty nice, I’m glad there wasn’t anything too scary I could have been named.
My mom did miscarry my brother, he would have been named Eugene. All my siblings have decided that he would have been brutally teased if he had lived.
Rachel says
My mother always loved the name Holly. But then she decided to marry a man with the last name Wood.
So i would have been Holly Wood. thank goodness they decided against that one!
They like to joke about naming my brother “Drift”
Aimee says
My dad liked “Mary,” so original! And my mom liked Paige, but my dad vetoed it, so she named the dog Paige. :)
Barb says
Roberta. Um-hmm. But then I was born in 1961, so maybe it wasn’t so weird for then. The name they chose was Barbara. And it was popular for 1960. I graduated with 88 in my class, and there were five Barbaras.
kim says
Amber. Not so bad alone, but with the middle name Star. Yeah…I was born in the 60’s.