Whats in a Name

I have been thinking about this for a few days, trying to figure out how to gracefully broach the subject of names. I believe we are all adults here, so I am going to just jump right in.

I have always been fascinated with peoples names, you know, the who, why, how did they come up with that, the OMG I cant believe someone named their kid that. I've often wondered if parents or the parent was thinking about their kid as an adult, and what living with the chosen name was going to do to them. This fascination has always just been a passing curiosity for me, but with the swearing in of our new President, I really started thinking about names and doing a little research.

Barak Hussain Obama, Jr. now thats a name that will get your attention, even if he wasnt our Pres. He was named after his father Barak Hussain Obama, Sr.(1936) he was named by his father Hussein Onyango Obama (1870). Baraks Grandfather took the name Hussein when he converted to Islam, passing the name, not the religion, onto his children. So the name Hussein is obviously a family name, not meant to be misconstrued into something its not.

Sorry, didn't mean to get off on a political name rant, I just find that bit of info. interesting.

Strange names are everywhere, many family names are strange and the strangeness is passed down for generations till people either forget why or finally ask why the name is what it is. However, I have recently come across a few names, I do not believe were passed 

down, made up maybe, but not passed down. For example: Flourisenia, I have no idea how this name is suppose to be pronounced, this is a real person. If her name hadnt been printed on my recite, believe me I would of never been able to spell it. How about some of the names actors are pinning on their kids. I mean how is Ms. Coco Riley Arquette, daughter of Courtney Cox and David, going to introduce herself? Hi, I'm Coco, no I'm not a stripper.... How about Gwyneth Paltrows kid, Apple. Hope she meets a boy names Orange, that should make Prom night special. And I cant leave out Frank Zappas kids, Dweezil, Ahmet, Moon Unit and Diva Muffin, thank goodness he's famous. If you REALLY want to screw up your kids for life, name your son Adolf Hitler and your daughter Aryan Nation. Really, this was done by some nut case ruining the rest of his childs life. I read about this poor child and stupid parents on Cake Wrecks, one of my favorite blogs.

What happened to names like Lori, Jim, Bo, Jack, Sarah, Mason, and don't forget the biblical names Daniel, Peter, Samson, Simon, John, Noah, Adam. I guess our names are boring, normal (?) easy to pronounce and spell names, what fun is that??