A rose by any other name

The husband and I had a hell of a time choosing a name for daughter.

We already had a name picked out for our first boy but when we found out we were having a girl, we just looked at each other and said "Well, now what?"

I liked Molly; he liked McKenzie. Finally we settled on Lea, a name that was actually H's suggestion and I agreed only if her middle name could be Nicole (after my sister) and we spelled it L-E-A instead of L-E-A-H.

But the majority of our discussions of girl's names were filled with justifications of why the other's choice just wasn't acceptable.

Our problems were compounded by the fact that the husband is a teacher and I am a journalist who covers education. In the five years we've been out of school and working in our fields, we've stumbled across some of the most ridiculous names ever to exist. And let me tell you - it's astounding what passes for a name these days.

My personal favorite terrible names stories actually stems back to high school. A year below, there was a set of male twins. Their names were Rocky and Stoney. Rumor had it they had a younger sister named Pebbles.

In the city where I work, there's an infamously-named woman named Le-a. At first glance, I swore she had the same name as our daughter but with stupid punctuation. But as it turns out, that "-"? It's actually a dash. As in La-dash-a.

I think the worst name I've ever seen though was a little girl in a kindergarten class at a school I covered in my first job as a journalist. She was a doll. Petite with curly brown hair and big brown eyes and a sweet smile.

And her mother named her Stormie. STORMIE. Not even spelled correctly.

I always wonder to myself: What do these parents have in mind for their kids when they grow up? Do you think a man named Stoney has any chance of being elected mayor? Have you ever met a doctor named Stormie, M.D.?

What's the worst name you've come across?