If I would have had any brains I would have changed my first name Felton long ago. I don’t know how many times I called up somewhere and when the receptionist asked who is calling I just said “Felton” figuring that no one else by that name probably had called in the last 100 years. Invariably the receptionist came back and said Mr. Felton so and so is unavailable. So I developed this little routine based after an old Red Skelton skit. I then told the receptionist that my first name was Felton. They then asked me what my last name was. I said Felton. I then said my name was Felton F. Felton-my parents had no imagination.
@Felton10@tinamarie1974 no, felt is a fabric. My suspicion, @felton10’s parents were a big fan and wanted it on everything, felt on sheets, felt on jackets, felt on wall coverings, etc.
@Felton10 To be honest, I think Felton is a pretty cool name. I’m a Joshua… I get asked often if I’m jewish. I’m not. Just happy my dad didn’t roll with Hezekiah, his second choice.
I am also adopted and found my birth mom when I was around 30. She shared the birthname she gave me for a day. If I ever need a fake name, it’s my go-to. I’m pretty sure I could pass a lie detector test telling you my name was Topher Krejci. Also makes me sound like a hitman
@capnjb Thanks for the support. I guess after 76 years I am used to it but still get numerous variations-Fenton and Shelton mostly.
Most of the people who have Felton as a first name are African American which I am not. I have this client who is black and I guess his bookkeeper of many years who I never met assumed I was also because of my name.
Anyway one day was talking to her about her boss and I doing work on Easter Sunday. She said how could you do work on such a holy day. I said ask your boss, I’m Jewish-no different than any other day for me. She said you can be Jewish you are black. I said no I am not. I think the thud I heard was when she fell off her chair.
@capnjb@Kyeh Guess she just assumed with my name, him being black, and the fact that he, his wife and two of his children had just stayed at our new house in FL to check it out as they were house hunting also.
@Felton10@Kyeh@phendrick
The problem with rankings and extrapolating real numbers is that you have no idea of the distribution above or below it. For instance if the names from number 1100 to 1220 are represented by one person each and the number one name is represented by 2.4 million people obviously the 90% means nothing.
@Felton10@Kyeh@phendrick
I like your name! I’ve always liked unusual names, I probably would’ve named my child with something unusual nothing like Moon Unit Zappa unusual but not a common name either. I wonder how she feels about her name, Moon Unit…
@Kyeh@phendrick That must be it. I was born in 1946. If anyone says they like, I can them they can have it for free. I’ve only met one other person with the first name of Felton.
@Felton10@Kidsandliz@Kyeh I always figured names like the backetball player’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyane_Wade were just inadvertent misspellings, especially since they tend to have the standard pronunciations (as if they weren’t misspelled).
Such misspellings are not necessarily due to the parents; sometimes they just don’t make it to the birth certificate intact. In fact, the OP’s original link inferred that.
My maternal grandparents were Polish immigrants and their and their whole family’s surnames got butchered by the intake authorities. They wound up with three different spellings of the surnames and that stuck on the official documents.
Something similar happened on my wife’s Italian family tree.
(Funny thing is, one of my uncles later legally changed his surname to one of the mangled versions, shortening it from 4 to 2 syllables, and seeming much more “Americanized”. My mother had Canadian cousins who used the other half.)
@blaineg@Felton10@Kyeh@Lynnerizer@phendrick
In college I knew a girl named “Cnythia” [sic], which was apparently a typo that didn’t get caught in time, and hadn’t been deeming important enough to fix. Or something like that. I’m pretty sure she spelled it the more typical “Cynthia” everywhere except in legal settings (such as on her driver’s license).
@blaineg — As for how to pronounce “R’lene”, I’d say it the same as Arlene. But since that seems too obvious, I’m curious to find out what it really was.
I’m all for different names. I grew up with a name that only old lady’s had and now i hear it all the time with little kids. I always wanted my name on stuff bc they never had it so even as an adult I would buy little trinkets with my name on it.
I agree with @kyeh some of these kids names today are a little to put there. We all wanna be different but not so different that your gonna stand out. Who’s gonna hire some of these kids with these crazy ass names to supposedly have a professional career? “Meet out new VP of marketing, Peanut”
@Star2236
I actually thought about changing my name in the 7th grade! IDK why, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my name. Later that year a classmate changed her very nice name to Chrissy Crandle which I thought was silly!
Thank goodness I didn’t follow through, probably would’ve been a regretabe decision for sure and I think it might’ve hurt my parents feelings.
@Star2236 There is actual solid research that shows that kids with “different” names are less likely to have their resumes pulled out of the pile than the identical resume with a “conventional” name. Parents aren’t doing their kids any favors giving them off the wall names.
Also there are names that “date” you which isn’t good if you are hunting for a job due to age discrimination. Due to all of this I wanted to give my kid a name that had been reasonably popular for decades, spelled only one way and pronounced only one way so that she didn’t have reasons out of her control to make it harder to find a job.
@njfan Thanks for sharing that Issac→Isaac & Chole→Chloe bit. That made me curious enough to actually go look at the article. I also found Conner→Connor, but it’s “from” #4 and “to” #9, so plenty must be going to something else entirely.
But more interestingly, I noticed that #6 was Michael on both sides (“from” and “to”). So apparently approximately as many people want to be Michael as those who want to not be Michael any more.
@Kyeh
Thanks. When I was a kid the only people I knew with my name were old ladies or people who were dead so that’s why I say it’s an old lady name. I like it a lot now that I’m older though.
@GetClosure@blaineg My middle initial is G. but I (intentionally) write it as a numeral 6 when signing documents. I don’t know if anyone actually even notices, but it amuses me.
I recall reading a newspaper article some years ago about a local ne’er-do-well that had accumulated his third strike and was sentenced to prison. The guy’s name was Gurley Crumb. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was Gurley Crumb III - apparently his ancestors wanted to share the joy. A former school mate of his opined to the reporter that the teasing he got may have contributed to his life of crime.
If I would have had any brains I would have changed my first name Felton long ago. I don’t know how many times I called up somewhere and when the receptionist asked who is calling I just said “Felton” figuring that no one else by that name probably had called in the last 100 years. Invariably the receptionist came back and said Mr. Felton so and so is unavailable. So I developed this little routine based after an old Red Skelton skit. I then told the receptionist that my first name was Felton. They then asked me what my last name was. I said Felton. I then said my name was Felton F. Felton-my parents had no imagination.
@Felton10 Where did that name come from? Did your parents make it up?
@Felton10 You wanted to be Walter?
@Felton10 Ibjust assumed your last name was Felton all this time! Ive never met a Felton, is it a family name?
@tinamarie1974 Not if I could help, it will die with me.
@phendrick Walter would definitely be an improvement. My wife wanted to name our bird Leonardo and call him Leo but I said no.
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974 no, felt is a fabric. My suspicion, @felton10’s parents were a big fan and wanted it on everything, felt on sheets, felt on jackets, felt on wall coverings, etc.
@njfan @tinamarie1974 Of they just wanted to ruin my life and give me a name which no one could tell if I was animal, vegetable or mineral.
@Felton10 @njfan @tinamarie1974 Could be worse, I suppose.
@Felton10 To be honest, I think Felton is a pretty cool name. I’m a Joshua… I get asked often if I’m jewish. I’m not. Just happy my dad didn’t roll with Hezekiah, his second choice.
I am also adopted and found my birth mom when I was around 30. She shared the birthname she gave me for a day. If I ever need a fake name, it’s my go-to. I’m pretty sure I could pass a lie detector test telling you my name was Topher Krejci.
Also makes me sound like a hitman 
@capnjb Thanks for the support. I guess after 76 years I am used to it but still get numerous variations-Fenton and Shelton mostly.
Most of the people who have Felton as a first name are African American which I am not. I have this client who is black and I guess his bookkeeper of many years who I never met assumed I was also because of my name.
Anyway one day was talking to her about her boss and I doing work on Easter Sunday. She said how could you do work on such a holy day. I said ask your boss, I’m Jewish-no different than any other day for me. She said you can be Jewish you are black. I said no I am not. I think the thud I heard was when she fell off her chair.
@capnjb @Felton10 Guess she hasn’t heard of Sammy Davis Jr.
But how strange that she’d be that sure just because of your name!
@capnjb @Kyeh Guess she just assumed with my name, him being black, and the fact that he, his wife and two of his children had just stayed at our new house in FL to check it out as they were house hunting also.
Father was going to name after a relative whose first name began with F. Have no idea where he came up with Felton. Maybe he was drunk that night.
@Felton10 Oh, dear. I wonder how some of today’s kids with very unusual made-up names are going to feel when they’re older.
@Felton10 @Kyeh
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Felton
Apparently popular in the 40’s, relatively. Maybe your father knew someone then?
@Felton10 @phendrick I was a bit shocked at this:
I’d never heard this name before! But it’s not a bad sounding name, just unusual - or so I thought.
@Felton10 @Kyeh @phendrick
The problem with rankings and extrapolating real numbers is that you have no idea of the distribution above or below it. For instance if the names from number 1100 to 1220 are represented by one person each and the number one name is represented by 2.4 million people obviously the 90% means nothing.
@Felton10 @Kyeh @phendrick
I like your name! I’ve always liked unusual names, I probably would’ve named my child with something unusual nothing like Moon Unit Zappa unusual but not a common name either. I wonder how she feels about her name, Moon Unit…
@Kyeh @phendrick That must be it. I was born in 1946. If anyone says they like, I can them they can have it for free. I’ve only met one other person with the first name of Felton.
@Felton10 @Kyeh
Or the misspelled ones… I have a niece whose made up name violates the “i before e except after c” convention.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh I always figured names like the backetball player’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyane_Wade were just inadvertent misspellings, especially since they tend to have the standard pronunciations (as if they weren’t misspelled).
Such misspellings are not necessarily due to the parents; sometimes they just don’t make it to the birth certificate intact. In fact, the OP’s original link inferred that.
My maternal grandparents were Polish immigrants and their and their whole family’s surnames got butchered by the intake authorities. They wound up with three different spellings of the surnames and that stuck on the official documents.
Something similar happened on my wife’s Italian family tree.
(Funny thing is, one of my uncles later legally changed his surname to one of the mangled versions, shortening it from 4 to 2 syllables, and seeming much more “Americanized”. My mother had Canadian cousins who used the other half.)
@Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @phendrick
Apparently she just goes by Moon. But I’m not sure what you’d do with “Dweezil”.
@Felton10 @Kyeh
I went to high school (late 70’s) with a girl named R’lene.
Any guess on pronounciation?
@blaineg @Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Randy Johnson is older, so probably has squatter’s rights on the “Unit part”, at least in “cultural” circles.
@blaineg @Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @phendrick
In college I knew a girl named “Cnythia” [sic], which was apparently a typo that didn’t get caught in time, and hadn’t been deeming important enough to fix. Or something like that. I’m pretty sure she spelled it the more typical “Cynthia” everywhere except in legal settings (such as on her driver’s license).
@blaineg — As for how to pronounce “R’lene”, I’d say it the same as Arlene. But since that seems too obvious, I’m curious to find out what it really was.
@Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @phendrick @xobzoo
Yep, Arlene is right, but my guess at the time was Rlene.
@blaineg @Felton10 @Lynnerizer @phendrick @xobzoo
“Cnythia” - I would want to pronounce that “Snithia.”
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick ‘Dwyane’ is misspelled? Didn’t realize that!
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @njfan
Some you lose, some you don’t win. Oh, well.
@blaineg @Felton10 @Kyeh
Rah Lene?
I’m all for different names. I grew up with a name that only old lady’s had and now i hear it all the time with little kids. I always wanted my name on stuff bc they never had it so even as an adult I would buy little trinkets with my name on it.
I agree with @kyeh some of these kids names today are a little to put there. We all wanna be different but not so different that your gonna stand out. Who’s gonna hire some of these kids with these crazy ass names to supposedly have a professional career? “Meet out new VP of marketing, Peanut”
@Star2236
I actually thought about changing my name in the 7th grade! IDK why, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my name. Later that year a classmate changed her very nice name to Chrissy Crandle which I thought was silly!
Thank goodness I didn’t follow through, probably would’ve been a regretabe decision for sure and I think it might’ve hurt my parents feelings.
@Star2236 There is actual solid research that shows that kids with “different” names are less likely to have their resumes pulled out of the pile than the identical resume with a “conventional” name. Parents aren’t doing their kids any favors giving them off the wall names.
Also there are names that “date” you which isn’t good if you are hunting for a job due to age discrimination. Due to all of this I wanted to give my kid a name that had been reasonably popular for decades, spelled only one way and pronounced only one way so that she didn’t have reasons out of her control to make it harder to find a job.
Look closely at the first couple of names listed to be changed and look what they were changed to.
@njfan
Yes but if you read the article they said it was mostly due to misspelling.
@Kidsandliz
Hope it’s not one of these lol. Funny article actually.
https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/female-names-bad-girlfriends-161421/
@Star2236 no disagreement. I don’t think the kids want a different name, just a better spelling.
@njfan Thanks for sharing that Issac→Isaac & Chole→Chloe bit. That made me curious enough to actually go look at the article. I also found Conner→Connor, but it’s “from” #4 and “to” #9, so plenty must be going to something else entirely.
But more interestingly, I noticed that #6 was Michael on both sides (“from” and “to”). So apparently approximately as many people want to be Michael as those who want to not be Michael any more.
@Star2236
You revealed your name in the Joe-a-thon
and I’ve always thought of that as a very sophisticated name! (Makes me think of jewelry…)
@Kyeh
Thanks. When I was a kid the only people I knew with my name were old ladies or people who were dead so that’s why I say it’s an old lady name. I like it a lot now that I’m older though.
@xobzoo Not going to lie, only 51% sure how to spell Mich…l
Still bummed that legal names can’t be alpha-numeric. Yet.
@GetClosure Have you met X Æ A-12 Musk?
@GetClosure @blaineg My middle initial is G. but I (intentionally) write it as a numeral 6 when signing documents. I don’t know if anyone actually even notices, but it amuses me.
@blaineg @GetClosure @macromeh
A good clue if someone is carelessly forging your signature!
@GetClosure I tried adding a silent 3 to my name in elementary school. It didn’t go over so well.
@capnjb @GetClosure Friend of Tom Lehrer?
Very few Blaine’s out there. I got it from my Dad, but I don’t know where he got it from. I think I’ve seen it more as a last name than a first.
Many people drop the e off my name, even in replies to email.
Or I get called Blake or Blair or other random names.
Never, ever seen any tourist trap crap with my name on it. That really bugged me as a kid.
@blaineg Are you a child of the 70’s? I grew up with two Blaines during my childhood.
@capnjb Wow, two? The 60’s not the 70’s.
@blaineg Yeah, one at school and one at church. This was early 70’s
I recall reading a newspaper article some years ago about a local ne’er-do-well that had accumulated his third strike and was sentenced to prison. The guy’s name was Gurley Crumb. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was Gurley Crumb III - apparently his ancestors wanted to share the joy. A former school mate of his opined to the reporter that the teasing he got may have contributed to his life of crime.
@macromeh
Made me flash back to this:
Beats the hell out of Moon Unit and Dweezil. I think someone did eat the yellow snow.