25 Ordinary Names That Have Been Forever Ruined
In today’s ever-evolving cultural landscape, certain names have taken on new meanings or associations that make them challenging to use in public without raising eyebrows. Take the name Stacy, for instance, which has faced a bit of a cultural shift due to the popular 1983 song “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne.
Recently, Reddit users have been engaged in lively discussions about once-popular names that have fallen out of favour due to a particular person or event. Take a moment to peruse this list of names that have, unfortunately, been tainted in the eyes of the community.
Image credits: Atom1cThunder
#1 Adolf.
Image source: Neftroshi, anonymous
#2 Lolita, because of the book by Nabokov.
Image source: trinitymonkey, Olympia Press
#3 Let’s just say there’s a very good reason why the founder of Adidas went by Adi and not what was written on his birth certificate. (His name is Adolf)
Image source: Zap_Rowsdowwer, anonymous
#4 Jezebel… i love that name but especially men don’t.
Image source: ghostriderghostrider, Byam Shaw
#5 Harvey. You know why.
Image source: hakrejones, GabboT
#6 Not a single person, but I’m told there are simply no babies being named “Karen” at all anymore.
#7 Donald.
Image source: Stack_of_HighSociety, Marco Verch
#8 I read Judas was a popular name back then. Thanks to THAT Judas, it’s no longer popular today.
Image source: WokeUpNChoseViolins, James Tissot
#9 In Germany it’s Chantal, Jaqueline, Mandy and Kevin, besides Adolf of course. “Kevin is no name, but a diagnosis!” They have the stigma to be names for stupid people. There is even a study for that! And names: Kevinismus (Kevinism) and Chantalismus (Chantalism).
Image source: SanaraHikari, Lukas / pexels (not the actual photo)
#10 Benito. Everybody talks about the Austrian painter, and forgets the Italian bald journalist.
Image source: michele-x, Bundesarchiv
#11 Apparently Kermit used to be a popular name. I don’t wanna say it was ruined, persay, more froggified.
Image source: EpicBanana05, Sony Pictures
#12 As a Norwegian the name Anders is ruined for me because of terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. It’s a common name but I never hear anyone call their babies Anders anymore.
Image source: KindlyDisaster0, Wolfmann
#13 Kovid was a beautiful Indian name.
Image source: RandomActsOfParanoia, Anna Shvets / pexels (not the actual photo)
#14 Eileen – Was fine until a guy wrote a song called Come On Eileen. Now parents can never name their child that knowing that child would suffer from teenage jerks making every p**n comment possible.
Image source: UltraCoolPimpDaddy, Dexys and Dexys Midnight Runners Official
#15 Ebeneezer, used to be fairly common until a certain author wrote a book with the protagonist named that…
Image source: Available_Thoughts-0, John Leech
#16 Not one person, but I know a lot of women in my community named Isis (after the Egyptian goddess of fertility). Then THAT ISIS came along, and long story short, they’re all now unemployable.
Image source: Interesting-Proof244, Ägyptischer Maler
#17 Alvin. Ruined by the Chipmunk. My friend started going by “Al” as soon as he could.
Image source: CapeMOGuy, 20th Century Studios
#18 Kevin
Image source: Baron1sta, 20th Century Studios
After Home alone, many families with low socioeconomic background in some European countries named their son’s Kevin. When this boys hit Kindergarten or school, they oftentimes where seen as the troublemakers of the group (probably bc of a mixture of the Kevin from the movies and their families status and the resulting problems in their upbringing ) In the years after that, the name got associated with poor background, bad behaviour and overall stupidity. Alpha-Kevin is used as a semi-funny insult to this day in the German speaking part of Europe.
#19 My cousin always said if she had a girl, she’d name her Amber. 3 weeks ago, she named her newborn daughter Emily. When I asked why she didn’t use Amber, she said she didn’t want anyone to call her daughter Amber Turd.
Image source: Honest-Possibility-9, Gage Skidmore
#20 Ellen. Dropped in popularity in the 90s when Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay, slowly rose in popularity again as gay people became more accepted, then dropped again when she came out as a terrible boss.
Image source: yourzombiebride, Tulane Public Relations
#21 Alexa.
Image source: aigarcia38, Anete Lusina / pexels (not the actual photo)
#22 Not a person, but a storm. Katrina.
Image source: ignisignis, NASA
#23 Madonna. My Aunt Madonna tried to call her husband at work to inform him that his father had died. The secretary hung up on her for being a crank caller, so he didn’t get the news until he got home that evening (despite Madonna calling back several times).
Image source: Raebee_, Raph_PH
#24 Myra (in the UK).
Image source: FrostyAd9064, Our Life
Pretty name but it was the name of a female serial killer of children in the 1960s, Myra Hindley.
Might be due a comeback when Gen Z or Alpha have kids as they won’t have the same associations with it. Serial killers are relatively rare in the UK so even though she is from the 60s she’s still very well known to people born in the 80s, 90s and probably even 2000s due to media coverage around her death.
#25 Stacy. Poor any girl who got named Stacy.
Image source: SilverFox8006, Omotayo Samuel / pexels (not the actual photo)
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