WHAT IS IT WITH UTAH AND WEIRD NAMES!!!???


someone PLEASE explain to me, why people from utah feel the need to name their children the WEIRDEST and MOST UNIQUE names on the planet! i'm begging you!

i teach children's theater and i have a few gigs out here in the land of milk, honey and big hair. this week, i met my new groups of 1st and 3rd graders who are taking my "boy's world" and "theater from around the world" classes. they are adorable... i can tell we are really going to have a fun time.

we started things off like i usually do- with a name game. it's actually quite simple. the child picks an action and does it whilst saying their name... then we all copy it. boy oh boy, i'm telling you, it took all i had in me to not laugh out loud at some of the names i encountered!!! here are a few examples... please, let me know if you think i am being too harsh here:

Jerix
Derix (yes i promise you that they are both in the same class and that they are both spelled with and X)
Daxon
Damynee (i got really freaked out that i was going to pronounce this wrong and say a swear)
Dakota (it's a boy and although i have heard this one before, it still made me sad for him)
Darion (also a boy... sigh)
(what's with all the names that start with D??)
Chetton

wha? huh? why?

what ever happened to naming a child after a family member or a certain name because of it's meaning?

how about:

Elisabeth: God's Promise
Matthew: Gift of the Lord
Ruth: Friend/Companion
Emily: Eager

is it really that important to name your child something so unique that there is no way in God's green earth that anyone else is going to have it?

sigh, this is just one more idiosyncratic thing about utah that's probably more annoying than it ought to be. my problem, not theirs. BUT SERIOUSLY!

(obvious yet funny side note: the spell checker didn't recognize a single name on that list!)