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[Opinions] Re: Uncommon English names, B and C (long!)
Barclay: Spell it Barkley and it's a good name for a dog.
Barret: Not bad, but needs the extra t on the end.
Beauregar: Melanie's little boy in Gone with the Wind. Very old-time Southern, to the point of being rather stereotypical.d
Berry: Barry is nice, but Berry looks a bit silly.
Betony: Sounds like a weird, Cockney-ish pronunciation of Bethany.
Bevis: And Butthead.
Biff: The only two Biffs I ever knew about were the son in Death of a Salesman, and a construction worker Muppet on Sesame Street who had a very strong NYC accent and a silent sidekick named Sully. I can't picture a real person named Biff, it's just comical.
Blondie: This is not used as a real name in the US. It's a very dated and not common nickname. The cartoon character Blondie Bumstead is the only reference most people are going to have aside from the band Blondie or the dessert, blondie.
Brigham: Very Mormon in character and probably usage.
Briscoe: A good friend of ours has a dog named Briscoe; he's named after Lenny Briscoe, Jerry Ohrbach's character on Law and Order.
Bristol: Palin. Nuff said.
Britannia: Just doesn't sound right, no matter how you say it. Brittany is nicer.
Bronte: Ug lee sound.
Byrne: Byrne, baby, Byrne.
Bysshe: How is this pronounced anyway? Right away I can see a serious problem if it's pronounced bish.
Caelan: Not bad but I'd spell it Kaelyn or Kaylin.
Camellia: Also very stereotypically old-South. Beauregard's girlfriend, maybe. I like Camilla or Camille.
Carlisa: Mash-up of Carla and Lisa? I like both those names better.
Carran: Just spell it Karen.
Carreen: Believe it or not, I used to work with someone named Carreen. She was named after Scarlett O'Hara's sister. The character was Caroline Irene, this lady was Carolyn Irene. It's not bad, if you overlook the book association, and the image of somebody careening around. I'd rather use Carina or Karina.
Celinda: Had a high school teacher named this, though she might have been Selinda. Not the best of the linda names.
Charisma: Not terrible, but very flashy and wordy. Good name for a makeup brand.
Charmian: Likely to be misunderstood as Charmaine or worse, Sharmin, as in don't squeeze the Sharmin. (AMerican toilet paper brand with very famous commercials involving a fussy store manager warning people not to squeeze the toilet paper. The commercials were really old but everybody here knows the phrase.)
Cherokee: *grinds teeth*
Christabella: Way too frilly. Christa/Krista is cool.
Christianne: Not bad at all.
Christmas: Knew a very nice sheepdog named this. Can't picture it on a person.
Clancy: stereotypical Irish-drinking-joke name.
Clemency: What a prisoner asks for.
Cletis: Yikes. Looks even more like a very private body part than the more familiar Cletus, which itself is a stereotypical redneck name.
Clover: Valerie had a little stuffed cow as a baby whose hang-tag identified it as Clover the Cow.
Columbine: Too loaded.
Comfort: Reminds me of an adult diaper.
Constant: Going to be confused with Constance.
Crispin: Yum, crunchy potato chips!
I think, therefore I judge.
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