My daughter is named Tali'Zorah. I suppose I'm crazy : )

[samwise970]

Frankly, you're a little crazy, and totally irresponsible. Your name is the first thing every person you meet knows about you, and is a crucial part of forming a first impression, like it or not. When you name your daughter Tali'Zorah, or Princess Peach, or Apple or Precious or anything else that socially abnormal, you are branding her with that for the rest of her life, all because you liked a video game. It should give you pause that an entire forum of gamers are overwhelmingly telling you this is a bad idea.

Lots of people say that Tali is pretty, or at least acceptable. I suppose you could get away with it, but would you want to? It still isn't a normal name. Make her middle name the weird one, she can choose to hide that, or use it as her first name if she grows up and likes it as much as you do.

Tali'Zorah will be made fun of in school, that is unquestioned, but that's far from the worst of it. Unless she legally changes her name (which I would undoubtably do), the Mass Effect character you like so much will appear on her High School Diploma, her College Degree, her Marriage License, Driver's License, and most importantly, every Resume that she sends out to prospective employers, whose reactions will likely range from minor confusion to unflattering amusement (and studies have shown that a person's name does affect how often they are called for an interview). Why would you do this to your child? Forget whether or not the way others react to her name is right or wrong, it will happen nontheless, and if your first parenting decision is to give her an unnecessary hardship, than you should rethink something fundamental.

I'm sure you both love your daughter as much as is possible, but I think most people would urge you to rethink this choice. Good luck to you all.

 

[Gary Thompson]

You're a bad parent if you do that.

Kids aren't pets, they're real people, if you give them a stupid name they wont like it, especially if they're made fun of for it.

Do you want to socially cripple your child because you thought some name from a sci-fi game that will be irrelevant by the time she's an adult sounded nice?

 

[TBman]

you should be fine as long as you don't throw Quibquib in there http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7THJoRYA2c

 

[Moderated]

All that aside, a couple of people have told me that we're nuts for giving a child that name. I like it a lot, I'm assuming she'll like it, and I don't think she'll get teased for it or anything like that. Out of curiosity, am I totally off base about that?

Yes. She will get made fun of for having a different name. Like, were you even a child? In addition, it's been proven that children with unusual names are more likely to drop out of high school.

 

[Mad World]

"Tali" is a very nice name. I don't think that there is anything wrong with it.

 

[SweetWarmIce]

Have her first name as Tali and her middle name as Zora. Giving her the first name Tali'Zorah is just asking for trouble.

 

[ace_of_something]

Sorry if this somehow belongs in gaming discussion.

Anyway, tomorrow my daughter is scheduled to be born. I'm freaking out and all that, but that's not why I'm here. Since day 1, her first name was always going to be Tali'Zorah. It's not necessarily "named after Mass Effect", but rather my wife fell in love with the name during our first playthrough of ME1 many years ago. Confused friends and relatives are told "we wanted a nice Quarian name" just because it's funny to see the confusion become worse.

All that aside, a couple of people have told me that we're nuts for giving a child that name. I like it a lot, I'm assuming she'll like it, and I don't think she'll get teased for it or anything like that. Out of curiosity, am I totally off base about that? For further discussion value, this thread can be about the entire concept of video games being used to inspire names.

My daughter is named Tali as well, though it's short for Taliya (adopted thru foster care didn't pick the name) So I don't think it's that bad. Also my wife's grandmother is named Zora she's French-Roma

Though speaking as someone with an 'unusual' name at least here in the united states. It kind of sucks as a kid having an odd name and it sucks even more when you're looking for a job. It gets very old having to spend your whole life explaining the name. When the movie 'Thor' came out it was REALLY annoying for a while. FYI I'm actually Thor IV and my nephew is Thor V it's a family name. It basically is the name meaning "Okay this is the last boy I intend on having" as it's always a youngest son.
Once in adulthood though it doesn't matter so much. I'm glad my name is like John cuz then I'd have to be 'John A.' if there was ever another John around.

I agree you should give her the first name Tali middle name Zorah. They're both actual names after all.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Are you naming her Tali'Zora or Tali?

Tali = Good (well, acceptable) idea
Tali'Zora = Terrible idea

I'd go with this. poor kids gonna get bullied with option 2

 

[Gvaz]

There's a Zelda Williams and she's okay with it.

 

[omega 616]

a test run to see how receptive the general public is. So far, I've learned that people on the Internet are far more brutal and less likely to mince words than in person, and I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Out of hundreds of combined people comprised of doctors, nurses, friends, and both sides of the family, the absolute worst statement I heard was "is that really her actual name? Oh okay". 98% of people love the name and thinks it sounds pretty, which I must stress is the real reason for the name.

Nobody is going to say to your face "you called her what now? That's a stupid name" to your face, people have courtesy/social niceties etc. It's the same reason you absolutely love that pair of socks you just got for Christmas 'cos saying "yeah, just what I need, more fucking socks!" is out of order.

You came on the internet with a question, the place to come if you want a totally brutally honest answer. It's the great thing about the net, unless you ask in one of the dark corners of it, you will always get the most honest answer here. It's actually what I love about the net, no pretense of niceness ... if someone thinks you're a dick, they will tell you without hesitation, it's beautiful!

Like I said in my first quote to you,"Is this one of those "I'm not going to change my mind, I just want to be reassured" kind of topics?" seems I was right.

You might have thought "OMG, such a nice name" and only had the best intentions but that doesn't matter at all. It's like I think Victorian female clothing is awesome, so much so I think if I was a girl I would wear it but I would look fucking stupid walking around shops ...

Spoiler: Like this

I like the way it looks but it doesn't fit with modern times, as much as a blue aliens name doesn't fit with our culture.

 

[ckam]

Just go with Tali, it sounds plain old better. The rest sounds too bizarre and your kid might wind up holding a grudge over it. But these are predictions, and I'm terrible at those.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Not weird at all. I have twin girls that are almost 4 that my wife and I named Leliana and Morrigan after dragon age

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Are you naming her Tali'Zora or Tali?

Tali = Good (well, acceptable) idea
Tali'Zora = Terrible idea

I'd go with this. poor kids gonna get bullied with option 2

My thoughts exactly.

I'm sorry to say it, but kids WILL get bullied if they have something that stands out in a strange or uncommon way. I can talk about it, being the only ginger kid in my primary school years back, my bullying didn't stop until I had to smack some faces in (even though I'm quite the pacifist).

It's not something you wonna load your kid with from the get-go, believe me.

Just "Tali" can be seen as a fun name though.

 

[SNCommand]

I say it sounds fine and reasonable

Better than every other uncreative halfwit who just picks it from a family member or the bible

And if your child is worried about people bullying her she can just call herself Tali which is an actual name

 

[Morbidleaf]

I think making her name Tali'Zorah is a great idea, and you can always just call her Tali till she get's old enough to not only spell Tali'Zorah but know not to tell everyone. And it's not like the other kid's will know what it's from.

 

[MrBaskerville]

There's a Zelda Williams and she's okay with it.

Zeldas also a normal name, Scott F. Fitzgerald married one^^.

My only gripe with Tali'Zorah is that i can't seem to pronounce it in a way that doesn't sound weird. It sounds like something a Klingon could say, it would probably make more sense if i met a person bearing the name than when i read it here. As it has been mentioned a couple of times, it is also a bit weird to incorporate both a last name and a sir name into one sir name. But i wouldn't think too hard about what other kids would say, that's not what it's about when you name your child. People seem to take for granted that she's going to be a target, when she might just as well end up as one of the bullies or a neutral person. Not everyone is teased in school, so that's not something one should worry too much about until it becomes an actual problem.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Your story is now a Kotaku article. So congrats on that I guess. [http://kotaku.com/a-father-says-his-baby-daughter-was-named-for-a-mass-ef-1494688590] Second time I've seen Chemical Alia quoted on something in an news article that's derived from something from these forums too, which made me chuckle a bit =P

As for the actual matter at hand, I agree with the people that have said that Tali is a good name, but Tali'Zorah may lead her to being picked on and such at school, and as such should be avoided as a whole name. But besides that, the name obviously comes from a deep love for something, and that's not the worst reason I've seen for someone naming their child something.

 

[TripleDaddy]

You are not nuts, and it's not because I unsuccessfully lobbied for "Benjamin Kenobi" as my son's first and middle name.

Even though I did. Twice.

 

[keniakittykat]

My oldest sister is called Thalia, but everyone calls her Tali for short, and Zora is also a very common European name, so you can make it like 'anne marie' or 'Joan Louise' That and 'Tali zora' has a nice ring to it.