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

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Asuka Soryu

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SaneAmongInsane said:
[At the age of five, I really don't think kids would get that hung up over a name. I got a nephew in kindergarden, I can't imagine him finding out a little girls name is "Tali'Zorah" and thinking it's odd. Little kids barely know odd.

By the time high school roles around, he if it's not the girls name then it's going to be the way she does her hair or some other stupid reason.

I feel like a name should be a real deep special gift given from the parents, sort of a prayer, a symbol of hope, and idea "this is who you should look up to."

Not a "Lets call him Robert so the kids at school don't beat him up, eh?"
I strongly disagree. The child will form their own identity, and that will grant their name meaning, whatever it is. Choose a name you think sounds nice, but don't try and impose your own identity on them.

Besides, there's actually a lot of wiggle room for names. There's a difference between "unusual" and "embarrassing". Something like Anastasia would be the former. Tali'Zorah would be the latter.

Edit: @Asuka Soryu: Well... this is awkward.
Good to see my clones are finally numbering Rei's.
 

DudeistBelieve

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SaneAmongInsane said:
[At the age of five, I really don't think kids would get that hung up over a name. I got a nephew in kindergarden, I can't imagine him finding out a little girls name is "Tali'Zorah" and thinking it's odd. Little kids barely know odd.

By the time high school roles around, he if it's not the girls name then it's going to be the way she does her hair or some other stupid reason.

I feel like a name should be a real deep special gift given from the parents, sort of a prayer, a symbol of hope, and idea "this is who you should look up to."

Not a "Lets call him Robert so the kids at school don't beat him up, eh?"
I strongly disagree. The child will form their own identity, and that will grant their name meaning, whatever it is. Choose a name you think sounds nice, but don't try and impose your own identity on them.

Besides, there's actually a lot of wiggle room for names. There's a difference between "unusual" and "embarrassing". Something like Anastasia would be the former. Tali'Zorah would be the latter.

Edit: @Asuka Soryu: Well... this is awkward.
Isn't that the whole point of raising a kid? Trying to impose a sense of morality, responsibility, and navigation while they form that identity? And how does that not start with a name?

And really, TaliZorah is not the worst sounding name. It's not like naming your kid Ponyboy or Sodapop.
 

[REDACTED]

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SaneAmongInsane said:
Isn't that the whole point of raising a kid? Trying to impose a sense of morality, responsibility, and navigation while they form that identity? And how does that not start with a name?

And really, TaliZorah is not the worst sounding name. It's not like naming your kid Ponyboy or Sodapop.
I wasn't talking about imposing responsibility, morality and navigation (which is obviously a pretty fundamental part of being a parent). I was talking about imposing your own personal identity on them. Naming your kid after a fictional character you like (whose name has a freakin' apostrophe in it) is different from naming them after, say, Jules Verne or Grace Hopper.
 

TheDoctor455

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DrunkOnEstus said:
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.
Speaking as a substitute teacher, I can tell you that would hardly be the worst name you could give your child.

I'd advise cutting the "zorah" part... if only to make the influence more subtle... or keep it as a middle name if you must have it in there.

Anyway...

again, its hardly the worst name I've seen on attendance sheets...

no, that honor belongs to "Shithead"... pronounced "sh'theed" or some similar nonsense.

I wish I was bloody kidding.
 

PleaseDele

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krazykidd said:
I would totally name my hypothetical Daughter Lufia. Good thing that anyone outside of very specific gaming circles would even know where that is from.
I wouldn´t mind calling my daughter Selan either.

OT: Tali'Zorah? Split it up man, the apostrophe is just asking for trouble.
 

Crystalite

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I believe it has already been pointed out, but an apostrophy is the worst idea you could have had. Many, many official systems don't do them, but she will have to give her correct name, or they won't accept it. What does she do in the car registry? Or on her passport?
I know you are probably not reading this anymore, and the milk has apparently already been spilled. I guess you will find out. Except of course, you won't, because it is her problem now.

I actually find the name very beautifull, it sounds great and has a nice flow. And you can hope that no one recognises it's origin. Because honestly? As cool as it is to be a nerd, and I really believe that, most people don't.

You did not "ruin her life". That's bullshit. But don't be surprised when she uses those exact words when she's fifteen. But then again, she might do that for any reason anyway, just as she could be bullied for any reason.

I just hope you know what to tell her when she asks.
Because I have a weird name as well, and I have thought my parents selfish for choosing it because it "sounded nice and was unusual", though I have come to like it over time.
 

MysticSlayer

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DrunkOnEstus said:
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.
Well, Tali is an Arabic and Hebrew name, so at the very least, she could just shorten her name to a nickname. I'd imagine that that is what will happen anyways. I have a reasonably standard name (Zachary) and even I often just go by a shortened nickname. If people find a way to shorten a name, then they will shorten it. Some people might ask if she's OK with just calling her Tali instead of Tali'Zorah, but most people will just get lazy.

As far as her being picked on, yeah, I don't think the name is going to be the only thing they can use. The bottom line is that children are jerks, and they'll find something to tease her about. If it isn't her name, it will just be something else.[footnote]Believe it or not, regardless of having glasses, acne, and misaligned and permanently stained teeth (I had an accident that did serious damage to my teeth), the things I got picked on most weren't any of those. I was picked on far more for laughing too much and being very competitive. So yeah, children will find anything to tease a peer about.[/footnote] Besides, I doubt most of the children she grows up with would even know that Tali'Zorah is a name from Mass Effect. A few teachers will and I'd imagine a few children will as well, but I doubt those few people would pick on her. At most, the teachers might chuckle and the children might think its cool. At least that's what I've seen whenever people figure out my brother was named after a character from Terminator.
 

CloudAtlas

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SaneAmongInsane said:
I feel like a name should be a real deep special gift given from the parents, sort of a prayer, a symbol of hope, and idea "this is who you should look up to."

Not a "Lets call him Robert so the kids at school don't beat him up, eh?"
I'm mostly with you here, and I think many others who oppose Tali'Zorah just as much I do are as well. However, the OP stated that main reason why they named her daughter "Tali'Zorah" was that it sounded beautiful to them, so that's apparently not the case here.
And I have to believe that many others who name their kids after video game characters or characters of other works of pop culture do it in large part to express their fandom for this game/movie/book/etc, and not because they have thought carefully about what the respective character is like, what it represents, and whether they would actually want their children to aspire to be like this character. And I have to say that fandom alone does not qualify as deeper meaning in my book.

And just look at the names that popped up in this thread alone. Tali'Zorah herself is already a questionable choice in this regard. But someone wanted to name his kid Anakin, after the main villain in Star Wars, and someone else named his girl after Morrigan from Dragon Age. Have fun explaining to boy that he's named after the main antagonist he has been rooting against all the time when you first show him Star Wars, or that your girl is named after a ruthless, selfish woman who always encouraged the main character to take the low road and not help anyone for selfless reasons and wants to conceive the spawn of Satan or something with you. Not really characters I'd want my kids to aspire to be, are they? To be honest, I almost hope that not too much thought was put behind names like these.

Edit: I'm not familiar with all the names from Japanese entertainment floating around, but I know enough about Japanese culture that it's probably a safe bet that not all of those characters would really qualify as positive role models either to a progressive.
 

Baghram

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You asked the question: 'Are we crazy?' No, you are stonecold fucking nuts. The name sounds nice in a VIDEOGAME, bloody hell Darius Deathstalker sounds completely badass, but it doesn't mean I'd name my child that way.

The sensible way would be to (as many have already said) to make it a first and a middle name, that's the best of both worlds. You get your way and have the essence of the name remain intact, and your daughter gets the benefit of having a name that doesn't impede her at every turn.
 

bug_of_war

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SaneAmongInsane said:
Not sure if I like to enforce the lesson on my first child "It's important to be the same as everyone else so people don't pick on you."

Remember? The Johnny Cash song? A Boy Named Sue?
What? At no point did I say "Be the same as everyone else", what I said was that giving a child a name is not suppose to be taken lightly and you should take into account that your child may not actually like the name they are given/and or the place that it came from. I will re-iterate, naming a child something unusual is not bad, naming a child after a fictional video game character whom's second half of their first name is said fictional alien's surname is kind of ridiculous. Tali is a fine name, hell it'd be perfect as not only is it a real name but it also ties into OP and his partners enjoyment of the character. Tali is a great middle ground, Tali-Zorah is getting into the area in which the child is being thought of as an item. There's having a unique name and then there's having that is going to cause someone grief (imagine calling your kid Adolf, it's a real name but it's rarely used today because of the stigma attached to it).
 

Collegeboy21

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My daughter's name is Leliana, so I don't think you're that weird, though I may have just left it at Tali if I were you.
 

VodkaKnight

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It begins.
The next generation is going to have a lot of children named after fictional characters, but I think Tali'Zorah is a bit odd. It does sound like it sound be a name in some languages though, so it might be okay.
Other than that, if your kid wants to just be called Tali then that's fine.
 

Vicarious Reality

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>implying there are not oodles of names from old fiction everywhere
Besides, why does everyone find Zorah objectionable?
 

ShakerSilver

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Nov 13, 2009
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"Tali'Zorah?" Seriously? Do you want your children to be mocked? Maybe I'm a little sensitive on the issue for having an odd name as well, but this still seems like an awful idea. Although as many people pointing out, simply "Tali" would be much better and is a lot more acceptable (even if it is uncommon).

Not to say that people should name their children somehting boring or uninspired, but it would be better if the references were a bit more subtle. If I ever had 3 sons I would name them David, Elias, and George. Try to spot the refernce.
 

DracoSuave

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Baby names are important. [http://www.livescience.com/6569-good-bad-baby-names-long-lasting-effects.html]

Do understand that the name someone carries into adulthood carries with it psychological and economic ramifications that will carry into their entire lives, long after you're dead. I'm not even going to sugarcoat it... what you are doing is not merely something seen as unusual, it is an act of cruelty that may create an artificial barrier preventing them from attaining success in their chosen endevours no matter what your best chosen intentions are. Platitudes of 'oh people will just get over it' are scientifically proven to be false--the world is going to be harder for Tali'Zorah because you decided to name her Tali'Zorah. Even shortening it to Tali or Zorah isn't going to help.

This is a fucking human being. She is going to grow up to become a fucking adult, who is going to have to out into the world and god damn well land a job, and take care of herself. She needs to be named like the adult you want her to become. Naming children using the same criteria you use to name a housepet is selfish and wrong.
 

dedem1315

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Sep 25, 2010
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Tali by itself isn't a bad name, adding on the 'Zorah however mightn't be the best idea.
 

Comocat

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May 24, 2012
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*shrug* all that really matters is that you love her.

Best of luck, I have a 9-month old so feel free to PM me if the new baby wears you down.