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

[major_chaos]

I'm only 19 so I don't really feel qualified to give parenting recommendations, but I do think I can comment on one specific part of your post:

I'm assuming she'll like it,

Unfortunately you really cant be sure because in my experience people are inclined to hate their own name even if no one else does. For example my middle name is Alexander and for my whole life I have fucking hated that name, and I really don't even know why seeing as I have never been mocked for it and most of my friends think its a really cool name. And I'm apparent not unique in this, seeing as a number of people I have know had similar unfounded hatred of their own first or middle name.

and I don't think she'll get teased for it or anything like that.

In my experience you are flat wrong here, she will get teased for it. That said, you could give your child the most boring, generic, common name ever conceived and they would still get mocked for it growing up. Children are just kinda evil that way. The most important part isn't stressing yourself to come up with a teasing proof name (because there isn't one,) its that you impress upon the child that the people mocking them are A. wrong and B. pathetic losers who need to hurt others to cover for their own failings.

 

[Korolev]

I can't stop you, but please don't do this. This is a name that she will have to bear for many years. It might sound cool to you, it might make YOU happy, but you don't have to live with this name and you don't have to go to school with it. My parents wanted to call me something relatively ridiculous - they were nature lovers and wanted to name me after a particular tropical bird. They were about to do it, until my very wise Grandmother intervened and insisted that I be given a normal name. I will ALWAYS thank my grandmother for that. My parents instead used the bird name for my second name, and that's fine - and they still call me by it. By I am very glad that I had a normal first name.

Look.... don't do this. You might love the idea now, but think about the potential consequences 5 or 7 or 8 or 10 years down the track for your daughter.

As others have said, Tali by itself sounds okay, I guess. Sounds enough like Talia, a name I've heard more than a few times.

For the love of whatever deity is out there, think about more than "I like this name!" before giving it to your child. Think about the child and their future as well.

 

[kickyourass]

Tali is a semi-common Hebrew name, I've met girls named Tali before and after Mass Effect came around (it's a grand total of 2 but still) so there's no problem with Tali. And with some of the blatantly awful middle names I've heard people give their kids I can't really object to 'Zorah' aside from that fact that it will leave 0 doubt to the fact that she's named for a video game character.
People familiar with the games might give you a second glance, and children can be absolutely horrible little shits so some of her classmates will tease her over her name (It might not even be about the Mass Effect part, kids are just assholes like that). But that part's nothing new, try going through school being called Bill right as the "Kill Bill" movies got really popular, and Bill is one of the plainest, most inoffensive names I can think of!

But as long as you are aware of the possible issues, and take steps like keeping Zorah (If you absolutely must keep that part) as her middle name as well as working to actually resolve the issue when she comes to you about being teased. Also you had better make peace with the fact that she WILL get teased no matter what you name her, 100% of names can be corrupted or mocked in some way. If you keep that sort of thing in mind I don't foresee any insurmountable problems with giving this name to your daughter. I mean, it wouldn't be THAT much different from naming her Zelda, another real name that's been used in an extremely popular video game.

 

[NortherWolf]

Crazy? Probably not. Self-centered, egoistical and odd, maybe.
1: As many others have said, it's a kid, not a fucking pet or product placement for your favorite brand of the moment.
2: It's your kid that will have to live with that, not you. Give that more consideration.
3: Enjoy the fact you will be joining the hordes of pathetic fangirls who named their kid Khaleesi, or after that freak child in Twilight. Cracked has an article about people like that, go look it up.
4: Also, like others have said, Tali=Fine, Tali'Zhorah not.

 

[thiosk]

Are you naming her Tali'Zora or Tali?

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

Cannot be quoted enough.

Tali is a good name.

I'm not one to talk, though, I want to have a boy just to name him Lelouch vi Britannia.

 

[Headbiter]

Naming a child after (or, to put it more general: like) a fictional character is a) not really crazy per se (!) and b) even not that easy to avoid anymore. Hell, when I was at the Gymnasium (German type of school) there was a girl named "Lara". Not named after Ms. Croft but back then Croft was more of a deal in terms of significance in video gaming, so my class mate got teased a bit anyway (mostly in a joking way by the gamers of the class. Gaming wasn't as socially acceptable as it is today).

Zorah, as mentioned several times before, I'd avoid. It's all nice and gimmicky if your name reminds people with the necessary knowledge (!) of a game - as would be the case with Tali - but if your name leaves absolutely ZERO doubt that you're named after a video game character, this WILL lead to awkward situations.

Plus, assuming you live in an English-speaking country, Zorah also attracts hell of a lot of attention TO her name, since it's phonetically unusual in this language. It's the same reason why you don't name a child in, let's say France "Kuromitsu". It's so foreign to the local tongue, it immediately draws confusion upon the bearer.

Not necessarily a nice "first gift".

 

[immortalfrieza]

It doesn't matter if you decide to go with Tali or Tali'Zorah or whatever, whatever you name your child your number 1 thing to take into consideration is whether the name will draw ridicule or not. What you decide to name your kid will be the first thing that people are going to mock them about, so you better choose something that probably won't cause that. Naming your kid after a video game character is pretty high on the list of names that will get them bullied mercilessly, even if nobody is going to really know about Mass Effect in a few years (for the record I find it pretty likely the series will still be around in some form or another for at least another decade) naming your kid after any character in the game is probably a bad idea.

Just know that if you do and she becomes a school shooter/becomes depressed/kills herself later, there's a decent enough chance that the name you gave her had something to do with it, so choose carefully.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

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.

I would imagine if naming your child after a video game character was going to reflect poorly on anyone, it would be you and your wife. You also have to understand that one day (most likely the teenage years) your daughter is going to ask you how you came up with her name, and you are going to have to tell her "Daughter dearest, we love you, and we named you after a space alien in a videogame we liked"

Now if you do your job right and raise her to be just as unabashedly nerdy and you two, then this revelation will most likely be met with glee, but I imagine as most children that genetically dislike their forebears during those formative teenage years, she is more likely to meet that revelation with the silent treatment for an undetermined amount of time.

Do yourself a favor, stick to Tali for short, and just say you liked the sound of it. or better yet pick a name that jives with the social construct (say after an iconic individual of renown from your homeland) and give her a chance to feel included instead of the kid, with weird parents.

 

[Camaranth]

Like others have said Tali'Zorah in full might be a bit much. But there is no problem with using the name as inspiration for something a little more...mainstream.

Also when you say Zora my mind goes to the water guys from the legend of zelda series

I know two people called Tahlia and I believe it's becoming more common.

I went through uni with a woman named Arwen. As in Lord of the Rings. When I asked about it she rolled her eyes and said "Yes after Lord of the Rings. My parents are huge fans of the book" My reaction was to say oh neat and never mention it again but I'm sure not many people are as kind.

One thing to I have to ask, when you're mad or telling her off is Tali'Zorah Susan Smith really going to be satisfactory to say?

I'm in my twenties and I still flinch when my mother says my full name.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Wasn't there a ruling in America somewhere that set the precedent of certain[read: weird] child names being tantamount to child abuse? There's always that to think about.

Yeah, if you name your kids "Adolf Hitler" and "Aryan Supremacy", dress up as an SS officer and cover your house with swastikas. Otherwise, not so much.

OTOH, in New Zealand, a kid went to court to get her named changed, IIRC, because it was "Talula does the hula from Hawaii".

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

My name is awesome, so I always pop my collar every time I hear all of it.

It's like being announced for a major award.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Ehh, no you're not crazy.

my friends have a daughter named Rainbow Dash.

Tali is a great name.
Her full name isn't Tali'Zorah Nar Earth Vas (Your last name) because that would be pushing it

 

[Callate]

If I were going to go that route, I'd go with 'Zorah or Zorah as a middle name. Tali doesn't sound that odd, and her middle name is rarely going to come up. Heck, Zorah alone doesn't sound that odd either.

But I'd call her Tali. Trust me: you want to name or nickname your child something that you can shout before they run into traffic.

It's far from the worst name I've heard. Heck, it's kind of pretty. I once went to a childbirth class in which one of the other couples announced in the round-robin that they were naming their child Keanu; I swear you could hear the repressed snorts around the room. (This was not in Hawaii, nor a couple of any sort of apparent Polynesian heritage, to be clear.)

 

[DalekJaas]

Don't call her Tali'Zorah, at least just make it Tali if you're dead set on that name. Remember that this kid will have to suffer through a whole life with that name, and you don't want her saying "my parents gave me this name cause they liked an alien in some computer game". Poor kid.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Are you naming her Tali'Zora or Tali?

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

I have no problem with people naming their kids after media and whatnot but choose something normal if you're going to do that. Parents think that naming their kids with a unique name let's them stand out and it does...but not in a good way. Your child is a person, not a fashion accessory or toy for you to break out at parties.

The kids gonna get teased and she's going to have to tell people how to spell her freaking name for her entire life (assuming she doesn't change it the second she's legally allowed to).

Yeah... I mean, my name's Graham, and I got tons of shit for that in school. Just for Graham. They called me Graham Cracker. And I didn't even know about that other possible meaning, but it still felt pretty horrible. I don't even wanna think wanna they'd turn Tali'Zorah into. They probably wouldn't need to turn it into anything--they'd just laugh at it. And if people calling me Graham Cracker--a dessert, just to put that into perspective--turned me into an emotional wreck, naming your kid something that's actually a rather weird name, well... I don't know. Seems like a bad idea.

I can tell you that if I were named, I don't know, Aragorn, I'd probably be a little angry about that. I like LotR, and I think Aragorn's fucking great, but what if I didn't? What if I saw LotR and thought "This is a piece of shit, and my parents named me after this asshole?" Growing up I never liked my name much, but it grew on me as I got older. I think it's a somewhat unique name (All the Grahams on the Escapist say WHAT!) and I like that. If I were named after a video game character or something... I don't know how I'd feel about that.

It seems more like a name for your pet in World of Warcraft; something to show off how much you like something, or that you're a part of a fanbase or whatever. I always name my one of my pets Zevon, but I'd never name my son Zevon. Or Hendrix. Maybe Warren, but I don't know. If I named my kid Zevon, it would be selfish; I wouldn't be naming him Zevon because I think it's a great name for kid; I'd be naming him Zevon because I think Warren Zevon is the best singer/songwriter that ever lived/will live.

 

[MasochisticAvenger]

I feel that anything I could say has already been said better here. Just remember, you're not the one who has to live with the name, and it is very unlikely the name is going to mean anything by the time the child is old enough for it to matter. So all you're going to do is make it a lot harder for her in life by starting her off with a weird and unusual name. Believe it or not, people will judge her for the name, and, at the very least, she is going to have to constantly explain it to people.

Not to mention it looks like you're trying to force your child to like something by naming her after it. What if she absolutely hates video games? She's going to be stuck with a name she hates just because you tried to force something on her. You can't tell what someone is going to like and dislike, just from what you like and dislike. Everyone in my family can't stand anime, but I absolutely love it.

I mean, would you like it if your parents named you after something that was popular in their time. It can also create a rift between you and your kid. What happens if she hates the name so much, she chooses to change it? Are you prepared for that? I have heard stories where the child has hated the thing they're named after so much, they changed their names as soon as they could. A child should be given a chance to forge their own identity; they are not just a tool to express your own individuality. If you really want to give something a crazy name, get a pet.

Just think about things like college applications and job interviews before you make any hasty decisions. Do you really want to hamper your child in life, just to make yourself look cooler. That seems kind of selfish if you ask me.

 

[Aesir23]

Nah, you're not crazy. At least it's because you guys like the name and not because you have an obsessive love for the game itself. Besides, there are far worse things out there that people name their kids without being connected to video games, such as North and Apple.


Admittedly, if I had a son and I didn't have a preference for old fashioned names then I would name him Garrus in a heartbeat.

 

[frizzlebyte]

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?

Oh, yeah. You're not even in the same state as the ballpark in which the base resides, actually. Those of us with odd names (or moderately different spellings of common names, in my case) really just find it annoying. I mean, in a perfect world I'd love my name, but the awkwardness of it gets me down sometimes.

I can see Tali as a first name; that's actually a pretty name for a girl. But Zorah? Nope, I can't see any scenario where she likes that name, even as a middle name.

And the "I don't think she'll get teased for it" thing?

I guarantee you, unless she's born a celebrity, she *will* get teased for a name like that. Absolutely.

 

[wulf3n]

Yeah, if you name your kids "Adolf Hitler" and "Aryan Supremacy", dress up as an SS officer and cover your house with swastikas. Otherwise, not so much.

OTOH, in New Zealand, a kid went to court to get her named changed, IIRC, because it was "Talula does the hula from Hawaii".

I suppose it depends on who signs the birth certificate... That does have the name on it right?

That also raises an interesting dilemma, who would one go to if they though a child had an offensive name? I'm guessing you don't call the police, that would be a weird conversation.

 

[Rodolphe Kourkenko]

Imo, you're not mad, just a little selfish and lazy.
It's your child so only your opinion count, the only advice i can give you is to think about your child life. ME is popular now, even if i think the word "popular" isn't the good one to use, but in twelve years ?
Like someone said, Duke Nukem was popular...