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Naming a child can be incredibly difficult. You have to somehow find a name that you and your partner both love that neither of you associate with people you’ve known in real life. The name of an ex? Nope! The name of your middle school bully? Vetoed! And of course, any names associated with memes, cruel historical figures or brands are also off the table.

Redditors have recently been discussing formerly common names that have been ruined by one person or event, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts below. Enjoy reading through this list of unfortunate names, and be sure to upvote the ones that you’d never give to your children!

Image credits: Atom1cThunder

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#1

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Adolf.

Neftroshi , anonymous Report

Final score:
213points
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#2

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Not a single person, but I'm told there are simply no babies being named "Karen" at all anymore.

shaidyn , Kathy Report

Final score:
198points
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Soozie Poozie
Soozie Poozie
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The nicest, most generous and kind person I ever met is named Karen. What a shame that the name has been destroyed.

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#3

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Apparently Kermit used to be a popular name. I don’t wanna say it was ruined, persay, more froggified.

EpicBanana05 , Sony Pictures Report

Final score:
193points
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#4

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Not one person, but I know a lot of women in my community named Isis (after the Egyptian goddess of fertility).

Then THAT ISIS came along, and long story short, they’re all now unemployable.

Interesting-Proof244 , Ägyptischer Maler Report

Final score:
186points
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CK
CK
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thousands of years of the name only for it to be ruined like that.

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#5

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Alexa.

aigarcia38 , Anete Lusina / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
139points
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Hphizzle
Hphizzle
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mine goes by “Echo”. The human name weirded me out.

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#6

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Donald.

Stack_of_HighSociety , Marco Verch Report

Final score:
127points
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Sleestak
Sleestak
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Trump is the death knell for many, but we can probably thank a Disney duck for a lot of it.

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#7

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Lolita, because of the book by Nabokov.

trinitymonkey , Olympia Press Report

Final score:
126points
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#8

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore As a Norwegian the name Anders is ruined for me because of terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. It's a common name but I never hear anyone call their babies Anders anymore.

KindlyDisaster0 , Wolfmann Report

Final score:
124points
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Marion
Marion
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That sod shot 77 people on a norwegian island in 2011.

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#9

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Alvin. Ruined by the Chipmunk.

My friend started going by "Al" as soon as he could.

CapeMOGuy , 20th Century Studios Report

Final score:
118points
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#10

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Not a person, but a storm. Katrina.

ignisignis , NASA Report

Final score:
109points
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paulfarrington-douglas avatar
PFD
PFD
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looking at the stats, Katrina seem to have been in steady decline since 1980 (in the US that it).

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#11

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Let's just say there's a very good reason why the founder of Adidas went by Adi and not what was written on his birth certificate. (His name is Adolf)

Zap_Rowsdowwer , anonymous Report

Final score:
104points
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#12

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore I read Judas was a popular name back then. Thanks to THAT Judas, it's no longer popular today.

WokeUpNChoseViolins , James Tissot Report

Final score:
97points
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Libstak
Libstak
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Weird because he was good enough to be a disciple of the Son of God. An alternate view has it that as Jesus knew who all his disciples would be, he specifically chose Judas to fulfill the required acts to ensure his crucifixion and resurrection, Judas agreed to enact Christ's plan and accepted that he would be hated for it.

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#13

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Kovid was a beautiful Indian name.

RandomActsOfParanoia , Anna Shvets / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
95points
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#14

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Kevin
After Home alone, many families with low socioeconomic background in some European countries named their son's Kevin. When this boys hit Kindergarten or school, they oftentimes where seen as the troublemakers of the group (probably bc of a mixture of the Kevin from the movies and their families status and the resulting problems in their upbringing ) In the years after that, the name got associated with poor background, bad behaviour and overall stupidity. Alpha-Kevin is used as a semi-funny insult to this day in the German speaking part of Europe.

Baron1sta , 20th Century Studios Report

Final score:
88points
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paulfarrington-douglas avatar
PFD
PFD
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The prejudice against Kevins is known as Kevinism. Jokes like "Kevin isn't a name, it's a diagnosis." It's a phenomenon in France too. A French documentary maker (also named Kevin) crowdfunded a documentary on the topic, working title "Save the Kevins"...

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#15

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Jezebel… i love that name but especially men don’t.

ghostriderghostrider , Byam Shaw Report

Final score:
86points
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Bart
Bart
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A friends daughter is named Lilith, beautiful name but almost gave his devout Catholic grandma a heart attack...

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#16

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Madonna

My Aunt Madonna tried to call her husband at work to inform him that his father had died. The secretary hung up on her for being a crank caller, so he didn't get the news until he got home that evening (despite Madonna calling back several times).

Raebee_ , Raph_PH Report

Final score:
85points
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#17

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore In Germany it's Chantal, Jaqueline, Mandy and Kevin, besides Adolf of course. "Kevin is no name, but a diagnosis!"

They have the stigma to be names for stupid people. There is even a study for that! And names: Kevinismus (Kevinism) and Chantalismus (Chantalism).

SanaraHikari , Lukas / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
78points
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#18

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore My cousin always said if she had a girl, she'd name her Amber. 3 weeks ago, she named her newborn daughter Emily. When I asked why she didn't use Amber, she said she didn't want anyone to call her daughter Amber Turd.

Honest-Possibility-9 , Gage Skidmore Report

Final score:
77points
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paulfarrington-douglas avatar
PFD
PFD
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's not as though kids being born now will know or care about Amber Heard.

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#19

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Harvey. You know why.

hakrejones , GabboT Report

Final score:
74points
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heatherphilpot avatar
Hphizzle
Hphizzle
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hi, please stop down voting people who are asking informational questions!! Not all the people on BP are American, or adults, or are simply not privy to all newsworthy people. Answer nicely or scroll on.

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#20

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Eileen - Was fine until a guy wrote a song called Come On Eileen. Now parents can never name their child that knowing that child would suffer from teenage jerks making every p**n comment possible.

UltraCoolPimpDaddy , Dexys and Dexys Midnight Runners Official Report

Final score:
73points
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#21

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Myra (in the UK).

Pretty name but it was the name of a female serial killer of children in the 1960s, Myra Hindley.

Might be due a comeback when Gen Z or Alpha have kids as they won’t have the same associations with it. Serial killers are relatively rare in the UK so even though she is from the 60s she’s still very well known to people born in the 80s, 90s and probably even 2000s due to media coverage around her death.

FrostyAd9064 , Our Life Report

Final score:
71points
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bb_20 avatar
Clown fish
Clown fish
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who don't know her and a man called Ian Brady killed children and buried them on the Yorkshire moors.

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#22

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Ebeneezer, used to be fairly common until a certain author wrote a book with the protagonist named that...

Available_Thoughts-0 , John Leech Report

Final score:
68points
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#23

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Benito.

Everybody talks about the Austrian painter, and forgets the Italian bald journalist.

michele-x , Bundesarchiv Report

Final score:
64points
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David
David
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not journalist, Newspaper Editor. He got his political start as the editor in chief of Avante, Italy's most prominent socialist newspaper and one of the most influential socialist publications in the world. He was considered one of the defaco leaders of Italy's socialist movement. He however began to turn on the internationsim of the socialist movement and started promoting that socialism needed to be blended with nationalism. Then he one day quit Avante and a year later is the editor in chief of the brand new publication for a tiny political movement called the Fascistii , and over time he took over the movement and the rest is history.

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#24

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Ellen. Dropped in popularity in the 90s when Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay, slowly rose in popularity again as gay people became more accepted, then dropped again when she came out as a terrible boss.

yourzombiebride , Tulane Public Relations Report

Final score:
61points
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Alexis Pandas
Alexis Pandas
Community Member
8 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact: "ellen" means "ugly" in Luxemburgish. Not a popular name there either, I guess.

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#25

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Einstein. Have a friend named Einstein, everyone thinks he's smart until you get to know him.

the_electrical_news , Sophie Delar Report

Final score:
48points
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Cosmikid
Cosmikid
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would you give a child a last name for a first name?

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#26

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Kinda in this category, I heard Daenerys was a popular name for a bit there.

*smirks*.

lovesmyirish , HBO Entertainment Report

Final score:
45points
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#27

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore I no longer like the name Logan.

Animegx43 , Erik Drost Report

Final score:
42points
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SheamusFanFrom1987
SheamusFanFrom1987
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Somewhere, Wolverine is shaking his head at the WWE US Champion...XP

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#28

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Stacy. Poor any girl who got named Stacy.

SilverFox8006 , Omotayo Samuel / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
41points
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#29

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Joran. Used to be a popular name but I don't believe many parents will name their boys that anymore.

moshennick , Aruba Police Force Report

Final score:
41points
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#30

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Cristina (if you are from Argentina).

her_queen , Charly Diaz Azcue Report

Final score:
21points
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shaunlee avatar
SheamusFanFrom1987
SheamusFanFrom1987
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I need some enlightening on this, more so because that's me mum's name... -_-"

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#31

31 Common Names That Can't Really Be Used Anymore Molly.

ch4nell , Rodolfo Quirós / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
11points
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