Pet Names So Ugly They're Cute

If you're looking for a presidential first name, keep looking.

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba—self-named for her hometown of Melbourne—inspired this now-dated name more associated today with a peach dessert and dietetic toast.

Unfashionable surname, best left in the forest with Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

Delmer is kind of a smoosh of two dated names, Delmar and Elmer, that does not improve on either. While Elmer is making a return as a Geek Chic name, Delmar was given to only 14 baby boys last year while Delmer is extinct.

Gomer is that rare beast, a unisex biblical name. Gomer was both a son of Japheth (and therefore grandson of Noah), and the wife of the prophet Hosea. It has lingering associations with the hayseed Gomer Pyle character, but may just about be ready for rehab.

Has a decidedly middle-aged image.

Named after Isaac. Or Wayne.

Occasionally heard in Ireland, small chance of success here.

One time joke name, à la Lily Tomlin's bossy telephone operator, Ernestine is ready for a possible reevaluation, like cousins Josephine and Clementine..

Verlin is an obscure name that found some use in the US in the early part of the 20th century, but now it and variation Verlyn are extinct, given to no baby boys in the US last year.

There aren't many Glendas under forty.

Leota is an antique name rarely used any more -- it was given to just 8 baby girls in the US in 2021. Some sources says Leota is a Native American name meaning blue flower.

Dickson's nickname problem keeps it from having the upside possibility of similar names like Jackson and Harrison. If you're looking for fresh baby names to honor an ancestral Richard or Dick, consider Dixon. Or better, Richardson.

Hyman was commonly used by first-generation Jewish immigrants to Anglicize Chaim, but similarities to terms like heinie and hymen have taken it out of the realm of modern possibility. The original Chaim would be preferable to Hyman.

Hilda with a stuffed nose.

As wooden as its second syllable.

Melvin is one of the ultimate nerd names, and Melva is not far behind.

Nedra was one of a phalanx of names -- Delma, Verda, Vernice -- popular in the late 19th and early 20th century that dropped out of fashion after World War II and now have disappeared completely. Like the others, Nedra is now extinct.

Hagar is an Old Testament name with an unfortunate association with comic strip character "Hagar the Horrible."