Obnoxious Names

She may have been an appealing Chinese heroine in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but her name won't translate for a modern American girl. Better choices: Snow, or Flora.

Another entry in the fruit name category, this one borne by writer Strawberry Saroyan, granddaughter of William, so named by her hippie parents. While fruit names may become more familiar, they'll never pass without comment -- but maybe that's what you're looking for.

You can call your daughter Sugar, but only as a term of endearment. Her real name has to be something, almost anything, else.

Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee.

The perfect name-accessory for a little princess, though its popularity is waning.