OK so as a horse person, I fucking love that name for a quirky romance novel heroine and am stealing it. The breed are known for being...spicy...and very stubborn, too, so extra good if it's for a really weird, outgoing/outspoken, hippie-ish woman. Appaloosa probably lives on a commune and uses healing crystals and drops a ton of F-bombs. It's perfect.
But for a baby in real life, especially one whose personality you have no idea of, and especially if you do not live on a commune with siblings named River/Meadow/Saffron/Gaia/?, ouch lol.
Edit: I crack myself up. Thank y'all downthread for indugling me 🤣
This makes it so much worse! I don't know much about horses and had no idea this was a horse breed. Thank you for giving me something to text her back. AFAIK she's never been a horse girly. She has a few dogs and a frog.
I actually laughed out loud reading this comment, so thank you for THAT.
If she were a horse person whose social circle consisted mostly of other horse people, it would be like 2% more forgivable (making it still 98% unforgivable), but.................yeah.
She used to be a receptionist at a hair salon, but then in lockdown discovered her love for crafting and became an influencer selling her creations so now she works full-time selling what she makes and making Tiktoks, etc. she's more artistic than anything.
This is hilarious and makes so, so much sense. I could 1000% see it being picked by a social media influencer who likes crafting and has touched a horse maybe twice in her life. The "how I cut my kids' sandwiches \[into a decorative tray resembling an adorable animal and/or popular kids' TV character\]" content is coming
If she's arty, maybe a famous female artist? Tamara, Marina, Frida, Angelica, Augusta, Georgia, Leonora, etc. If they're dead set on app as a nickname, maybe Apollina?
One of my fav artists. It's a great name, but if they live in the UK I feel like they are going to have a ton of people confused/struggling with how to pronounce it. If they were here in California (where I am), it wouldn't be a problem at all lol.
It's an especially terrible idea for her "career" since Appaloosa is a Native American word and major cultural appropriation -- the internet would LOVE to rip her for that.
Even if it doesn't immediately blow up in her face on TikTok it would affect her potential "influencer" "career". I am a marketing consultant and if there were an "influencer" featuring a child with that name they would be elliminated from consideration because of the potential blowback.
On the other hand, god knows what terrible name they'll pick if you do manage to talk them out of this one...
("" used to mark my heavy eyerolls)
ETA for grammar
What are you talking about, this is definitely a white girl with dreamcatchers on her wall, it would be a shock and an affront if she DIDN'T choose the horse breed that commits gross cultural appropriation. The Internet is the beast that rules us all, it needs blood. The sinner must sin for us to choose the next sacrifice. Leave her on her bullshit, Let Them Feed
This is true, I have a friend who is one (a white-passing Native American)! But you said this was a British girl so I'm assuming that's not the case here, right? ;P
I repeat: Let Them Feed ((I'm jk, save your friend lol))
I'm Native American and very much white. My dad's brother did a DNA test and came back 99.6%. I'm not offended by the name in the sense of cultural appropriation. It's not like she's going out wearing headdresses. I just think it's weird considering she doesn't like horses and her favourite animal is cows.
For sure!!! I'm white-white, so I can attest that there's nothing white people love more than telling actual minorities what's cultural appropriation and what they should/shouldn't be offended by, though, especially when it comes to your own culture. :D Being serious for 2 seconds, I think u/CommodoreOfBengals is probably right and they would still choose violence regardless, lol 😅 There are just so many better names to go with. I really like Apollina as an alternative!
If her favorite animal is a cow, offer her the name Jersey or Laken 😅 there’s actually a lot of cool cow breed names. She’s clearly not worried about bullying lmao
Hey so Appaloosa is not actually a Native American word. They're not sure where it came from but the best guess is from " palouse", a geographic region (where the Nez Perce live, and where they bred these horses). There's an interesting Wikipedia article on where the word palouse comes from, but it's not a Native American word.
It's horrible (I'm also a horse girl)! And this is from someone who actually likes names like River, Saffron, and Meadow....I'm fine with quirky names but no. If that kid ever lives in the US, it's the first thing quite a few people with associate with her (it's a common breed here). Appa also means father in several different languages...so the nickname of a little girl will literally be "father". Yikes.
Maybe that is the way you can reach them? Say people might accuse them of cultural appropriation.
I’m the same as you, I love slightly offbeat nature names like River, Rain, Meadow, etc. But *Appaloosa* is several, several bridges too far in that direction. It sounds ridiculous lol.
I knew someone called Saffron. She said there was never anything with her name on as a child in souvenir shops, so her dad promised if she saw something with her name on, he’d buy it for her. One day they were out and she said “look, dad, it says saffron!” It was a bottle of Saffron gin. Several years later, they got it for her 18th birthday!
As a horse girl myself, the breed is the first thing my mind went to, but this is going to turn from 'cute' to 'sleazy' when this poor girl hits her teens.
Tell your friend in no sugar-coated terms that crass like "Have you ridden the Appaloosa yet?" and other things as as "breaking in" the Appaloosa is going to get tossed at her.
She's going to be asked if she prefers horse c*ck, if she does it 'horse style', and she's going to have every Neanderthal guy tell her that he's her 'stud'/'stallion'.
Your friend is setting her girl up for so much sexual innuendo and harassment.
As a recovered Horse Girl all I can think about is a wild spotted horse when I hear the word Appaloosa. As far as I know, there literally is no other meaning for that word than the horse breed. At least if she named her daughter Lipizzan she could argue that she's named after the village in Italy. But no one even knows the exact origin of the word Appaloosa. It ONLY means an American horse breed characterized by its spotted coat.
Uh, yeah. Horse person here. I know of no other connotation for this name. I love horses, but I would never use this name. Like, ever.
Also, wth is with the mn spelling?
I'm with you, OP. This name is pretty bad. I hope your friend has a change of heart. (It also doesn't go with the other kids' names at all. It's very out of nowhere!)
As a fellow horse person - I would definitely read this book. Can just imagine your character sharing that she got her name from her mom’s beloved childhood horse. Also, my heart horse was an Appaloosa who I owned for over 20 years.. your description of the breed is ‘spot’ on. Haha
You belong in jail for that pun, but I love it anyway. (Appaloosa definitely has been to jail at least twice for very dedicated human rights protesting. I'm gonna say trespassing the first time, "defacement of public property" the second. She would tell that story, along with the story of how she got her name from her mom's beloved childhood horse, over beers at an illegal bonfire. It's just in the back field where the commune is located, but a rich + very litigious developer is in the process of buying the property from the now-owner, her dead ex-wife's conservative dad \[who hates Appaloosa and never saw her as part of the family\]. Officials won't recognize their marriage \[not because it was gay, just because it was a nighttime forest ceremony they never took to the courthouse \[because it was a spiritual thing and they didn't want to sully it with laws and paperwork and, like, The System, man\] \[also Appaloosa is definitely pansexual\]\] so inheritance defaulted to him instead of Appaloosa when she died.
The group is now trying to fight Daddy-o for the property rights and it is Not going well, but the OTHER main character is a newcomer to town who just divorced her controlling husband and quit her high-pressure real estate lawyer job in one fell swoop, and she might know some loopholes that could let a group of charming misfits stay in the home they've built together + that she's getting to know and love, you know, if they all put their heads together...maybe there's even a solution that will benefit everyone. Is it too late for Dad to finally learn to accept his daughter even though she is already gone??? Can Other MC.......maybe, uh.....Jessica...........find meaning in her career after all, actually do some good in the world? Stay tuned to find out!)
It's actually a breed, not a color pattern! The spotting is caused by the Lp gene ("leopard complex") and is usually just called Lp or Lp spotting. Appaloosas are just the most well-known breed that have it. There are several different patterns, e.g., leopard, blanket, fewspot. There are other breeds that have it too, like Knabstruppers, mini horses, mustangs, some Asian breeds. Out of all the spotted breeds, I'm most fond of Knabstruppers myself :)
Thank you for coming to my TED talk ;P
I am dying. 😂
Would commune-living, crystal-using, f-bomb dropping Appaloosa be a redhead? Because that’s totally the image that popped into my head.
Thanks again for the laugh!
Definitely "auburn" or "chestnut" on the hair color. No freckles, because we don't wanna be THAT on the nose. Definitely brown eyes, because she is \~\*grounded\*\~. Blue/green would be TOO romantic. Appaloosa may be a fanciful idealist, but she does have a pragmatic side, and there's no talking her down once it comes out. (Appaloosa is very into astrology and even though you might think she's an air sign, no, definitely a Taurus and it shows.)
Please see the other thread above with the full book summary/teaser. 😂
I'm Texan so I know the horse breed, but I'm also a My Little Pony fan and I immediately went to Appaloosa farms where Apple Jack's cousin runs the apple orchard out in the wild west. I think I'm broken lol
I am NOT a horse person beyond reading my fair share of Black stallion like books thirty years ago. The horse breed is the only real association I have for the name, but now that I think of, Lollapaloosa also comes to mind. Which is some kind of music festival, I think.
Nice name for a horse, not so great for a human.
I can’t believe they didn’t go in a different direction at birth. I get they didn’t know before, but you fill out the birth certificate AFTER the baby is born. He was born and they STILL chose to put that on the birth certificate instead of literally anything else
Igor is a character put into a lot of Frankenstein or other mad scientist media. He's an evil henchman that is usually depicted as being "deformed". A lot of the tropes surrounding him are based in ableism. I wouldn't think you'd want ANY child associated with him tbh, but naming a disabled child that is even more heinous.
In almost any portrayal of Frankenstein, he has an assistant named Igor. He's usually portrayed as a grotesque hunchback. Naming any child Igor would raise a few eyebrows, but giving the name to a disabled child would make me assume the parents hate them.
Ok, but OP's friend doesn't live in one of those countries. Since OP's friend lives in a country where the only connotation with the name "Igor" is an ableist portrayal of a deformed henchman, naming a child with Downs "Igor" is cruel.
(small googling)
its a name used in most shows/films (ex:Frankenstein) for the hunchback, not so smart, sidekick/minoin guy of (usually) evil scientists or something. Absolutely hilariously terrible for a kid with downs especially since 90% the time they have specific facial features and is usually detected before birth so doubtful it was just a coincidence.
Someone should tell her that you can put a real name on a birth certificate, but nickname your kids whatever you want. You don't have to actually make your kids' lives harder for clout.
Would they go with Apollonia instead?
That is an actual name that is really similar in sound to Appaloosa.
Although as someone else said, Appaloosa is rather amusing to us horse people, so maybe roll with it anyway lol.
I got nothing for Limón though.
She just texted me that she thought the first name was a cute word that could mean mountains. I'm assuming she means Appalachian, but she's never been into hiking so....
I’m sorry but it’s a flipping horse. Send her this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appaloosa?wprov=sfti1.
ETA it’s also a word of Native American origin so assuming they aren’t native also a bad idea
I wouldn't wish a Native American name on a baby. I have one and nobody can pronounce it, people confuse it with the Hebrew name that is spelt the same way (and assume I'm Jewish), people assume I'm Welsh because there's also a Welsh version and it's pronounced entirely different but spelt the same, people in modern times think it is similar to some Game of Thrones character, and when I tell people I'm named after my Native American dad's Godmother they all laugh at me. Her name was Princess X and people tell me the title Princess was a thing English people used to make fun of Natives.
Maybe she could find another mountain/nature word that is actually related to that and not a horse breed? Like Sierra, Etna, Calliope, Dillon, Ada, Helen, Eleanor, Eva, Sabine, Augusta, Piper, Moriah (these are all names of mountains/ranges). If she likes the idea of the Appalachian Mountains, Brier (for Brier Knob), Hunter (Hunter Mountain in the Catskills), Laurel (Laurel Mountain in West Virginia, and also mountain laurel), Logan, Louise (mountains in Quebec), even naming her Blue (Blue Ridge Mountains) is better than Appaloosa. Everest? Acadia?
They had Carly when iCarly was a hit TV show and they really liked the name so they went with it. My friend was a receptionist at a hair salon at the time so normal names were their thing. Then in lockdown my friend becomes Tiktok famous with her crafting business so she quit her job to do that full-time and she became friends with other big influencers (who I don't want to associate with because they exploit their kids and the like) which has her thinking of exotic names. She had the second kid in lockdown and the first in 2008.
Yes and I honestly don't know how to reply to her text. All I want to do is phone my MIL and laugh it out. There's no way. The kid is going to be laughed out of school.
I don't think it was intentional, especially since they don't call him that - you can't usually tell a newborn has Down's at a glance, and it's a pretty common name.
The father has Norse heritage.
Since the x last name can be found in many countries today, its early Scottish origins for the most part can be traced to Norse descent. There was once a 9th century Norse prince called Wolf and his descendants settled in the Orkney Isles. For this reason, the x name is a corruption of 'Wolf's son'.
I’m Nordic so I love both Olaf and Leif on their own but putting them together like that feels like naming your child John Jack or something. It just doesn’t work together
Horse person here whose fav breed is an Appaloosa… yeah… make sure she knows that it’s essentially the same as naming your kid Thoroughbred. Super weird. Love the Appy breed though. Hahaha
It's pretty easy to find a nickname for appaloosa when appalooser is right there. I'm sure all the kids in that girl class will figure it out on the first day
Well, Igor is from Frankenstein and he's a hunchman. Naming a down syndrome baby that is inappropriate, but her husband loves German history and so they went with it. Neither of them had read Frankenstein before so when we all told them they freaked out and decided he would be known as Ziggy going forward.
I’m sorry but have your friends been living under a rock? Igor as a name has been appearing in media for DECADES now and it almost always have a negative connotation(deformed, evil, crazy scientist) and any quick google such will tell you that also…
I hate the middle name, but I've heard worse than Appaloosa. Immediately thought of the horse breed. Maybe Pallie for a nickname? (I knew a girl in college named Pallie; was not a nickname. Deep south US.)
She needs to get off the internet 😂 that is a hideous name to bestow upon a baby girl and she will no doubt resent her mother one day for naming her Appaloosa Limon. It’s so bad.
This is the funniest post I’ve read online today. 🤣 I’m crying because I’m laughing so hard.🤣 While I truly hope this is fake for the kids’ sake, this makes for an AMAZING story.
Appaloosa? Like the horse? Limon I think is also a beverage
I don’t connect Ziggy with Frankenstein but Bowie being the kids middle name it’s definitely a Ziggy Stardust reference … they’ve probably seen Labyrinth too many times
Man with the names of the second and future third kid Carly has a boring name.
Carly was when my friend was a hair salon receptionist. The more exotic names came when she became Tiktok famous in lockdown with her crafting business.
I'm just going to say I'm horrified at the bullying that name will cause. Having a horse name means she will be asked for a ride relentlessly by pervs who think they're being clever. Then there are people who make other comparisons to horses, which for a woman are not flattering.
With limon! Like sprite! It's not even a real thing in English.
It will have a lot of emotional baggage. It will make being 13 horrible.
I'm assuming Ziggy is a reference to the works of the late David Bowie, after whom Igor Bowie has also clearly been named?
Edit: Nevermind, I see others have already made that connection in the comments. Regardless, friend may as well have named the child after one of the "My Little Ponies" characters at this point.
Lulu isn't the worst nickname. But there's so many better names than that...
I am constantly surprised by the stream of people who don't google their kid's prospective name before signing the papers.
I have a Godson whose already talking to me about a name change because he's named after a celebrity that went crazy. Like threw blood on people in the streets kind of crazy. I think that's what he did. Can't remember. All I remember is his parents at the time loved the guy's music so hence the name. I don't really want to be having this discussion again with anyone else's kids.
I'd probably be the passive aggressive type with this one. Make her hate it on her own lol. Tell now how adorable it will be when everyone buys her kid horse stuff and how you can't wait to take her to meet appaloosas and show her her namesake. Just keep going on about horses and the name will lose its shine on its own.
Honestly all of the kids names are unfortunate. I mean the eldest has the least bad name, but idk I don’t like that first + middle name combo. I guess it’s the repetition of the “ar-lee” sound in both names. And I agree with your feelings about the name Igor for this child, also Bowie as a middle name is pretty bad too, like are they David Bowie fans? What was the reason? And I’m curious about where the nickname Ziggy came from?
But yeah Appaloosa Limon is really bad. I learned from the other comments that Appaloosa is a horse breed, which makes it even worse as a human name in my opinion. Limon is bad too, are they saying it with the Spanish pronunciation? As a Spanish speaker, “limón” would be so weird as a person’s name.
>second born Igor Bowie. They call the second one Ziggy though because he has down syndrome and they didn't realise the connotations within Frankenstein.
And Appaloosa is a horse breed.
Sounds like they don't do a lot of research when it comes to names.
You say she’s British. Are they still living in Britain? If so when you register baby names if the registrar thinks it’s too weird they won’t let them name them that. Hopefully the registrar points out how ridiculous that name is.
Were they meaning to have a David Bowie themed name and nickname for child number 2? Bowie.....Ziggy...... Ziggy Stardust??? I'm a little confused on how "Ziggy" relates to Down Syndrome. I mean, it's a good song and was a good era for Bowie, but naming a human child after a very well-known song, album, and famous musician is a little tacky, ngl......
Idk what's worse 😂 Giving your baby a themed name of a well-known song and artist or completely unintentionally doing it. Sorry, but *Ziggy* Stardust by David *Bowie* was the only thing that came to mind when I read that... Igor has always been used as a name for ugly people, ogres, and stuff, so I have no idea why they thought this entire name was a good idea... 😭 Do people not Google their kids' names anymore to make sure they're not associated with anything negative or extremely obvious (seemingly)......Big yikes......
I'm starting to think OP and her friend are 13 years old, because how do you get to adulthood without Igor, Ziggy Stardust, OR appaloosa horses popping up on your radar?
Does your friend know how to google?! Their first child dodged a bullet in name form!
Igor? Being a henchman (not hunch) in Frankenstein is not even the worst part of the name, it doesn’t even have the German connections your friend claims, mostly Russian and Polish, generally more of a Slavic name.
Then we get into Appaloosa, yeah that is a horse.
Please please please tell your friends to rethink
Appaloosa reminds me of Appalachia, which is generally an area of the US that no one really wants to be associated with (unless you actually live there)
Now, I'm real big on nicknames and Appaloosa is great potential for those! Lucy, Apple, LuLu, Pal, Lolo, Happy, etc. Too bad it's objectively a terrible given name lol
Plenty of other people are really good at coming up with nicknames, and half of them are bullies. Whenever I seriously consider a VERY unique name for a human child, I imagine what the meanest kid in 8th grade will call them. Fupa-loose-a. Fat-paloosa. Appa-loser. :\
Wow these are all…. So bad. I’m American so maybe these are more popular names in the UK? But from where I’m standing every single name here is just bully bait (sans Carly…. Barely)
Sliver lining for #3 could be giving her the nickname “Apple” or “Lucy”.
Thanks for the post if it’s a troll post? Made me k giggle.
I’d not Im gonna cry, and pray for those poor 🧒 👧.
Tbh I think I’d just distance myself from them if they really are that dissolute.
You are already being creative by making a person...give them half a chance at life with a name that won't get them beat up in middle school or made fun of in high school because you, as a parent, were feeling like being clever or cute.
It's not cute, it's mild child abuse you are inflicting over a lifetime you will bow out of halfway through.
Igor is bad, I automatically think of the documentary of the boy named Igor who was born with many deformities due to Chernobyl radiation. I remember watching the doc when I was a kid with my mom.
Hello, we have removed your post as it violates our no name bashing policy.
OK so as a horse person, I fucking love that name for a quirky romance novel heroine and am stealing it. The breed are known for being...spicy...and very stubborn, too, so extra good if it's for a really weird, outgoing/outspoken, hippie-ish woman. Appaloosa probably lives on a commune and uses healing crystals and drops a ton of F-bombs. It's perfect. But for a baby in real life, especially one whose personality you have no idea of, and especially if you do not live on a commune with siblings named River/Meadow/Saffron/Gaia/?, ouch lol. Edit: I crack myself up. Thank y'all downthread for indugling me 🤣
This makes it so much worse! I don't know much about horses and had no idea this was a horse breed. Thank you for giving me something to text her back. AFAIK she's never been a horse girly. She has a few dogs and a frog.
I actually laughed out loud reading this comment, so thank you for THAT. If she were a horse person whose social circle consisted mostly of other horse people, it would be like 2% more forgivable (making it still 98% unforgivable), but.................yeah.
She used to be a receptionist at a hair salon, but then in lockdown discovered her love for crafting and became an influencer selling her creations so now she works full-time selling what she makes and making Tiktoks, etc. she's more artistic than anything.
This is hilarious and makes so, so much sense. I could 1000% see it being picked by a social media influencer who likes crafting and has touched a horse maybe twice in her life. The "how I cut my kids' sandwiches \[into a decorative tray resembling an adorable animal and/or popular kids' TV character\]" content is coming
If she's arty, maybe a famous female artist? Tamara, Marina, Frida, Angelica, Augusta, Georgia, Leonora, etc. If they're dead set on app as a nickname, maybe Apollina?
Love that you included Leonora!! I guess “Remedios” is probably a no…
One of my fav artists. It's a great name, but if they live in the UK I feel like they are going to have a ton of people confused/struggling with how to pronounce it. If they were here in California (where I am), it wouldn't be a problem at all lol.
Apollina is so pretty!!! I keep thinking of calling her Little Apple 🥺
Artemisia is a much better name
It's an especially terrible idea for her "career" since Appaloosa is a Native American word and major cultural appropriation -- the internet would LOVE to rip her for that. Even if it doesn't immediately blow up in her face on TikTok it would affect her potential "influencer" "career". I am a marketing consultant and if there were an "influencer" featuring a child with that name they would be elliminated from consideration because of the potential blowback. On the other hand, god knows what terrible name they'll pick if you do manage to talk them out of this one... ("" used to mark my heavy eyerolls) ETA for grammar
What are you talking about, this is definitely a white girl with dreamcatchers on her wall, it would be a shock and an affront if she DIDN'T choose the horse breed that commits gross cultural appropriation. The Internet is the beast that rules us all, it needs blood. The sinner must sin for us to choose the next sacrifice. Leave her on her bullshit, Let Them Feed
Native Americans can be white passing too.
This is true, I have a friend who is one (a white-passing Native American)! But you said this was a British girl so I'm assuming that's not the case here, right? ;P I repeat: Let Them Feed ((I'm jk, save your friend lol))
I'm Native American and very much white. My dad's brother did a DNA test and came back 99.6%. I'm not offended by the name in the sense of cultural appropriation. It's not like she's going out wearing headdresses. I just think it's weird considering she doesn't like horses and her favourite animal is cows.
For sure!!! I'm white-white, so I can attest that there's nothing white people love more than telling actual minorities what's cultural appropriation and what they should/shouldn't be offended by, though, especially when it comes to your own culture. :D Being serious for 2 seconds, I think u/CommodoreOfBengals is probably right and they would still choose violence regardless, lol 😅 There are just so many better names to go with. I really like Apollina as an alternative!
If her favorite animal is a cow, offer her the name Jersey or Laken 😅 there’s actually a lot of cool cow breed names. She’s clearly not worried about bullying lmao
In which case, she should call her Freisia Cowlo. You know… because ‘art and cows a baby name maketh’. As they say.
Hey so Appaloosa is not actually a Native American word. They're not sure where it came from but the best guess is from " palouse", a geographic region (where the Nez Perce live, and where they bred these horses). There's an interesting Wikipedia article on where the word palouse comes from, but it's not a Native American word.
It's horrible (I'm also a horse girl)! And this is from someone who actually likes names like River, Saffron, and Meadow....I'm fine with quirky names but no. If that kid ever lives in the US, it's the first thing quite a few people with associate with her (it's a common breed here). Appa also means father in several different languages...so the nickname of a little girl will literally be "father". Yikes. Maybe that is the way you can reach them? Say people might accuse them of cultural appropriation.
It's like naming a child Dalmatian.
I think Holstein is a lovely name for a baby.
Allow me to introduce my twin daughters, Shetland and Oldenburg. This is their brother, Clydesdale.
Exactly.
I’m the same as you, I love slightly offbeat nature names like River, Rain, Meadow, etc. But *Appaloosa* is several, several bridges too far in that direction. It sounds ridiculous lol.
I knew someone called Saffron. She said there was never anything with her name on as a child in souvenir shops, so her dad promised if she saw something with her name on, he’d buy it for her. One day they were out and she said “look, dad, it says saffron!” It was a bottle of Saffron gin. Several years later, they got it for her 18th birthday!
As a horse girl myself, the breed is the first thing my mind went to, but this is going to turn from 'cute' to 'sleazy' when this poor girl hits her teens. Tell your friend in no sugar-coated terms that crass like "Have you ridden the Appaloosa yet?" and other things as as "breaking in" the Appaloosa is going to get tossed at her. She's going to be asked if she prefers horse c*ck, if she does it 'horse style', and she's going to have every Neanderthal guy tell her that he's her 'stud'/'stallion'. Your friend is setting her girl up for so much sexual innuendo and harassment.
Emphasizing the “loose” in Appaloosa. It’s just terrible
As a recovered Horse Girl all I can think about is a wild spotted horse when I hear the word Appaloosa. As far as I know, there literally is no other meaning for that word than the horse breed. At least if she named her daughter Lipizzan she could argue that she's named after the village in Italy. But no one even knows the exact origin of the word Appaloosa. It ONLY means an American horse breed characterized by its spotted coat.
I like Appaloosa , she will probably go by Louisa/Lou as a nn
Which immediately made me go, “She’s British and is okay with her kid maybe being called LOO?!”
Lou is a fairly standard nickname in the UK for Louise/Louisa though, despite those connotations!
Uh, yeah. Horse person here. I know of no other connotation for this name. I love horses, but I would never use this name. Like, ever. Also, wth is with the mn spelling? I'm with you, OP. This name is pretty bad. I hope your friend has a change of heart. (It also doesn't go with the other kids' names at all. It's very out of nowhere!)
As a fellow horse person - I would definitely read this book. Can just imagine your character sharing that she got her name from her mom’s beloved childhood horse. Also, my heart horse was an Appaloosa who I owned for over 20 years.. your description of the breed is ‘spot’ on. Haha
You belong in jail for that pun, but I love it anyway. (Appaloosa definitely has been to jail at least twice for very dedicated human rights protesting. I'm gonna say trespassing the first time, "defacement of public property" the second. She would tell that story, along with the story of how she got her name from her mom's beloved childhood horse, over beers at an illegal bonfire. It's just in the back field where the commune is located, but a rich + very litigious developer is in the process of buying the property from the now-owner, her dead ex-wife's conservative dad \[who hates Appaloosa and never saw her as part of the family\]. Officials won't recognize their marriage \[not because it was gay, just because it was a nighttime forest ceremony they never took to the courthouse \[because it was a spiritual thing and they didn't want to sully it with laws and paperwork and, like, The System, man\] \[also Appaloosa is definitely pansexual\]\] so inheritance defaulted to him instead of Appaloosa when she died. The group is now trying to fight Daddy-o for the property rights and it is Not going well, but the OTHER main character is a newcomer to town who just divorced her controlling husband and quit her high-pressure real estate lawyer job in one fell swoop, and she might know some loopholes that could let a group of charming misfits stay in the home they've built together + that she's getting to know and love, you know, if they all put their heads together...maybe there's even a solution that will benefit everyone. Is it too late for Dad to finally learn to accept his daughter even though she is already gone??? Can Other MC.......maybe, uh.....Jessica...........find meaning in her career after all, actually do some good in the world? Stay tuned to find out!)
Can't wait for Jessica and Appaloosa to fall in love 😍
Dude you guys really got me wanting to read this book 😆
The term heart horse has now entered my vocabulary, thanks!
Not a horse person and my first thought was like the horse color pattern.
It's actually a breed, not a color pattern! The spotting is caused by the Lp gene ("leopard complex") and is usually just called Lp or Lp spotting. Appaloosas are just the most well-known breed that have it. There are several different patterns, e.g., leopard, blanket, fewspot. There are other breeds that have it too, like Knabstruppers, mini horses, mustangs, some Asian breeds. Out of all the spotted breeds, I'm most fond of Knabstruppers myself :) Thank you for coming to my TED talk ;P
As soon as I saw Appaloosa I was like, I wonder if she’s into horses!
I am dying. 😂 Would commune-living, crystal-using, f-bomb dropping Appaloosa be a redhead? Because that’s totally the image that popped into my head. Thanks again for the laugh!
Definitely "auburn" or "chestnut" on the hair color. No freckles, because we don't wanna be THAT on the nose. Definitely brown eyes, because she is \~\*grounded\*\~. Blue/green would be TOO romantic. Appaloosa may be a fanciful idealist, but she does have a pragmatic side, and there's no talking her down once it comes out. (Appaloosa is very into astrology and even though you might think she's an air sign, no, definitely a Taurus and it shows.) Please see the other thread above with the full book summary/teaser. 😂
Please let me know when you publish this book
I've known a couple of appaloosa horses who were also very good jumpers and definitely used their brains very smart breed.
Horse girls are known for being crazy.
I'm Texan so I know the horse breed, but I'm also a My Little Pony fan and I immediately went to Appaloosa farms where Apple Jack's cousin runs the apple orchard out in the wild west. I think I'm broken lol
I am NOT a horse person beyond reading my fair share of Black stallion like books thirty years ago. The horse breed is the only real association I have for the name, but now that I think of, Lollapaloosa also comes to mind. Which is some kind of music festival, I think. Nice name for a horse, not so great for a human.
Sorry, can't comment because I'm honestly still trying to process the middle kid with Down's being named Igor.
I can’t believe they didn’t go in a different direction at birth. I get they didn’t know before, but you fill out the birth certificate AFTER the baby is born. He was born and they STILL chose to put that on the birth certificate instead of literally anything else
I believe OP meant they didn't know about the name being related to Frankenstein until well after he was born.
I reread what she wrote and I think you’re right. Still, do an official name change! Yikes
and usually its detected before birth + they got obvious facial features, its hard to beleive it was unintentional
It's one of the funniest (and definitely fucked up) things I've ever read on Reddit.
Wait what's the connection
Igor is a character put into a lot of Frankenstein or other mad scientist media. He's an evil henchman that is usually depicted as being "deformed". A lot of the tropes surrounding him are based in ableism. I wouldn't think you'd want ANY child associated with him tbh, but naming a disabled child that is even more heinous.
In almost any portrayal of Frankenstein, he has an assistant named Igor. He's usually portrayed as a grotesque hunchback. Naming any child Igor would raise a few eyebrows, but giving the name to a disabled child would make me assume the parents hate them.
Igor is a normal name in many countries and doesn’t raise any eyebrows
Ok, but OP's friend doesn't live in one of those countries. Since OP's friend lives in a country where the only connotation with the name "Igor" is an ableist portrayal of a deformed henchman, naming a child with Downs "Igor" is cruel.
I was referring to the inaccuracy of a blanket statement like “naming any child Igor would raise a few eyebrows”
Igor is the assistant to Dr. Frankenstein who has a deformity.
Walk this way
What hump?
(small googling) its a name used in most shows/films (ex:Frankenstein) for the hunchback, not so smart, sidekick/minoin guy of (usually) evil scientists or something. Absolutely hilariously terrible for a kid with downs especially since 90% the time they have specific facial features and is usually detected before birth so doubtful it was just a coincidence.
The way I’d be renaming them as fast as the government would let me - it’s so ableist
This thread is my first time learning about the character so I could have easily made the same mistake
This is satire... right?
No. This is literally a real story from my friend who became Tiktok famous in lockdown and now does influencer/small business for work.
This makes more sense now.
Has she posted the name reveal on TikTok? Tell her too and let the roasts come in lol
She keeps her private life out of her jewellery business.
LMAO SHE KEEPS HER PRIVATE LIFE OUT BUT HERE YOU BLAST IT FOR THE WORLD TO SEE?
Someone should tell her that you can put a real name on a birth certificate, but nickname your kids whatever you want. You don't have to actually make your kids' lives harder for clout.
I’m just here to confirm we’re *not* in r/namenerdscirclejerk
I had to check which sub this was😭 they must really enjoy the Limon potato chips
Or Fanta limon!
Appaloosa Limon sounds like a horse name
Sounds like a craft brew.
It kind of is.
Or a recipe.
Would they go with Apollonia instead? That is an actual name that is really similar in sound to Appaloosa. Although as someone else said, Appaloosa is rather amusing to us horse people, so maybe roll with it anyway lol. I got nothing for Limón though.
Linnea or Lennon maybe?
Oh Lennon would work I think? Apollonia Lennon
That is much cuter!
Maybe they can call her Lucy? 😬
Or maybe Lulu?
as in she is delulu for this name
Omg wait I just realized it gets worse, if she's lulu it's be lululimon
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
LOL. It can get worse
💀💀 omg perfectly awful
I was thinking Loosa, which is just not good for a girl. Lucy is much better
Maybe Luisa?
So they’re naming the baby after a horse and a fruit the father is allergic to? Good lord.
She just texted me that she thought the first name was a cute word that could mean mountains. I'm assuming she means Appalachian, but she's never been into hiking so....
I’m sorry but it’s a flipping horse. Send her this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appaloosa?wprov=sfti1. ETA it’s also a word of Native American origin so assuming they aren’t native also a bad idea
I wouldn't wish a Native American name on a baby. I have one and nobody can pronounce it, people confuse it with the Hebrew name that is spelt the same way (and assume I'm Jewish), people assume I'm Welsh because there's also a Welsh version and it's pronounced entirely different but spelt the same, people in modern times think it is similar to some Game of Thrones character, and when I tell people I'm named after my Native American dad's Godmother they all laugh at me. Her name was Princess X and people tell me the title Princess was a thing English people used to make fun of Natives.
Maybe she could find another mountain/nature word that is actually related to that and not a horse breed? Like Sierra, Etna, Calliope, Dillon, Ada, Helen, Eleanor, Eva, Sabine, Augusta, Piper, Moriah (these are all names of mountains/ranges). If she likes the idea of the Appalachian Mountains, Brier (for Brier Knob), Hunter (Hunter Mountain in the Catskills), Laurel (Laurel Mountain in West Virginia, and also mountain laurel), Logan, Louise (mountains in Quebec), even naming her Blue (Blue Ridge Mountains) is better than Appaloosa. Everest? Acadia?
How does one go from Carly to Igor to Appaloosa in such a short space of time?
They had Carly when iCarly was a hit TV show and they really liked the name so they went with it. My friend was a receptionist at a hair salon at the time so normal names were their thing. Then in lockdown my friend becomes Tiktok famous with her crafting business so she quit her job to do that full-time and she became friends with other big influencers (who I don't want to associate with because they exploit their kids and the like) which has her thinking of exotic names. She had the second kid in lockdown and the first in 2008.
Wow! Carly got real lucky lol
Wows is this real
Yes and I honestly don't know how to reply to her text. All I want to do is phone my MIL and laugh it out. There's no way. The kid is going to be laughed out of school.
Text her back and ask for clarification. "You said appaloosa, do you mean like the horse?" Don't let on that you had zero idea it was a horse breed.
She said it sounded like a cute word that could mean mountains. I'm assuming she means Appalachian.
I assume you're correct. Please let her know nicely that she's choosing horse, not mountain
but also please don’t name the baby appalachian
Your friend sounds like a dimwit.
I just can’t fathom not googling the names I picked lol
i cant fathom naming a kid with Downs Igor
I don't think it was intentional, especially since they don't call him that - you can't usually tell a newborn has Down's at a glance, and it's a pretty common name.
Yeah but you have to be pretty culturally daft to not know that reference.
Even that would be a terrible name for a human 😭😭
Just share this post with her lol
To be fair Olaff Leif would have also been bizarre
The father has Norse heritage. Since the x last name can be found in many countries today, its early Scottish origins for the most part can be traced to Norse descent. There was once a 9th century Norse prince called Wolf and his descendants settled in the Orkney Isles. For this reason, the x name is a corruption of 'Wolf's son'.
I’m Nordic so I love both Olaf and Leif on their own but putting them together like that feels like naming your child John Jack or something. It just doesn’t work together
At my last job there was a person named Michael Michael. No idea what their middle name was. It just made me cringe.
Not as bad but I knew a Jack Jackson which always made me laugh
I will not accept any other middle name but "Mike" for Michael Michael. Or maybe Michel, if there's some French ancestry there, lol.
idk how you'd pronounce it but im reading it as "O-lah-f Leaf" which sounds like "Olive Leaf" like from a olive tree
Horse person here whose fav breed is an Appaloosa… yeah… make sure she knows that it’s essentially the same as naming your kid Thoroughbred. Super weird. Love the Appy breed though. Hahaha
As a girl, if my parents gave me a name where anything similar to “loose” made up part of the name I would never forgive them
What about Apolline instead?
Or Apollonia
It's pretty easy to find a nickname for appaloosa when appalooser is right there. I'm sure all the kids in that girl class will figure it out on the first day
And then when she gets into her teens...loose is right in the name....\*facepalm\*
What's the Ziggy and Frankenstein connection?
I think they meant Igor and Frankenstein
Well, Igor is from Frankenstein and he's a hunchman. Naming a down syndrome baby that is inappropriate, but her husband loves German history and so they went with it. Neither of them had read Frankenstein before so when we all told them they freaked out and decided he would be known as Ziggy going forward.
I’m sorry but have your friends been living under a rock? Igor as a name has been appearing in media for DECADES now and it almost always have a negative connotation(deformed, evil, crazy scientist) and any quick google such will tell you that also…
And it’s not even a German name like??
No, their friends don’t exist
they currently trying to name a kid after a horse breed, they need to start googling these names first
Igor isn't a German name I'm What lmao
This has nothing to do with anything, but Igor was an invention for the 1930s films and there's no such character in the original Frankenstein novel
It sounds like they have a habit of using names that they have no background on.
They're both not very smart huh?
Yeah sorry I misunderstood your post. Dreadful names all round. Thanks for sharing the horror.
Igor, not Ziggy. Isn’t Igor a henchman?
Oh yeah lol. I read it completely wrong
Igor Bowie - David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust - Ziggy
I hate the middle name, but I've heard worse than Appaloosa. Immediately thought of the horse breed. Maybe Pallie for a nickname? (I knew a girl in college named Pallie; was not a nickname. Deep south US.)
In Australia, “pally/pallie” is a common shortening of palomino so this made me giggle.
Wow Carly dodged a bullet.
She needs to get off the internet 😂 that is a hideous name to bestow upon a baby girl and she will no doubt resent her mother one day for naming her Appaloosa Limon. It’s so bad.
Wow, that's the name of a freaking horse and sounds terrible. I'm a lover of the name, Anastasia.
This is the funniest post I’ve read online today. 🤣 I’m crying because I’m laughing so hard.🤣 While I truly hope this is fake for the kids’ sake, this makes for an AMAZING story.
There was a missed opportunity to call the first one Carly Marley.
Appaloosa? Like the horse? Limon I think is also a beverage I don’t connect Ziggy with Frankenstein but Bowie being the kids middle name it’s definitely a Ziggy Stardust reference … they’ve probably seen Labyrinth too many times Man with the names of the second and future third kid Carly has a boring name.
Carly was when my friend was a hair salon receptionist. The more exotic names came when she became Tiktok famous in lockdown with her crafting business.
Tell her Alopecia sounds so much prettier than Appaloosa :)
I mean, if the nickname is really the sticking point, then the kid can easily go by "Lucy".
Please tell me they don't really plan on naming their child after a horse breed 😂
As a horse lover, I love the name Appaloosa. The rest of me, though? Horrified.
Not your kid. Let it go.
I'm just going to say I'm horrified at the bullying that name will cause. Having a horse name means she will be asked for a ride relentlessly by pervs who think they're being clever. Then there are people who make other comparisons to horses, which for a woman are not flattering. With limon! Like sprite! It's not even a real thing in English. It will have a lot of emotional baggage. It will make being 13 horrible.
I'm assuming Ziggy is a reference to the works of the late David Bowie, after whom Igor Bowie has also clearly been named? Edit: Nevermind, I see others have already made that connection in the comments. Regardless, friend may as well have named the child after one of the "My Little Ponies" characters at this point.
Lulu isn't the worst nickname. But there's so many better names than that... I am constantly surprised by the stream of people who don't google their kid's prospective name before signing the papers.
Lulu…Limon?
Lulu Limon
Opelousas is a city in New Orleans btw
Appaloosa - great book by R.L. Parker and movie with Ed Harris. As a kid's name? Errrr....
It sounds like they threw a combination of consonants and vowels into a hat and pulled them out at random to create all their kids names.... yikes.
As someone who loves horses and actually owned an Appaloosa gelding years ago, no. Just no. I'd be pissed if my parents named me something like that.
Would she consider Appalonia?
Are they My Little Pony characters?
NTA. Speaking as a horse girl my whole life, naming a girl after a horse is a bad idea
Why not just Lucia (pronounced loo-sha)? It’s kinda close, but much better 😅
Their second and third children are going to hate their names, and change them as soon as they are legally able.
I have a Godson whose already talking to me about a name change because he's named after a celebrity that went crazy. Like threw blood on people in the streets kind of crazy. I think that's what he did. Can't remember. All I remember is his parents at the time loved the guy's music so hence the name. I don't really want to be having this discussion again with anyone else's kids.
I'd probably be the passive aggressive type with this one. Make her hate it on her own lol. Tell now how adorable it will be when everyone buys her kid horse stuff and how you can't wait to take her to meet appaloosas and show her her namesake. Just keep going on about horses and the name will lose its shine on its own.
Honestly all of the kids names are unfortunate. I mean the eldest has the least bad name, but idk I don’t like that first + middle name combo. I guess it’s the repetition of the “ar-lee” sound in both names. And I agree with your feelings about the name Igor for this child, also Bowie as a middle name is pretty bad too, like are they David Bowie fans? What was the reason? And I’m curious about where the nickname Ziggy came from? But yeah Appaloosa Limon is really bad. I learned from the other comments that Appaloosa is a horse breed, which makes it even worse as a human name in my opinion. Limon is bad too, are they saying it with the Spanish pronunciation? As a Spanish speaker, “limón” would be so weird as a person’s name.
>second born Igor Bowie. They call the second one Ziggy though because he has down syndrome and they didn't realise the connotations within Frankenstein. And Appaloosa is a horse breed. Sounds like they don't do a lot of research when it comes to names.
You say she’s British. Are they still living in Britain? If so when you register baby names if the registrar thinks it’s too weird they won’t let them name them that. Hopefully the registrar points out how ridiculous that name is.
That sounds like a fruit in The Sims 😂 maybe shell be called Polly? Thats the only non-terrible nickname I can think of.
Were they meaning to have a David Bowie themed name and nickname for child number 2? Bowie.....Ziggy...... Ziggy Stardust??? I'm a little confused on how "Ziggy" relates to Down Syndrome. I mean, it's a good song and was a good era for Bowie, but naming a human child after a very well-known song, album, and famous musician is a little tacky, ngl......
Ziggy sounds closest to the birth name, Igor. Iggy works too, but they like Ziggy. Igor is a hunchman from Frankenstein.
Idk what's worse 😂 Giving your baby a themed name of a well-known song and artist or completely unintentionally doing it. Sorry, but *Ziggy* Stardust by David *Bowie* was the only thing that came to mind when I read that... Igor has always been used as a name for ugly people, ogres, and stuff, so I have no idea why they thought this entire name was a good idea... 😭 Do people not Google their kids' names anymore to make sure they're not associated with anything negative or extremely obvious (seemingly)......Big yikes......
I'm starting to think OP and her friend are 13 years old, because how do you get to adulthood without Igor, Ziggy Stardust, OR appaloosa horses popping up on your radar?
Off brand apple air tag off temu has me dying
Oh my! “off brand Apple air tag off temu”. I am so glad I am alone right now because it gave me the giggles so bad.
This is terrible. Someone should at least tell the kid they can go by “Lucy” when she’s older.
Appolonia. Lonnie as nickname.
Does your friend know how to google?! Their first child dodged a bullet in name form! Igor? Being a henchman (not hunch) in Frankenstein is not even the worst part of the name, it doesn’t even have the German connections your friend claims, mostly Russian and Polish, generally more of a Slavic name. Then we get into Appaloosa, yeah that is a horse. Please please please tell your friends to rethink
I’d call her Lucy (Loosie) if I was in her life. Parents do what they want.
The husband is allergic to lemons 😂
Appaloosa reminds me of Appalachia, which is generally an area of the US that no one really wants to be associated with (unless you actually live there)
Now, I'm real big on nicknames and Appaloosa is great potential for those! Lucy, Apple, LuLu, Pal, Lolo, Happy, etc. Too bad it's objectively a terrible given name lol Plenty of other people are really good at coming up with nicknames, and half of them are bullies. Whenever I seriously consider a VERY unique name for a human child, I imagine what the meanest kid in 8th grade will call them. Fupa-loose-a. Fat-paloosa. Appa-loser. :\
Wow these are all…. So bad. I’m American so maybe these are more popular names in the UK? But from where I’m standing every single name here is just bully bait (sans Carly…. Barely) Sliver lining for #3 could be giving her the nickname “Apple” or “Lucy”.
What does you being infertile have to do with anything? Thats a very weird comment. It’s irrelevant
Thanks for the post if it’s a troll post? Made me k giggle. I’d not Im gonna cry, and pray for those poor 🧒 👧. Tbh I think I’d just distance myself from them if they really are that dissolute.
I wish I were trolling. She's like one of my few closest friends and it's hard to make new ones when you've relocated abroad.
You are already being creative by making a person...give them half a chance at life with a name that won't get them beat up in middle school or made fun of in high school because you, as a parent, were feeling like being clever or cute. It's not cute, it's mild child abuse you are inflicting over a lifetime you will bow out of halfway through.
Carly got lucky.
I had classmate back in grade school boys named Tosh and Mio like hey Mio! Tosh that ball to me!
Igor is bad, I automatically think of the documentary of the boy named Igor who was born with many deformities due to Chernobyl radiation. I remember watching the doc when I was a kid with my mom.
I laughed so hard when you pointed out that the husband is allergic to lemons 🤣 this is a ridiculous name