In my first naming exercise, I suggested using a thesaurus as a baby-naming tool. This remains a great source for unique, incomprehensible, and unpronounceable names–but I’ve learned even more naming tricks in my tenure at WIC.
One popular choice is to take a common name and switch one or more letters to make it an uncommon name.
I’ll use some of my cousin’s names as examples.
Eric becomes Aric
Sarah becomes Barah
Joel becomes Coel
Jennifer becomes Dennifer
Adam becomes Edam
Tabitha becomes Fabitha
Kyle becomes Gyle
Susannah becomes Husannah
Elizabeth becomes IyLizabeth
Christine becomes Jistine
Joseph becomes Koseph
Joanna becomes Loanna
Caroline becomes Maraline
Lauren becomes Nauren
Aaron becomes Oh’ron
Naomi becomes Paomi
Caleb becomes Qualeb
Donna becomes Ronna
Daniel becomes Saniel
James becomes Tames
Anthony becomes Untony
Luke becomes Vuke
*Note that W has been skipped because I can’t countenance lisping a name, even for an exercise*
Brett becomes Xett
Paul becomes Yaul
Benjamin becomes Zenjamin
Of course, this is only switching up the first letter of the name. Multitudes of additional combinations can be made by trading out one or more of the middle or ending letters. For example, Jane can become Hael by changing the J to an H (Hane), switching the e and the n (Haen) and then switching the N to an L.
The possibilities are endless.
Please note that all names (except those of my cousins) are fictionalized. Any resemblance with actual WIC client names is entirely accidental. :-)
Also note that this is not a complete listing of my cousins. Exclusions were made to keep the number at 25. My apologies to those whose names I have not butchered.