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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by Waldelfe@feddit.org to c/tragedeigh

So, this just happened in a café I was in.

At the table next to mine sat a group of 3 women who spoke in English with an American accent. I'm just mentioning that because Germany has strict laws on what you can name your child, so I don't think such a discussion would be had by a German.

One had a small toddler. I'm not good with guessing toddler ages, but she was crawling and shakily trying to stand. She came crawling under my table so the mother came over to pick her up and exchanged a few words. She told me her name was Thalia. I said that's a nice name.

For those who don't know, Thalia is the greek muse of comedy and poetry. It is also the name of a big bookstore chain in Germany.

Some ten minutes later I hear the mother talk about how they chose the name. And I kid you not, the explanation was: She liked Tabea. Her husband liked Delia. So they "invented" the name T(h?)alia as a compromise. She later found out that it's also the name of a German bookstore chain and found it funny. She even made a joke about how her daughter is named after a bookstore now, so I find it highly unlikely she knew about the greek muse.

So TL:DR - Parents think they are clever and making a "new" potential tragedeigh, end up reinventing ancient greek name.

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[-] TheAlbatross 4 points 4 days ago

Wow! I've never heard of that. Why did that come about?

[-] FridaySteve@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

My personal theory is that every piece of name related legislation was introduced by a backbench politician named Hitler Slobodan bin Laden or something but I don't actually know that.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago
[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Oh yeah, syntax error. Poor child.

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Too many dumb people trying to name their kids Khaleesi.

this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2025
33 points (100.0% liked)

Tragedeigh: shitty baby names

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