Kandiss and Khrystyne

Yep, those are real names. Kandiss was on What Not to Wear, and Khrystyne is the name of an actress that was on Law and Order. Yikes...
Now, some people may say that I can't talk, considering I named my oldest daughter Tempe, which is anything but a conventional name. But Tempe is legitimate. It's the name of a gorge in Greece, and it's the name of a city in Arizona. If I had named her Tempy or Tempie or Tempee, then I would be just as ridiculous as the women who named their children Kandiss and Khrystyne.
Why do people insist on butchering perfectly good names? Who can take someone named Khrystyne seriously? And if people want to be unique, they should choose a unique name with a normal spelling... because Kandiss is pronounced the same as Candace, so if you just hear it, you have no idea how "unique" that person is.
When I was pregnant with Helena, I frequented a baby names online bulletin board, and you would be amazed at how passionate some people are about names--even more so than me! Strange spellings was a big pet peeve, but some other things that are apparently naming faux pas:

• Giving girls traditionally "boy" names. All the mothers of boys claim that when you do this, you steal the names from boys. But it's interesting that many names you consider girl names, like Leslie or Ashley, used to be boy names.
• Trendy names like Shayley, Kayley, or Kinsley. I've even seen charts with beginnings, middles, and ends, and you just mix and match to get your perfect trendy name.
• Themed families, be it a letter theme, a nature theme, or a city theme. EXPLANATION: We do not have a themed family! Tempe is named after a city, but Helena is not. Helena is not even pronounced like the city. Hel-Ay-na, not Helen-a. That brings me to my next point...
• Made up names. We thought about spelling Helena "Helaina" or "Helayna" or something like that, but it made the name sound made up.

I guess that concludes my rant on names. Names are my one true passion, I guess. Some people are passionate about art, or music, or sports. But not me. I am passionate about names, and I will probably never get to use any of the names that I really love... like Juniper, Milo, Pallas, or Rex. Too bad.