1. Once when I had a summer job at a swimming pool, we found a forgotten five-year-old at the end of the day. She had a first name she couldn't pronounce clearly, and she didn't even know her last name. After a long wait, her big brother came back for her. It was pretty clear that he had been tongue-lashed up one side and down the other for forgetting her, and I fear he took it out on her as they walked home.

Moral: if your family speaks English, give your kid a name s/he can pronounce and that English-speakers can figure out. Forget names like "Rhianydd."   

2. A trend I despise is the yuppie tendency to give girls masculine names like Madison or Holloway. It's as if the parents are saying, "You're rich enough to be an honorary male now." Grrr!