Originally Posted by Gerbie

Well Onalee, I had a dear friend growing up and one of her sister's had the name Ona Ruth. Here is my unusual name, Gradene pronounced (gray dean) I was named after my parents. My dad's name was Grady Lee and my mother's name was Lena Irene, mother was going to spell it Gradyne, or something like that but the nurse spelled it Gradene, using dad's first part and mother's last part of her middle name. I've always liked it, my dad hated it,and I grew up being called sister, because he didn't like his name and didn't call me by my first name until I was in college. I've heard of three others with the same spelling, two whose dads were named Grady.
My dad had three sisters and four brothers:
Troy Margaret, Clois Ann, Billie Maxine,
Grover Orville, Herman Lois, Curtis Maurice, and Doil Plaez.
My paternal gd's name was Rolin Lee, gm's name was Pearl Viola. My maternal g parent's names were George Frances, and Elizabeth Mae. Maternal ggparents Enois and Cora
My daughter is Kara Danene (pronounced Duh nene), son is common Robert Edward. My DH wanted to name son after himself and his dad. DH's is Robert Lee, his dad was Edward Julius - I certainly didn't want the Julius, so we settled on Robert Edward. Dh is called Bob and son has always been called Robert - no nickname or shortened name. DH has two nieces with unusual names - Keverly and Tachel ( pronounced Ta short a - shell)
Has anyone known someone with my first name? Just curious, most people can't pronounce it. I've been called everything from Geraldine, Garlene, to Gardenia over the years. Maiden last name was Kellar - was often teased and called Kelloggs. Kids are so funny.
I'm a retired teacher and had a lot of strange names through the years in my classes.