We also named our daughter Aurora and we get the same thing. It was cool last Halloween my kids dress up as Alpha Flight and she was Aurora. Looking back I think we could have gone with Ororo.

My son's name is Xander. I refused to have a son until I could come up with a name that was decent. We decided on it after an episode of Buffy.

School have a zero tolerance for bullying now, so I don't think that's too big a concern. Besides, super-heroes are in. Lots of kids are probably going to be named Iron Man in this age group.

You could go with something like Gwen Stacy or Ben Reilly. They are normal names but every comic fan will recognize them.

Hi. Future parent here. I think this statement might be horribly short-sighted. There's zero-tolerance policies for lots of things, like racism, sexual harassment, drugs, etc, but they're still prevalent. Even if your child isn't bullied directly in the classroom, there's still the bus, the playground, anywhere authority is not present.

I hope your children aren't bullied. I really hope my daughter isn't bullied. But I would be negligent in my parental responsibilities if I didn't teach her about it and try to prepare her in case she has to deal with it.

I have to agree with Hester56. Children are cruel little monsters much of the time, and have little in the way of impulse control. Punishment for bullying in a zero tolerance school is usually a suspension. Bullies don't mind being forced into a vacation from school. When they return they just go right back to it, angry that they were punished, even if they didn't particularly mind the actual punishment. If the kid is eventually expelled, that just means they're going to have to transfer to another school, where they will find a new target for their aggression. In the meantime, other bullies from other schools who were expelled are being enrolled in that bully's school to replace them.

Thanks for making this statement. REsponsible parents should try to prepare their children to be strong individuals. However, just because the parent is into comics, sci fi shows, or anything like that, means that their choice shouldn't burden the child with a "name" that will automatically force the child to use those skills. It is like making a deer hunter wear antlers every outing. Just making targets.

In my experience, making fun of a name might be *how* a kid gets bullied, but ultimately doesn't impact whether or not a kid gets bullied.

If it's not their name, then it will be their hair, their clothing, their habits, whatever. Kid's get picked on because bullies exist. Not because they have an unusual name.

Besides, "odd" if not necessarily "geeky" names are very common these days.

Naming a kid Logan or Connor is a whole lot different than naming them Kalibak or Wendigo.

I just think that naming a child is a big responsibility.

I agree with this statement. You can't saddle a kid with a weird name and not expect them to grow up resenting it. As far as being bullied, it will happen at some point. I am a father of 4. I'd rather prepare my kids to stand up to bullies rather than making them targets.

I've worked in public schools and come across names way more strange than Wendigo or Kalibak. (Which are themselves, more strange than most of the names being bandied about on this thread.)

I've never seen said kids getting picked on *for* their names.

Getting picked on, yes, but having a funny name was never *why* they were getting picked on.

Having a very normal name, not only doesn't keep you from getting picked on, it doesn't even keep your name from being used should bullies target you.

I know someone named Julia Porter. Very normal name. Bullies would call her Julia Porta-Potty.

Giving a kid a unique name might help them feel unique. Might conceivably help them feel more self-confident. But it won't make them a target for bullies more or less than anything else about them.

If you think otherwise, you're either kidding yourself or have a very limited understanding of the way schoolyards and classrooms function.

OK this is what I was trying to say better.

With Charlesx being more spot on with my argument as he said it is true about bullies, I will not contest that.

MY wife surprised the beejezus out of me today when we were discussing girl names. She asked if I was okay with "Zatanna" I kid you not. Since she accepted my Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Hoffman (but we'd have to call him Jack), I can hardly deny her.

We have a high probablity of twins, so I was thinking Carter Hall Hoffman for another boy name.

Zatanna and Zatarra would just be too out there even for me if we had one of each sex.

I don't know I think in the grand scheme of things Loki might be better known for Norse Mythology than for Comic references, even the Comic references are based on the Norse Mytholgy. Although I might enroll them in school as L. James Thanos A. and let them decide what they want to do about it.