Your reactions remind me of mine when I first heard of a girl named
Mackenzie. Must have been in the late 90s, I was in elementary school. I had never heard it as a given name before and remember thinking 'how ugly, isn't that a surname?' :P I got used to it, though. I even really like
McKenzie now and I think
Makenzie is ok. I just can't get used to the
Mackenzie spelling. The 'ck' in there just looks so ugly to me.
Addison became popular because of Private Practice, or so I heard. Never watched the show. I think it climbed so quickly because people saw it as a less common alternative to
Madison. I think it's even in the top 10 or close.