[Shanda]

My Mother picked Shanda and I like it but I sometimes wish She had chosen Sandra, and my nickname was Sandy.

My Father wanted to name me Juanita and I am glad they didn't.

[x]

Ooops. Me and my big mouth keyboard. I was always the one in school who went on joking and didn't notice that the teacher had walked in.

Shanda is a nice name. Better than Juanita. Much better than Monica. Sounds like your mother did what a lot of parents are trying to do -- pick a name that's distinctive and acceptable and not find out later that all the other parents picked the same name.

Schande/Shande does have bad connotations in German and Yiddish, but so does Tod (death). But then, German names sound funny to us as well. I'd give examples but some German last names are obscene in English.