Somethings to consider when naming your DC

[Theonlyoneiknow]

I have experienced a few of these in my time (and my name isn't even that unusual!)

www.buzzfeed.com/jamipack/16-things-only-people-with-unique-names-will-under-ij8h

[Rummikub]

So true!

[CooEeeEldridge]

Too true!

[Lottapianos]

Very true, especially taking extra care to spell and say other people's names correctly. People struggle with my first and last names. My last name looks like a more common name but has one extra letter - think of Wight and Wright. People are forever calling me the name without the extra letter and I can't help thinking 'can't you read?????' That letter is there for a reason! It's just laziness

People with regular names just do not understand any of this.

[Rummikub]

Answering to the pause and being grateful when a stranger gets your name right.

[BackforGood]

It should be made into a 'sticky' at the top of all baby names threads

[Frikadellen]

SO true and can I add having a unisex name too people constantly try to explain to me that my name " really is male there for I must be MR"

(was particularly funny when I was 8-9 months pg - not)

[Felix90]

Yes to all of them! I dislike having a weird name

[TheGirlFromIpanema]

Try having a surname that is an everyday very common word.

People mostly have a little smirk Then they try to change it from the ordinary everyday word it is into something more name-like.

Before changing it another something hilarious thinking they are the first person ever to have dreamed up such a funny joke

Luckily my first name is common, as in ordinary and some might even say popular in the 70's which I love for all its ordinary-ness!!

[StrawberryCheese]

I can relate to everyone of those points! People tend to but a random apostrophe in my name, perhaps it's an autocorrect thing but it doesn't take much to check does it.

I also have a 'Starbucks name' so that I don't cause a queue when getting my chai tea latte!

[StrawberryCheese]

*put not but

[bouquetofpencils]

I actually have a very common name. But it can be spelled 3 different ways. So I always have to spell it out. It looks wrong if people use one of the other versions. Hence number one priority when choosing dd's name was that there was only one way to spell it and it is obvious how.

[bouquetofpencils]

Oh, and my maiden name had an apostrophe in it and was the bane of my life! When spelling my surname out once I was asked how do you spell apostrophe? I had to point out the squiggly thing on the person's keyboard. Tsk.

[Theonlyoneiknow]

Interesting comments. I wonder how many of us who have had problems with our names have given our DC a relatively straightforward name, and perhaps people with 'straightforward' names have gone for names that might cause their DC hassles later on in life?

I chose a straightforward spell it like it is name for DS then when DD arrived ended up going for a name that can be spelt two ways!!!

[CelticPromise]

I have a BORING name. I was once one of four in a class. I have a dull surname too. At least you can't Google me!

My son's name isn't unique, but it is very uncommon.

[nooka]

I've a very unusual name and most of those points resonated with me. My children have what turned out to be incredibly mainstream names (wasn't particularly the intention, but I didn't want them to be quite as unusual as me) irritatingly both children have their names frequently misspelled, although I think that's just because we moved from the UK (I would never have imagined that anyone would write Alphie, or think it was a girl's name!)

I do love my name, but hate the 'Starbucks moment'. The other day I was at our local airport at 11 at night I was the only customer and they still insisted on knowing my name! Not that they ever then use it...

[MummyPig24]

Dd has an incredibly popular, normal name. There are a few spellings of it, although hers is the most common. It's taken 4 years and many people still spell it wrong. Despite me sending them cards/texts with her name in them they still spell it wrong!

[cowbiscuits]

All very true. There's another one- When a stranger gets your name right first time you automatically really like them.

[squoosh]

I had a very common first name and a pretty unusual surname so can see it from both sides.

[Elderberri]

I just don't see why people can't spell Charmayne-lulabelle or mayson-dextyer. I really get offended when I have to write it down.

[Pigeonhouse]

Oh, we should clearly just all agree to call our offspring George, Harry, Louis, Sam, or Ella, Grace, Lily and Mia.

I tend to wonder whether the people who come out with this kind of guff live in some kind of sealed monocultural dome - don't you ever get out and meet people from other places and cultures, who speak other languages, and have a completely different appreciation of what is 'normal' in naming terms? Who may not be primarily thinking of your comfort zone and ability to spell when naming their child?

Or that your Sam or Grace may go and live somewhere where those are really strange, unspellable names that provoke raised eyebrows and endless spelling requests?

[FastWindow]

Oh yes. The automatic phonetic, international alphabet spelling out.

The are many many forms with a squiggle and a crossing out where I've not been allowed to fill it in myself. Say for instance my name was Kloe (it's not) so the evil form filler will write CH before you can begin to say K... So they correct the c to a K, so now it looks funny, then you explain there's no H... So now you have

Stupid looking K, squiggle, L, O, E. Sigh.

Have married a man with a normal name.

[ZingSweetApple]

yep, all of those apply!

I do not have a weird name, but it is the Hungarian spelling of a well-known English name so I have to spell it out every fecking time.
and check it on documents, blood samples etc.

obviously it's a fluke and can't blame my parents for not predicting that I'd marry and Englishman!

[SillySnuffler]

My name is Jenny, it's a very common and normal name so you'd think I shouldn't have problems. But I get called Jennifer all the time. Now I don't mind it being shortened to Jen, but why actually lengthen it to something that isn't even my name??? ARGH

ps. I know jenny can be short for Jennifer but its a name in its own right too

[squoosh]

That certainly must be very annoying for you Jennifer.