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Baby names

Would you name a boy this..?

59 replies

AuntieBrenda · 30/11/2013 20:31

Kelly.
As in Irish surname, as in Kelly Jones of Stereophonics.

Would you?

OP posts:
AryaofhouseSnark · 30/11/2013 20:32

No. Sorry.

Bowlersarm · 30/11/2013 20:33

No.

HoratiaDrelincourt · 30/11/2013 20:33

Not unless I was Irish. This side of the water it is definitely just for girls.

HandragsNGladbags · 30/11/2013 20:33

Nope

bundaberg · 30/11/2013 20:34

i wouldn't personally because I don't particularly like the name,

wouldn't bat an eyelid if someone else did though. i went to school with a boy called Kelly (S.E england here)

shazbean · 30/11/2013 20:35

I really like it but I don't think I would.
It might be cool when he's older but imagine the stick he'd get growing up.

Trifle · 30/11/2013 20:38

Don't the Irish have a knack of taking simple names and spelling them in a ridiculous way. Surely Kelly would be spelt Kelighah or something equally unpronounceable. Aside from that, no.

RandomMess · 30/11/2013 20:40

My male cousin is called Kelly - too me a long long tiime to accept it's more commonly a girls name!

zippey · 30/11/2013 20:50

Its fine, something alternative but classy.

Vatta · 30/11/2013 20:57

Nope.

And before you do, you should listen to "A boy named sue".

Weeantwee · 30/11/2013 20:59

There's a very lovely Scottish rugby player called Kelly Brown Grin but I wouldn't use the name personally.

Rosencrantz · 30/11/2013 21:02

Nope, but I wouldn't name a girl Kelly either. Dreadful name.

OnetimeNamechange · 30/11/2013 21:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

everlong · 30/11/2013 21:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AuntieBrenda · 30/11/2013 21:25

I'm not pg. just a hypothetical argument. I think it's a fab name if you're cool enough to carry it off - as Kelly jones is. Growing up mind you, you may have to put up with a with a bit of p taking.
Maybe I should ask Kelly jobs how he got on as a kid? Grin

OP posts:
AuntPittypat · 30/11/2013 21:32

I actually like it. I think of Kelly Slater, the surfer guy who I fancied like mad as a teenager, I think he was also on Baywatch for a bit. I definitely see it as equally a male or female name and would assume a male Kelly was a bit cool!

LeMousquetaireAnonyme · 30/11/2013 21:34

I only met one Kelly and he was a he.

Merel · 30/11/2013 21:40

I quite like it actually. I suppose I do consider it more of a girls name, but I think on a girl it sounds a bit... (hate to say it) common? For a boy I think it works better somehow, probably because it is more unusual.

Funny how a boy with a 'girls' name is a bit risky, but a girl with a 'boys' name is cute (think Billie, Sam, Charlie etc)

BusyLittleSpider · 30/11/2013 21:41

No, I wouldn't personally.

But then I'm not fond of unisex names full stop.

nooka · 30/11/2013 21:55

It's not a name I like, so no I'd not use it but I do know a guy called Kelly and no one seems to bat an eyelid about it.

mathanxiety · 30/11/2013 22:10

Don't the Irish have a knack of taking simple names and spelling them in a ridiculous way. Surely Kelly would be spelt Kelighah or something equally unpronounceable. Aside from that, no.

Bejapers, and what the actual fuck?

KenDoddsDadsDog · 30/11/2013 22:18

I bet you think Spanish is English with O added on the end too trifle ?
I do like Kelly for a boy better than a girl .

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mathanxiety · 30/11/2013 22:23

Here's where I take issue with that ^^.

The original name, O Ceallaigh, was misspelled by the English as Kelly, or O'Kelly, or Kelley or O'Kelley. I myself have some 'O'Kelley' ancestors.

The letters K and Y are not part of the Irish alphabet, so to anyone who spoke Irish back in the day when language change was being imposed on Ireland, the name became unrecognisable and maybe even unpronounceable. The accent from the O was removed and the two separate parts, O and Ceallaigh, mashed together to form a nonsense spelling even from an English pov if the O' was retained, as an apostrophe has a certain role in English that it does not play in the name O'Kelly or O'Kelley.

So in actual fact it is from an Irish pov a case of the English taking a perfectly simple name (it obeys all Irish orthographic and pronunciation rules and Irish orthography is far simpler than English orthography) and turning it into something completely foreign.

Irish orthographic and pronunciation rules differ from English in many respects (because they are different languages, duh), not least of which is their simplicity.

nickelbabe · 30/11/2013 22:23

I like Kelly.

I personally wouldn't because it's not on my list (yes, i have a list that covers 3 boys and 3 girls. including middle names)
but I think it's a nice name.
if someone introduced their son Kelly, I would think "I like that name" not "eh? it's definitely a boy, right?"

mathanxiety · 30/11/2013 22:24

Ironic, innit?

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