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Original poster

Friends awful baby name

737 replies

ThisIcyHare · 01/01/2025 16:26

My best friend is due to have a baby soon, they are having a girl and she has been talking baby names with me, which feels super special. She has got a few very lovely traditional girly names, and a couple of more unusual choices, but not ‘offensive’. They are names I would expect from her. However, she has one absolutely terrible name, that actually just feels very cruel. It would be bad even by American standards and ‘tragedeigh’ names. It’s not that I wouldn’t choose it, it’s just crazy stupid and the child will be ridiculed by peers and adults. Some of her choices are genuinely wonderful, but I’m so worried she will madly choose this one awful name, I can’t say anything can I?!

OP posts:
FizzyBisto · 03/01/2025 07:21

C36M · 03/01/2025 07:11

No, that’s Templeton

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Wait... so Face from the A Team was named after a rat?!?!?!

C36M · 03/01/2025 07:11

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 03/01/2025 04:49

Isn’t that the name of the rat in Charlotte’s Web

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No, that’s Templeton

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 03/01/2025 04:49

SpikeGilesSandwich · 02/01/2025 21:54

I know a Temperance, it's quite clunky as a name.

My favourite is Wallis though, I know it's like Wallis Simpson but every time she is mentioned, I just think, "Cracking cheese, Gromit'" Grin Poor kid.

Isn’t that the name of the rat in Charlotte’s Web

HelenaWaiting · 03/01/2025 04:18

I'm guessing Embezzlement.

ThatNavyGoose · 03/01/2025 03:50

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:40

Out of interest, why are some people indignant about the idea of a British couple calling their DD Honour?

I know it's more usually spelled Honor, but why is it so frowned on to anglicise it in the UK? I presume the root meaning of the name is exactly what we're assuming: the virtue?

I think virtue names are generally much less popular in Britain, to the point that I can remember reading in a magazine in the midwife’s waiting room that you should avoid virtue names like Hope, Honour, Grace, Faith, Joy etc incase your child turned out to be the complete opposite as an adult!

Mandaxx25 · 03/01/2025 00:23

Twotribesgonna · 01/01/2025 17:12

Verity!
please op, just tell us whether the name has been mentioned in this thread. Then we can happily investigate further

Verity is a perfect normal name.

C36M · 03/01/2025 00:20

maudelovesharold · 01/01/2025 16:34

Is it a ‘made-up’ name?

All names are socially constructed, so all names are made up

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:52

desperatedaysareover · 02/01/2025 20:00

I know of a little boy called Champion. He happens to be a naturally gifted athlete. So that’s cool for him. He also comes from a place where people have very optimistic and complimentary names so he wouldn’t stand out culturally. However - what if he hadn’t had the good fortune to be the fastest boy in the class? If I’d called one of my kids Champion I might as well have put a target on his back.

Words do have meaning and depending what it is, they could be an open goal for peer mockery and potentially a lifetime of feeling like an unmet parental expectation. The sound of the word itself might be pleasing but it’s like, yeah, meet Alacrity McPherson who can barely tie her own laces, Honesty Reid who has a negotiable attitude towards the truth. I think I’d just say it, before it’s too late. I would be interested to know what it is but I’m guessing if it’s in the Integrity ball-park it’s probably risky.

All well and good until they start learning vocabulary for various foodstuffs in their French lessons - and the lad is henceforth forever known as Mushroom, or Mush for short!

CeceliaImrie · 02/01/2025 23:46

If we've agreed it's not Anxiety after all then I'm going to say it's Humility.

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:44

CranberryBread · 02/01/2025 19:56

If there's a risk the child might be bullied it's better to say something tactfully. My brother and SiL liked the name Poppy for their daughter and they were thinking of Olivia as the middle name in honour of a relative who had died. Both completely fine names in themselves, but together with the surname her initials would have spelled POO. I didn't think she would have a great time at school if the other kids discovered that, so I pointed it out. I'm glad I did because they hadn't noticed. Hopefully they would have done before it made it onto the birth certificate!

That's made me giggle far more than it should have!

You do have to carefully consider the surname and how it will all fit together. I remember the episode of Modern Life Is Goodish where Dave Gorman and his pals tried to persuade their other friend James to call his new baby Adil, as in Adil Ray. Only problem was that the family surname was Fiddler...!

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:40

Out of interest, why are some people indignant about the idea of a British couple calling their DD Honour?

I know it's more usually spelled Honor, but why is it so frowned on to anglicise it in the UK? I presume the root meaning of the name is exactly what we're assuming: the virtue?

pollymere · 02/01/2025 23:37

My GM was going to name one of my uncles Geraldine. When he turned out to be a boy, her neighbour decided she was going to call her baby girl Gelatine due to a mishear. My GM had to work hard to explain it was a bad idea.

I've heard the suggestion of "Integer" before too.

I think you need to explain to them what the word really means or be enthusiastic towards the other options!

I do remember liking the name Ardal when pregnant. Until my FIL pronounced it Our Dal (like the Indian dish).

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:36

Thefsm · 02/01/2025 17:46

If it’s serenity it is popular from Firefly. I know several little Serenity’s.

I rather like unusual names that are actual words. a friend here in USA has a little girl called Clarity which I think is sweet. Another has a daughter called Athena which I didn’t think was a good idea when she was little but she grew into it.

I don't think Clarity would work very well in some parts of Scotland - it sounds very similar to Clarty when pronounced!

FizzyBisto · 02/01/2025 23:29

LalaPaloosa2024 · 02/01/2025 17:47

Jane is such an unfair name anyway. Plain Jane…

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I'm not saying it's my favourite name ever; but it has to be better than Calamity!

Moonlightdust · 02/01/2025 23:22

I knew an Honor when I was young (going back about 35 years ago now!) I never thought it odd.

ThatNavyGoose · 02/01/2025 22:51

I actually do think you can tell her if it’s genuinely awful! If you’re best friends and you have the kind of relationship where you think she would tell you, then I think you should do it. You don’t need to be all serious and stage an intervention, next time it comes up you can just say “I think those first two names are absolutely beautiful but I’m sorry - ‘Chickpea’ (or whatever the name is) doesn’t feel like such a strong choice as the others, have you thought about how they’ll feel about it as a teenager, how they’ll spell it when they learn to write and whether it fits as well with your surname..?” etc etc. Ultimately she’ll do what she wants but at least you’ll have given her a bit of honest advice and a chance to reflect. I can only speak from the place that me and my best friend are so brutally honest she would laugh in my face and say “Chickpea?! Get a grip, you can’t call a baby that” and that would be it. It is hard when you’re torn between keeping quiet (and potentially letting your friend make a mistake) or saying something and potentially insulting her. I think if you’re close enough you could tell her delicately without impacting the friendship. Good luck! X

retirementrocks · 02/01/2025 22:27

Trumperlie? Even by American standards that would be dire!

SpikeGilesSandwich · 02/01/2025 21:54

I know a Temperance, it's quite clunky as a name.

My favourite is Wallis though, I know it's like Wallis Simpson but every time she is mentioned, I just think, "Cracking cheese, Gromit'" Grin Poor kid.

Dogsbreath7 · 02/01/2025 21:38

She has chosen to discuss / share these options with you. You are friends why can’t you just say you don’t like it and it is likely to be a millstone for the child? You are friends? Soften the blow by saying how much you like the other options.

Totemoneru · 02/01/2025 21:31

ThisIcyHare · 01/01/2025 19:17

Oh good lord I said in the original post I wasn’t going to because it was so unusual that it would be obvious who I was if my friend saw it! I came asking whether or not to voice an opinion/concern. Gosh people on here really think they are saving lives when it’s a waste of time being on here anyway 😂

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I completely agree! So many people on this site become weirdly angered if they feel someone has "wasted their time" or "abused their help" when it's just an opinion they've given whilst wasting time.

Mayana1 · 02/01/2025 21:02

ThisIcyHare · 01/01/2025 16:26

My best friend is due to have a baby soon, they are having a girl and she has been talking baby names with me, which feels super special. She has got a few very lovely traditional girly names, and a couple of more unusual choices, but not ‘offensive’. They are names I would expect from her. However, she has one absolutely terrible name, that actually just feels very cruel. It would be bad even by American standards and ‘tragedeigh’ names. It’s not that I wouldn’t choose it, it’s just crazy stupid and the child will be ridiculed by peers and adults. Some of her choices are genuinely wonderful, but I’m so worried she will madly choose this one awful name, I can’t say anything can I?!

There is some public person in my country(she is s journalist and her partner a politician) who decided they will name her daughter Princess. Not to call her 'princess' but they actually gave her first name Princess. And we don't use middle names, sometimes lately a child is given 2 first names, but still not very popular, so she can only go by that name. She must be a teenager now and I feel so so sorry for poor girl.

recipientofraspberries · 02/01/2025 20:57

Is it Authenticity?

SemperIdem · 02/01/2025 20:52

ZestyJoey · 02/01/2025 20:44

Is it Megatron?

You have reminded me that I once came across a Metatron. Biblical apparently, Enoch’s Angel name.

Definitely sounds like a Transformer though

tedtalkstome · 02/01/2025 20:48

Conscience.
Am I right??

ZestyJoey · 02/01/2025 20:44

Is it Megatron?