Beware of 'unusual' names...

Merrily isn't that bad. she's still a child and I doubt her work colleagues or uni mates will sing songs to her to tease her.

The situation is far from unique though:

It happens all the time

All of my dcs have unusual names, so far they are delighted.

Bronte is beyond hideous.

Merrily seems silly, ditsy, girly.

Bridie, on the other hand, I love as a nickname for Bridget. I longed to call DD Bridget, but was vetoed by EVERYONE :( DD's middle name is Ivy though so maybe I am a bit of an old lady at heart.

Not keen on nicknames-as-full names, should have gone for Bridget.

It is a rubbish article, too.

I have a common as muck first name, and rarely found mugs etc with my name as half the girls born in the 1970s were named this! DH has the name that half the boys got, so between us we struggle! So it works both ways. My mum, bless her, buys us name stuff whenever she sees it! So we have socks, pens, mugs. And we're in our 30s. It's really funny.

DDs have names that are in the top 100, but DD1's name is not the most common spelling, so we struggle for name stuff for her. DD2 is only two weeks old so have yet to look for her things! Think last year her name was about 75th so we shall see!

I know a Merrily! NN Merry

I was the only girl of my name throughout school and have never met anyone with the same spelling as me - and I love my name. Yes, I have spent years spelling it, but I don't care.

My only suggestions when choosing unusual names would be to keep them short (so quick to spell) and easy to pronounce, so anyone can get the name right, even if they have never seen it before.

I soon got over not being able to buy a 'personalised' pencil case btw. I remember three Melanie's having the same 'personalised' pencil tin in my class! My garfield pencil case was more unique.

I was the only one with my name in the entire school and I always hated it. I used to get teased for it a lot. It's a very 'old lady' name but reading some of the baby name threads on here it seems to be creeping up in popularity again. I like it a bit better these days, although still wouldn't say I was madly keen on it.

And for what it's worth, I used to hate never being able to buy anything with my name on it

i have a very unusual first name (have never even heard of another), am named after a very very minor character in a fairly popular book, and I love it! (I'm not telling you what it is because I don't want anyone else to have it!)

Yes, kids used to take the piss when I was younger, but they did that to everyone - I remember a girl called Louise being in tears after being told she was named after a toilet!

Hate my first name. Don't like it. Don't think it suits me. Mum told me when I was a teenager that she agreed and they should have gone for something more unusual.

When I was young it was very popular but no where near the top 100 now. Goes to show!

I have a very unusual first name, it's old fashioned and was more popular in the late 19th C / early 20th C. I have only ever met one other person with the same name as me. That was on my first day at secondary school and I was gutted as it meant that I suddenly had to start using my surname (or at least the first initial of my surname) after having had 11 years of being the only X which everyone knew.

The only problem that I have sometimes is that my first name can be a female first name or a surname and my married surname can be a male first name or a surname. This means that sometimes people get my names the wrong way round or get them the right way round and incorrectly assume that I'm a man but I usually get round this by putting my title at the end of letters / emails etc.

Overall I love having an unusual first name, especially as now that I have got married I have gone from an equally unusual surname to a very common surname. I would definitely look for unusual first names for my children because of my common surname, but old fashioned unusual names which obviously relate to one gender or the other rather than random words out of the dictionary.

I'd forgotten, but I used to get teased mercilessly over my middle name (an old lady name, after my Grandmother), to the extent that I still feel a bit funny about people finding it out in case they laugh, even in my 40s. I don't use my middle initial in my signature and don't put it on forms etc unless legally necessary, eg passport application. I would get rid of it like a shot.

My name is very unusual - never even heard of another one - and I hate it. I hated it even more growing up and really found it an ordeal every time a new teacher took a register. I was definitely singled out for it and made a target for bullying. I coped and do think it made me a strong character but do you really want to put your child in that position for what I believe is your own vanity: "ooh how original of them". I agree that common names are not ideal but there is a happy medium.

On the other hand it doesn't bother DD that she can't uy keyrings and ,ugs with her correct spelling on. You can get hold of so much personlised stuff where you choose the spelling it is easily rectified.

I have a very popular (well it was in the 70s) name and always knew others with me name. Never bothered me in the slightest at all. Certainly have no :( about it. It never crossed my mind to be bothered by others sharing my name.

Dd has a fairly popular name in terms of top 100, etc. although has the less common spelling. Despite it being a s called popula rname we know of no othrs - not in her school nor in the school I work at, or aminst our friends and family.

You can just never tell.

mind there is a pop star in the Staurdays with DD's first and surname, inc DD's spelling, and DD loves the fact and comments on it when ever she hears of them.

IME children don't mind knowing of other people with their name.

Hello Kitty has made me laugh and reminded me of someone I went to school with, he was called Colin and found it extremely annoying that every year someone would think it a good idea to buy him a Collins Dictionary.

I like my name but all personalised stuff was spelt differently (i.e. wrong) :o I spent my childhood trying to correct the spelling but it always looked daft.

I still check the shelves now

we're not talking about personalising mugs here. By the time the child gets home it has forgotten about it. Besides, a personalised mug wouldnt be half as tacky as the ones in the gift shops and kids love tacky!!

Of course it matters, its not just mugs either its key rings for their bags!!

Obviously, its only a certain age group.

Now, at the extreme end of the scale my Kitty is incredibly happy with her name!! Hello bloody Kitty everything!!!

"Are people really concerned that they can't buy tacky mugs/pens with their name on them, honestly?"

It REALLY REALLY annoyed me as a kid not being ever able to find anything with my name on ever. Really annoys me to this day that it's never ever spelt correctly (how can you get three letters wrong) and I hate my name.

Mine was relatively unusual when I was a kid - has risen in prominence since then. Also, despite it being unusual - I ended up sharing a house with a namesake at university anyway!

If you're a mug/pencil manufacturer, which names will you choose to print? Probably only the top 10 or 20 most popular names at the time. So the only way to get named mugs is to have a very common name.

As others have said, nowadays you can get ANY name printed on almost anything, for a very reasonable price too. So you don't need to have a top 10 name for that.

oh f*ck

it's bun isn't it - not bum

Bum - I still don't get the mug/pencil case thing.

My name is Gwen

uncommon? Well - depends on where in the country you are -but I certainly never ONCE found anything with my name on it when on days out.

I'd hazard a good guess that out of the 100 top names you won't find all of them in the personalised gifts sections of tacky gifts places either........

I can really identify with Merrily. I have an unusual name and have only met one other person with the same name. As a child I hated my name, now I merely dislike it. I got teased a lot as a child and yes, I didn't like not being able to find mugs, pencil cases etc with my name on.

As a result I decided to give DD a name that people had heard of, needed no explanation, could pronounce and could spell easily. There is one other girl with the same name in her class, but it doesn't matter to me or DD.

I think it matters too, even if I think the mugs etc are tat, I think DD is going to be a bit put out when she's old enough to realise that DS can always find things with his name on and she can't. Hers does pop up sometimes, it is not that unusual but not as popular as DS's.

Of course it matters to a child that they cant get a tacky mug with their name on it when they are out on day trips.

I bought my friends daughter a t shirt from the states it says "Trix loves kids" on it, I dont know what it means it was from a retro shop but, that child has never had it off her back because its got her name on it.

It does mean something to them.

thereisalight - same here, on the very rare occasions that there were mugs it was only an approximation of my name, not my actual name. Very irritating as I have the correct feminine spelling but the male spelling has crossed over and become dominant - now only used for girls.

Drat my mother for being a pedant! (Actually am named after one of her bridesmaids so can't really blame her that much.)