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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

those of you who are choosing very unusual name for your babies, do you have unusual names yourself?

94 replies

gymboywalton · 20/09/2013 20:13

or very normal names?

like i knew someone with a son called wolf but her name was lisa

OP posts:
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ProfYaffle · 21/09/2013 09:28

My name is very dull, very common. I was always known as Prof.Y due to there being soooo many other Profs in school. My dc have unusual names. It's not difficult to figure out the psychology Smile

BananaHammocks · 21/09/2013 09:22

My name is an Italian name but one that is not very well known in the UK, I plan on picking names that are comfortably out of the top 100, but that are proper names that people will know how to spell/pronounce. So not popular but not as unusual as mine I guess.

OrangeMochaFrappucino · 21/09/2013 06:58

I have a very normal first name but never had a classmate with the same name. However, my surname was exceptionally unusual and no one ever got the spelling orpronunciation right. I married a man with a surname almost as rare so am still constantly spelling it. It has never bothered me, in fact I like the uniqueness of it and wouldn't have taken his name if it was Smith or something equally ubiquitous.

DS has a classic boy's name; I don't hear it often but it wouldn't raise any eyebrows. I think DC2 will get something similar. I pick names I like and am not too concerned about popularity - but I like pretty popular names! I am a teacher and have dozens of Olivias and James in my classes but I don't see it having a particularly adverse effect on them. Equally, the most bizarre names become quite everyday-sounding once you get used to them.

MortifiedAdams · 21/09/2013 06:31

I was "Mortified M" at school.or "little Mortified" due to there being so many of us. I have a rare MN, and wish my parents had swapped the names round. Id be the only one id ever met.

Dd has an unusual fn and a safe mn (Alice).

mathanxiety · 21/09/2013 06:17

I have an Irish name that everyone in Ireland knows, and it's pretty well known in the UK too, but nobody in the US could wrap their heads around it. The DCs all have very pronounceable names, spelled in a straightforward way, and no Irish names (in Irish) on purpose. You wouldn't believe the number of times their names have been mispronounced.

sleepingbeautiful · 21/09/2013 05:27

I have a crap 70s name and DH has one of those 'solid' names that's been top ten for about 500 years. We deliberately gave DD and DS names from outside the top 100 in our respective countries, but that everyone will have heard of and no one will raise an eyebrow at. I hated being name.initial all the time at school, and dislike now that my name immediately dates me to a birth decade.
Left alone to pick, I'd have gone a little more unusual, but nothing too crazy.

DharmaBumpkin · 21/09/2013 05:05

My name is unusual and invariably mispronounced. DD has a common name that no-one will get wrong!

SmallTorch · 21/09/2013 05:00

I've got a very weird, very dated name, it won't come back into fashion. DH is Dave.
The boys have names people know but are out of the top fifty at least.
My son with the most unusual name, he has another boy in his class with the same name! He moved here, isn't that funny? I didn't choose it to be unique though. I don't mind.

Jaynebxl · 21/09/2013 04:25

Oh married I'd forgotten those China plates. I LONGED for one of those. And yes, I'm always buying my dc anything I see with their names on... kind of therapy for me!

kiwik · 20/09/2013 23:52

My name became popular about 10 years after I was born, although I have never met anyone with my name.
DH has a common Welsh name, but not so common here in NZ.
DSs have unusual, but not weird names. Well, DS3's name is a little weird to some people, but we both love it.

FiveHoursSleep · 20/09/2013 23:33

I have a very unusual name but because of this my children all have common names.

ShowOfHands · 20/09/2013 23:22

"I have never met someone else with my name (thankfully its horrid)

My children have what I call unusual but not weird names. (aka names most people have heard of but perhaps doesn't know one of)

I like it that way."

^^ Exactly that.

marriedinwhiteisback · 20/09/2013 23:18

Ooh yes Jaynebxl - how I wanted a little china plate with my name on it for my bedroom door Sad. I'm forever buying DD little things with her name on (she thinks I'm soppy and it's babyish but she is 15 Blush). You can even buy things abroad with my dc's names on; I have never ever seen mine [howls] - I've got a Mnet meet up badge though.

CelticPromise · 20/09/2013 23:17

My DS has a very unusual name. DH and have enormously bland names. We just liked the name for DS, I liked that it was unusual too but it wasn't decisive.

charleslingus · 20/09/2013 23:15

I have an unusual name, and my dcs have a stuffy English popular-ish name and a more unusual one respectively, number 3 will have a very unusual name, I'm much braver now.

But I hang around with an Antigone, Tiggy for short!

Jaynebxl · 20/09/2013 23:10

I have a name most people have heard of but I've never actually met anyone else with the same. I hated being unusual and especially hated not being able to get a purse with my name on it. Consequently I gave my children more ordinary names.

FunnysInLaJardin · 20/09/2013 23:09

my name is very usual now but uncommon in the 70's. My DC have unusual names. We are Abigail - me - Fabian and Rafe

marriedinwhiteisback · 20/09/2013 23:08

I have an unusual first name and grew up hating it and the comments even more. Our DC have very traditional names which have no alternative spellings - and they like them. I so wished I had been called Susan.

Driz · 20/09/2013 23:07

I have an unusual name, but it is similar to a name that is fairly common now, I hate that many people call me by the more popular name. My children have very unusual names, but very unusual names today may be the common names of the future anyway

Mintyy · 20/09/2013 23:02

Dh and I have just about the most common christian names you can get for our respective birth years. I at least 4 women with the same name as me, and the same for men with the same name as dh.

When we named our children 12 and 10 years ago we thought we were choosing unusual but not unheard-of names for them. WRONG!! turns out they also have the most common christian names for their generation.

Oh well, nothing we can do. We are The Incredibly Common Names Family.

bananamummy · 20/09/2013 22:56

I hated having a popular name

SuitedandBooted · 20/09/2013 22:33

According to this names.darkgreener.com/, there were 63 children registered with my name last year, but only 45 had DD's, and 37 had DS's - no lost school uniforms in our house!

MultipleMama · 20/09/2013 22:20

Well mine is the Russian spelling of Louisa and my eldest is called Kvothe. So I guess you could say so.

Smartiepants79 · 20/09/2013 22:12

My name is a traditional name but not common in the this generation.
My girls have traditional names. One of which is very popular, although I was unaware of that at the time we chose it. It would not have stopped me using it as it was a family name.
There was one other girl in my year group with the same name as me. I loved it! She was my twinner!

Repeatedlydoingthetwist · 20/09/2013 22:06

Mine is rare rather than unusual. DD ditto. DP's is top ten though!