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Baby names

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

Which names do you IRRATIONALLY dislike?

415 replies

verelab · 25/10/2014 19:23

This is not certainly not meant to be a "bitchy names thread". The emphasis is on the word IRRATIONAL. i.e. there are some names that are perfectly innocuous, lots of other people like them, I've known some lovely people with those names (so no obvious bad associations) BUT for some reason I've always disliked them. Would be interested in hearing anyone else's bugbear names!

ANNA - just too symmetrical, and (to my ears) smug and boring

LUCINDA - I like Lucy, but for some reason the "inda" really turns me off this name

Anything with "BELLE"on the end.Annabelle, Isabelle etc Pretty on paper, but I just don't like the sound for some reason

BEATRICE again irrational, but the combination of sounds just doesn't do it for me, it does the opposite of "trip off the tongue"

This is not meant to be in any way offensive. My 3 children have really "Marmite" names, and I don't mind at all that some people don't like them.
I just think everyone finds that certain sounds "jar" with them. Do others find this?

On a different note, the Baby Names topic is brilliant and I have been a long time lurker!

OP posts:
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Legionofboom · 28/10/2014 07:57

I also cannot stand the name James. It's one syllable that goes on and on and I cannot understand why people like it at all.

I find Jasper, Timothy, Hugo and Sebastian all sound wet to me.

Mmeh · 27/10/2014 22:37

I cannot stand the names Michaela and Saskia. They're hard, spiky bitchy sounding names that make me assume the owners are not going to be very nice. I know that I'm being shamefully predjudiced...

Not a fan of Archie (pompous) or Josh (boring and unimaginative).

Don't much care for Olive (dowdy), Megan (eggy), Lucinda (prissy), Rebecca (definitely whiffs), or a lot of the old lady names like Ethel, Pearl, Enid, and Maud which I imagine are often chosen as a statement of so-called hipster cool and not because the parents actually like them!

LittleBoyBlues · 27/10/2014 22:36

David and Russell

Crusoe · 27/10/2014 22:33

Matthew - just sounds a bit wet to me. Sorry all the Matthews out there!

sunflower49 · 27/10/2014 22:28

Grin teaandlemon

TeaAndALemonTart · 27/10/2014 22:11

I know a family with a Richard and a William. The mum's pregnant again and I'm half expecting them to name her Fanny.

Mintyy · 27/10/2014 22:02

Oh no there's nothing irrational about disliking Nevaeh at all!

Sunbury1986 · 27/10/2014 21:57

Olivia, Archie, Millie, Tilly, ellie, ...just too many of all of them
In fact anything ending in ie.
What I don't get is when you have a child, name it say Emily, then you call her Millie or olivia and call her Libby?

HemlockStarglimmer · 27/10/2014 21:50

So that's my mum, dad, sister, daughter, husband, grandmother, nephews and me all with names that are hated by lots of people.

Can't think of any I hate irrationally. Or even rationally. There I names I'd never use as I associate them with people I don't like but I don't hate the name.

PurpleTurtleDove · 27/10/2014 21:50

Hayley
Gemma
Hannah
Anna
Nathan
Michael

penguinthermometer · 27/10/2014 21:47

Bella. Hate it. Makes me think of "belly".

Naomi
Kay
Kelly (hate hate hate this :( )
George - so smug sounding and kind of smudgy and squishy
Melanie

AmysTiara · 27/10/2014 21:37

William, Elizabeth, Oliver, Rose, Matthew, Helen are all totally normal names that I hate.

I also hate old names like Maud, Wilfred, Agnes etc and the name Bess/Bessie makes me shiver.

Also names like Luna, Persephone, Seraphina I cannot get on board with no matter how often they pop on on MN

rosdearg · 27/10/2014 21:33

I have an irrational dislike for Ethan which, although I know it is not, my mind completely unfairly classes with names that were made up in the nineties by Americans who call their children things like Satchell and Bookcase. I know it is not that sort of name at all but that is where my brain has decided to file it.

Agrestic · 27/10/2014 21:27

Megan
Tobias
Tristann
Kerry
Nevaeh
Chelease
Any two names put together. Elsie-may etc

HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 27/10/2014 21:23

Oh and holly/hollie

HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 27/10/2014 21:23

Amy.
Michael
Lily
Have no idea why just really grate on me.

SilverShins · 27/10/2014 21:17

I bloody love Alice. That is all.

Pico2 · 27/10/2014 21:05

And Felix and Oscar are cat names to me.

Pico2 · 27/10/2014 21:04

I like to think it isn't irrational, but...

Names that end in "son" on a girl and historically have the meaning of "son of..." Like Madison and Addison. It just doesn't make sense to give your daughter a name that means "son of..." and indicates a lack of research.

Similarly, names ending in "ton" which mostly means "town". So things like Ashton.

And Harlow - parents should be made to go to Harlow before naming their child Harlow.

m0therofdragons · 27/10/2014 21:00

Mark - not completely irrational but goes back to my teens. Friend is called Mark... nickname skid (boys are just gross)!

FullOfChoc · 27/10/2014 20:55

I just don't like girls names which end with a.

Can't really say why.

sunflower49 · 27/10/2014 20:52

Margot to me, it just DOES! I don't know why. Maybe the 'ecc' sound and my brain's translated it to 'ick', I honestly haven't a clue (sorry to any Rebeccas who smell lovely, I know It's irrational hence only ever saying it on this thread)!

spamanderson · 27/10/2014 19:55

Well none of my girls first or middle names have appeared on here, however my surname has appeared numerous times. I think it makes an awesome first name :/

Hayley/Kayleigh etc
Rebecca
Holly
Tiegan
Mia, Ava, Eva, Amelie, Amelia
Daisy and other flowery names always sound like they belong to a dairy cow...
Ophelia (I can't hear it without putting 'necro' in front of it)

Timothy,
Robert
Richard
Billy
Louis/Lewis
Tyler
Ricky
Max, Ben, Rex etc and similar sound like they belong on dogs not children

Yeah I look like a right miserable cow now ha ha!

MargotLovedTom · 27/10/2014 19:31

Had to laugh at Rebecca sounding 'smelly' up thread.
I've never liked George - sounds very stodgy. My three dc names have been mentioned. Several times Grin.

emmeline7725 · 27/10/2014 19:10

Hate Rebecca and, even more so, Becky. It's such an ugly sounding word.

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