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Baby names

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

What would you do if...

210 replies

andpropersteel · 26/05/2016 10:03

Both you and DP had settled on a name that you both love, but it was quite an uncommon name at present...

Not a 'yoonique' name.
Not a 'made up' name.

Just a name that, because it hasn't been in the top 500 since the 1950s, isn't on everyone's immediate radar?

We both really like it, and can't see anything wrong with it. It carries well from tot to adult. But there seems to be some people (on the internet, not daft/brave enough to share potential baby names in real life) who vehemently hate it looking at you mumsnet , and others (usually those who've actually met someone with this name) who love it.

Our thinking is that people are way more judgey of names when they're just arbitrary, and should we use it, it'll just become our little boy's name once people get used to it and that'll be that = new positive association. Names that are really popular now, like Henry or Gabriel for example, would have been considered ''cruel'' 10 years ago, and are totally nice names now.

We have a couple of ''back up'' names but DP in particular is really saddened to have to use those and it feels a bit weird to do so since using his ''in-utero'' name.

WWYD?

OP posts:
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6
NeedACleverNN · 26/05/2016 13:47

Is it Boris by any chance?

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:46

I mixed him up with Julia Bradbury of Countryfile fame. Easily done! Grin

sianihedgehog · 26/05/2016 13:46

I deliberately chose a name which is easy but has not been popular in a long time. Don't see the problem!!

DerelictMyBalls · 26/05/2016 13:46

My son's name was last popular in the 1800s. You don't meet many these days (I have only ever met one other and he was in his sixties). That's exactly why we chose it - it's not wacky or yooneek, just unfashionable.

OneMagnumisneverenough · 26/05/2016 13:45

Ah Gawan, gawan gawan..... :o

Refusenick · 26/05/2016 13:45

I was about to say Jabez Ingram, but I googled - Jabes Branderham. Grin

andpropersteel · 26/05/2016 13:45

Mitzy it's not in that list for some reason but it's very much in the theme of those sort of names!

OP posts:
MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:44

Oh go on OP. Tell us the name!

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:43

Oohh yes. Jabez Bradbury? Something like that.

Refusenick · 26/05/2016 13:41

Spare a thought for little Algernon and Jabez.

Isn't Jabez the first name of the insane hellfire preacher Lockwood dreams about at the beginning of Wuthering Heights, before little Cathy's ghost starts trying to break in the window?

andpropersteel · 26/05/2016 13:40

That's a good point Refuse , I have a very very common first name and top 10 middle name (for the time) and have also spent the majority of my adult life abroad having to correct/ignore people's mispronunciation. Even in the UK I had to constantly re-spell my name to people (even though it's the most used spelling!) and fend off people trying to shorten my name (to a hideous version that I hated).

Bertrand I could list 100 reasons but I'm not going to bite the bait, think we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

I think I'm leaning more towards actually going for it. We live in a very culturally diverse area so it's more common to have a slightly ''unusual'' name here anyway.

Not been mentioned yet! I'm a bit unsure whether or not to now, given all the points made above.

OP posts:
MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:27

op 200 names in England and Wales in 1880

Nothing there that's too shocking. Aside from the poor sods called Ethelbert and Theophilus. And maybe Horace. And Algernon.

KatieKateKat · 26/05/2016 13:25

Colin? I know of a baby colin!

hownottofuckup · 26/05/2016 13:24

Is it Basil?

I don't think it matters either by the way. I agree that as an abstract idea people can like/dislike a name, but it's totally different once you meet someone with that name. Sometimes that person can have the biggest impact on how much you like that name.
If you and your DP like it, I think you should use it.

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:23

Or Basil?

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:22

Wait, it's not Humphrey is it?

BeckyWithTheMediocreHair · 26/05/2016 13:20

Is it Clifford / Cliff?

KatieKateKat · 26/05/2016 13:19

If it's not an off the wall name or a name that you wouldn't bat an eyelid at, why are you so bothered?
I tried to find names that hadn't been popular for ages, again - no Fannys or Gertrude's or anything that people could be Confused about, but not 'usual' names. Annoyingly, a sleb named their daughter the same as ours just after and now it's been in the top 10 ever since!!
Name your child what you want. Nobody's business is it really.

user1463996941 · 26/05/2016 13:18

My opinion is that if you and the babies father agree on the name then it shouldn't matter what other people think. I'm expecting my first boy and me and my husband have agreed on our 2 Favorite names and unsure how one of them will be received as it's quite linked to a TV show but we decided that it doesn't matter what other people think, (even thoughboth names are in top 100) so not out of the ordinary, child will become the name and the name become the child.

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:12

If it's the name you love you should go ahead and use it. Is it nickname-able like Harold/Harry, Kenneth/Kenny? That could come in handy if the child finds the name a bit of a burden.

Refusenick · 26/05/2016 13:09

According to this website, these are the top 50 boys' names in Scotland for 1950 - didn't see anything for elsewhere in UK:

John
James
William
Robert
David
Thomas
Alexander
George
Ian
Brian
Andrew
Michael
Alan
Peter
Charles
Ronald
Gordon
Kenneth
Douglas
Joseph
Donald
Edward
Colin
Hugh
Allan
Richard
Francis
Patrick
Raymond
Derek
Alistair
Henry
Daniel
Norman
Neil
Iain
Graham
Duncan
Stewart
Archibald
Stuart
Eric
Malcolm
Anthony
Philip
Stephen
Alastair
Angus
Samuel
Christopher

www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2013/01/top-100-names-in-scotland-1950.html

MitzyLeFrouf · 26/05/2016 13:05

I'd love to know what the name in question is. Is it something like Rodney or Cedric?

LadyAntonella · 26/05/2016 11:48

Also, just to add, we went with a really traditional name which we loved but also which we thought would be totally inoffensive and my Dgranny hates it! Says it's too plain! You can't win.

Refusenick · 26/05/2016 11:23

Of course no. But being called Joe or Laura is not actually going to make life more difficult. Some other names just might. So why risk it?

Nonsense, Bertrand. Unless you can guarantee that a child is going to remain their entire life within a certain set of cultural, geographical and linguistic parameters, you can't guarantee a 'safe, won't stand out in a crowd' name, because these things are so culture-dependent. The parents of little Comfort or Aderinola don't think they're giving their child a wacky name.

My own name was top three in my home country for about eight years either side of my birth, and it was given to me precisely because of its ordinariness by parents who, having barely left their home county, would never have conceived that I would spent my entire adult life in a series of places where it would be exotic, weird and unpronounceable.

mininionsteve · 26/05/2016 11:17

I think that if you love the name then that's your child's name. Who cares what other people think. Baby is born and you introduce them. If they then have the cheek to tell you they don't like his name have a witty comeback ready. You would regret naming him something you didn't truly love for the sake of the popular vote. Go for the name Smile