Would you use a name you love, knowing there may be rolled eyes?

Def do it. Both my DCs have normal but unusual names. DS2 is slightly more unusual and I had more of a wobble over it. And tbh I am so so so glad I did it. I have no doubt people take the slight piss, but people who know him, see him as a great wee boy, not just the 'name'.

Also, apologies to prople who chose more normal names, but I'm so glad we did not go with Max, Oliver, Daniel, James etc, as there are tons of them.

100% go for it! At the end of the day you can never predict how a name will be perceived in 5, 10, 50 years time.
I have a popular first name and a popular middle name. Both bog standard, perfectly normal, likeable names.
When I was about ten a character came out on a comedy show with the exact same first and middle name. All of a sudden, my full name was laughed at and my parents instantly started using just my first name.
Now that the programme isn't so popular, no one would bat an eyelid when I use it.
At the end of the day people will always talk behind your back, so why try and prevent it by not having the name you want?
I, for one, love the name Willow

We have a Tabitha, we love her name and it suits her to a T! I also have a 9 week old Heidi and someone asked me her name the other week, then just raised her head when I told her 😂. I really don't care what anyone else thinks.

Now wishing that I'd RTFT and that there are no parents of Unicorns or Candyflosses coming forward upthread...

Willow's a lovely name but if it doesn't go with the surname then don't use it! They will be stuck with that combination and they won't thank you later!!

Sounds absolutely lovely :-)

Go for it! it's to join my fave girls name list of Hannah and Araminta and a few others too numerous to mention;)

JB.

Who's daughters he was so proud of 'em when born they got 4 Christian names each;-!

Well I hate

• hippy names
• "cool" names
• "unique" names

BUT my one exception is Willow. I love it. I wish DD was called it. It would suit her.

Lovely name! I thought that you were going to say something like Unicorn or Candyfloss given the thread title

I chickened out of an unusual name for one of our dc and now strongly regret it. Go for it!

Willow is a beautiful name, friends of our have two daughters, one is Willow, and the other daughter has a beautiful name as well
Go for it ! It is so pretty. Like any name, if it goes well with the surname then go for it!

We have two children with unusual first names, and the girl's name is very frilly (and actually much more unusual than Willow) and we have a salt of the earth northern surname. We had a couple of eye rolls when we had number 1, but now nobody bats an eyelid and it's never been an issue!

It's a lovely name I wouldn't worry as long as you and your partner like it then who cares. People always turn their noses up at my littles name. She's called Felicity-Trixabelle and people are forever say what where you thinking when you name her that or why would you do that. She suits her name perfectly she's a little princess and I still love the name. We are happy and that's all that matters. ☺️

Surname Braithwaite or similar. Willow Braithwaite...it's nice OP! Bugger them all....they talk nowt but rubbish!

Who cares what people think?

My sons name is not one I've ever heard and after months of trying to find a name it came to me, we both kind of said "yeah, we like it"

When we tell people we get 3 reactions:

1. Wow that's really cool!
2. They repeat it as though they misheard it
3. What, like the car?

The name is Forde. Everyone that knows him and us, has fully accepted it and like it now. Don't be worried about initial reactions, once the little one is here and they've heard the name it just gets accepted.

I don't think Willow is considered unusual or "out there" anymore. It was the 40th most popular name in 2015 with 1246 Willows being born.

Yes, I looked that up

We called DD Amber at a time when it was probably about as unusual as Willow is now.

None of the family commented adversely, even MIL (well, not to me, anyway, she may have said something to DH which he didn't pass on!)

I did get a comment from one of the staff at the hospital, though...

Her: What a lovely little girl, what are you calling her?
Me: Amber
Her: Emma - oh, that's a lovely name!
Me: No, Amber, not Emma
Her: Oh. (pause) Oh well, I suppose one name's as good as another...

I had eye-rolling from a few, but especially the MIL over DD1, she even tried a couple of nicknames that totally didn't stick, but now she loves it. More to the point, I don't care!! I love the name we picked, it's waaay more out there than Willow ( I can think of at least 3 I know by the way!) and that's the joy of having children, you get to pick! No one else. Just you. You have to be happy shouting it n the playground, the zoo, the supermarket, everywhere! Fuck em all!!

Definitely go for it! Willow is a lovely name.
My DD has a not very common name and a more popular middle name.
MIL stuck her nose in the air and I asked why we hadn't put the names the other way round.
We just told her because we don't want to! She shut up after that.

Yes I was really surprised too cos I've always loved it. We still get abit of shit from some people about it but my uncle Andy loves it and she's his favourite haha X

as long as it doesn't give her piss-take-able initials, go for it - she'll probably be one of several in the class.

do make sure it goes with her surname NOW - the idea that it doesn't matter if not because she can change her name if she marries won't avoid two decades of piss-taking if you get it wrong.

I don't know why they're eye rolling.
Willow is gorgeous.

I wish I had known about the name Willow when I had dd. It's beautiful. Go for it - I bet people will surprise you with their love of it. Just look at this thread.

My ds has a modern nn of a name which has an older nn. For the first 2 years, my in-laws called him by the old fashioned nn. They couldn't help it. Just an aside.

Would you rather give your child a name that you think will provoke least eye rolls or a name you love?

If it does cause an eye rolling kerfuffle it will be a one day wonder and then it will be over.

it was good to get people's real thoughts on my children's names

Honestly, though, why would you care? All you tend to get is a mishmash of entirely personal reminiscence about how X is a horrible name because they were once bullied by an X at school, or it reminds them of a 1970s Page Three girl, or someone saying over and over again that it reminds them of a car brand/a film character who dies, or that it's a dog or cat's name, or that it's 'try-hard' or 'chavvy'.