Regretted an unusual name?

My middle names (hypephenated) are so awful that I hate them. They are so unusual. I just checked darkergreen and the first part has a few with the name but for the second, there have been 3 boys, ever, according to its records.
And I am a girl.

When I got married, the whole congregation went dealthy quiet and then tried not to laugh. I was mortified. I just hate it. There is unusual and then there is embarrasing and bullying material.
My brother has a misheard made up name from a Sci Fi series that my parents watched so he is even worse.

My DC have fairly unusual names (

I have a very common name, top 10 for its time, and was oh so bored of being "so and so number 5" at school. Even last week I was in a meeting of 20 people and 3 of us had the same yawnsome name.

DD has uncommon (just outside top 500) name, but it is easy to pronounce, spell and is an old classic.

I don't regret it per se, but I have on occasion felt a bit of a knob screeching it across the playground. I'm sure we are judged for it.

That said, she loves it (so far) and has a beautiful middle name to use in future should she wish. We chose a MN specifically for the wide number of shortening that can be used with it.

I've spent quite some time thinking about what else we could possibly have called her, and have only come up with Zoe. Zoe is fine, but it's not the right name, and DH hated it anyway.

Sorry I put that very badly ... I certainly didn't mean all our children should have WASP type names rather I mean they should be accessible to and for the child . My expatriate comment referrrd to when one moves abroad and the sound system or alphabet is wildly different... still not clearly put

A young child shouldn't have to explain their name or its spelling unless of course they are expatriates of some sort when it may be unavoidable.

So, third-generation British Asians should all be calling their offspring Emma and Jack in case some Little Englander can't get their head around Prakesh or Jubrinder?

I feel very strongly that the name will belong to one's child and that it is selfish to indulge parental whims. A young child shouldn't have to explain their name or its spelling unless of course they are expatriates of some sort when it may be unavoidable.
As far as nicknames are concerned they should develop naturally ..

And having very popular names didn't seem to hold John, Paul or George back. Or Charlie, Ronnie Mick and Keith...........

Well, I can't mention my step nieces and nephews names because they were definitely the only ones. Before they became top 20 people!

Another thing to remember that even if you pick the absolute top name of the year, that's still only one in about 50 babies of that sex. So you'd be pretty unlucky to have more than one in a reception class. And the numbers go down very rapidly once you get below the top 3 or so.

In my mind, unique names (ie made up ones, not those which are known, just not common) shout 'look at me, I want attention'. Unfortunately, it is the parent who is shouting, because it is they who name the child, but the child has to put up with it.

Personally, I think people should be remembered for what they do, not the fact they have a bizarre name. Note, I'm not against choosing names which are less common, but if no-one has heard of the name, the word isn't usually used for people but other things, or worse of all, even the word itself is made up, I just think the parents must have a deep seated need for attention and not know another way to get it....either that, or for some reason they think their child is so precious, unique and unusual so cannot possibly have a name that other children have....which in itself seems rather precious to me, but I think that perhaps is how some people feel about their children.

I'd like to hear some of the names to know how unusual or rare they really were. I agree with poster above, Mango.

I know of somebody with a Phoenix who thinks it's rare and 'unique'

Yes, Isis had approx 50 registrations, per year, at its peak. Obviously that's dropped lately to around four!

Not at all, both our dds have names that don't even come up on the list which I think means only 3 or less that year. One is a proper yet unusual name, in this country anyway, the other a made up hybrid name but doesn't sound made up IYSWIM...no regrets at all

My observation would be that people are often a bit braver with DC2 than DC1
Fwiw I had a common name when I was young... I never minded and it is easy to spell / pronounce etc
My DH had an unusual name albeit easy to spell and well known... he still hates it...would much rather have been John or Tom or something
My children have well known but not particularly common names

My children have welsh names that have caused a bit of a fuss that's wound me up no end

unusual as in rare (there are plenty of classical unusual names that aren't whacky or weird l) or unusual in that out-there/whacky/weird spelling/peace love and mung beans way.

That's probably true. My name is classical (and unusual).

betrand

True. Which is why I mentioned my opinions on my own name.

It's not a made-up name but doesn't even appear on any naming stats... (well, I think it appears on the popularity stats of the US at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century. But that's pretty much it...).

I actually really like my name :)

"This thread is addressed to the wrong group of people."

I agree. Which is why I mentioned my step nieces and nephews. And which is why anyone asking "Am I brave enough to use X name?" should be reminded that it's not them who has to be brave.

This thread is addressed to the wrong group of people.

It should be asked of people who were given a poision chalice of a name by their "oh so cool" or "trying to be original" or "aren't we wanky middle class" by their parents.

Plus it depends what you mean by unusual - unusual as in rare (there are plenty of classical unusual names that aren't whacky or weird l) or unusual in that out-there/whacky/weird spelling/peace love and mung beans way.

Former is usually OK; later rarely is. If you want to do the latter do chuck in a a normal Peter, Mary or Jane type name (not those obv as dull) so the child has a choice later in life.

Remember your child has their name for life - not just as a cute kid, but as an adolescent, a person trying to get their first job, possibly a senior professional and potentially a parent and a grandparent. Names like Sunshine, Wheat or River are only going to really be anything other than a life hinderance if they go into the arts.

My ds (12) has an unusual name. It's a short name, a proper word (as in not made up) and a proper name, that's very positive.

He gets a lot of comments on it and all of them have been positive. He likes the comments and likes his name.

"Imo having an unusual name makes you an intriguing person!!"

Why? It's absolutely nothing to do with you what you were named!

In the case of some names all it says is that your parents were dickheads.

My brother's step children hav very unusual- as in unique- names. One by one, as they went to secondary school, they chose a new name and insisted on using it. They weren't bullied for the unusual names, they just found the constant comments- even the positive ones, deeply tedious.

My DH is from a different country & has a different religion to me. He was pretty set on having a traditional name for his background whereas I wanted something more English sounding & easy to pronounce so we comprimised and said we'd find a name that did both. So my ds name sounds like a pretty usual name when you say it but never met anyone that uses the same spelling (in this country anyway!)
He loves his name atm and it does suit him but I do wonder if he'll hate it when he's older purely for the way it's spelt.

The people I know who have regrets aren't so much those with unusual names, but those who have fairly common names but picked unusual spellings - they spend all their time correcting and spelling those names to people or being a bit cross that people forget and spell it in the usual way.

I have what was a really unusual name it ended up in the top 20 or 30 about 7 years ago so its heard of now but ive only ever met 3 adults in my life with the same name. It never bothered me infact im quite proud of it and was rather upset when suddenly i started to hear it everywhere.

I names my kids not usual names though not as unusual as mine.

Oh lissi is good!