Speaking of names

No I don't like it . Its unisex and in English speaking countries more often male. So I have had people insisting I had to be male. Yuck.. I put it on here some years ago to see people's reaction I had 10 replies all bar 1 said NO WAY. 1 said if you like it go for it but not my style.

I love the sound of Claire/Clare btw - it has a lovely romantic/poetic, elegant vibe to me. But yes I suppose all the Clare's I know would have been born late 60's to early 80's so it's not as timeless in that regard and the lack of a diminutive might bother some (maybe Cee?). I guess most other commonplace one syllable names (Jane, Anne, Rose, Eve, Grace etc) do have the option to easily add an -ie on the end for a nickname. Never would have considered that before!

Yeh I like it. It sounds nice. But opinion is divided on mumsnet. It's either dated and not ready to come back or it's time It came back.

I like Claire. It surprises me that a Claire or a Claire would strongly dislike their name.

I like my name insofar as it writes well, it looks very balanced.

I dislike it is a bit of a class signifier and is a bit beneath me, to be honest.

Yes!

Lucy

Classic and while popular not overly so in my age group.

My middle name is similar just way more popular so I wouldn't have used it.

Having said all that I don't think I look like a Lucy at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've name changed for this

My mum - for reasons only known to herself and yes she was a Pepsi and Shirlie fan - called me Marnie Pepsi

Yes you read that correctly.

I love mine

I've always gone by my middle name, which I like a lot.

I hate my first name, always have done. It's not awful, I just dislike it and it's so not me.

Mines Lisa which I thinks
Quite boring and plain but my brothers and sisters have much worse names so I think I got off quite lightly 🤣

I love it. If it wasn’t my name I’d consider it for my own DD.

Another Grace, here.

Hate it.

Doesn't sound good in my local accent. I find the Gr sound very harsh and ugly. I'm also not particularly graceful.

I roll my eyes when I see it being lauded these days as a great name or, more usually, as a middle name.

At best it is a dull, filler name. At worst though, it's like nails down a blackboard the way it's drawn out in many accents.

I've more or less made my peace with it now though, although I do wish my parents had just given it a bit more thought.

Grace. It’s one of the most popular filler middle names now so probably comes across pretty dull. But when I was young there weren’t any others in school at all and I could never find things with my name on so I felt quite unique. I’m a total clutz and pretty direct so it doesn’t suit me in a way, but I love it. I think people expect me to be a nice person based on my name and that helps me give a good first impression. Outside the UK no one seems to be able to pronounce it and it gets a lot of confused looks. My last name is a boy’s first name so often people just address me with that, but I don’t really care.

@ApolloandDaphne I love the name Karen. As for people using it as a slur, says more about them and their misogynist views than it does about the name. Be proud of it.

I don't like my name - it dates me and doesn't shorten. My middle name isn't useable (the Lucy Locket effect).

My kids have names that don't shorten either, guess I didn't think that through! But they do have lots of middle name options.

I like Claire and Helen for characters in a book but I wouldn't particularly like to be called those names. They're too complete in themselves somehow.

I agree that Clare and Claire are beautiful names, with a beautiful meaning.

I love clare though if that is any comfort

I really dislike mine. Very unusual and has no short form.
Now i am older i can appreciate that it was chosen with love but really- it is awful.
It is so distinctive as well that changing my name would be very difficult

When i chose my kids names i made certain they were names that other kids had too

"My names Clare and I absolutely detest it. I've never truly forgave my parents for my name.
I hate that it can't be shortened and I hate the lengthening of it (Clary) even more.I don't even have a middle name that I can go by.
My mum chose it because it couldnt be shortened but to me took away my right to a prefered name."

I feel similar. My Nan did that to my dad and aunt. I think it is so selfish, just because you like the name, it doesn't mean the child will.

I dislike my name too. It's typical 1970s with a slightly chav feel to it. I'm sure at the time it was nice and modern, but it hasn't dated well, and so I use a nickname. I'm thankful to my mum for choosing a longer name that could be changed / shortened.

When naming my two children, I deliberately chose names that had multiple shortened versions. Something like Elizabeth. Eldest hates her name, uses a shortened version instead. Youngest did use a shortened version, but has recently reverted to her full name as she feels it is more grown up than her nickname.

I don’t love it. I go by a nickname so I am grateful that I have a name that you can get a few different nicknames from. DP’s name is just the nickname and he wishes he had the choice of going by the full name. My name was popular in a different generation to the one I was born in and I wished I had a more common name. I was so jealous of everyone else who could get a key ring etc with their name on and I couldn’t!

I didn't used to mind mine but now it has become a slur (Karen) I don't like it so much.

I didn't like my name when I was a teenager, but I really like it now. It's an international name, similar to something like Anna or Sara - it's well-used across Europe and the Americas. I like how well it travels, it's not associated with any particular nationality and it isn't strongly linked to a particular generation. Plus, it has a long history and often pops up in literature, songs and films. Overall, I think it's a good name and I'm glad my parents chose it for me.

I do like my name, yeah. It's a very known name but not commonly used. I have rarely met another (if ever actually..). I don't think it's thought of being linked to any particular generation either. No idea why it isn't more popular tbh.

(To add, not very common in UK. Is quite common in parts of Europe or Russia.)

Love mine. Not very common (have only actually met two others and im in my 50s), easy to spell and pronounce, short, can't be shortened.

Alice... I used to love it as I didn't know any others (and still do quite like it), but it's very popular with the five year olds these days!!

I hate my name. It's rarely pronounced correctly despite being quite popular (it's having a revival) and people always shorten it even though I ask them not to. It's a very "pretty" name and I have been told it doesn't suit me!