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Baby names

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

Original poster

To be surprised at friends/family’s baby names

459 replies

AllyCatTown · 08/01/2023 19:03

Anyone else been surprised at what people in their lives have called their children?

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Whitewolf2 · 09/01/2023 18:46

I know a Griffin, love it! They’re Welsh.

Also know a Seabass (no it’s not short for Sebastian!)

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 09/01/2023 18:44

a girl in my class at school, a child of the 80’s was called Blue September.

Sounds to me like somebody who would work in 'adult' entertainment.

When I grew up a knew a girl called Tuppence, because she was worth more than a Penny, I always liked that

Also means female genitalia in some parts of the country - like a modern-day Fanny!

Allotment123 · 09/01/2023 18:41

I know a Wolf and a Tiger. When I grew up a knew a girl called Tuppence, because she was worth more than a Penny, I always liked that

PurpleSproutingSomething · 09/01/2023 18:40

I met a baby Gary last week.

SeaweedGarters · 09/01/2023 18:37

Most of the outrage on here about names other people have given their children comes down to an ingrained sense of the class system (there's only a tiny amount of leeway, apparently, between 'Chavvy' and 'Try-Hard'), or a total ignorance of other languages and cultures.

Or the idea that monoglot English speakers should never, ever be expected to get their heads around a foreign name, couched in faux-concern for that 'poor child who will never have anyone pronounce their name correctly/will never be able to buy a necklace/doorplaque/personalised bar of chocolate!' and die of mortification every time their name is mangled by a dental receptionist.

I have sometimes been surprised by people I know giving their child a name that I wouldn't have said fell within their aesthetic/sense of what is pleasing, but I think it's interesting.

Nannygoat151 · 09/01/2023 18:37

What pants ??😂

Suja1 · 09/01/2023 18:36

Tadhg is an Irish name, pronounced Tie. I've taught someone (around 10 years ago) called Tye

Mandyjack · 09/01/2023 18:32

Most popular names now are old fashioned names. Like fashion things go in cycles

WOPTF · 09/01/2023 18:32

As a registrar, I've come across so many names that are a bit out there. I usually manage an "oh, that's nice" but when someone namd their kid Breitling I was a bit lost for words. It doesn't actually sound bad imo, just very different, and I don't know why you'd chose a brand!
My kids have boring, traditional and very classic English names which I know some find totally dull.

CauliflowerBalti · 09/01/2023 18:29

Runnerduck34 · 08/01/2023 20:55

Yes a friend called her child by an outlandish first name from Shakespeare- he's now a teen and goes by his normal boring middle name.
Another friend gave her DD what I would call an old lady nana name, this was 20 years ago and its now popular so I guess she was ahead of the game!

Please let it have been Lysander. He was my favourite Jilly Cooper character too.

SleepingStandingUp · 09/01/2023 18:27

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 09/01/2023 00:15

I wanted Gideon and Torbien tho so I couldn't necessarily have been trusted alone either

Nothing especially wrong about those, although possibly not if you don't live somewhere quite gentrified.

I know of a lad with a very similar name - Torben - and I always think it sounds like an Irish Sikh describing what he wears on his head Grin

Very working class, black country town. School technically in a deprived area. So no, no gentry here lol

StaunchMomma · 09/01/2023 18:25

Kissedbyfire1 · 08/01/2023 19:06

Oh yes. We have two DNs with names that are so far out there as to be laugh out loud. They’re just like “wtaf”? names and their parents are fairly normal individuals, one of them is a teacher so should know better but there you go.

It's hard as a teacher as pretty much every name brings to mind a child you've taught.

So many get vetoed that you kind of end up having to go a bit off piste!

LBFseBrom · 09/01/2023 18:24

Bananarama21 · 08/01/2023 19:14

Yes one of the children in the family has a ridiculous name, hes named after an item of clothing. I feel sorry for him as all the other kids in the family have normal names even his brother. When I've mentioned his name in passing to people always ask me to repeat the name.

Hoodie?

Roobarb56 · 09/01/2023 18:24

Well, I'm guilty of giving my own kids unusual names - but only the middle ones.
They are medieval, if you're interested. But the first names are reassuringly normal.

Zeborah · 09/01/2023 18:22

Cuff??

Nakedornotnaked · 09/01/2023 18:18

A former classmate named her kid Heaven-Leigh

The cringe factor was painful

Picked a double-barelled 'clever' excruciatingly tacky name but just calls her Hev anyway. Never once heard her call out her DDs full name. I presume she's realised it's awful said out loud but likes to cling to 'aren't I unique and trendy' so never changed the poor kids name. And now it's far too late.

Rhaenys · 09/01/2023 18:18

YesIReallyDoLikeRootBeer · 08/01/2023 21:42

I know someone who named their daughter Bradley (but spelled Bradleigh).
I still cant wrap my head around why they would choose this for a girl.

There was a female character in Bates Motel called Bradley so depending on when she was born perhaps they got the name from there? It ran from 2013-2017.

TedLassosMoustache · 09/01/2023 18:16

PermanentTemporary · 08/01/2023 21:56

I've recently heard of two tiny Raymonds so clearly that one is back.

Not keen on it, but I remember when my mum thought my friend calling her son Isaac was incredibly out there and couldn't believe I knew 4 baby Isaacs 😁

I have a Raymond. Goes by Ray usually. I think it’s increasingly difficult to find names that are unusual but not too weird.

TrixieMixie · 09/01/2023 18:15

sqirrelfriends · 08/01/2023 21:06

I know of someone with twin Gemini boys who named them Castor and Pollux.

All I think is that castor oil helps you poo and Pollux sounds dangerously close to pillock.

That’s not the problem with Pollux!

Chickenandeggz · 09/01/2023 18:14

Snood????

Survivingjust · 09/01/2023 18:14

Well…. my neighbours called their gorgeous baby girl, Luna-Saturday…. Yes it is double barrelled 🙈 but i have a worse one… apologies if anyone has a child with this name but a girl in my class at school, a child of the 80’s was called Blue September. Now I know, you are imagining hippy parents. Nope, daddy was a solicitor and mummy was a teacher. 🤣

me109f · 09/01/2023 18:13

Choker, Noose?

Mrsgreen100 · 09/01/2023 18:10

Cravat !!!!

purplebunny2012 · 09/01/2023 18:09

ReadtheReviews · 08/01/2023 19:27

Got to be Gilet!

You watched Your Christmas or Mine? didn't you?

tillytoodles1 · 09/01/2023 18:09

IDontWantToBeAPie · 08/01/2023 20:16

I went to school with a Ty back in the 00s. So not too bonkers.

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I know a Tigh, pronounced Tie.