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Baby names

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

Original poster

Why do people do these mad bodyswerves to avoid names?

105 replies

hunkermunker · 13/02/2008 14:07

Just give your child a name you like and don't go all-out to avoid anything someone else will choose.

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CalintineFrauers · 13/02/2008 17:48

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CalintineFrauers · 13/02/2008 17:45

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evenhope · 13/02/2008 17:23

I gave my eldest 4 names that weren't common, having had a very common name myself. I didn't make them up though.

I had a list of favourite girls names as long as my arm, but DC2, 3 &4 were boys. Then we finally had DD2 last year. My favourite name, Isabel, is now in the top 20 in every variation. My dancing teacher told me that in one ballet class (of 20 girls) she had 6 Isabels (and at dancing the variations in spelling don't come into it). I didn't want my DD to be referred to as "Isabel G" for her whole school life.

AdamRomANTic · 13/02/2008 17:06

It's really hard to imagine someone naming their DC Princess Tiiiiiaaaaamii with no poncy intent though . Although maybe some people would say the same about my DS's name?

TigerFeet · 13/02/2008 16:55
Grin
Original poster
hunkermunker · 13/02/2008 16:54

Then you are beyond help.

OP posts:
TigerFeet · 13/02/2008 16:52

But what if you love the name Princess Tiiaarmmeeee or whatever - with no poncy intent?

Original poster
hunkermunker · 13/02/2008 16:44

Well, they shouldn't be

It's a "name your child a name you love and don't feel you have to out-ponce anybody or strive for something that nobody else has ever called a child" campaign.

OP posts:
TigerFeet · 13/02/2008 16:43

I would love to know what all your dc's are called [nosey]

AdamRomANTic · 13/02/2008 16:40

That's good to hear . We're the same - DD has a fairly common name and DS has an unusual (but ancient) name.

But there are several posters on here who are interpreting this thread as a "stick to 'normal' names" campaign.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 13/02/2008 16:32

It does still stand.

As I say, DS1 has an unusual name. Well, not that unusual - but not very common (not top 100 in England and Wales).

I think it's a lovely name and wouldn't have called him anything else.

But DS2's is more common - and I love it equally - but I did waver about it and wonder if we should look for something more unusual. Then I thought that was daft and we'd be denying ourselves giving him a name we loved.

OP posts:
MamaG · 13/02/2008 16:31

ooh hunker is like that pub on Gordons Kitchen Nightmares "campaign to bring back real gravy"

AdamRomANTic · 13/02/2008 16:28

But hunker - in response to your OP, why does this not seem to stand for those of us who have chosen an unusual name for our DC because we like it (i.e. not as a deliberate attempt to be unusual, but simply because we love the name)?

GrapefruitMoon · 13/02/2008 16:09

Yes and there's a Chip in the ORT books isn't there? But this couple were definitely English.... I have noticed that a lot of nicknames from the US have become popular here in recent years as given names.

margoandjerry · 13/02/2008 16:05

Someone on a US website I use has named their son "Crutcher".

princessosyth · 13/02/2008 16:04

Chip is really popular in the states isn't it? Never seen the appeal myself. I like a name to sound like a name.

I'm glad that I was not a teenage mum, when dh and I were still teenagers (many moons ago!) we said that if we had a boy we would call him Osyth (after the village in Clacton where we met)

GrapefruitMoon · 13/02/2008 15:56

I hope no one here has given their lo this name but I was reading a magazine article recently and a couple had called their ds "Chipper".... I am still scratching my head about it.....maybe they were too posh to have heard it as another name for "chip shop"

TheHonEnid · 13/02/2008 15:55

there were 17 dd2's in the prep school she went to

none in her new state primary

princessosyth · 13/02/2008 15:51

No that is true, I don't mind if there are others with the same name, I just don't want there to be loads as it gets confusing. Saying that the other day in ds's book bag he brought home a painting by Freya and a valentines card by Francesca, I was cursing the person who put them in by mistake until I remembered that I was on book bag duty. .

Naming your child is a real pain, I also get lots of people asking me if we are scottish because of ds's name and I feel embrassed that we aren't. Some people seem to think that we don't really have a right to call him a name that originates from a country that we don't have any history with. If we have another boy I have always liked Beckett but now Stella McCartney has named her one that and people would probably think we were trying to copy cat celebrities! In the times register yesterday there was a Pheltomy (sp?) which made me chuckle as I thought it must be a MNer!

berolina · 13/02/2008 15:43

Oh, and Matthew is a lovely name I considered a variant of it for ds2.

berolina · 13/02/2008 15:41

ds1's name is uncommon in Germany, but in the top 10 in the UK. I didn't know this when we named him, and I'm glad I didn't as sadly I just might have been put off it (I might not have, but OTOH I might have) - and it suits him so perfectly.

ds2's name is unusual in both countries.

fedupwasherwoman · 13/02/2008 15:40

See, I've only got boys but before we knew they were boys I'd already thought of Eleanor/Elinor, Elizabeth, Ruth, Rebecca Louise, Elouise, Lisa, Lucy, Charlotte, Helena/Elena, Marianne and Eve as possible choices.

I'm clearly showing my age (or maybe my class

purpleturtle · 13/02/2008 15:37

They'll come back round when we're all in our 80s. And the proud new parents will be feeling ever so original, while we chortle to ourselves because we went to school with half a dozen or so!

GrapefruitMoon · 13/02/2008 15:34

washerwoman - I love some 70s names - e.g. Lisa and Karen. (Anyone remember the chapter about where have all the Lisas gone in Freakonomics?) But one of my friends had already called her dd Lisa and there are several (grown up) Karens in the family already...

fedupwasherwoman · 13/02/2008 15:34

Apologies for the misuse of apostrophes and mis-spelling but I can't find my specs at the moment and so didn't bothering previewing before posting.

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