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Baby names

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Original poster

Unfortunate name choice

133 replies

dsandhisname · 10/12/2024 11:30

DS shares his name (first and surname) with a fairly well known person, who unfortunately has disgraced himself since.

I don’t really think I can change DS’s name but wondering if others would. The spelling is a bit different. But the name is identical.

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Itsoneofthose · 18/12/2024 11:56

FayCarew · 18/12/2024 11:55

@Itsoneofthose , did you mean to sound so rude and entitled?

Yeah I did. I was responding to a rude and entitled comment in the same tone.

FayCarew · 18/12/2024 11:55

@Itsoneofthose , did you mean to sound so rude and entitled?

Itsoneofthose · 18/12/2024 11:52

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 18/12/2024 06:13

Did it not occur to you to have a little look through the thread before asking?!

Show quote history

No, it didn’t. I’m new to Mumsnet. And as the platform suggests I’m a busy mum so don’t have all hours of the day to trawl through, perhaps like yourself? Have you ever been new to something? Thanks for your contribution anyway.

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 18/12/2024 06:13

Itsoneofthose · 17/12/2024 23:34

How 'disgraceful' has this person been? How heinous? I mean if it's something severe then maybe consider a change, but the world and the news changes very very quickly. It could well be a splash in the pan. Otherwise it can be changed but depending on the age of the child- a bot of an administrative upheaval. Depends how upsetting you and your family find it.

Show quote history

Did it not occur to you to have a little look through the thread before asking?!

Itsoneofthose · 17/12/2024 23:34

dsandhisname · 10/12/2024 11:30

DS shares his name (first and surname) with a fairly well known person, who unfortunately has disgraced himself since.

I don’t really think I can change DS’s name but wondering if others would. The spelling is a bit different. But the name is identical.

How 'disgraceful' has this person been? How heinous? I mean if it's something severe then maybe consider a change, but the world and the news changes very very quickly. It could well be a splash in the pan. Otherwise it can be changed but depending on the age of the child- a bot of an administrative upheaval. Depends how upsetting you and your family find it.

WhatsItWorthToYou · 17/12/2024 07:21

Change it to Hugo

Pumpkincozynights · 17/12/2024 07:07

I think Hugh Edward’s is fine.
There are so many bad men about and in the wider scheme of things, HE is just another nonce.
I once met a Peter Sutcliffe, now that was a very different kettle of fish.
Anyone with the surname Saville also gets my sympathy. So too would Shipman. But HE? No not in their league.
Don’t change it but maybe call him Hughie for a bit.

hoarahloux · 15/12/2024 20:56

dsandhisname · 10/12/2024 13:15

@SatansBobbleheadedDashboardOrnament but we didn’t cross post, I updated some time ago. Besides, how many four year olds are called Ian?

You named your child Hugh so I don't think Ian is such a stretch!

I knew a 4 year old called Gary too. He'll be about 8 now.

NoCarbsForMe · 14/12/2024 23:17

No one will remember him. You're fine.

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 18:52

KnickerlessParsons · 13/12/2024 18:26

I do know a priest called Michael Jackson, a gym instructor called Gary Barlow, and a guy called Harry Potter who must be in his late 20s now.

There's a rugby player called Harry Potter. He was born before the books came out (just).

There's also a very eminent barrister called Harry Potter.

I remember way back, the singer Robbie Williams getting arsey with one of the (must be loads of) ordinary men called Robert Williams, who had long been known as Robbie.

I think he thought the bloke was somehow trying to pass himself off as him - he wasn't a singer at all; just a normal chap who happened to share his extremely common name!

KnickerlessParsons · 13/12/2024 18:26

I do know a priest called Michael Jackson, a gym instructor called Gary Barlow, and a guy called Harry Potter who must be in his late 20s now.

There's a rugby player called Harry Potter. He was born before the books came out (just).

FayCarew · 13/12/2024 16:30

The boy isn't even called Huw, and I agree that the HW scandal will be forgotten about. Youngsters don't watch the BBC news.

KnickerlessParsons · 13/12/2024 16:05

Most people under about 30 won't have heard of Huw Edwards, and no one will make the comparison in a few years.
FWIW, they haven't done anything wrong, but I know a Dawn French and a Venus Williams.

FayCarew · 13/12/2024 15:25

Wouldn't IDS be excluded?

OnlySlightly · 13/12/2024 13:38

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 12:23

Yes, I hadn't considered 'Eye-Ainy-uns', but that's actually the most plausible!

I quite like that, only it does suggest an Iain Duncan-Smith fan convention or something…

Extraspecial · 13/12/2024 12:29

I think it’s unfortunate so I can understand your thinking although none of his peers would know the name. Does he have a middle name?

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 12:23

Yes, I hadn't considered 'Eye-Ainy-uns', but that's actually the most plausible!

FayCarew · 13/12/2024 11:54

@ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers , I think it would be Eye-Ainy-uns.

Ian, Gary, Linda and Keith - not for a while
Bernards, Malcolms and Nigels. - they seem quite fresh to me but I know people with the names.

Donna would be about 60. A Madonna in her 20s would be Maddie, wouldn't she?

FranklyMyDears · 13/12/2024 11:09

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 11:04

Names like Ian, Gary, Linda and Keith surely must come back in vogue before long?

Mabel, Elsie and Stanley are now firmly back, so it has to only be a matter of time!

I'm looking forward to the arrival of the baby Bernards, Malcolms and Nigels. Which will no doubt seem like fresh and unusual names to the parents enthusiastically choosing them.

(I did think that Richard Osman's 20something character called Donna, short for Madonna, in a novel set during the last few years, was a bit culturally off...)

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 11:04

Names like Ian, Gary, Linda and Keith surely must come back in vogue before long?

Mabel, Elsie and Stanley are now firmly back, so it has to only be a matter of time!

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 13/12/2024 11:02

FayCarew · 11/12/2024 17:10

@ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers , how does one say it?

Good question!

I presume it would either just be 'EE-uhn-ee-uhns' or otherwise morph into the more aurally pleasing 'ee-ANN-ee-uhns'.

Apart from the fact that the latter sounds like somebody from Yorkshire getting excited upon discovering some unexpected onions Grin

FayCarew · 11/12/2024 17:10

@ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers , how does one say it?

ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers · 11/12/2024 17:05

At least one advantage of being called Ian is that, if ever you start a new religion or become the figurehead of a popular movement, your followers will be referred to as Ianians!

sashh · 11/12/2024 04:11

What about using Hughie?

Spacie · 10/12/2024 18:57

OnlySlightly · 10/12/2024 14:36

I think you’re fine, OP.

I do know a priest called Michael Jackson, a gym instructor called Gary Barlow, and a guy called Harry Potter who must be in his late 20s now.

I used to work with a Pete Sutcliffe.

And I'd already half forgotten about Huw Edwards.