Can someone explain the term ‘try hard’ in the context of baby names.

I do actually think we are much better at having a wider range of names than when I was growing up. My kids are in their early twenties and they never found it odd when kids had unusual names. There were some where I thought, oh that’s a bit out there but they just took them in their stride.

He’ll probably change it to Brian when he’s older 😁

They aren't lovely names. The children are fine bit the names are very unusual and quite harsh sounding. I can't say what they are because they are too out-there. You get used to the names but the general consensus was 'Why on earth have they picked that?' (or words to that effect).

An example might be Igraine or Thirza.
Parents are something like David and Sarah.

Shouldn’t we all encourage more and not less name diversity? Makes life much more interesting and names more memorable. How boring if we’re all called Jack Smith or Olivia Taylor etc.

Obviously we shouldn’t inflict cruel names on our children like Willy, Poohead or Princess Tiaami - those are indeed stupid. I don’t know why posters assume those are the only alternatives to overused top100 names…?

@Mariammaom , the parents I know who have unusually-named children have very ordinary names themselves.
The names aren't lovely.

I think people sometimes just try too hard to be different and it does end up being a bit silly and “try hard”. Examples I’ve heard recently would be Onyx and Zephyr. I’m sure they are beautiful to the people who chose them, but to me they are cringey and I inwardly rolled my eyes on hearing them!

The amount of assumptions some posters on here are making about why parents choose names is actually hilarious! It says so much more about them than the parents who actually try hard to find lovely names for their children!

In my mind "try hard" is like calling your child Ferret because " it's a nature name, innit?" rather than an established nature name.

😬😬😬😬

There’s an ‘Otterley’ at DD’s nursery 🙃🙃🙃🙃

Geez, what did poor little Blight do to be saddled with that name?!

i don’t think ‘trying hard to find a name’ is what try hard means. It’s trying hard to find a ‘cool’ name that makes us look like cool parents

Why are you assuming that ‘trying hard to find a name’ means it’s necessarily a ridiculous and stupid made up name?

For me it’s names like Bodhi as I imagine the parent trying a but hard to be cool and different. But it’s actually quite popular now which always seems to happen. Ottilie too. Rare names I love so it’s not really that.

Why are plumbers or car mechanics more likely to be so narrow minded and rude as to ‘take the piss’ out of a colleague’s name???

I’m so glad we live in an open minded diverse areas where most people, whether they’re tradesmen or not, are open minded and kind.

I wonder where you live and how you raise your children that they grow up ‘to take the piss’ out of their mates and make fun of their names.

I did leave out Grimshaw. I wonder if this is why some of our Wigan neighbours aren't as impressed by our Blackpool heritage as they should be.

I might adopt Grimshaw as a nickname for her or re-name the dog-thanks for pointing this out!

You left out Grimshaw 😁

My great grandfather once went to Blackpool on a day trip and so I called my daughter, Albert Ramsbottom Wallace Stanley Holloway,

I feel it honours the Blackpool heritage that our great grandfather bestowed on us.

We were not sure how to spell Holloway-one L or two- but that really doesn't matter and so we vary it. It's only a minor detail, after all Shakespeare spelled his name in various ways!

We are from Wigan and and a welcome side effect of this brilliant idea is that it lets our neighbours know that we are not as boringly pedestrian as them.

We also let them see us with copies of The Guardian and we do not use it to wrap wet fish.

I already explained the humour. However, as humour is subjective I don't expect you to agree or otherwise - it's of no consequence to me.

And actually trying isn't the greatest evil.

As an aside, gosh so many threads are getting crabby lately. Is it the lack of sunlight or what?

Tbh it's just people who put themselves first (as in this will show the world how cool I am)and consideration for their child last (as in it doesn't matter if it's a made up word, stupid spelling or ridiculous choice they're going to love to live with it)

Well you certainly seem to have a unique sense of humour. I can’t see anything remotely chortle worthy there. So what if one was Italian and the other wasn’t! 🤷‍♀️ If I had been the Italian mother I would have been very interested and would have chatted to other mother about the name and enjoyed the fact the name had appeal outside Italy.

Out of interest what nationality is that chip on your shoulder? Is it a chip or a French Fry😁

@MysteryNameChange I assume your son has a slightly pretentious wannabe upper class name, or something hippy-esque, which will be fine in his middle class Oftsed outstanding school. But what if he wants to become a plumber, or mechanic, or join the army? Will he have the piss taken out of him? Do you care? Or was it more important that you gave him a name you thought reflected well on you, and made you seem more wacky and interesting?