Bad Name Choices?

Should have read Attracta

I once had to give a lift to a lady called Attracts which I now know is Irish but at the time thought it was hysterically funny

Your names are ok, it's the spellings that are a bit odd. 'Maisie' is fine, and 'Blaise' is a French name. 'Hope' is lovely as it is.

And Hope!

Hope is the most usual and classic of these names.

Blaise
Maisie
Covington

are lovely.

Hope is fine.
Maizie looks awful and a the use of a Z instead of an S is naff.
Blaze is horrendous.
Covington should have been kept as James.

I short her comment was right but she was very wrong to make it, should have kept that thought in her head.

I've providing an honest opinion because you asked on an anonymous forum.

The names are fine, although I prefer James to Covington! Blaise, Hope and Maisie would be better spellings though.

Hope isn’t unusual in the slightest.

Covington is unusual, I’ve never heard of it.

The teacher is rude. Even if the dc were called x, y and dhdufi it’s not the teachers place to comment

How rude of that teacher to give her opinion on your children's name, when her opinion was not being sought. I hope that she is not the type of ignorant person to treat a child differently based on their names. There seems to be too many people who are like that, imo.

Hope is a lovely name, and it’s quite common in the Black British community. I’m not personally keen on Blaze or Maizie...mainly the spelling of Maizie, the name itself is nice. Blaze, for me, is a monster truck.

Covington...also not a fan. It's meant to be a surname. I think I'm not keen on it because long names are often shortened and Cov just sounds horrible.

But honestly, my opinion isn’t important. There are plenty of names I wouldn’t choose (I met a Maverick the other day and that made me cringe) but taste is subjective. What really matters is that you and your children love their names.

Tasteless is a good word for them. better than the ones I'd had in mind

I do have to agree with the teacher - Blaze is tasteless sorry - then throw in a sibling with a “unique” spelling like Maizie just adds to the overall effect

That teacher needs to keep their opinions to themselves.
You've done a wonderful thing for your nephew.
I loved Maisie. We chose it for DC2 if he'd been a girl in honour of my late DM. It's a pet form of Margaret (DM's name). A close friend stole used it shortly afterwards so by the time we had DD we chose another one.
I think Hope is lovely.

What a rude teacher. Honestly, she should mind her own business.

I like your children's names OP, although I would have stuck with James for your youngest. Surely you use a shortening as Covington is quite a mouthful for every day?

But definitely cross this off your list of things to worry about OP.

Teacher shouldn’t have said that and agree with others - Hope is a usual name. Maisie with a z is just to have a unique spelling. Tbh, Covington reminds me of Covid and Blaze sounds like a wrestler 😂. You chose not only unusual names but marmite names so not everyone will
love them but own it and move on.

How horribly rude of that teacher. I would have reported her tbh.

The teacher is very unprofessional. There’s no name that’s universally liked so people will dislike your names as they do everyone’s.

Have you considered that people with Downs Syndrome often have speech and language difficulties. Covington may be very difficult for your nephew to pronounce. I have a lot of experience working with people with Downs syndrome and many of them would find a name like that very difficult to say.
But I think it's wonderful that you are bringing him up. Much better for him to be brought up with loving family members than in care.

Hope is a perfectly normal name I don't think it's controversial or strange, Maisie is also a normal name but it's very strange and a bit odd to see it spelled with a Z and I also think Blaze is an odd choice
Covington is also very strange I've never heard it before.
But whatever the name a teacher should never comment. That is extremely unprofessional. And neither should people in real life comment on a child's name

That's a bit mind-blowing @Missyousomuchmum; I'm so sorry.

I understand why people are frank on these threads when people have actually come asking for input on a name, but the idea of saying it in real life boggles me - especially after the child has been called that.

In your circumstance, I can't imagine how anyone would be so unkind.

This was after my son came out of paediatric intensive care after I almost lost him. It broke my heart when they criticized his name.
It doesn't ever make it ok to make a mum feel so distraught (in my case I was suffering post natal depression) that they develop serious hangups and their baby's name. I came so close to Changing it but glad I didn't.
He's 15 now, non verbal with complex needs but has always recognised and responded to his name.

Who told you the teacher said that?

Covington is very identifiable, which is risky in the age of the internet. Do you use nicknames? Cove, Vinnie, Tony, Jim even.

Hope is normal. Virtue names have been around for centuries (Grace, Faith, Joy etc). Your ex's family sounds fairly unhinged so don't worry about their opinion.

Blaze = traditionally Blaise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_(name)

Maizie = traditionally Maisie
Unique spellings are annoying to the people carrying those names. They will be correcting people for the rest of their life. I have a traditional name spelled a few different ways, it was painful when teachers fucked up certificates etc.

I love Hope, I think it's really beautiful. Blaze sounds like a 'naughty boy' name to me. Maisie I love but putting a z in it makes it seem a bit chavvy IMO. Any teacher saying your names are bad or tasteless though is being very unprofessional, they are not 'out there' names at all.

Covington I don't like though I'm afraid, it sounds like the name of a street. I would have used James because middle names are rarely used anyway so it wouldn't matter that your DS has it as a middle name.