Page 4 | What happened to normal conventional names?

VelvetLace · 2026-06-17T17:41:40+00:00

An acquaintance who is due slightly after me has just announced on Facebook that she will be naming her baby girl Charm. I originally thought it was short for something else but no. It's just the word Charm. I'm not saying that everyone should name their baby something incredibly dull, but why have full-blown dog names become so common for human beings? Has naming babies just become a creativity contest? I see a lot of conventional names being asked about and considered on MN, but I'm seeing the opposite with people that I know offline. DH and I were discussing this last night.

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Honeyhonay · 18/06/2026 15:29

Offyertrolley · 18/06/2026 15:26

Some people think they are the first to ever have had a baby. Their baby is more special than any other baby could possibly be. They can’t bear to name them with a name another child might have.

Oddly it’s the posters preferring ‘traditional’ names that seem to think their child is so much better than any other child.

Iarthar · 18/06/2026 15:28

Offyertrolley · 18/06/2026 15:26

Some people think they are the first to ever have had a baby. Their baby is more special than any other baby could possibly be. They can’t bear to name them with a name another child might have.

Whereas right-minded parents just call their children Boy#124577 to bring home their own insignificance to them?

Offyertrolley · 18/06/2026 15:26

Some people think they are the first to ever have had a baby. Their baby is more special than any other baby could possibly be. They can’t bear to name them with a name another child might have.

ThaneOfGlamis · 18/06/2026 15:12

oliviaAustin · 18/06/2026 14:57

Fun Fact: we have no idea if her name was Boudicca because it just means ‘Victory or Victorious woman’. It’s more likely the title she was given as a war leader. And that’s how the Romans referred to her. We obviously have no Iceni text to find her actual name.

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Ooh I love a historical fun fact, thank you! I will admit that a lot of what I know about her is from horrible histories 😁.

FallenNight · 18/06/2026 15:06

oliviaAustin · 18/06/2026 14:57

Fun Fact: we have no idea if her name was Boudicca because it just means ‘Victory or Victorious woman’. It’s more likely the title she was given as a war leader. And that’s how the Romans referred to her. We obviously have no Iceni text to find her actual name.

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I have been so convinced by the Manda Scott Dreaming serise I think of her as Breaca!

oliviaAustin · 18/06/2026 14:57

ThaneOfGlamis · 17/06/2026 21:50

What classes as a traditional name? Not many Barbara and Sharon's around any more. Or should we go a bit further back to Boudica and Æthelflæd? Times move on and things change.

Fun Fact: we have no idea if her name was Boudicca because it just means ‘Victory or Victorious woman’. It’s more likely the title she was given as a war leader. And that’s how the Romans referred to her. We obviously have no Iceni text to find her actual name.

Iarthar · 18/06/2026 14:41

Honeyhonay · 18/06/2026 14:31

As long as the name is easy to spell and pronounce

Every other culture must conform to English pronunciation and awareness of names 🤦‍♀️

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Yes, Little Englanderism raises its head freakishly often on the baby names board. They would clearly like registrars to impose a choice of George, Edward, Sophie and Ella on all parents.

Honeyhonay · 18/06/2026 14:31

Bellybellas · 18/06/2026 11:34

Same here. Sooo many girls called Eve or Ellie….

I think Charm is a great name that’s way more memorable than some of the overused top 10 names.

As long as the name is easy to spell and pronounce and doesn’t have negative associations, I think unusual names are much nicer than boring top 10 ones.

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As long as the name is easy to spell and pronounce

Every other culture must conform to English pronunciation and awareness of names 🤦‍♀️

RubyEspadrilles · 18/06/2026 14:31

concertinacornflake · 18/06/2026 11:12

I quite like Dandelion !

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There's a detective called Dandelion Gilver in a series of books by Catriona McPherson. I thought her sister had some equally odd flower name but Google tells me she doesn't have a sister so I may be misremembering.

ToadRage · 18/06/2026 14:21

SemperIdem · 17/06/2026 19:42

What did you think Charm might be short for, Charmander?

He is my favourite poker on but I would not call my child that.
Charm is ok, I have heard worse but with names I always consider if it would be taken seriously in adulthood.

yonem · 18/06/2026 14:20

@sashh most parents are overjoyed to have their baby but it still makes it awkward if they then grow up to be depressed or a grumpy person.

@Bellybellas alas the ONS statistics say they do. I can’t imagine the embarrassment of a grown man having to say his full name to get married, testify in court etc when it’s Teddy-Bear!

Bellybellas · 18/06/2026 14:15

yonem · 18/06/2026 11:48

I don’t like Charm because I don’t like names that put expectations on a child to be a certain way - same reason I don’t like Joy, Grace, Belle/Beau, Rebel etc.

I do think some parents forget that their baby is actually a person and not a doll. There’s no other way to explain why three babies were named Teddy-Bear in 2024.

Surely no parent would call their son Teddy-Bear 🧸?!

sashh · 18/06/2026 14:14

yonem · 18/06/2026 11:48

I don’t like Charm because I don’t like names that put expectations on a child to be a certain way - same reason I don’t like Joy, Grace, Belle/Beau, Rebel etc.

I do think some parents forget that their baby is actually a person and not a doll. There’s no other way to explain why three babies were named Teddy-Bear in 2024.

I think it depends on the reason for the name. Have you heard of Loise Joy Brown? She was the first IVF baby. The parents asked the team working on IVF process for a middle name.

I think for all the parents who have had IVF babies 'Joy' is a great name.

BertSymptom · 18/06/2026 12:56

Iarthar · 18/06/2026 12:23

The Puritans would be horrified by the name Charm! They were more for names like Obedience, Humiliation and FearoftheLord.

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Yes you are right! To Puritans, Charm is probably far too witchy. I can see the thread now:

”Why’s nobody using conventional names like Silence, Kill-Sin and Hate-Evil anymore?”

JimBobsWife · 18/06/2026 12:47

My DD had a girl in her primary school class called Rhyt'eous.

Everyone used to get the apostrophe in the wrong place.

Greentinselstar · 18/06/2026 12:45

I imagine all the Ethels, Nancys, Joans, Marys and Elsies and Elizabeths were equally flabbergasted by all the 'weird' names of their grandchildren born in the 1960's/70's - Deborah, Tracy, Tina, Susan, Julie and Karen.

It's trends and a more internationalist, multicultural society.

Variety is the spice of life.

Roomonthe3rdfloor · 18/06/2026 12:44

Is it any different to Hope, Faith,Grace, Melody etc. We have just gotten used to those words as names.
Names are subjective to taste. Would I call my child Charm, no but I also wouldn’t call my child Edward or Margaret because I personally don’t like them.

FallenNight · 18/06/2026 12:43

In my teenage witch phase I would have loved to have been called Charm.

Mosaic80 · 18/06/2026 12:35

I think it’s a positive thing. Among my DS’s peers (age 14) there seems to be much less bullying around names as there isn’t such a small pool to choose from. I also like hearing more unusual names, it’s not like I’m being forced to use one for my own child 🤷🏻‍♀️. One of my DC has a name you pretty much never would have heard of (in this country) 40 years ago say and I still dont know any and he hasn’t met anyone with his name. My other has a very traditional name but not currently high on the name charts despite being very normal and well known.

Silverbirchleaf · 18/06/2026 12:31

sashh · 18/06/2026 05:13

As someone who was saddled with an 'unusual' spelling I totally agree.

Who decides what is and isn't a name? Look at flower names, Rose, Violet, Ivy, Holly all perfectly normal names but why not 'Daffodil'? 'Aspidistra'?

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I met a Tulip once.

Iarthar · 18/06/2026 12:23

BertSymptom · 18/06/2026 11:06

I think for some people naming children has definitely become a creativity contest and there’s some really wacky names coming from some influencers in particular. (And then others choose to name their children in line with what they think is trendy so the unusual, creative names people have struggled to come up with end up more mainstream after a while anyway.)

I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to want to be creative. I put a lot of thought into naming my children because I wanted something that felt a bit more bespoke than off the peg and my choices would probably be described as “try hard” on here. Although I scour history, literature and the baby name books for a real but underused name, not pluck a word or an assortment of letters and sounds out of thin air and call it a name which I do think is silly!

But a virtue name like Charm isn’t even that out there and it probably wouldn’t look that out of place to the Victorians or the Puritans who loved a bit of that sort of thing, in fact it’s quite tame in comparison to some of theirs. And for every creative name there’s probably like ten Theo’s so it’s all relative anyway.

The Puritans would be horrified by the name Charm! They were more for names like Obedience, Humiliation and FearoftheLord.

Petrine · 18/06/2026 12:04

Parents would do well to think of their baby as an adult when choosing their name. Some names proposed on MN would require very definite traits/abilities. The recent suggestion of calling a child Knowledge comes to mind.

IntoTheArk · 18/06/2026 11:59

It’s not really in the same league as the Christian virtue names though because they come from the more ardent Protestant traditions where luck is generally not a thing, at best, and blasphemy, at worst. To liken them is to fundamentally misunderstand that culture. I agree with people that said it sounds like a stripper name. And with the pp that said if you’d posted that you wanted to name your child this, people would be falling over themselves to criticise it.

viques · 18/06/2026 11:55

MidnightPatrol · 18/06/2026 11:15

You do wonder what the kids will think of these kinds of names when they’re adults.

Although, people do have more unusual names now so perhaps it will be fine.

I am amazed by the popularity of the name Bambi, just seems a mad name for an adult woman.

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Especially since the Bambi in the film was male!

viques · 18/06/2026 11:54

concertinacornflake · 18/06/2026 11:12

I quite like Dandelion !

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I am warming to Charm.🙂