Your babyname 'rules'

Something classic, as in not just associated with 80s/90s etc. Not identifying class/status (certain names are generally seen as "posh" or the opposite, and who knows how my kids will grow up!) Short and not obvious nicknames-any name with more than 2 syllables is always shortened at school.
Initials etc with our surname-most of us remember the stories about the boy whose initials spelled FAT. And the mum who called her daughter Luna when her surname begins with a C. Checking things like that matters to most people.

We didnt have many but:

• make sure initials didnt sound questionable
• I had to like the obvious abbreviations of a name (so I vetoed Francesca that I love because I didnt like Fran or Chess as nicknames)
• no weird spellings
• not super popular - not sure we 100% achieved this but she's the only one in her class and just 2 others in her whole school so I can live with that but it's a multi generational name and won't date her which was the key point

Works in English and Arabic

Not overly religious for anyone

Doesn’t include an unreasonable number of As.

Not already in use by a cousin.

This kept our lists quite short!

i dont want to have met someone with this name, I like really unique

Known but uncommon. Didn’t want my child to be one of multiple in the class. Worked a charm first time round, their name wasn’t and still isn’t in the top 100. Second time blew all that out of the window, I’d never heard another baby (IRL) be called the name. It’s now been in the top 10 and rising for a few years 😂 still love it though.

I don’t understand the Mumsnet hatred for shortened versions of names, I think there are some lovely diminutives that stand up well as full names.

Baby and name are two different words.

No rules really, but the DC all have biblical names and family middle names.

Just went for names we both liked and agreed on.

We both have similar taste so no issues.

I dont want names that end in an S because apostrophes confuse me 😂

Nothing ending in Y because our surname ends in Y, don't like the "Namey Namey" sound. And nothing "popular" like Oliver, Olivia, etc. That's about all.

My dh and I have same initials, I vetoed any names with same initials as us, claire. Clive, chloe and clarence. Can you imagine?
it would be like the village with 3 corners, Jennifer and Jonathan yellow hat etc

Poor Chris Evan's got a mention
Page 22 | A Viscous Attack #4 | Mumsnet

Other than not wanting my DCs to be one of a dozen Ellie’s, Olivia’s, Sophia’s, Noah’s in the playground I didn’t have any rules.

I have a very simple basic name, this Jane Smith, I’ve spent my life correcting spelling and pronouncing my name to people. I’ve been called, Joan, Jan, Janet, Jill and similar with plain old Smith. People fuck up the most basic names so I don’t care about people getting names wrong, myself and DCs just correct them until they get it right.

DH and I both love traditional family names and luckily never disagreed on any names. It took us less than a min to name our first 2 children before we even got pregnant with the first.

No Archies, Alfies, Berties, Teddys or anything twee like that.

No shortened versions as a full name
DH and I have the same first initial, so nothing starting with that letter
Not in the top 20
No negative meanings
No family names
Easy to spell and pronounce
No surnames as first names
Nothing too modern/American sounding

Wow that is fantastically unlikely! :O

My daughter is one of 14 in her birth year in England and Wales but the diminutive of her name is a bit more popular (46 in her birth year) and we’ve heard of two in our town already 😆

Nothing popular or the ones that people call ‘classic’.
No hyphens or double barrelling.
pronunciation shouldn’t need explaining.

At primary school there was a girl with a 'yoonique' name. At high school, there was another one. Never heard of any others.

My only rule was the Duke or Dustman test.

Classic names that wouldn’t date badly
Long with nickname options

We ended up going with two Biblical names that can be shortened

Family names greatly preferred.

Synasthesia meant the first and middle names had to produce a colour that went with what I perceived as the personality of each baby.

No names that are surnames (Harrison, Taylor)
No unisex names, even if they are then spelt differently
No difficult to spell names

Same re synaesthesia. Although mine is more 'nice colours that aren't beige' rather than aligning with personalities. Lots of letters are beigey browny which didn't appeal!

Siblings can't have the same first initial, mainly due to this.

'Low' popularity can be a red herring. One of my DC is a classic, longtime top 50. Have only ever had one other in school over the years, and not in the same year. Whereas there are countless with the same 'unusual' name like Jude, Arthur, Wilf (maybe not unusual now but would have been when born).

1. Initials could not spell a word.
2. A name with a standard spelling. We have a fairly common surname with two standard spellings, so we have to spell it out every time. Having to spell out both first and second names would be too much.
3. Fairly classic name which won't date - in 60 years time they won't have dated, or sound old fashioned or frumpy. Anyone hearing my own name can guess my age, as it went from being very unusual, to top five, and back to rarely used in the space of a decade. My parents honestly thought they'd picked something a bit different, but I was born in the year it entered the top ten.