Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

What name might you have been called instead of the one you have now

185 replies

wishingwellofhope · 22/04/2009 14:36

My DF wanted to call me Merlin if I was a boy and Gwenevere if I was a girl. My DM wanted Joseph for a boy and Abi-Jo for a girl. I ended up with Abi but secretly i'd have liked Gwenevere

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
messymissy · 28/04/2009 17:41

Harriet!

actually i quite like it and have never met a Harriet so i would have been pleased to have an unusual name.

as it is, i like my name but the spelling is not the usual, so it foxes lots of people and i am forever spelling it out....

Vaguely · 28/04/2009 17:34

Fionnuala (sp??) pron Finoola.
i was horrified to learn that as a child.
i really like it now tho.

angelene · 28/04/2009 17:25

Pollyanna!!!!!

tigger32 · 28/04/2009 17:22

My mum wanted to call me Octavia!! (i was born in October but that really is no excuse) Thank god my Dad put his foot down, oh and she informs me they would have shortened it to Tivvy
Damien if I was a boy

belgo · 28/04/2009 17:13

My mum wanted to call me Harriet, by gran wanted Helen, but my dad got his way with another H name. I do love the name Harriet.

BestLaidPlans · 28/04/2009 17:05

GetOrfMoiLand (and presumably GeekyLass)- another Kirsty here, but since the alternative was Kerrileigh, which sounds like a processed cheese, I'm not too distraught! I'd have been Alexander if I was a boy.

Ninjacat · 28/04/2009 17:03

Effie or Angharad for a girl
Sam for a boy

My solid welsh name was unheard of outside of Wales when I was a kid and is now on the top five list!!!

I quite like Effie

notsoteenagemum · 28/04/2009 16:52

Sophie or Sam if I was a boy. DF wanted Hugo or Hamish for a boy but Mum put her foot down.

CatchaStar · 28/04/2009 16:52

Cassandra or Aaron.

When I think of Cassandra all I can here is Rodney's whiney voice from only fools and horses lol.

I am neither

FairLadyOfMuslinCloth · 28/04/2009 16:50

If I had been a boy I would have been "Martin"...think my firstnmae was te only name my mum wanted for me...

ILoveOurNanny · 28/04/2009 16:33

I would have been Stephen if I was a boy. By the time my brother was born my parents had gone off it.

My dad wanted to call me Rachel, and my mum wanted to call me Margaret. They couldn't agree, so chose something totally different.

hanaflower · 28/04/2009 16:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hophophippidtyhop · 28/04/2009 16:16

james if I'd been a boy, Brandy if my dad had had his choice. I have a very 1972 name, but I don't conform to it's sterotype, so that's ok.

wrinklytum · 27/04/2009 22:14

Kiri (parents were in NZ in early 70's!)

Concordia · 27/04/2009 22:12

Fenella (phew - pleased my mum tallked my dad out of that one). My actuall name is much more ordinary.
Stephen for a boy.

DamonBradleylovesPippi · 26/04/2009 21:40

yama and bebespain I wonder we all have the same name...

I could have been called 'ginevra'

josette · 26/04/2009 21:36

Got called Joanna after a song... could have been a Cecilia or Beatrice.
If I had been a boy, I would have been a John or Andrew

used2bthin · 26/04/2009 21:17

Cara, which I really like. If I was a boy I probably would have been Jamie.

dottyaboutstripes · 26/04/2009 21:14

I was going to be Cassandra but instead they plumped for a name which meant I was one of many in my year at school...they should've stuck with Cassandra, I wouldn't have minded!

Cadmum · 26/04/2009 20:27

My name was Fiona for the first 6 days of my life but when my parents went to register my birth my dad decided that it did not go well with our surname.

The name they chose at that point might have sounded better with my maiden name but is certainly not a name that I would have chosen...

loobyboo · 26/04/2009 20:24

If I had been a boy it would have been Clive Gary or Gary Clive,dad was a big cricket fan and they were cricketers back then, so hences the names
and they had the name rebecca louise for a girl but my nan didn't like it as it would have been shorten to becky etc so it got change and I now have a embarrasing middle name after a women mp of the 70's . So wish to have been called rebecca but that name became quite popular back then and my name was not so.

bebespain · 26/04/2009 20:06

My Dad wanted to call me Nola but my Mum said No Way. I would have loved it! My Mum liked Tara but chose something much more common in the mid 70s. Sigh
I would have been Bradley if I´d been a boy

apsie · 26/04/2009 19:45

I narrowly avoided being called Prudence after the Beatles song, luckily my mum picked another Beatles song for me and called my cuddly toy rabbit Prudence instead.

yama · 26/04/2009 19:26

Mum wanted Louise but Dad nipped down the Registry Office to give me my very 1970's name.

I would've loved to have been called Louise. Sigh.

Pinkmarshmallow · 26/04/2009 19:23

Siobhán

Swipe left for the next trending thread