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Baby names

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Original poster

Synaesthesia in names

92 replies

LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 14:26

Perfectly prepared for most people to think I'm loopy, but it's not just a pregnancy thing - i've always associated letters, numbers and names with certain colours. Does anyone else think they have synaesthesia?

I'd really like to know what names people consider to be red!

I think me and DH both have a red name and I want DC to have one too...

I know it sounds bonkers but there you go... there is a chance that someone else synaesthetic might understand!

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Aviendha · 26/02/2010 11:26

Alexandra is red, and we didnt choose Eleanor because it is blue (dont tell DH thats why!), Elizabeth is also blue while Harriet is brown.

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 23:17

Yellow is my favourite colour

I still see my name as red though.

So pleased there are other people who think like me and i'm not just weird! (Well okay maybe it's still a little weird)

OP posts:
angel886 · 25/02/2010 22:12

I can't help being weird

BessieBoots · 25/02/2010 22:10

Angel, that is the funniest thing I've read in ages. The Helen one especially!

hormonesnomore · 25/02/2010 22:08

"Simon = a potted beef sandwich"

angel886 · 25/02/2010 22:06

I don't see names in colours but I associate them with items. Not sure if there is a name for this or not or if anyone else does it...

For example:
Richard = coffee chocolate
Lindsay = lemon cake
Helen = a head with a bump on it
Peter = potato
Dave = gravy
Simon = a potted beef sandwich
Sarah = butter

hmmm most of my examples are the foodie ones. I must be hungry...

hormonesnomore · 25/02/2010 22:05

I have synaesthesia too, but with days of the week - Monday=royal blue, Tuesday=turquoise, Wednesday=fawn, Thursday=dark green, Friday=grey, Saturday=white, Sunday=red.

Numbers are either friendly (1,2,5,10) or unfriendly (4,6,8).

I don't have it with names though - that's just weird

BessieBoots · 25/02/2010 21:44

Oh my God. I have found my people.

Bessie is the reddest name of all.
Agree that Helen is yellow.
Iris is grey.

Numbers are also in colour for me.

By the way, what colour names did you give your DCs? I have a pale blue and a forest green.

SerenityNowakaBleh · 25/02/2010 21:35

Yes, Cressida's a yellow name.

For me,numbers have personalities rather than colours, but then this leads to problems as some numbers for me have similar personalities, so I mix them up (particularly 4 and 7. All the time).

mathanxiety · 25/02/2010 19:58

Cressida is definitely a light, delicate yellow for me too, Kneazle (and Cressida).

Kneazle · 25/02/2010 19:47

My dd says Cressida is yellow like daffodils and smells like them as well

thinkingaboutdrinking · 25/02/2010 19:47

I had never noticed names being different colours but the days of the week definately have different colours - for me sunday is black, monday red, tuesday yellow, wednesday a greeny-yellow, thursday red, friday dark blue and saturday white. I also see patterns of colour when listening to music - I found it very strange that others didn't!

Kneazle · 25/02/2010 19:41

very interesting I will look that up. Dd is very good with numbers. She sees music mathematically (so she describes it) and that is where she says the colours come in. Fascinating to hear there are others like her. I will do some research.

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 19:18

Cuppateajanice - Yeah Cressida is my name - guess my red might equal your yellow as I defo see Eloise, Elizabeth and Sebastian as red!!

Kneazle I don't get the music one - but there are a lot of different types of synaesthesia- I was googling it today - check out the wikipedia article on it.

I think mine is more visual, and I also get the personification type, esp of things like numbers and I even see mathematical functions like Sin, Cos and Tan as different people, was trying to explain this over tea tonight - my DH thinks I'm batty

Synaesthetic people are generally quite good with numbers, and especially at memorising things like phone numbers, because I guess we have an extra angle to remember them by...

OP posts:
Kneazle · 25/02/2010 18:29

My dd has this. I thought she was making it up until quite recently. She also sees colours when doing sums at school and sees patterns of colour when listening to music. Do you get that as well ?

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 18:23

Hmm I definitely think A is a red letter, buut I would put Ann as blue aswell so maybe I'm not led by the first letter. I can't really see a pattern in it...

OP posts:
CuppaTeaJanice · 25/02/2010 18:19

Is Cressida your name? I would say it's yellow rather than red.

Red names to me are

Benji
Rhianna
Dave
Mark
Ian
Jennifer
Jack
Amy etc...

Yellow names (if your red equals my yellow iyswim)

Elizabeth
Eloise
Sebastian
Lianne
Hollie
Cadence
Oliver
Billy

5DollarShake · 25/02/2010 17:55

For me it's more about individual letters, so the first letter of a name tends to determine which colour it is, but other letters will influence.

R to me is brown, but B is red, so names like Robert and Rebecca are a kind of rusty colour.

B is red to me, so any name beginning with B like Boris, Bridget, Belinda are red.

Synaesthesia is why I'm not so keen on my married name - I like my married name, but when you put it with my first name, you get the colours white and yellow, whereas with my maiden name, the colours were white and blue - much nicer.

SqueezyB · 25/02/2010 17:52

Scarlett? Ruby? Sorry, couldn't resist...

HumphreyCobbler · 25/02/2010 17:50

I am SO JEALOUS of you all.

I want to see names in colour

SoMuchToBits · 25/02/2010 17:42

Sofia is quite red actually, but Ann is deffo dark blue! But Anne is softer blue (more like an airforce blue)

SoMuchToBits · 25/02/2010 17:41

Well I think Margaret, Barbara and Tom are red. Although Thomas is more brown.

But both myself and my twin sister have synaesthesia, and we both have completely different sets of colours for our letters/numbers, so I doubt if you'll get any consistent answers from other synaesthetes.

Actually 4 and 8 are both red - do you think they would make good names?

One of the reasons I hate my RL name is because it's yellow - my least favourite colour. I would rather have a green or blue name.

mathanxiety · 25/02/2010 17:33

Now I see Sofia as a white name. Ann to me is grey.

Bumnoise · 25/02/2010 17:31

A red name to me would be one sylablle(two at most) and quite hard sounding. Like...

Mark
Ann

purlcity · 25/02/2010 17:25

Sofia is my daughter's name and that's definitely a red name in my book.

My husband thinks I am bonkers by the way for thinking like this, so I am glad I am not the only one!