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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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SerenityNowakaBleh · 25/02/2010 16:32

Robert is definitely red. Helen is blue for me.

mathanxiety · 25/02/2010 16:30

Yes, Debbie is red to me. Deborah is brown, though.

crumpette · 25/02/2010 16:28

Sofia, Rocco and Henry

crankytwanky · 25/02/2010 16:00

Most names are blue, now I'm thinking about it.

Snowtiger · 25/02/2010 15:56

There was a really good thread on here a month or two back about synaesthesia, LadyCressida, don't have time to find it now but if you search you'll see there are plenty of us nutters on MN!

For me the reddest name of all is Richard, followed by Henry / Harry. I'm with Lancelottie that Robert is a red name too.

The only two girls' name that I'd consider red (that springs immediately to mind) are Deborah / Debbie and Gill(ian), although I'd class Elizabeth as a sort of burnt orange so maybe that's close enough?

FourLittleDucks · 25/02/2010 15:54

Yeah, totally have it ! So does my Mum - but the colours we both see vary wildly !!
I've tried to explain to people that it really limits your choice of names, and they think I'm a nutter.

Bizarrely, I don't actually see any names as red, not bright red like a pillar box - there are plenty of burgandy etc and variations, but not red itself.

So sorry, can't help you !!!!

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 15:44

Never really thought about the william of orange thing, but there are definitely subconscious links which probably have had an impact!

Agree with the spelling thing and also sometimes nicknames are different to the full name....

and yep Jill is yellow.

OP posts:
Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 15:25

Lol at William of Orange!

Do you find the spelling can affect it? I definitely find Gill (greeny yellow) differs from Jill (sunshine yellow), for instance.

Some colours don't even have the right colour name. Grey, for instance, is pinkish. Blue is much more of a grey colour

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 14:54

Lol. Everyone else must think we need medical help.

I think of william as being orange really but I put them into primary colours to make it easier.

It's the whole combination of the name that changes for me aswell i.e. middle name and surname too - sometimes one part can dominate the rest and decide the colour.

OP posts:
Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 14:50

oops

Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 14:50

You can have Kate, though, and maybe Elizabeth (though it's got pink/yellow overtones)

Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 14:50

You can have Kate, though, and maybe Elizabeth (though it's got pink/yellow overtones)

Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 14:49

Urgh, no, William is yellow-green, and Robert is definitely red...

Lancelottie · 25/02/2010 14:48

Oooh -- I used this to eliminate some perfectly good names for our kids ('No, DP, not Laura, too much of a bluey-grey sound, and Oliver is too green...') but in my (limited) experience, all synaesthetes see things differently, so my red names coud be your blue ones.

And it's really difficult to think of the colour and then the name rather than the other way round!

Here goes anyway:
Alex (red/blue)
Peter (bit pink for me)
Owen

Frances
Helen
Katherine (again, has blue overtones)
Scarlett (yes, I know..., except I see it as more, erm, crimson, whereas Ruby, sadly, is greyish )

Original poster
LadyCressida · 25/02/2010 14:47

Um okay I'm not sure there is much of a pattern or logic to it though. Some examples

Red names to me:
William
Elizabeth
Arthur
Kate

Green names: Alison, Robert, Henrietta, Hannah, Nicola
Blue names: Michael, Sarah, Mary, Rachel
Yellow names: Fiona, Helen, Joanna,

I find it easier when I see them written down than by thinking of the sound...

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 25/02/2010 14:39

B = red

AllieW · 25/02/2010 14:35

Doesn't sound bonkers, but since I'm not synaesthetic please could you give some examples of red names so that I might have some clues?