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Baby names

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Original poster

What's wrong with making up a name?

80 replies

hopperdee · 21/03/2010 00:10

I've met a couple of people with names made-up by their parents (one was called Thogdin but it does actually suit him). It might seem odd but if you think about it, every name was new or made-up at some point in time so is it so wrong to add a few fresh ones to the mix? Do you have a name that you've made-up and would love to use (but might not be brave enough to use)? or have you met any?

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Bumperlicious · 24/03/2010 09:56

Interestingly, I didn't realise that the name Mercedes was a name before it was a car. The car was named after a racing driver's daughter.

Shakespeare did make up a lot of names (and a lot of currently used English words), so if he can do it anyone can! As someone else has said, if it is a nice name it doesn't really matter. Weird spellings are worse than made up names.

tortoiseonthehalfshell · 24/03/2010 05:12

Heee. Thanks, Tiggy! I like the trait names I posted, and I have a penchant for spinster-librarian names (my daughter is Edith) so that works for me.

I wonder if I could get away with Antigone for HDD2...

SmileysPeepul · 22/03/2010 16:42

I've often ponedred why 'abella' is not used more freely as a suffix as is is with Anna and Is.

It would work wityh lots of other names:

Emabelle/Emabella
Katabelle/Katabella
Clarabelle/Clarabella
Mayabelle/mayabella
Rosabe lle/Rosabella
Imabelle/Imabella

etc etc and so forth, I'm sure you get the idea.

but don't worry i'm not having any more children, it just struck me that the 'abelle' names are very popular but the potential untapped!

seeker · 22/03/2010 16:40

The Tiggy I know is short for Agatha. She will kill me stone dead if she ever finds out I told ANYONWE this, even a bunch of total strangers on the internet!

thumbwitch · 22/03/2010 16:30

I thought Tiggy was short for Antigone..

TiggyD · 22/03/2010 16:22

Miss Nightingale was named after the girl from the Magic Roundabout.

"Tiggy - Patience, Constance, Prudence - are they chavvy?". Ok, 'trait' names can be split into chavvy names and spinster-librarian/mad-old-cat-lady names.

Tiggy is a good name to call a baby, although it seems to be used for pets nowadays. But now I've chosen it I've got to stick with it.

twosofar · 22/03/2010 16:19

What sends me over the edge are things like 'Malandra'...when Malcolm and Sandra put their heads together to come up with something yooneek

Rockbird · 22/03/2010 12:23

I don't so much mind made up names, although some can be daft. What's worse are names like Chardonnay or Skoda or Tresemme which are already in existence but used for something else entirely. That's really daft.

yellowflowers · 22/03/2010 12:10

Hilarious Armstrong and Miller sketch on that link

MamaLazarou · 22/03/2010 12:02

Taya is quite a popular name in Russia, I think. It's very pretty.

I thought I had invented the name Pilot, only to discover that actor Jason Lee discovered it first (it was vetoed by DH for being too weird, anyway).

I quite like made-up names, as long as they're not too silly and don't contain creative punctuation.

Di'monae is awful, though. What IS IT with names ending in 'ae' these days? Enough!!!

SusieCarmichael · 22/03/2010 11:34

chevonne is very popular where i live, i wouldn't personally use it but i do like it (funny enough the reason i wouldn't use it is because i know so many)

i honestly think it depends on where you are from as to what is thought of names tbh, where i live no one would bat an eyelid at di'monae

each to their own, most people i know would call old fashioned names ugly and most of my friends at school had 'made up' names, although actually quite common names around here, it has never made their lives difficult and are surrounded by people with 'hard to spell' names anyway

its no different to foreign names really is it? and in this day and age with so many people being able to travel i think there are loads of different names about and i think its nice

MmeLindt · 22/03/2010 11:24

lol at Di'monae (had to scroll up to see how to spell it even after reading it 20 times on this thread, so you can see how much trouble that poor girl is going to have).

I am not fond of made up names. Even if there are a few who have become popular and made it into the baby books, they tend to have been names of characters in a book, not given to real life babies. It has then taken a while for them to become popular.

A FB friend of my cousin is called Chevonne, I noticed today.

CaveMum · 22/03/2010 11:06

As has been said by others, older names meant something.

For example, to use a name that has been quoted: David is derived from the Hebrew name Dawid which in turn came from "Dwd" which means "Beloved".

I did once hear a man say he didn't want to call his son Adam (for all you name buffs out there it means "Man") because he "didn't like modern names"

Doh!

abride · 22/03/2010 08:47

The point is that names originally meant something--they weren't just a collection of sounds.

Walter Scott made up Fiona, apparently. There is a meaning but I can't find it anywhere.

cory · 22/03/2010 08:37

Oh dear, Di'monae almost has me converted to the Seeker standpoint. Otherwise, I was going to argue along Stickyfinger's line and quote Wendy and Pamela...but I don't think I can be bothered...feeling a bit overwhelmed...

5DollarShake · 22/03/2010 08:22

Trailblazers, even!

5DollarShake · 22/03/2010 08:20

Of course all names were once made up, but it doesn't alter the fact that for the vast, vast majority, being the creator of a new names comes with the collateral damage of being assumed chavvy. And it's your child who bears the brunt. Is it worth it? Clearly yes, for some.

Plus, isn't it interesting that so many made-up names fall by the wayside very quickly? I really don't see Di'monae or K&K's Epponnee Rae sweeping Grace and Emily off the top 100 any time soon.

The ones that do last the distance usually have that certain something that proves only too elusive to those who fancy themselves as, err, trail-brazers.

piscesmoon · 22/03/2010 07:47

Miranda isn't a name that I like-although it is better than many made up ones.

JoeyBettany · 22/03/2010 07:17

Yes and Florence Nightingale's sister was called Parthenope, also a Mediterranean town.

It's just luck, how one name sticks and the one doesn't.

mathanxiety · 22/03/2010 03:53

SusieCarmichael, there are some languages that include clicking sounds and the first time I saw a name with an apostrophe included randomly I kinda wondered if it might be a name from a language with a clicking sound...

thumbwitch · 22/03/2010 01:37

has no one mentioned yet that Shakespeare apparently made up the name Miranda?

Kitkatqueen · 22/03/2010 01:28

Tiggy is apparantly a legitimate shortening for the name alexandra. Some princess somewhere who was called Tiggy in the nursery and it stuck, is now a legit shortening. I'll find the exact details if i'm pushed but i'm being lazy tonight
HTH

thumbwitch · 22/03/2010 01:20

I was thinking about Epponnee Rae, then I saw BitofFun's link and I thought this link might be fun for those of you who haven't seen it before... It's long though, so don't start it tonight!

At about 7:15 in, you get Epponnee's full name...

tortoiseonthehalfshell · 22/03/2010 01:16

Tiggy - Patience, Constance, Prudence - are they chavvy?

PMSL at "hull" for a baby.

nooka · 22/03/2010 01:05

Of course all names were originally made up by someone, but over time the really good ones will survive, and the fairly rubbish will be used the once and then never again. If your child is happy to be the guinea pig for something new, then that is great, but the trouble is that it is not the child that makes that choice. I think that if you have a yen for a really new, different, creative and original name you should really bestow it on yourself.

But I don't think that means you have to go for the highly traditional or very popular names and be one of many. One of the reasons why I find it difficult to understand why people make names up, or choose weird spellings of names is that there is such a huge range to chose from. For example I have a very unusual name, never met another (although they are about), but it has a provenance going back to the 14th century, which I like.