Do you know anyone whose name doesn't suit them?

[Louwheeeeeze]

I name-changed for this, since I'm about to reveal my actual real name...

I'm a Louise, and I've never felt that I look like one. It just doesn't suit me! I think of it as quite a feminine name and I'm a big clumsy oaf who can break things that other people wouldn't consider to be breakable. But at the same time, I always think that Louise sounds ugly, with all the emphasis on that "wheeze" sound at the end. It's just about ok when French people say it, but alas, I am English.

Do you know anyone who has a name that just doesn't sound right on them? I sometimes see on the Baby Names board comments like "We were going to call him George but when he arrived he just looked like a Sam" and I wish my parents had had that sort of ability when I was born.

I once met a young attractive Norbert. Granted he wasn’t from the UK but I just really didn’t think it went well with him.

I’d be interested to hurst about people who r changed their name by deed poll and how irksome it was in terms of telling everyone and changing documentation. I feel I have to live somewhere new and start afresh.

Hear

Mine. Its a little similar to my username and doesn’t suit me at all. Doesn’t help that where we live its pronounced even worse as the language isn’t english. I’ve wished i was Holly since being around 5…

My name is a typical 80’s name and there was 4 in my class. It’s fine, I don’t really have an opinion on it either way.
My gran hated her name and used her middle name but the called her first born the name she hated!
I worked with a Daisy who was a goth.

I have a name of the Karen/Brenda/Barbara generation. I'm mid-30s and people are always surprised I'm not older! I was very nearly called Kylie though so think I dodged a bullet (I'm very much not a Kylie!)

Had an ex called Ben. Didn't suit him at all - he was a bit bird like, all sharp angles, I feel like Bens are softer featured (and also kinder!).

Howling!

What is your name out of interest? I love s lot of the welsh names.

This is all fascinating, especially the PP who thinks of Louises as being big clumsy oafs - suits me down to the ground, then! I do agree that sometimes you associate particular names with people you know, and they become the embodiment of that name for you. I have a friend with one of those names that usually belong to much older women (my mum, for one) but to me, she is what someone with that name looks like.

I'd also be interested to hear from anyone who's changed their name about how much hassle it was. How old were you and how long did it take for people you'd known a long time to start using the new one? Like a PP, I imagine I'd have to move away and start a new job for it to work.

I worked with a Juliet, who was on annual leave when I started my job, so I only heard about her for a week or so. I was imagining an elegant, willowy woman. Not the stocky, dour, brusque to the point of rude person she actually was!

I do know a graceful Grace, though.

I’m another one who knows a completely joyless Joy! She even has a really unfortunate permanently turned down mouth. And she’s bossy and mean.

I was given a name from the 1930's but I was born in the seventies. It has never been popular and it is a horrible, harsh sounding name.
My middle name is equally awful so I can't use that.
My Dad didn't like it either, I just wish my Mum had put a bit more thought into it.

Quite a few girls at school have wistful, graceful names and they really aren’t. Also the lad with the stereotypical “naughty boy” name who is on his way to Oxford.

DH doesn't suit his name at all. I've called him by his surname since we were teenagers. At our wedding lots of my mates were really confused by his actual name 😂

@hadenoughofhisshit - yes (but without an E, just for extra granny points)

My pompous, very posh ex husband had a very normal first name for his age, born 1965, like Paul or Andrew. His middle name would suit him much better; being of the Jolyon, Edmond tone.

I have a very dated naff 80s name; I attended Oxbridge and a fellow student’s mum commented: “Oh that’s not a name you would expect an Oxbridge student to have.” I already disliked my name, but this cemented it for me. I know people make assumptions based on it.

See l love the name Grace but no way it would have suited my daughter! Way too much pressure!

Oh my goodness, that was incredibly rude and stuck up. Some people ...

My name is exceptionally old fashioned, NOT a classic, just awful. Everyone had a granny with my name when I was growing up in the seventies and I was often told it didn't suit me. I still hate it. If I say it over and over in my mind, it has a pleasant sound, yet in the real world it is almost universally disliked. It also gets confused with a couple of other equally old fashioned names that will never come back🤣

Apparently it was an option for me… it would not have worked!

The other misnamed person that sticks out is my acquaintance Poo. She's Thai and it's a very popular name there though, so although to my ear it obviously doesn't suit her, in Thailand it doesn't mean the same thing at all and is perfectly lovely.

It's not this one, is it?!

We're making the observations about some of the 'virtue' names, where the person's name is the same as the word in English; but what about when the name means something in a different language (or from a more obscure linguistic root/specialist term) that really does not fit the person?

Names like Melena (or that are pronounced the same).

A boy called Thomas who is not a twin.

A very pale-skinned girl called Ebony.

A grumpy storm-cloud of a person called Felicity.

A Christian who turns out to be an atheist.

A Rex who is not a dog born in very poor and lowly circumstances.

Even people like Roman Kemp, who I believe is actually British!

We went for it.
There are different types of Grace and it actually suits DD very well

I know a Joy and bless her she's far from Joyous !