If you could have changed your name as a child,what would you have chosen

[reesewithoutaspoon]

Inspired by another unusual baby name thread.
I remember as a young child hating my boring normal name and wanting to change it.
So glad I kept my name instead of becoming 'crystal star twinkle' that my 6 year old self insisted I wanted to be called.

Penelope

Anna-Maria

Tres posh. I had it secretly on my girls names list but only had sons 😢

My real name is Michelle and I hated it as a child and I also hated my surname as people used to take the mick as it almost rhymes.

I told everyone I met as a child that my name was Daisy Wilkinson.

I also went through a phase of wanting to be called Elaine - out next door neighbour was called Elaine, she was soooo pretty and glamorous and always wore purple fluffy mule slippers like this.

I probably would have chosen Jemima or Leila- I was obsessed with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music 🤣

Birgitta, as in the bookish Von Trapp daughter, or Sorsha, from Willow.

Probably for the best my parents ignored me!

Heidi
I was also envious of anyone whose name had many syllables. I saw length as glamour.
I was dazzled by a girl I met in hospital whose name was Shusharna. I thought it was beeyewutiful.

Brooke because I was obsessed with River Phoenix ❤️

Christina. No reason, I just liked it. Apparently it was on the short list of names for me.

Tracey. Several of the cool girls were called Tracey.
Then I went through a stage of wanting to be Samantha or Joanna.

At various points in my childhood,

Silky or Moonface (Thanks Enid)
Laura (Little house on the Prairie obsession)
Pollyanna
Heidi
Barbie
Sophie (best friend)

My own name is very bohemian and I had a neglectful childhood so think that I craved to belong or to be ‘normal’. Thank goodness I didn’t change my name to Silky! 😂

Caroline. Always loved it. Still do.

I went through phases depending on what fictional obsession I had at the time.

Age 6, I wanted to be Lyra as I loved His Dark Materials.

Age 8, I wanted to be Amelia because of Princess Diaries.

Age 11, I wanted to be Arya, after an elf in a book called Eragon.

Had an Emma phases when I was really into Jane Austen when I was about 12 too 🤣

Thankfully I remained Louise. I love it as an adult. You don't meet too many people with it as a first name, and it's pretty and classic!

Also a brief flirtation with Elaine as I thought it sounded glamorous

Somewhat similar to above, I always loved the name Annette as a child as I thought it was glam. I remember my mum laughing when I told her.

I mused for a bit about using it for DD 10 as her middle name (she has a very dull surname so would've sounded like a frumpy 60 year old if her first name). I've just looked it, no baby Annette's are being born anymore.

Elizabeth, Margaret or Madeleine because of all the nickname possibilities. I have a very boring one syllable name that was popular in the 1970s. 🙄

Crystal. I have no idea why…

Lara. Always felt like a Lara.

I wanted to be called Lucy from the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe

Stephanie, I was obsessed with Grease 2.

Carrie, Jennifer or Harriet.
They sounded like sensible, posh names.
I’ve never liked my name. As a kid I thought it was common and I think it’s really dated now. You don’t get kids called it anymore.

Monica Edwards, not Monica Dickens.

I wanted to be Louise (had an older cousin who seemed very sophisticated to me), or Anne (Famous Five) or maybe Lucy Ann (from EB Adventure series), or something fairly ordinary as my name was unusual in my group (although quite common about 10 years previously). I quite like it now.

Ds wanted to be Sam for ages for the simple reason it was easy to write.

@BatshitCrazyWoman that is the best children’s book ever!

I wanted to be called Linda or Carol.

Paloma, I was determined to change my name at 16 and also I was moving to Spain. I did neither...unfortunately

Sylvia. There was one on Heidi-Hi! I thought it was so glamorous.

Mitch.

Ha!

At 5: Joanne (like the girl down the street whose name I coveted)
At 8: Elizabeth
At 12: Juliette
At 15: Eleanor
At 20: something flowery like all the posh girls at college - Cordelia, Camilla, Lucinda, or similar;
At 25: I came to quite like my own name and have been happy with it ever since (think something very plain, Biblical, boring and 1970s, like Jane, Sarah, Lisa or Claire but not any of those!)