To think my friends' baby names are cruel...

[MummikinsOopNorth]

...and setting her child up for a life of misery?

My friend who is pregnant for the 1st time has been discussing names for her baby. Some of them are fine, except the ones she really loves and are at the top of her list she's compiled. I don't want her child to be the subject of name-calling. Am I being a bit over-the-top and should I just let her go ahead, because after all, it's her baby, her choice.

The ones in question are;

Destiny
Starr
Oskah (fine for a boy with the spelling of Oscar, but for a girl?!?!?)
Diamond
D'amante

Ice
Echo
D'arnell

She also put lovely, traditional names on her list like Isaac, Thomas, Rebecca and Liddiya (horrible spelling she made up for Lydia!). How can I pursuade her to use something lovely?

Ice, Echo, Earth, Wind and Fire. They sound like interior decoration schemes. We'd like the bathroom done in Ice

Can't really imagine a girl or boy called Earth or Space. How about Meteor or Tornado or even Wave? I'm sure there must be a mediterranean looking boy who could carry off Tornado. Wave would have to be a girl I think.

YABU it makes calling the register so much more interesting.
I've had a Cheyenne, Magenta, Merlin, Cloudwalker, Storm, Animal, Noman, Dreamchild, Diamond, Star, Charlie (Charlemagne) Gabriel and Galahad.
Those are just the ones I can remember at the moment. There have been more.

you had a child called Animal?

the others well it is a question of taste I suppose

but Animal?

Someone called their child 'animal'?

I heard tell from a friend whose sister was a registrar of a Pocahontas MacPhee - I still wonder to this day if that was true, or a registrars well known wind-up

Animal is so cool!

Why's Gabriel odd?

Truly, yes. I have no idea why.
Dreamchild called herself DC and refused to respond to any other name.

Smart child

what Tokyonambu said on page 1 (saved me from having to paste the link!)

I've taught three Gabriels and none of them were angelic in the slightest.
One should have been renamed Lucifer. Or Morningstar to reflect his true nature.

Fair point. Just makes me think of Gabriel Byrne.

DH likes the name Fleur but I figured it would be cruel if we ended up with a solid, bolshy DD- went to school with a Fleur who was built like a barn and bloody scary.

YABU, as u say its her baby and she should decide what to call it, without being scrutinised by so called friends.

I happen to know a Destiny, Diamond and a Ice

Charlemagne! That's fabulous. There are twin boys in one of my swimming classes called Alien and Lucifer! Their Mum is pg, and if it's a girl, she will be called Panny. Panny!!

YANBU they are all hideous

Alien and Lucifer

don't think really I could get used to those

I know sisters called Precious and Diamond, and their mum is Mercedes.
I'll admit to having my judgey-pants firmly belted before I'd even met them, and unfortunately they met just about every stereotype.

Names like Destiny and Starr, or ridiculous made up spellings (Sorry, but Liddiya?!) will make some people judge the children. As awful as it is, it's human nature and we can all be judgemental!

But OP, they are not your children and she is your friend so it looks as though you'll just have to lump it and make your cats-bum-faces when she isn't looking!

If I come across Alien and Lucifer, they'll probably be calling themselves Al and Lou.

If people decided to be rude or mean to the kid because of their name, then it's not the kid's fault, nor the parents' fault. It's the fault of the people who clearly have such low self-esteem that they feel the need to belittle others to feel better about themselves. They should then be hauled up on it.

I really abhor this culture of, "Someone is going to be a prick to me so I shall hide from them," instead of, "Someone is going to be a prick to me and I will stand up and fight for my right to be treated well."

I walk home through 'dodgy areas' at night on my own. I'm female and tiny. But I do it because I refuse to let other people scare me away from doing what I have every right to do. I'm not advocating people go into blatantly unsafe situations [it's never going to go well if you wander into a blatantly homophobic redneck town with your other half who's the same sex, and flaunt it] but the majority of people these days seem to all for hiding and acting like doormats, instead of standing up to the few who feel they have the right to rule what everyone else does.

I doubt anyone will be rude or mean to the child because the names probably aren't unusual for where the child lives. What the name does is permanently mark the child as coming from a particular socio-economic background.I don't think the child will get bullied.I do think they'll often have to overcome negative associations when they deal with people from outside of their immediate area.

I don't think kids these days bat an eyelid at unusual names do they? certainly not in my experience ..but maybe I live in a certain part of town

How many African Americans do any of you know? Because I suspect very few. Most of my family are "African American" and not a Toniqua between them.

The names are horrible no what your social class or race or country of origin.

But saying they are "OK for black people" makes you sound like a racist twat.

if someone (companies/individuals) are going to reject an application out of hand based on prejudices regarding name, really these dc will not have the chance to stand up and demand their rights though. It is not like confronting thugs in the street and refusing to let yourself be intimidated. It's less open. They just may not be given the chance.

Let's say you apply for a training scheme or job and your name is one of the reasons your application is immediately rejected because the person sifting through the applications judges you to be not the type of person they want with a name like that. From the OP's list something like D'amante say and they don't think that will be the kind of person they want on a trainee manager scheme for instance. How would you prove it/fight it? You would just get a letter back saying your application was not successful

hehehe @ having a laugh about strange childrens names when you call yourself goblinchild