To give my child an ungoogleable name?

[MrsMogginsMinge]

Admittedly I'm only about five minutes pregnant, so this is still at the level of a general muse rather than a real dilemma.

DH has a charming, plain, frequently occurring (especially in Wales) surname, which sounds like a first name. You know the sort of thing. My taste in first names is pretty conservative, especially for boys - I like the old school classics, preferably biblical (despite being a godless atheist myself). So future DC is likely to be one of many many people with his or her name.

Is this condemning him or her to a life of mediocrity or secretly a stroke of genius? I'm convincing myself that the greatest gift one could give a child of the 21st century is relative internet anonymity. AIBU?

(Yes, I know, we should just choose a name we like. But I'd be interested to hear thoughts)

My name is common in another english speaking country which is very useful. rareish here. best of both worlds.

keep her/him off the internet until she/he is older. No facebook/twitter/instagram pics or status updates, pics shared only by email.

by the time your embryo is on the internet (ok, in about six years...) you can show him/her how to keep a low profile.

Of course TiggyD, we should just ask newborn babies what they would like to be called. I don't know why nobody has thought of that before.

But seriously, that's sort of my question - is it better to think how useful and practical a name will be to a DC, rather than something which uniquely reflects your own taste? Luckily I seem to have quite generic taste, so win win.

Only two other people share my name (although there are more with a single letter change). One was a murder victim (eek!) and the other lives in NI.

So that appears to leave me as the only person in mainland Britain and the rest of the world with this name.

It could be a curse, but the nature of my current job means that I often tell potential clients "just google me." If freelance colleagues want to refer potential clients to me but don't have my contact details, they can likewise tell people to find me that way. It definitely does come in handy.

On the other hand, Twitter and blogging wasn't around when I was a teenager so there was no danger of leaving the Footprint of Shame on the Internet for future employers to see.

Oh lawd specialsubject - it's only the size of a grain of rice and I'm worrying about it being on the internet already. Getting my maternal worrying in nice and early.

I have a unique name, only one of me on Facebook/twitter etc! But I keep these pretty general and use this screename for alias accounts! Love knowing there's only one of me!

I have a unique name, only one of me on Facebook/twitter etc! But I keep these pretty general and use this screename for alias accounts! Love knowing there's only one of me!

You are GIVING the child a name. It will be their name, not yours. When you give somebody a present you try to give them something they would like. You don't buy them something because you would like it, like giving a vegetarian a bouquet of chops for example

Some threads do 'ave 'em.

OP, it's a good plan, really, because if somebody wants to become google-able they can easily become google-able. Add in the initial Q for example. Or x. Peter Q Jones.

As for TiggyD's point about giving somebody something you think they'd like, nobody can predict what their child will want in 20 years time. But it's easier for an extrovert to jazz up their name than it is for somebody that doesn't want their past following them to become google-able.

Mrs, I think that just it.

There are some unusual names I love, but I couldn't name my child one of them, as honestly, my name has made me pretty miserable at times although it's a fairly nice name, constantly repeating it, correcting people (not once but constantly!) and never being able to be 'anonymous' all put me off using a less conventional name.

yes Pumpkin, reductio ad absurdum as sheldon cooper would say to leonard.

A very common name could have so many hits as to make it almost impossible to identify one particular person.

I share a name with a v famous rock star. The first mention of me is on about the 25th page of google hits.

Open for example a list of Thai names, that will be unusual

Of course TiggyD, we should just ask newborn babies what they would like to be called.

"You baby, your name" is an oft repeated quote with names. The people who say that are typical of the self-centred "me-me-me" selfish people that there are too many of in the country today. They want to do what they want and don't care about the feelings of anybody else who might be affected by their actions.

Give your children names people! Not random collections of letters, not titles of IKEA furniture, not colours, but real names like human people have. If you want to "think outside the box" with a name, try it out yourself first. Change your name by deed poll and try it out. See how many people laugh at you, and how many times you have to explain down the phone that 'Lee' is actually spelt with 4 'E's and a silent 'B'.

And remember:

I'm with you :) My name is unusual - but it's also the name for a few very popular places and a lot of items for sale. I'm deliberately easy to find on the Web and in RL. Even so, I'm rather pleased that Google yields millions of differing results for a simple name search.

It's a great idea to give him a 'normal' name, imo. Or you could call him Teenage Porn.

Do it. DP and I are opposites on this. He has a very common first and surname, a full name that is shared with a Backstreet Boys member, so obviously, he's pretty much ungoogleable.

I, OTOH, have a very unique name, only one other family with my surname in the UK and seemingly the US as well (so nine of us in total, 4 being my family!) and if you google my name I am the only result unless you add a letter to my surname. It is disconcerting. There is a post on a blog of a girl from school claiming that I hacked into her account, which unnerves me because it's obviously talking about me (ad no, I didn't hack into her account) and there are tonnes of things from my teen years online that are easy to find.

As much as I love my surname, it is a curse on the internet!

As for TiggyD's point about giving somebody something you think they'd like, nobody can predict what their child will want in 20 years time.

I think "Leapfrog Trouserburp The Fifth" would be pretty unwanted 20 years from now.

As would:
Ivana Mandic
Willie Stroker
Gay Saylor
Everhard Dick
Mike Hunt
Jed I Knight
All of which are real.

Definitely with you on this one OP! My DS has the most boring name imaginable and I LOVE it! The other thing is that lots of parents are trying so hard to be different/whacky with their baby names that it's probably more unusual to find a John Smith/Bob Jones type name now so win win! You can always give a silly nickname for home (don't think my DS will be impressed with his when he's 15 but hey ho!)

OMG! I used to work with a Mike Hunt. I never noticed the double entendre until now, Tiggy

My husband's name is along the lines of John Smith. Completely googleproof. My boys' names are very common traditional names, think Daniel and William. Funnily enough though "common" names arent that common round here. So maybe once they are adults they will stand out a mile. Who knows?

TiggyD, I think you're on the wrong thread living in a parallel universe.

I would if you google my name i'm right down the list and you have to really look for me , an American porn star is top .

If I've guessed correctly, I have the same surname as the OP.

If you've got one of the really popular surnames, you'll have namesakes even with fairly unusual first names.

DH has a really common first name too ("John Smith" level of things), to the extent that in each organisation where he's worked, there's been another "John Smith". On the other hand, my forename is quite unusual, but because the surname is so very common, there's still lots more of me out there, so I'm ungoogleable too. I like that very much.

Are you going to call him / her "Googlewhack"?

I did get a Googlewhack once, but I'm not sure you'd want to call your DC Donkey Prestidigitation.

Bugger. Should have read the OP properly first.