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)

Classic name with an unusual second name should they decide on a career in show business or something that it would be handy to have an easily searchable profile for?

I can find mine very quickly [both married and maiden] but thankfully it's only because of LinkedIn. Doing stuff like using a charity page for an event, or even using using your whole name when you make a donation makes you searchable if your name is unusual.

"in some professions it's really valuable to have your name come up in the first google results, or to have a unique/easily identifiable name. (thinking of scientists, but I guess also artists?)"
but then they can choose to call themselves fifi windbreaker pink frilly boo in a proffesional capacity.

that's why my unique surname is useful (professionally)

but i would like to be less identifiable personally, so i would consider using dp's name if we married on that basis

"but then they can choose to call themselves fifi windbreaker pink frilly boo in a proffesional capacity."

more recommended for an actor than for a stem cell researcher, though! :)

I had one of those Welsh surnames before I got married. I also had a very common first name. There were three of me in my school, so probably thousands in the world!

Now that I am married, with a very obscure surname, I am the only me in the world. I love it!

I went from being the only person with my name on FB to being Googleproof when I took my DH's surname.

I'm in two minds about it - sometimes I really like the anonymity, and it makes me feel safe. If you Google Imaged my old name, for instance, it came up with 6-7 pics of me in my old job (nowt dodgy, just a bit unusual!) and anyone looking for me would instantly know where I worked and how to find me.

Google my current name, and you get reams and reams of pics of a slightly skanky-looking model, followed by a lettings agency and a maker of ceramics. If I'm on there, it's on page 247,000.

On the other hand, I do kind of miss the 'special'-ness of an unusual name. Not that I'm saying that frequently-used names aren't special - but I liked the rhythm and complexity of my old one.

Sorry, that's not much help in making a decision . . .

As a scientist, I was advised when starting my PhD to publish including my middle initial. I have done this on the vast majority of my papers and it is useful because it means google scholar calculates my h-index (more or less) correctly and anyone in my research field can easily find my work. I suppose it is the equivalent of more unique name for work and more common name for personal.

With face recognition technology, it's very well possible that you will no longer have to look up someone by their name, but by a photo you have of them instead. Let's hope it doesn't come to that mind you, but looking up things the traditional way of google may not be what's done in even a few years time. The internet is still very young, and still evolving. It hasn't been here very long and how it's used could change drastically at any given moment.

My name is very googleable btw. But I like it that way as it brings up my company page, linked in, and makes it easy to employers to look me up to make sure I'm telling the truth on my resume. I made my facebook unsearchable in settings though, so that will never come up on google, and it will never come up in facebook search. :)

Having a common name won't help you.

If you have just a couple of other details about a person - eg a place or another person associated with them - you can often google them.

You can now 'delete' yourself from google if you wanted to. Which is possibly the best way to go now.

And as pointed out above technology which uses your image isn't far off.

There are other databases to search to find information about someone too.

Facebook - viral mesages and sharing information makes it much harder to hide too. So if you know a friend of a person with an uncommon name, you can search them and then look at their friends to find the right Jo Bloggs.

If someone REALLY wants to find something about you, then the chances are they can.

(You lot really do appear to be google stalker amateurs!!!)

I would be more concerned about how much attention you pay to small print, copyright and sharing data rather than the name you choose for you child tbh.

That's a good point SquigglySquid - maybe having an ungoogleable name is going to become about as useful as having an ex-directory landline number, because of facial recognition technology, individual tattooed bar codes, Google retina implants or whatever.

And RedToothBrush (cross post)

Perhaps IABU in assuming my future DC is going to be a teenage internet idiot, rather than an eminent research scientist although I do know what genes they've got to work with

TBH, I think you need to teach kids about internet privacy and the consequences of sharing regardless of their name, and thats what you have to be conscious of, rather than assuming that a common name will somehow protect them.

I have a unique name, even with DH's surname. Luckily, my online presence is very, very low profile so there's not much Google-able about me.

But when I was pregnant with DD, I swore that I'd give my child a common name because my unusual name is one that is always remembered, but easy to forget how to say and spell. Her name ended up being pretty middle-ground.

Congratulations btw OP. It's an exciting time

If they want to join equity or become an author they'll need a unique name so a couple of useable initials on the middle name(s) are useful if you've a popular first and surname.

Op , I think you are right.

My name is very Googleable, and when i was self employed I actively tried to get it "out there".
Now even 6 years after I have tried to slink into anonymity, (in a different country) and I am the first 7 pages of Google with my name.

With DS, I have given him a name which is easily pronounceable (my biggest bugbear when growing up) and local to where we live so DS can blend in.

I have never been able to be anonymous and sometimes it would be really relaxing to blend into the crowd....

I have a namesake, she's a vet in New Zealand. I'm quite pleased there's just the two of us :D

Its incredibly easy to find anyone online, usual or unusual name.
It's a hell of a lot harder to find a particular "John Smith", than it is "Bananahammock Oojamaflip"

Having an unusual name will be very useful in the future when her descendants want to trace their ancestors
I'm more concerned about what it will be like for my children during their lifetime.

You can now 'delete' yourself from google if you wanted to
That is very limited. It won't affect all search engines, only Google and only in Europe.

I agree with Tiggy about made up names and bizarre spellings.

I was at Uni with a Mike Hunt. Favourite student sport used to be to get the tannoy lady in the Student Union to ask if anyone had seen him...

We gave ds an unusual name. Not made-up, but a historical name that has fallen out of use in the UK. We have quite a common surname and it seemed like a good balance - we gave him two vanilla middle names so he can use those if he prefers.

But I was a bit freaked out, when I googled him, expecting to find no mention, only to find out that some weirdo has collated a list of people descended from a well-known historical figure, from whom dh's family is descended. And they'd not only found our wedding announcement in the paper, but also the birth announcement for ds, and recorded it in their creepy stalky list.

And they'd not only found our wedding announcement in the paper, but also the birth announcement for ds, and recorded it in their creepy stalky list.

Thats family history for you.

Its VERY VERY easy to trace family lines though family history websites and their databases.

Which is why I made the point about it not mattering if you have a common or unusual name. All you need is one or two additional pieces of information.

I'm ungoogleable despite having an unusual name. It's not to do with the name it's to do with managing your online footprint.

There another person with my name who comes up when you google me but there is nothing about me anywhere. Even if you add in extra details.

I am only on the 'edited' electoral roll and have ensured my details (and my families) are not on 192.com by returning THIS OPT OUT FORM

Otherwise I don't give out my real details to anyone unless they have a legitimate reason. I use disposable email addresses, fake birthdates/addresses/phone numbers etc and I have enabled all the privacy features possible on my phones and computers. No search based advertising for me

If I get asked for my details in shops (whitestuff etc ) I politely refuse.

I don't have Facebook and my kids all use recognisable but altered versions of their real names and fake birthdates.

I get almost no junk mail, marketing crap or even spammy emails and I think it's partly because I am careful about my online presence.

I know I sound a bit nutty but it's easy enough to take these precautions and I like the fact that my details are kept private. I think it's safer. It wouldn't matter if my name was really common or really unusual.

I googled myself last night and nearly fainted when it is me that comes up first. I do not like that at all. My sons are not on page one of google but dd is and I have told her to delete what she has put on line.

It's a hell of a lot harder to find a particular "John Smith", than it is "Bananahammock Oojamaflip"

Well, only if you don't know them a little. If you know his friend, you can search them on fb and go through their friends list and find him that way. I make my fb unsearchable by google or facebook search, but if you really want to find me, you'll find me. It just keeps strangers and employers from looking me up and making a biased opinion.

I'm the only me on the internet and went through and made EVERYTHING super private and deleted discarded twitter accounts from when I was a teen I'm the only me in the world, I have a weird last name. So weird it doesn't even MEAN anything and I'm convinced one of my ancestors was illegitimate or had an illegitimate child and made up a random name for themselves/the baby out of shame etc.

PFB will be the only one of her, too. I checked. She would have been if she was a boy as well. DPs early relatives came to England from Ireland and refused to drop their Irish spelling of an already rare last name. Most others took the new version willingly and it's a totally different name. Think Smith to Smythe. Everyone else with it is related to him