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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you like your name (and if so, what is it?)

263 replies

redredholly · 03/02/2015 14:51

We're trying to think of a name for our new daughter and I want to find one that is actually fun/useful to have rather than one that we like but is horrible to actually be called.

OP posts:
Hakluyt · 03/02/2015 17:29

Kate. And yes, I like it very much. Short for Cathleen. Which I hate and abandoned never to use again at the age of 4.

OohLaLaa · 03/02/2015 17:30

I am named after a famous marillion song. I hate it.

I tried to find a classic but not overused name for DD. Went with Eliza in the end,people often comment on it.

MelonOfTroy · 03/02/2015 17:34

I love it, FelixFelix, I hope she does when she's bigger too. It's a strong name, purportedly belonging to a daughter of of Titans and one of the Amazon warriors. Grrrrr!

After I had my dd I met an adult Xantha which weirdly I didn't like at all.

fatlazymummy · 03/02/2015 17:36

My name is Anne. I think it's boring as fuck. I used to dislike it but now I don't think about it much.
Oh yes, and I still have to spell it, even though it's a traditional 4 letter name. Most people assume it's spelt Ann.

chillybillybob · 03/02/2015 17:38

don't like mine much. its traditionally a boys name. most people assume its a shortened girls name.

littlejohnnydory · 03/02/2015 18:11

I changed mine by deed poll. I'd always been called by a short version of a longer name (think mother of Prince George) but the longer name on my birth certificate had never been used. It just didn't feel like my name. Caused endless confusion (cheques that couldn't be cashed, exam certificates in different names) and when I discovered that the full version would have to be read out at my wedding, I got so upset by the idea that I changed it by deed poll to the name I'd been called all my life. I don't love it, it lacks imagination and is too common, always felt that my parents didn't care enough to name me anything original.

Topseyt · 03/02/2015 18:14

I'm a Helen. I like it, but it is my middle name and although I love my parents, I really wish they had made it my first name, given that it was in fact the name they wanted to call me.

I don't like my first name much and would rather it had been my middle name if it was going to be used at all. I get fed up having to explain myself all the time.

My top tips - don't call your child by their middle name as it is a total pain in the arse in later life. Also, if you can, choose names you like the long and the shortened versions of.

yellowtaxi · 03/02/2015 18:23

Just to add to what previous posters have said about choosing a name with the 'correct' spelling, please also choose one that is easy to pronounce/only has one recognised pronounciation! 95% of people pronounce my name differently to how I do upon reading it (it has 3 known/accepted pronounciations and mine is probably the least common) and I always find it really awkward to correct people Sad

Alisvolatpropiis · 03/02/2015 18:26

I like my name. It's fairly well used in the UK, I've only ever come across others with the same spelling as me. It is very popular (or has been) in the USA and generally they use a different spelling as the most used form but there are a few.

Same name as the actress, Ms Mills.

DuchessDisaster · 03/02/2015 18:29

I love my name, my Daddy chose it. Other suggestions were Emma, Heather and Demelza!!!
My name can be shortened in 2 ways, both of which are fine by me, even if one of them sounds like a dog or (possibly worse) a poodle.
I chose my sister's first name, I don't think she has forgiven me, but it suits her and I would use it.
In fact, had I had a daughter, she would have been:
Patricia Helen Constanze
I think it very sad that children get saddled with the names of wines or seasons or fruit, but I am clearly old-fashioned.

BeyondDoesBootcamp · 03/02/2015 18:30

Like the other Natalie upthread, i've never had a problem with my name. Popular-ish but without being overused :)

Ludoole · 03/02/2015 18:35

My name is also in a song.
Apparently im "in the sky with diamonds" Grin

sidsgranny · 03/02/2015 18:36

I'm Laura. I'm early 40s but didn't know any others growing up so it felt quite unique. I do like it and it feels like me.

Honeydragon · 03/02/2015 18:38

I can't think of a single rugby player called Amber Confused

DamselNotInHerDress · 03/02/2015 18:41

I strongly dislike all 4 of my names.
First name - a bit unusual (not really though, I now know of one other) and hard to spell, I don't like its pronounciation and I find saying it out loud very embarrassing.
Second name has similar problems although I know of no others with the exception of the famous one I was named after.
Third name is my dms first name which is so hideous even she doesn't use it - why on earth she thought she'd dump it on me I have no idea.
Last name - so common (literally couldn't be further from my first name) and sounds really wrong with my whole name altogether.
None of it sounds right all together.

MarcMaronF · 03/02/2015 18:41

Hated my name as a child, always wanted to be called Sophia. No idea where I got that from!

Don't mind it so much now but it still drives me crackers that no one spells it correctly, also seems that I was given the male spelling.

Whatever way you spell it, it's not a common name in my peer group.

My name is Lindsay

Letmeeatcakecakecake · 03/02/2015 18:43

I've always liked my name, you can't really shorten it and no one ever does, I've never been teased about it ect... The only problem I have is everyone always spells it with a 'c' even when responding to emails and it's clearly spelt with a K

Kara

Trickydecision · 03/02/2015 18:44

I have always loved my name; there are not many of us around. When I was little I resented coming across anyone with the same and hated my dull middle name (Mary) . Now I get miffed because the portrayal in books (Thanks Jilly Cooper) or plays etc. (Thanks The Archers) of my namesakes tends to be negative.

I am utterly useless at folding tee-shirts and towels

MadisonMontgomery · 03/02/2015 18:45

Mine's Alicia. I always liked it, only one in my school with it, but not so unusual nobody had heard of it & I had to spell it (I have a unusual surname so two weird names would have been too much!) Until about 5 years ago, when all of a sudden people started pronouncing it a-leesha, a-lissa etc, and coming up with all sorts of weird & wonderful spellings.

PorkyMinch · 03/02/2015 18:45

I'm not going to say mine, but I had to change it by deed poll because I spent the first twenty years of my life constantly being called the wrong name, which was infuriating.

It was spelt the same as another similar name but said differently. Had problems with bank accounts, cheques, passports, having my name called in waiting rooms, not wanting to correct people that they had said it wrong, people not remembering when they were corrected. Absolute nightmare.

Original poster
redredholly · 03/02/2015 18:46

Trickydecision what is your name?!

OP posts:
darlingfascistbullyboy · 03/02/2015 18:57

I love my name (& always have) - it's in the top 50 or so now but was very unusual when I was a child. My parents were hippies & had done the hippy trail through India & the name reflects that. It's a very pretty name & I had a academic/professional/science career which wasn't negatively affected at all - it was a definite advantage in some cases since I'm memorable in a sea of Emmas, Rebeccas & Sarahs & it is small talk worthy.

(I put that in because of all those comments on baby name threads e.g. 'gosh can you imagine a surgeon or barrister called Poppy faints' ... it won't be long before a significant proportion are indeed called Poppy or similar (I'm not a Poppy btw))

Oh & it is a name which doesn't match my ethnicity Grin

I have never wished that I had a more common name (I also don't have a middle name which I love); my children have equally uncommon but less hippy more pretentious names!

Original poster
redredholly · 03/02/2015 18:59

give me a clue darlingfascist - that's the kind of name I'm looking for!

OP posts:
Treeceratops · 03/02/2015 19:05

Susan. I used to think it was really boring and unimaginative, now I don't mind it. I'm a bitHmm that I've ended up with exactly the same name as Mil. If we ever have a DD we are going to put the unusual name (Minerva after my granny and because we like it) as her middle name.

darlingfascistbullyboy · 03/02/2015 19:06

there's a song of the same name by a guitar legend!

It's a Persian name (one of my kids has a Persian name too) - I'm English. As a child I never met another one - I know a couple now (both Iranian) & there's a little girl at my ds' nursery with the name. There are a few spellings (three I can think of) but that wasn't a problem either.

I wanted to call my eldest daughter Scheherazade to continue the theme but dh veto'd that!