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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU- Someone has used my unusual baby name

530 replies

MmmmDonuts · 09/09/2017 20:32

I wanted my baby to have a one of a kind unique name.
I made up a name that I love. It's definetly never been used before.
(I realise this sounds dodgy already)

Anyway, my baby is 7 months old and someone in my town has just given birth and used the name.
I actually feel really gutted about it.

I realise I am about to be flamed in the comments.
BUt how can I feel less gutted about this? Meh

OP posts:
PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 09/09/2017 23:16

Oh, too slow! Grin

FerretsAreFeminists · 09/09/2017 23:16

And was the TV show that made you realise it was a real name called Clarissa Explains It All?

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 09/09/2017 23:17

My friend likes the name Melena for a girl. Shall I tell her now or wait til the child is conceived to tell her what it means?

DerelictWreck · 09/09/2017 23:20

I think we can assume by the OP not returning that she is embarrassed to learn that Farrah is a popular, pre-existing name!

toastandbutterandjam · 09/09/2017 23:20

FerretsAreFeminists It was indeed! My favourite show.

Was a little odd when my friends knocked and my dad answered saying 'Clarissa's busy watching Clarissa' Grin

Rudedog · 09/09/2017 23:20

Sabrina - the teenage witch!

Melissa Joan Hart got all the unusual names characters...

affectionincoldclimate · 09/09/2017 23:20

The Balonz thread made my day. I'm crying with hysterical (yet subdued laughter as DD is sleeping next to me). Christ on a cross trainer, I needed this today and Gawd bless Mumsnet.

BackieJerkhart · 09/09/2017 23:22

Clarissa!! I knew there was another MJH show I was forgetting the name of. That's the one she had the goofy red head brother her dad called sport all the time?

RustyBear · 09/09/2017 23:24

Toast - you obviously never read Monica Edwards' Romney Marsh books - though maybe your mum did- there was a Clarissa in them, who was always called Rissa for short.

LogicalPsycho · 09/09/2017 23:26

I'm Farrah and so's my Wife

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 09/09/2017 23:30

Clarissa's brother was called Fergus. He was whiny shit.

Pardalis · 09/09/2017 23:31

I haven't read the whole thread. But ascertained that the OP hasn't divulged the name.

Has anyone hear ever suffered psychological damage because they have the same name as someone else on the planet?

Second question. Has anyone got an unusual name/unusual spelling of a name and on at least one occasion been frustrated at having to spell it out/been called something entirely different due to the unusualness?

Third question. Has anyone got an unusual name/spelling and found that their life is exceptionally profitable/magical/mind blowingly amazing as a result?

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 09/09/2017 23:31

Sorry, it was Ferguson.

Yukbuck · 09/09/2017 23:32

You really don't need to worry about the name outing you op. It won't out you because Farrah is quite a popular name these days!

BackieJerkhart · 09/09/2017 23:32

Oh yes!! She called him fergface Grin

Pardalis · 09/09/2017 23:32

apologies for 'hear' instead of 'here'.

My normal name prevented me from proof reading properly

YouTheCat · 09/09/2017 23:33

Wasn't one of the 'Fat ladies', of the cooking programme fame, called Clarissa?

HulaHoop12 · 09/09/2017 23:36

Balonz made me cry with laughter, just brilliant Grin

BackieJerkhart · 09/09/2017 23:36

Yes that's right you!

YellowPaisley · 09/09/2017 23:42

Shatners 😂😂😂

Tiredtomybones · 09/09/2017 23:43

I was reading Phryne as Fearne. Fearne is a pretty name too.

amermaideindesguise · 09/09/2017 23:43

.

silverbell64 · 09/09/2017 23:45

Just have your child in mind rather than yourself when choosing the name that they have to live with.

I knew someone called Shicuntala.... not a good name Grin

Witchend · 09/09/2017 23:46

Rusty she wasn't often called Clarissa though, and Jim Decks called her Rissole a couple of times.

BertieBotts · 09/09/2017 23:51

Unfortunately there's no such thing as an original thought. And there is a limited pool of "sounds which belong in names" which is very cultural, especially so if you've chosen one which is obviously either male or female, and there are trends in names which we all unconsciously seem to join in with, which is why whenever you pick what you think is an unusual name (even if it's a recognised name) it suddenly turns up in the top 500 a year later and every child in the playground looks up when you call yours.

So although it's a nice thought, while you might have created a hybrid or a word which isn't traditionally used as a name it's really unlikely that you're the ONLY person ever in the history of the universe to have thought of it. And even less likely that you're the only person in your local area at the current time with a baby of the same sex. It's just bad luck if they've used it too but it's not really personal. I still think it's unusual enough to only have ever heard of one person with the same name!

One of my friends likes unique names and has combined bits of other names to make her kids' names but once you've heard them, you see them elsewhere! It's just one of those unavoidable things, as humans we like patterns, and we aren't as unique as we like to think we are.

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