To think most parents these days don't consider their baby's names for when they are adults..

[LondonAnne5]

Just that really.

I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen someone post a picture on their feed of their newborn with a name that is either really, really different or something that the child may not enjoy being called in the future when they are a teenager/adult...

E.g. Billi Mucklow naming her new baby boy Wolf Nine. It's different, yes and okay when he is a baby but I'm just imagining a professional middle aged businessman named Wolf and can't picture it.

I grew up with a very different name that is often mispronunced and is also a bit "babyish" for my age now which I do find awkward in a professional environment.
AIBU and alone in thinking this?

Ive never worked anywhere where being called Marley would raise an eyebrow and Liberty is a perfectly normal name (the oldest Liberty I know is 73 so its been around a while). I think most Mumsnetters must live in Surrey's stockbroker belt based on their inability to deal with anything more exotic than James, George and Ellie (short for Eleanor).

My great aunt who's 93 is called May.

I have a 15 year old Ella who I named after my great great aunt and I had no idea how popular it was. There were 4 Ella's in her primary class.

Absolutely barbarian. On these threads I become convinced that most of mumsnet is from tunbridge wells and their biggest ambition in life is for their DC to become accountants.

Keith Richards first daughter was named Dandelion but goes by Angela which was her middle name. Seems sensible solution to me if you going to give a slightly edgy first name then give a more normal sounding middle name. The child can choose later. If I recall same thing happened with Zowie Bowie, Davids first child

I have never, ever heard of somebody being bullied for having an unusual name. Like, ever. I don't know what small country towns you people come from where anything even remotely exotic is ridiculed, but let me tell you, it is not the norm. At least not out here in the big wide world, anyway.

If you want to give your children safe, pedestrian names, then by all means do it. But don't accuse parents with a bit of imagination of letting their children down.

I really dislike the trend for WW2 names that are so popular at the moment. Everyone seems to be doing it.

What's a WW2 name?

Spitfire?
Panzer?
Blitzkrieg?
Dunkirk?
Patton?

Couple of points,

Pixie McKenna is always trundled out on these threads. Her name is Bernadette. Pixie is a nickname. And Pixie Lott is Victoria.

Xavier isn't a Spanish name - Javier is. Same root but pronounced differently.

I do get the "names going" thing - if you've already got three children called Elizabeth, Charlotte and Alexander, you're hardly going to consider calling a fourth Betsy-Doughnut or SparklingSunshine.

I think what the poster upthread said about "fitting in" is hugely important. I want to give my kids the ability to fit in anywhere, whatever they want to do in life. A standard name helps you do that. If you're Emily, John or even something more unusual like Rosalind or Gary, you're going to find other people with names like yours whether you're working in Asda, the NHS or a merchant bank. Call your child something yoo-neek like Peysonn, Nevada, Myah-Laya or Khloey (all real names given to girls in Scotland in 2016) and they're not going to fit in anywhere.

Do you mean naming children after their grandparents haveacup? Cause yes, that's unreasonable.

@Lweji names that were popular during WW2, obviously.

I often worry about this. DD has an unusual name which everyone says is beautiful and it's quite pretty, but I worry that the prime minister or CEO of a bank shouldn't have a pretty name.

Xavier and Javier are different forms of the same name. Of course they are pronounced differently in different countries - bit like Michael / Mikael.

Feeling people only fit in if they have the same sort of name as you fits somewhere between classism and racism. I mean it exists but not in a way I'd pander too. Luckily more and more people are open to the idea of social and racial mixing these days, including businesses.

Names do go in cycles of generations, so any name which was popular 80-100 years ago is likely to come back into fashion as people name their DC after recently deceased fondly remembered grandparents, plus enough time has passed for the name to be seen as retro rather than old ladyish.

Seriously though what is a WW2 name? Same as babies born during WW2 or same as adults of that era?

Ww2 baby names England and Wales

www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2011/06/1944-to-2009.html

I don't think wolf is so bad.....not my cup of tea but I don't think I'd question it especially an adult male. Nine however seriously naming your child after a number is a bit odd. It's sounds like some weird code when you same them together wolf nine poor kid.

I'd maybe have called him Ulfr which is the Norse word for wolf or something along those lines or not.

I do think the cutsie type names that are popular to give your child at the moment are just as bad though.

I'm used to weird though as I grew up with a lot of children with hippie parents. Zephyr anyone?

On a side note. Does anyone think that the names we know as Jamie Oliver's kids aren't really their names? Iv always thought he was bamming us up there.

I am with you Barbarian.

Where I have worked there have been people with all sorts of names, some old fashioned, some made up, some from a different culture. Nobody was ever bullied nor prevented from climbing whichever career ladder they wanted to.

Same goes for the schools my dc have and are attending. Lots of interesting names in the top A-levels results for example and I have never heard my child or any child laugh at an unusual name.

And this being London with plenty of you-neek people and forrinners I guarantee you all that the old fashion names are quite in the minority.

If this is what we stop and judge and discriminate I thoroughly despair.

I've got a 'Jeff'

I do feel sometimes people forget the affect the name they give their child will have on it and their future. There is a 2 year old at one of the groups I take my 2 year old too called Lucifer. Seriously. He is a lovely lad but I do wonder how much of a negative impact it will have on his life

**newmummy34

I do feel sometimes people forget the affect the name they give their child will have on it and their future. There is a 2 year old at one of the groups I take my 2 year old too called Lucifer. Seriously. He is a lovely lad but I do wonder how much of a negative impact it will have on his life

Really ??? “negative impact it will have on his life” a bit extreme here aren’t we??

I have a very unusual name - absolutely hate it but it never stopped me from having a successful career in banking for over 10 years!

As an employer, there hasn’t been one moment where we have ignored an applicant’s cv due to their unusual/ non - traditional/ foreign name ! I have never whitenessss this in my career !!! I work with traders , corporate lawyers and actuaries with all types of unusual and traditional names and no one bats an eyelid when their names are mentioned!

Its the mentality of people like this which encourages bullying. We should teach our kids to respect each other regardless what the other Person is called!

Nope, sorry. I am by no means "parochial" and I don't have a problem with unusual names at all - my DS has one. But that's not the same as thinking that "anything goes". It's no-one's business but the parent(s) what a child is named but there are some that are ridiculous.

I stand by Marley being daft - it's like called your child Fido or Rover - and whatever you think people do make judgements based on a name.

* As an employer, there hasn’t been one moment where we have ignored an applicant’s cv due to their unusual/ non - traditional/ foreign name ! I have never whitenessss this in my career !!! I work with traders , corporate lawyers and actuaries with all types of unusual and traditional names and no one bats an eyelid when their names are mentioned!*

This might be true but it is true that you form a judgement and make assumptions about the person initially and you can't deny that might impact how you judge them. It's the same reason some companies have a policy of omitting names from CVs initially. I have tossed a CV before because the applicant listed a ridiculous, teenage style email address (think "[email protected]) and it clouded how I interpreted ambiguous bits of their CV.

Cherry2727 I think you have deliberately tried to make my comment seem harsh. The fact that I do wonder if his name will affect him does not make me a bad person OR a bully. You have stated that YOU have had a hard time due to your name, I just hope he doesn't suffer the same.

Does anyone think that the names we know as Jamie Oliver's kids aren't really their names? Iv always thought he was bamming us up there.

Seeing as birth certificates are public documents and the press will hang round a registrars on the off chance they get a scoop, its highly unlikely that he's announced this interesting name choices without anyone from Wapping going and actually paying the 11 quid to look at the damned thing.