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?

[tinypop4]

The thing is, just because you think these names sound silly, doesn't mean their contemporaries will in the future. That's because these names are totally common place.
Of course there will be doctors, lawyers, scientists etc called Poppy, Daisy, Kitty,Teddy, Alfie, Archie because so many children have these names. It won't sound unusual, because it won't be, and they don't need more 'grown up' versions of their names, because these will be grown up names.

[MrsJayy]

My own name is 10 letters long I think i was in primary 2 before i could spell it My 80yr old uncle sends me cards with different spellings every bloody year, give your kid easy names to spell

[Silverthorn]

No problem for Teddy Roosevelt.
Do you all think a professional body would refuse to qualify someone because of their name?

[Silverthorn]

Also I have a perfectly average, popular four letter name which is constantly misheard and mispelled. It's even a palindrome. Go figure.

[LemonysSnicket]

I know postgrads by the names of Diamond, Candy and Lovely ... they all were chinese and so had chosen their own 'english name' aged around 14 or so ...

[MrsIcandothis]

"There are two kids called Arlo in my son’s nursery class of 15. And one Arya. I hope and pray she answers ‘A Girl has no name’ when they call the register."

Aww, Arya is also my niece's name but she's half Tamil and Arya is a sanskrit name. Safe to say my sister isn't too happy with the GoT fever. Everyone thinks she's named after the GoT character, that is so far from the case.

Funny how some trends catch on. Arlo and Arya, there is a rhyme in there!

[Spudlet]

DS has one of the names mentioned on this thread... it's a diminutive of a very straightforward and sensible name though, one which moreover has a great many options for shortening. So he can pick and choose what he wants to be as he gets older.

That said, I used to work in a fairly staid and traditional sector and his name as we currently use it wouldn't have particularly stuck out - I think some posters tend to overestimate the levels of traditional-ness in some professions.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

Agree. Names that are sweet for a cutesy little boy are not usually so suitable for great big hairy-arsed blokes.
I dislike over-twee, uber-girly girls' names, too. Give them all a name that won't sound daft if they end up being an eminent astro-physicist.

[Charolais]

Wolf Blizter, American journalist and television news anchor has been with CNN for almost 30 years.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t have an issue being taken seriously in politics, no.

[ButchyRestingFace]

People who call their children things like Bluebell-Fawn, Maddyson-Dyamonds, Hiya, Spartacus and Dodge are indeed setting their children up for ridicule. And I didn't make those up - real names given to babies in Scotland in 2014.

Although the rumour that there is a wee Pocahontas McGlinchey residing somewhere in the region of the Silvery Tay has apparently been comprehensively dispelled.

**

[user1468353179]

Funnily enough, my FIL is called Wolf.

[OCSockOrphanage]

We knew a Wilfred, and he was great, so I like the name.

We also followed the rule of "does the name work equally for a judge or an electrician? Plus, does it have decent diminutives?"

[CruCru]

I think there was a thread a while ago where the OP said that she wouldn't interview anyone with a cutesy / twee name. She got a bit of a kicking I think.

[Rebeccaslicker]

I can't think of any girls' names with 10 letters! My brother and I always used to try and get ourselves thornton's Easter eggs with extra icing as we both got shafted with very short names - he got 11 with Christopher, but I could never get above 9!!

[MissTeri]

My son has an unusual(ish) name, a quick Google tells me 373 per million births. I didn't name him to blend in or be a professional though - maybe he wants to be a rockstar and Brian wouldn't really fit with that. People change their names a lot these days though so it's easy to work around if they didn't like it, most Celebs have changed their name from something more 'normal' and likewise if my child wants to have a more 'normal' name he can change it. I did give him a very 'boring' middle name deliberately so that he can, at any point, just drop his first name if he doesn't like it.

[gabsdot]

You get used to names. My friend called her son Hunter and there were a lot of raised eyebrows. Now it's just his name and we're all used to it.
Wolf is a cool name for a child or an adult IMO

[CruCru]

Alexandria
Persephone
Evangeline
Clementine

[ChocolateWombat]

I agree that most people think of their cute little baby and toddler, not the adult.....hence the fashion for shortened names, rather than giving Full name and using the shortened version for the small child and leaving them with 2 (or possibly more) options for the adult - perhaps a workplace name, or a name for paperwork, and a more casual name.

Of course, many people don't need a name that might be used on important paper work or in meetings or a name with some gravitas. Isn't hat the thing.....Charlie and Dicky and Alfie lack gravitas.
The funny thing is that those with the high end jobs are often known as something really quite daft sounding like Jumbo or Bunny or BIffo - but that is for closer friends and family - they still have their 'proper' name for job applications and official stuff. The slightly daft name might be di revived from their real name or not at all, but a nickname from childhood.

Most people will never need a really serious sounding name and yes, as Alfie becomes hugely widespread it might not really sound like the child's or shortened version of Alfred.....but I do think that people who just name their child Alfie because they like it, do so partly because they haven't thought about the adult only the child and also because they haven't considered their child in a professional role...which of course is fine.

[MrsJayy]

Gabsdot That is true you get used to names and it is just their name btw I know a little Hunter too it doesn't sound so out there after you say it a few times.

[Rebeccaslicker]

Thanks cru. I really like clementine but DP won't have a bar of it for DD2 :(

[Rebeccaslicker]

How did I not realise it has more than 9 letters?! 🙈

[ChocolateWombat]

And name prejudice might be wrong, but it's alive and kicking in the workplace.
People might think Henry or Anna are boring names, but they are unlikely not to interview them becaue of it, even in highly creative or exotic areas. However people can be prejudiced against odd spellings or seemingly made up names. It's just something to bear in mind, because it is a reality whether people like it or not.

[Sashkin]

Who would call their baby Barry?

DH wanted to call DS Barold. As in the long version of Barry (it’s a real Anglo-Saxon name like Harold/Harry, it’s just fallen way WAY out of use).

We went with Alexander.

[FizzyWaterAndElderflower]

maybe he wants to be a rockstar and Brian wouldn't really fit with that

who's going to tell Brian May

Personally I think that you get used to almost any name, and it starts to fit the person.

And if anyone's being ridiculed for a name, then it's the bullies that need to be disciplined, not the name that needs to be changed.