To not understand why people call their baby...

[smellfunny]

Not to be goady, but I don't understand why people give their babies names with negative connotations or meanings. Examples from the top of my head being:

Cain (murdered his brother in Old Testament)
Hector (hector also being a synonym for bullying someone)
Tristan (this one is a bit contentious because it can either mean 'tumult' or correspond to 'sadness')

Is it just that people don't think about the meanings behind the names? Feel free to add more names to the list...

Bonus name: 'Claudia' coming from the Latin word for 'lame'. I gave this one a pass because it's so established and the connotation is generally unknown...

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that......

So what, Bertrand ?
It's still in common usage, though not that popular.

I think of Damien Grammaticas. Because it sounds like a name from The Day Today, or like a character in a primary school textbook who teaches you SPAG in a fun way. Definitely my favourite go-to Damien.

Well it just goes to show. If people here aren't bothered with the name Damien (the screenwriters of Only Fools and Horses managed to do a slightly scary episode with Del naming his son Damien), just to push the point. Perhaps age has something to do with it. The older/further away the association is, the less people think about it.

That's how subjective and pointless this whole thing is. Everyone's references are so different and leaping to one conclusion based on your own seems utterly daft and narrow minded.

This is just about the most sensible thing someone's said on this thread.

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that

1986 onwards? I don't know how old you are, but I'm much older than that!

Damian Rice, Damian Dempsey, Damian Chizzle, Lewis, Hirst, Duff, O'Donnell. Two of my cousins, my ex boss, 2 kids in my childrens classes, my friends brother......Liz Hurleys kid....

Where I'm from there are loads of them.

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that

1986 onwards? I don't know how old you are, but I'm much older than that!

Damian Rice, Damian Dempsey, Damian Chizzle, Lewis, Hirst, Duff, O'Donnell. Two of my cousins, my ex boss, 2 kids in my childrens classes, my friends brother......Liz Hurleys kid,

Where I'm from there are loads of them.

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that

1986 onwards? I don't know how old you are, but I'm much older than that!

Damian Rice, Damian Dempsey, Damian Chizzle, Lewis, Hirst, Duff, O'Donnell. Two of my cousins, my ex boss, 2 kids in my childrens classes, my friends brother......Liz Hurleys kid,

Where I'm from there are loads of them.

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that

1986 onwards? I don't know how old you are, but I'm much older than that!

Damian Rice, Damian Dempsey, Damian Chizzle, Lewis, Hirst, Duff, O'Donnell. Two of my cousins, my ex boss, 2 kids in my childrens classes, my friends brother......

Where I'm from there are loads of them.

Well, of the 3000000 baby boys born every year an average of about 100 are called Damian. That’s been pretty static since 1996, so unlikely to have been hugely different in the 10 years before that

1986 onwards? I don't know how old you are, but I'm much older than that!

Damian Rice, Damian Dempsey, Damian Chizzle, Lewis, Hirst, Duff, O'Donnell. Two of my cousins, my ex boss, 2 kids in my childrens classes, my friends brother......

Where I'm from there are loads of them.

I just remembered, my nurse the other day had Fanny on her name tag which made me suppress a giggle. Doesn't have the same association here so it's probably not an unusual name but still, Fanny

My ds is called Jude and we always get complimented on it, I don’t know any others. He was actually named after we saw a film with Jude Law in
I originally liked Iago (James in Welsh) but found that non-Welsh speakers struggled to pronounce it, and I loved Reid before dh pointed out the fact that I’m a teacher
I won’t tell you what he said when I suggested Woody (he’s a joiner).
Quite ironic seeing as Jude’s favourite film is Toy Story haha!

I have a son called Cain and I chose it becasie I like it. Couldn't care less what some snobs think of it. It's rediculous that because a Cain was said to me a murderer hundreds of years ago, no one should ever call their kid Cain ?? Maybe you should get a list of all convicted murderers, rapists and robbers and be sure you don't name a child after any of them.

Chardonnay
Sapphire

Have a bad rap since they are seen as "chavy"

Please can we not use chavvy? Horrible term.

"Naming a child after a tragic character who meets a premature and unpleasant death is another thing altogether"
Really though? How many times have you met an Orion and wondered why his parents named him after a character who met such an unfortunate end?

It’s maybe not so much that Cain was a murderer, as that was the murderer. He represents a huge fall from grace (as if the whole Apple incident was not bad enough).

The name never got diluted by pleasant nor ordinary people named Cain as it was that taboo.

Fine if you like it, but it’s not snobbishness to have an aversion to it. It’s tainted for many people in the same way Adolf is.

I taught a girl called Rosemary West, and she was born the year after the Wests' crimes were uncovered, I was quite shocked by that.
I also went to school with a Myra (would have been born in the mid-70s), and have a friend who named her daughter Myra too (in the last ten years). Friend wasn't born in the UK though.

We nearly called dd Dolores, but I couldn't get past the meaning, even though it is a beautiful name.

I've met about 5 Damians off the top of my head. 1 at uni. 1 at work. 1 a friend of my Dads. 2 friends of friends. I never thought about the Omen link. All named late 70s early 80s.

Really though? How many times have you met an Orion and wondered why his parents named him after a character who met such an unfortunate end?

Never. Coincidentally my DD is named after his goddess hunting companion, who according to some sources may have accidentally killed him.

I see the names Jade and Scarlett as entirely positive. Taking them back from the misogynists who like to label women according to double standards of sexuality.

Please can we not use chavvy? Horrible term.

I'd certainly advise again using the name Chavvy/Chavvi.

I was talking to a woman named Isis last week. She used to love her name but is thinking about changing it to Iris now. You can never be sure that whatever you choose won’t end up with some unfortunate association.

I know a young black man of west African descent called Enoch. It will make anyone over a certain age wince but I don't think people of his own age bat an eyelid as they mostly have no idea who Enoch Powell was. I imagine the boy's mother didn't either, as she wasn't in the UK when she named him.

Because people come from different places, have different belief systems and speak different languages. None of your examples hold any meaning for me.