To think people should take naming their children seriously?

[DreamsOfDownUnder]

Do they not imagine their name choice on the top of a CV or whatever when naming their child 'Ballerina' or 'Buttercup' or 'Tulip'. I find it tends to more girl names than boys.

My industry (creative, pretty lucrative) would be more interested in a CV from a Tulip than a Catherine.

That’s not necessarily right either. But the point is we don’t all have to be auditors in a big four accountancy.

lovelylondonsky
Any teacher who says you can tell what a child will be like by their name is being really judgemental.

It's reasonable to say you've observed certain trends though.

E.g. One school I worked at there was a trend clearly over a few years of swapping c for k and adding random ys into names. On balance, the (mainly girls for this trend) girls with silly made up spellings tended to be the ones who were always in trouble. It's not their name, it's that the type of parent who goes out of their way to bastardise a name to make it youneek and fashionable are often the types who tend not to support school.

Equally, there's certain names that crop up lots in affluent middle class areas that end up disproportionately represented in the category of arrogant 'but if you say anything to me then my mum will be down arguing that I didn't do anything and I couldn't do a detention because it's inconvenient around out clubs'.

Such a huge percentage of the next generation are going to have way out names that it will become the norm.
Both my DC have traditional names, both were the only ones in their schools to have these names.
I don’t judge children or their parents by their names. I know a very wealthy upper middle class lady who named her daughter Jordan 13 years ago.

*Sexwale

I like unusual names and mine is very unusual. I find it a good conversation starter and people tend to remember me for my name which can be nice. I’d rather have my unusual name than be an Emily or Gemma

By the way precious is a common name in some African countries....

Tuppence Middleton does OK I guess! My DC have fairly old fashioned/traditional names (they are the only ones who have their names in school) but in the NHS I worked with a lady called Precious. My god she was fantastic. A better nurse I couldnt have hoped to have on my team - caring, considerate, knowledgable, truly compassionate, just an all round wonderful human, with a beautiful soul. Don't judge people based on things they can't help.

Englebert Humperdinck’s real name was Arnold Dorsey.

An interesting article on the subject: www.businessinsider.com/what-you-name-your-kids-will-affect-their-success-2016-9?r=US&IR=T

Even my fairly boring name (which has been mentioned on this thread as a name the creative industries wouldn't necessarily look at) meant there were 4 of us in my class at school. Surely an alternative name ensures this doesn't happen?

Names like Precious and Blessed are often found in African communities.

This is a nasty little thread, op.

I know someone who used to work in recruitment chose a very unusual name for their child - purely so it would stand out on a CV.

Think English pronunciation of a European name. In the short time I knew her, her main complaint was people pronouncing it the European way, when she wanted the English pronunciation. How you are supposed to get that from a name written down, I don’t know.

She got her wish - everyone at the local baby clinic knew her because she was ‘that’ mother who always complained. I’m just hoping baby, now a teenager, has changed the spelling to the English version as I can’t imagine they would want the palaver every time they meet someone new,

@Miowmix - 'buttercup' is racist is it ? What race is being discriminated against ?

Some companies now assess cvs 'blind: ie with the name blackwd out so that they can nor discriminate based on the name. To be honest when I have shortlisted for interviews I have not been at all interested in the name. Then when shortlisted have always had to justify why some people are called to interview based on scoring the application form. There are no scores for the name!

Frankly, these days I’m more amazed by parents who run their eyes down a list of names in current use and still somehow plump for boring old Matthew or Thomas or Harry or Olivia or Jessica.

Engelbert's real name is Arnold

@UnicornBrexit disingenuous and you know it. I don't think the entire point of the thread was about the name Buttercup, do you?

My given name at birth is Scheherazade. Seriously, I was actually christened Scheherazade.... but once I was old enough I was allowed to be Sherry, and at nearly 65, I’m still Sherry

Who really give's a shit what your name is? It's YOU as a person that counts, and you turn your name into who you are as an individual.

" but I knew that every time she would come to work I would stand up stiffly and say "Hello, Clarice" in a deeper, voice..."

That just makes you quite the prat then.

I’d rather have my unusual name than be an Emily or Gemma

If you call your daughter Mary she's pretty much guaranteed to be the only one in the town. Call her Yooniec-Butterkup and her teachers will have to add a number to distinguish her from the other four in the classroom

@FiddlesticksAkimbo
You wouldn’t believe it, that is my DD1’s name!! Mary obviously, not Yooniec-Butterkup

I've just googled Tokyo to confirm his surname is spelled Sexwale and not Sexwhale, that it could be taken as sex-whale had never occurred to me. (Probably because I heard it pronounced before I'd seen it written.)

Anyway, more relevant to this thread is that "Tokyo" is actually not his given name, wikipedia says he is "Mosima Gabriel Sexwale". (Although the wikipedia article is titled "Tokyo Sexwale".)

DD2 has a much more unusual name...more in line with Tulip and Buttercup so I’m afraid OP would be appalled!

Some names are just hideous... it just strikes me as funny that (typically) you have two people who both think it's a nice name and have then agreed on this name together... the odds are surely slim 😂

Saying this though I remember being on a Facebook group with quite a different audience to mumsnet (think more netmums) and many were gobsmacked that anyone would think the name 'Lucifer' was less than delightful.

I just know if I picked something totally random and odd it'd get vetoed by the dad. And the same the other way around. It surprises me that many very out there names slip through this process.