Do you like having an unusual name?

[WeAreNow]

Just that really.

DP thinks it’s mean to give baby an unusual name as people will struggle with it. All of the names I’ve suggested are unusual. My name is really common, there were 4 of us in the same class with the same name at school and I always wished I had an unusual name.

So my question is if you have an unusual name do you like it or do you wish you were called something a bit more ‘heard of’? If you don’t like it, why not? I know there will be usual problems such as not being able to find things with names on in shops but I’m not sure of other reasons!

YABU: no I don’t like it
YANBU: I like it

Oh and I’m easily googleable as well, first name and city or first name and county and I’m the first result.

I just put my wife's first name into google - nothing else - and she's on page one.

When I had my first I gave him a prefectly normal but not in common usage name. I think it was in the middle 300’s of baby names that year. By the time he started school it has become very popular and was in the top 10.
My second son I did the same but his name has never regained the popularity it had in the 60’s and I have never met another his age wapiti the same name even though it is a perfectly normal name with only one spelling and one way to pronoun it.

Oh and I’m easily googleable as well, first name and city or first name and county and I’m the first result

This is a very valid point I’ve never actually thought about, thank you, I will take that on board.

@WeAreNow

I have an unusual name, but people rarely get it wrong. (Or spell it wrong.)

I hated having it when I was a child, but love it as an adult. (Have loved it since was 16-17 years old, and am now mid 50s...)

You do have to think carefully about what name you give your child though. Mine is actually a nice name, and I get compliments on it, but some people do give their child(ren) some odd and weird names these days!

I really love my unusual name. It’s probably more that it’s not very common rather than unusual/unique. But it’s a classic name that everyone knows and I’ve come across about 5 well known brands that use my name, plus a couple of famous people, and some literary and TV characters. So no-one ever spells it incorrectly.

But I was the only one with my name in my school, college, every workplace I’ve ever worked at and in my entire life (late 40s now) I’ve only met 3 other people with my name (not including the famous people as I’ve never met them ;-) ).

But that’s what I like about it - the fact that for most people I meet I’m the only person of that name that they know, it’s distinctive and people rarely forget my name. I personally think it’s a pretty name too. Happy my parents chose it.

“I just put my wife's first name into google - nothing else - and she's on page one.“

Ooft, luckily my first name alone brings up Greek myths.

I have a known name but not very common. Which I love - and even now I don’t like hearing anyone else with my name ! at school there were a sea of Lisa’s, Debbie’s (4 in our class !!) Susan’s - so I was glad to be different. Downside as a child was there was never anything with my name on .

@NatashaAlianovaRomanova

DS has an unusual name he's the only one registered in Scotland between 2000 & 2018.

I still get the look followed by the extremely polite "where did you get DS name from cause I've never heard of it so I can't imagine why you picked it?"

He's 13 now so at that stage of awkwardness & just asked him if he minds having an unusual name his response was "it's just my name".

It's an actual name though & his full name goes so well together I'd be gutted if he wanted to change it at some point in the future.

That's another problem. I'd love to change my name spelling but my mum would be very upset by it.

I just don't think it's fair to saddle a child with a name that will cause them issues and they will feel pressured to keep it and the annoyance because it will upset their parents.

If your son loves it then fine, but that wasn't something you would have known in advance.

I love my name and the unusual spelling. However on holidays at pontins I was always gutted because I couldn't buy any of the personalised crap like the pens, badges and mugs.
I also heard a child being shouted for in Aldi the other day and let me tell you, living in the north where the accent is as broad as you can get, hearing a woman bellow "Renesme, hurry up, bus is comin" just didn't sound quite right! 😂

I hate it. Always have, always will. It doesn't suit me.

My name is unusual, haven't met or heard of everyone else with mine. I see pros and cons...
Pros - conversation starter, get lots of compliments, adds to my uniqueness
Cons - always have to spell it and usually pronounce it two or three times before ppl get it right, not being able to get anything with my name on it, always being asked about the origin/why I'm called that/what does it mean...
I've a foreign name spelled the anglicized way. I think I would prefer a more known name.

I wish I had a common name.

Usually, it's why I picked it, I only get irritated when I give my name, and people start saying/writing unrelated more common names like I've mis-said/mis-spelt my own name. No one around me did that when I started using it and that caught me by surprise that people would just say back an entirely different name.

My DD2 has an unusual name (a 'top 3000' names with a small handful per year) and we've had comments about not having heard that before a few times, but it's an old classic name that's fallen out of use so most at least get it even if they've not heard it before and there are books with characters with the name (which was a strange priority I had when pregnant, finding children's books that had protagonists that shared the names of my list). She says she likes it and has no issues with it.

DD1 with a lot more well known long name, but that has meant other people tend to mess with her name without asking because they think they can guess how she prefers to shorten it (usually because that's how others they know with the name do it, though she's never met another with her name). It's been a source of occasional irritation, some days more annoying than others like me with my name, but generally she likes it.

I have a name that’s known as a normal name but it’s unusual as I’ve only met one other person with the same name

I hated it as a kid. Now it’s just my name

I know someone on MN who’s name is Loki. I think that’s awesome but I do wonder how they felt when they were growing up

It depends on how unique and unusual it is and also pronunciation and how easy it is to get wrong.

I have an uncommon but not unusual name, the only other person I've met with my name was an old man who lived on our old street when I was about 5! Certainly no other girls at school or ever since. (Clue: the Halloween movies)

I love my name, I love the reactions to it now even though I felt awkward in my early twenties. The only thing is I always get the alternative pronunciation which is a pain so I spend a lot of time correcting people.

I have a Cornish name. There were three classes in my year at secondary school. Each class had someone with my name, so it wasn't weird or unusual and no-one got it wrong. I now live elsewhere and find that some people misspell or mispronounce my name. If it's a one-off interaction, it doesn't bother me. If I see someone regularly (such as a work colleague), I'll correct their pronunciation and they usually get it right after that.

DD's name is also an uncommon Cornish name. If people read it, they usually mispronounce it. DD is good at explaining to people how to say it. She likes having a 'special' name.

Mine is unusual.

It's a pain to have to explain your name every single time you are introduced. It's not fun or cute. It's a pain.

Just give your child a nice normal name. They do not have to have a unique name just because you did not like yours being popular.

I'm now 50 and I am still explaining my name to people that I meet. 🙄

I've got an unusual name that 90% of people mispronounce. But you just get used to it. I'm more shocked when people say it right, It's never really bothered me.

Although I know what always gets said before I have a jab or a medical thing where they have to try and distract me 'so, where's your name from? It's very unusual. Are you Irish?

Mine is a weird name but I was always the only one in the entire school with it (nobody with my first name or my surname). I’ve since heard of others having the same first name but only ever met one person. However, I wouldn’t class it as unusual as such because it has always felt like a name others have always heard of even if they don’t know someone with it.

I think some boundaries of ‘unusual-ness’ are helpful. Y’know, not Adolf, but Xanthe is fine.
I work in education, and I’ve seen/known the following - Zebedee, Bathsheba, Red, Rainbird, Scheherazade, Blue, Honey, Krystle, and Uhura. (Few names of their time, with Tv links there!)
Other than a ‘oh, hmm’ first time I saw/heard the names, I don’t really consider them ‘odd’, just memorable now. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Go with what you like, but avoid Dictator/Mass Murderer connotations, would be my suggestion.

I have a not much used first name that is not English. It gets mispronounced and misspelt. Every time I go somewhere where my full name is used, it gets mangled.

I like my name, but I don't like hearing it mangled. I cannot teach someone to say it properly. Just slightly wrong is almost as bad as completely wrong.

The misspellings tend to be quite strange. The number of syllables tend to stay the same, the first letter the same, but the rest are a bit random.

I've found that in the workplace some people find it amusing to poke fun at my name, or they say something like 'I can't call you that, I'll call you ... instead'

As a kid my name wasn't on any of the souvenirs, which I only minded because I thought my name was old fashioned and frumpy. My name is quite fashionable for little girls, whereas Michelle, Nicola, Suzanne and the like aren't.

Mil has a beautiful, almost unique name, which is easy to spell and pronounce. However it sounds similar to a very common name, so that is what people tend to hear and use. She said that she would not want her name inflicted on a grandchild.
We have DD a top twenty name, with MILs name as her middle name. I love it. I think unusual names work very well as middle names.

Mines fairly uncommon, hated it when younger but like it now

Never met anyone with my name as unusual in this country. As an introvert it helped flag me up at places like school and work. Although it is memorable it isn't silly or hard to spell so never been teased or mocked for it. My maiden name was equally very unusual and overall I rate unusual names because they have really helped make me stand out a little and stay in the memory.