I am regretting my 3 year old son’s name

[Tealbutterfly]

I really wish we hadn’t called him what we have. I always liked the name, since I was young.
But now it’s become hugely popular and it’s lost its “charm” in my opinion, the charm I saw in it when I was younger.
He’s 3 years old, so we can’t change it.
I’m upset that it has a bit of a reputation now, when before it was a more unusual name to hear.

What do you do if you feel like this? I guess I’ve just got to suck it up really! As we can hardly change it at this stage in his life.

@sailmeaway

Could be worse, you could have a daughter called Alexa...

What’s wrong with Alexa?

Please don’t change it or give him a nickname. You’ll confuse him- he’s 3! Not 3 weeks. His name is his name- not yours to tinker with.

Nicknames need to be organic to work, not forced. Please don’t start calling him something else; poor little boy.

Archie is a perfectly nice name that is still relatively uncommon. Enjoy the name you chose and put these odd thoughts out of your head.

Came for the hornblower reference - still good if you fancy re watching!

Could have been Horatio

My friend’s adult daughter however, is seriously wanting to change her name by deed poll as it is the same as Archie’s mother’s!
Seriously, what a silly sausage she is, she needs to get over herself and step off her pedestal.
If this was adult DD I'd tell her to grow up and get a grip of herself I'd think she was losing her marbles.

@IsItMeOrIsItYou I would imagine it's not the name Alexa, but the device of the same name - "Alexa, come for your tea!" "I have ordered you 20 boxes of tea with Amazon prime" etc

Ah well. You and lots of others.

My daughters name is Ava. There's Ava's everywhere! If I at the park I hear parents shouting Ava all the time! But I don't care because my Ava is unique and beautiful inside and out. She's 4. ❤️

I call mine "Arch". But I'm Australian and we shorten EVERYTHING.

@HedgeVeg

Archie is a lovely name, OP.

If it makes you feel any better, my friend (early 30s) is called Piers Morgan.

I also know a couple of Adolfs!

No you don't!

A few years ago I taught a year group of 50 with 6 Alfies! Half had the same initial.

I have a quite unusual name. I have only ever met a handful of people called it and i have hated it.
I would LOVE to have a name other people have. I am instantly recognisable. Any mistake/ fuck up/ embarrassing moment...everyone knows it is me.
Everyone comments on it etc
It's a bloody burden tbh.
Oh to have a popular name!

I can't believe more than one poster has advised the OP to change her three-year-old's name because she doesn't like it anymore! A child is not a doll or accessory. He's a human being. He's not an extension of the OP. Anyway, what would happen if the OP went off the new name in a few years' time? Would she have to change it again?

Of course she can change it if she wants - some people do. She can’t do it more than once tho, so if she does change it she will have to stick with it.

My grandmother changed her name when she first started school as there were 3 other girls with the same name in her class. Her middle name was much nicer.

A friend of mine changed her son’s name as she and her DH intended him to be called by his nn but schools, official documents called him by the long version and it didn’t suit him.

Her middle name was much nicer.

*ie the one that became her first name.

I think it would be mean to change a 3 year old's name. He'll be totally confused if he's told his name is now James instead of Archie. If he wants to change it himself when he's older that's a different matter of course, but it's gone beyond the stage where the OP has any further naming rights over her son.

If he's happy being Archie that should be that.

Another one here with an unusual name and I hate it, wish my parents had called me Ann showing my age . However broke my own rule eldest DD has a Russian name after my grandmother.

Archie is a great name, and I loved Monarch of the Glen too!
I don't think you can change it now, but it's a lovely name. I do hear you though, my son is Toby, I really wanted an original name that nobody had heard of and Toby was the only one my boyfriend and I liked, although it was more his choice. I don't like the fact that it's a quite a common name, but what can I do?
He's really grown into his name and I love it now. Hopefully you will too.

I’m laughing

I have twin sons and one has a really popular name and the other is called Hugo.

My god I’ve had comments about it. Ranging from:

Hugo? Where did you find that name?

It’s a bit posh

These young folk don’t half come up with new fangled names (ffs Hugo is as old as the hills)

It’s a bit much

He’ll end up a Tory

Archibald?

Can confirm, I met a lovely Adolf in Austria a few years back.

May I also add that by a "few years back" I mean about 8 years ago, not 80!

@Tealbutterfly

His name is Archie. I always liked the name when watching Monarch of the Glen as a teenager. My mum used to like watching Hornblower (the historical nautical drama series) and there was an Archie in that too. I thought it was unusual and liked how it sounded. It’s also a Scottish name and both me and my DP have Scottish ancestry/family connections.

I've an Archie who is nearly 3 and have felt similar, especially since the royal baby. But it's passed now and I love it just as much as I did when we picked it for him :)

I'd wonder about the views of a couple who named their son Adolf. Austria's most famous son isn't one they generally boast about these days. Plus imagine if he moved to...any other country in the world. What a millstone.

I haven't read the whole thread but you could call him Art? I had an uncle Art back in the day and always liked it. Art Garfunkel