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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I am regretting my 3 year old son’s name

251 replies

Tealbutterfly · 09/07/2021 08:08

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.

OP posts:
CharityDingle · 09/07/2021 09:58

It's a lovely name, and I bet he is a lovely little fellow.

DrManhattan · 09/07/2021 09:58

I don't think it was that unusual

Topseyt · 09/07/2021 10:00

Archie is a lovely, strong name.

What the hell does it matter if it is popular or not? I have really never understood the angst about this. If you like the name you use it. It should make no difference at all what anyone else is naming their children.

All three of my DDs have popular, traditional and classic names.

entropynow · 09/07/2021 10:02

[quote CoralSparkles]**@Tealbutterfly* I thought it was unusual and liked how it sounded.*

Archie has never been an “unusual” name. There’s a boy called Archie in pretty much every class at my primary school, from Nursery up to Y6.[/quote]
Oh, it has. No-one was ever called Archie when I was growing up and a youngish adult in the 60s, 70s 80s and 90s.

'Never' does not just apply to the last few years you know.

FlaminEckVera · 09/07/2021 10:04

Archie is a lovely name @Tealbutterfly Don't worry about the Harry/Meghan thing. Most people don't care. Smile

Most people don't even dislike them, and the ones that do dislike them a bit, they just eyeroll at them. H & M aren't some kind of evil monsters, they're just Royal people who made a few choices (and said a few things,) that weren't popular with some!

DD's friend is called Diana - born January 1998, and specifically named after Princess Diana - and she hates the name, and has refused to answer to the name since she was 10 or 11.

She uses her middle name - Elizabeth. Well, everyone calls her Lizzie.

No help to you, and completely irrelevant, but if your son dislikes the name, he can use his middle name.

I think you're worrying for nothing though. Smile

NancyPickford · 09/07/2021 10:06

Archie is a very common name where I live, from old men to babies, plenty of Archies! And not chosen to be edgy or fashionable.

HedgeVeg · 09/07/2021 10:06

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!

PlasticDinosaur · 09/07/2021 10:09

I think it's a lovely name that works at all ages. I really struggle at times with my preschoolers names because they sound too grown up but keep reminding myself they'll be an adult longer than a baby. Archie seems to work equally well at all ages to me.

lottiegarbanzo · 09/07/2021 10:10

What do you mean by 'a bit of a reputation'? What reputation do you think Archie has?

To me it's a popular, middle-of-the-road name, in the cutesie 'ie and a' names mould, prevalent in the 2010s. (Evie, Ava, Archie, Alfie etc). On-trend and completely normal for its time. Nothing bad.

You used that name for good, real reasons, it had meaning to you. You just failed to do your research.

You fell into exactly the same trap many, many parents do, of having a name in mind from when they were younger - a name that came into and stuck in their mind because it was unusual but also conceivable at that time, seeming like a novel yet natural progression - which, for the very same reasons, appeared in everyone else's minds at the same time.

For me, in the late 1990s, it was Isabel, Freya, Eve, Florence and Genevieve, that settled in my mind and seemed so lovely yet so unusual. Perhaps luckily, I didn't get around to having a baby until the early 2010s, when the popularity of all those names had already revealed itself. (Genevieve may not be top 10 but it does a particular job for a certain type of parent. I know two). Had I had babies in the mid-2000s I'd have thought I was being oh so unique, only to find their names on a rising tide of popularity, being boosted into the top ten.

Anyway, you can use a nn that has nothing to do with the name, or use his lovely, normal but less usual middle name, or just carry on as you are, with your own associations in mind and wait for a nn to emerge naturally, from his peers, as he gets older.

ForeverAintEnough3 · 09/07/2021 10:10

Unfortunately most people who think they are being original didn’t come up with the name on their own and with current trend for cutesy names there is bound to be overlap. I had this with 3 friends from different groups telling me they had picked a certain name for their daughter as it was ‘so unusual’ it’s now in the top 5 girls names so their child will be one of many.

If you’re looking for an unusual boys name I recommend Brian Or John! Your child will be the only one!!

Movinghouseatlast · 09/07/2021 10:13

It's a lovely name.

When I was pregnant I chose Eva for a girl. I thought it was quite unusual. A few years later and the world was swamped with Eva's!

You were ahead of the game. You will like the name again, it is just now with the name being all over the news every 5 minutes.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/07/2021 10:14

His middle name is William

Call him Willy .
He'll be delighted to be Archie Grin

sundaydisposition · 09/07/2021 10:16

I like the name, but as PP have said, you could cultivate a nickname.

BorderlineHappy · 09/07/2021 10:17

Even if you change his name from Archie to John.
Who's not to say there won't be another John in his class.
Then what,you can't keep changing his name.

lightand · 09/07/2021 10:18

I never understand these types of threads.
It is perfectly possible and legal[and I dont think very complicated] to change a name, even a child's one.

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/change-a-childs-name

I dont actually know anyone who has done it with a child, but my uncle changed his when he was in his 50s, after years of complaining about his name.
His siblings were horrified. Personally I thought, good for him, but personally actually preferred his old name to his new one.

FlaminEckVera · 09/07/2021 10:19

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

His middle name is William

Call him Willy .
He'll be delighted to be Archie Grin

But Willy like that?

...............I'm here all week.............

Notwavingbutdrowing3 · 09/07/2021 10:19

Your son will end up with a favoured nickname if he wants as he gets older that all his friends and sometimes family too call him , might be nothing like his given name

For eg many boys end up with initial nicknames eg being called AJ rather than Archie (Jones) if it is a popular name. Or if the child himself chooses.

Actually as he's 3, you can give him a nickname now ... as ' goes by' name for school if you want

Regardless, it's your sons name and who he is. They're both royal names now!!

FlaminEckVera · 09/07/2021 10:20

@lightand

Are you going to tell us what your uncle's name was? Smile

Blindstupid · 09/07/2021 10:22

I love Archie. Maybe try falling in with the name again, rather than focusing on not liking it and regretting it?

mrsnoodle55 · 09/07/2021 10:23

Archie’s a lovely name I think. Suits all ages. Just out of interest, are there any Stuart’s out there under the age of 50?

I love the name but it seems it disappeared out of use decades ago.

BreatheAndFocus · 09/07/2021 10:23

It’s a nice name. Yes, there are quite a few Archie’s around, but who cares? It’s his name. Names will always fluctuate in popularity so you’ll always come across others with the same name. My friend gave her child a really unusual name - a few years later there were two others with that name in her smallish village.

If your issue is Harry and Megan, they didn’t even occur to me when I read the name Archie 😊

Lie98 · 09/07/2021 10:23

Archie is a lovely name. Still is unique and not so popular in my oppinion

Whinge · 09/07/2021 10:27

@mrsnoodle55

Archie’s a lovely name I think. Suits all ages. Just out of interest, are there any Stuart’s out there under the age of 50?

I love the name but it seems it disappeared out of use decades ago.

names.darkgreener.com/#stuart

It's on the decline, but in England and Wales there hasn't been a year in recent times where no one was given the name. Smile

lightand · 09/07/2021 10:29

[quote FlaminEckVera]@lightand

Are you going to tell us what your uncle's name was? Smile[/quote]
Can do. I dont think it will be too outing.
Thornley

FlaminEckVera · 09/07/2021 10:31

@lightand

Can do. I don't think it will be too outing..... it's Thornley

Thornley?!

That IS an unusual name. Seems strange to wait until he is 50-odd to change it. But each to their own! Smile

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