To wonder if other countries have the same desire for unique baby names

[daimbarsatemydogsbone]

Heard a Dad on the radio this morning saying he wanted to call his kid Lucifer as it was “unique”. Does this happen in, say, China?

It does in America.

In Ireland it's a mix between unique and traditional names. Especially a lot of people going back to irish names.

No. Everyone else in the world calls their babies Dave.

@ChristieMalry

No. Everyone else in the world calls their babies Dave.

🤣🤣

I see it all the time that people want unusual names on here but the fact that Oliver and Olivia have been top for so many consecutive years suggests it's not universal even here?
(Oddly I've never met an Olivia but many kids named Astrid, Cole, etc, so things can be less popular on paper but still cluster a lot).
Dc1's name has been top 30ish for years but I've only ever met a couple of other kids with the same name.

I lived in Asia for many years and yes, unique names are a thing there, too. A common theme i saw was to create a new name via a portmanteau of the parents' names. Some monstrously ugly names resulted.

Another common naming method is to use an English word you liked the sound of. I worked with someone called Fischer because his dad liked this brand of rawl plugs. Thought the name sounded nice.

I think a lot of countries have a lot more rigid rules about names, so you are pretty much stuck with traditional ones, Spain is one I think, and maybe Denmark.

The UK and USA don't really have the same restrictions apart from not being offensive, so you have a lot more scope to be 'unique'

Lucifer isn’t even unique. There were 15 people who all had the same crap idea and named their son lucifer in 2020.

Had this in Japan for sure. Big difference between the older primary with more trad names and the very young intake which had ‘creative names’. The head teacher couldn’t make heads or tales of some of those creations 😂 real generation gap
in just a few years difference.

That was ten years ago so they’d be in their mid to late teens now!

Lots of other countries have far more prescriptive rules about naming babies. Iceland, for instance, has a naming committee that rules on names that haven’t been used before in Iceland. France had a list of approved names until the early 90s.

OP why do you think a name was chosen because it's unique? That's quite a sweeping assumption and quite ignorant of society where people have many heritages and cultures. Not a nice thing to assume. It's not a "fad" for someone to refer to who they are.

@Eealoty

OP why do you think a name was chosen because it's unique? That's quite a sweeping assumption and quite ignorant of society where people have many heritages and cultures. Not a nice thing to assume. It's not a "fad" for someone to refer to who they are.

She literally says in her first line that she's posting because she heard a dad give this as his reason.

I've got to say, it's a pity Lucifer is such a no-no, because it sounds quite nice if you don't know the association!

(Oddly I've never met an Olivia but many kids named Astrid, Cole, etc, so things can be less popular on paper but still cluster a lot).

Different parts of UK we've lived in very much have different popular children's names.

We went for more unusual but traditional names - our girls names turned out to be on an upward popularity curve. DS is more unusual and people can be arses about it.

We did this as DH primary years 6 other boys had same name. As an adult IL spent so much time around a childhood friend of DH with same name MIL started calling DH by his surname as they did .

I had an ethically chinese Malaysian friend at university- her similar background friends all had tradiional names which followed pretty/flower lines she was named after a gemstone so she stood out - she both liked and disliked that as it was unusal.

I lived in Spain for a bit where there was a fashion for unique english names, but they were sort of from the wrong generation and in a heavy Spanish accent. Dd was in a class with a Brian, Mark, Lisa, Roy and Carl as well as the standard Maria and Pedro etc. they had absolutely no connection to England or english at all, just thought those names were unique!

I remembered France used to have a list of approved names but couldn't remember when they got rid of it.

I have a unique name because my parents had 2 of the most dull names ever. They both had multiple class mates with the same name and my dad even had an identity theft issue in the 60s despite his less common surname. My parents were fairly conservative as well so my name is not made up/interestingly spelt (well it is a bit - there are 3 ways to spell it). Probably more unusual than unique.

I love it but it's a ballache to say/spell. This my dds have top 20, Jane Austen type names.

In my country there's now apparently a fashion for old English and Scottish/Irish names. Think Mabel, Grace, Douglas, Fiona etc. No connection to England or Scotland whatsoever.

@ChristieMalry

No. Everyone else in the world calls their babies Dave.

From Australia are you? I swear that must’ve been the law here for decades 😂

A family member had her son while living in France and because she wasn’t a French citizen the strict rule about names didn’t apply to her. Damn shame in my opinion 🤣

It depends where you are in the country. I've chosen nature sounding names because of their meaning and I'm not a fan of traditional names. Wasn't trying to be all out unique, but didn't want to pick something that was in the top 50. I thought they were very far out, and was a bit nervous they sounded too unusual, but I've come across two sets of siblings with the same names in the same order and my eldest's name turned out to be very popular, despite never coming across a child with the name prior to his birth. Apparently it's just very popular in my region.

It's the posh/aristocracy names I don't get. I don't think naming your child Montgomery or Hortense is going to put them on a path to riches, but I suppose it's worth a try.

One dad wants a unique name, now it's something the UK is defined by.

Sure love. I'm sure that's how it works.

Lucifer is a no-no in my culture!

Where I'm from, we have traditional names that people generally stick to, including traditional biblical and English/British names - some of which are seen as outdated now.

A lot of "modern" parents have started branching out to 'unique' names but it isn't so widespread beyond the large metropolitan cities.

Don’t know if it’s still the case, but in Greece there was certainly a list of approved names. No wonder there are so many Costases and Marias, not that I think it’s a bad thing, given some of the ludicrous names some U.K. parents saddle their poor kids with.

I can’t help wondering whether the parent who wanted Lucifer, was even aware that it was traditionally another name for Satan? It wouldn’t surprise me if he hadn’t a clue.

There are rules about what you can name your child in Spain.
Some foreigners have had to show evidence that the name they've chosen is an actual name in their country in order to register the birth. It also applies to Spanish people, there was a row a whole back because someone wanted to name their son 'Lobo' which means wolf, some regions allowed it and some didn't if I remember correctly.

I have a common name (for my generation) and DH has a name that I've never met anyone else with that name, now he quite likes the top ten type names and I prefer something less common.

There’s a trend in the Netherlands of naming your DC some made up, Italian/English sounding names like Djajvano, Dylano and Djayden. Horrific names if you ask me.

Only a matter of time before someone calls their child Saten.