Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Aibu to think the name suggestions on mumsnet are awful a lot of the time?

121 replies

hcarter8 · 11/09/2023 16:17

One thing I've noticed on Mumsnet is that people never actually suggests the type of baby names that the OP likes/asks for example if someone came here and asked “what’s are good sibling name for?”…. And their first child’s name was what mumsnet would call a a “ trendy and American” name like Paisley, Hunter, Harper, Jaxon Etc. (i don’t really like these names but I’m using them to prove a point) a lot of the people in the comments don’t even suggest similar names, the suggest old classic names like Josephine, Ophelia, Atticus that are clearly not the OPs taste.

Like if the OP has a first child with a trendy name like Harper they won’t won’t their second child to be called an old name like Olivia will they. I do feel like there is genuinely a lot of snobbery that comes into it aswell, like a lot of people on here try to make the parents choose a “classic” name because they themselves don’t like the modern ones even though it would look silly and out of place with their first child's name. Sorry for the rant it’s just been something I’ve noticed here recently.

OP posts:
DerekFaker · 11/09/2023 19:06

The most recent I saw was the name of a type of cannabis so I wonder if the poster actually took that on board...

Was it Skunk?

aspirationalflamingo · 11/09/2023 19:09

Atticus and Skunk would be a good sibling set.

mewkins · 11/09/2023 19:12

Breezycheesetrees · 11/09/2023 16:48

It does make me snort when somebody asks for suggestions similar to whatever, and posters reel off a list of about 20 names that are in no way similar, it's just a load of names they like. I think there are a lot of people on the baby names board who just like listing names, like the man in Best in Show who likes naming nuts.
*Edited for typo
**Edited again for another effing typo

Edited

Macadamia nut....pecan nut....😄

AffIt · 11/09/2023 19:14

Rounee · 11/09/2023 16:28

YANBU

Tiberius and whatnot

I'm from Glasgow, but spend a lot of time in London for work.

A few months ago, I was having a potter about Parson's Green and - I swear this is the truth - got cut up by a youngling on a scooter, pursued by a middle-class daddy yelling 'Tiberius! Look out for the lady!'.

Tiberius. Jesus Christ. 😂

mewkins · 11/09/2023 19:25

My favourite thing on baby names threads is 'if you're going to call her Pip then don't FOR THE LOVE OF GOD put Phillipa on her birth certificate or someone can literally call her whatever they like as a nickname. This is just BS.

My dd has a long name on her birth certificate but literally everyone knows her and calls her by the shortening (that we chose before her birth). Because that's how both she and I introduce her. It causes zero problems.

IWasFunBeforeMum · 11/09/2023 19:29

I don't know why people seek approval of strangers for their baby's name!

FrostieBoabby · 11/09/2023 19:42

I like sibling names that aren't matchy matchy as long as they're names I like, won't set them up for school bullying and are suitable for an adult as well as a cute baby so no Bertie, Molly, Polly, Teddy, Bear etc.

In 20 years those lovely siblings will fly the nest, head off for their own lives and only return for high-days, holidays and funerals and matchy sibling names make no odds as they'll hardly ever be in the same room together!

TheTenthDoctor · 11/09/2023 19:49

Aw this thread is reminding me of when DH seriously wanted to call DS Spike.

I'm glad I didn't start a thread about it now.

Goldbar · 11/09/2023 19:50

I know this thread is general, not specific, but I do not understand the love for Artemis and the like on here.

aspirationalflamingo · 11/09/2023 19:50

FrostieBoabby · 11/09/2023 19:42

I like sibling names that aren't matchy matchy as long as they're names I like, won't set them up for school bullying and are suitable for an adult as well as a cute baby so no Bertie, Molly, Polly, Teddy, Bear etc.

In 20 years those lovely siblings will fly the nest, head off for their own lives and only return for high-days, holidays and funerals and matchy sibling names make no odds as they'll hardly ever be in the same room together!

Bear Grylls seems to be doing okay.

GodDammitCecil · 11/09/2023 19:55

I enjoy the threads where someone is asking for middle name suggestions, and you get ‘helpful’ people coming on to suggest Rose, Grace and May.

Such, imaginative names, that would never have occurred to someone in the market for a middle name. Grin ‘Oh, wow, Grace - yes, why didn’t I think of that?’

Literally no-one needs to be suggested Rose / Grace / May.

Lulubo1 · 11/09/2023 19:55

My sister knew a girl who called her first daughter Delilah. Lovely name. Then she got pregnant with a boy and everyone begged her not to do it....she did it anyway, she named him Samson!!! If anyone knows the Bible story, it's not a good idea to have siblings called Samson and Delilah. Oh man, it is so cringey!!

LusaBatoosa · 11/09/2023 20:04

FrostieBoabby · 11/09/2023 19:42

I like sibling names that aren't matchy matchy as long as they're names I like, won't set them up for school bullying and are suitable for an adult as well as a cute baby so no Bertie, Molly, Polly, Teddy, Bear etc.

In 20 years those lovely siblings will fly the nest, head off for their own lives and only return for high-days, holidays and funerals and matchy sibling names make no odds as they'll hardly ever be in the same room together!

None of those is a particularly outre name. Molly and Polly are both very ordinary, in fact. Why would anyone get bullied for being called Polly?

romdowa · 11/09/2023 20:04

I actually enjoy the baby names threads. Even though some are absolutely tragic and you get some posters who are just foaming at the mouth at the thoughts of someone giving their child a name from a different culture, even worse if its not spelled phonetically. My sons name would send them over the edge , irish , unusual with silent letters and my husbands very unusual cornish surname

YukoandHiro · 11/09/2023 20:07

Mojodojocasahaus · 11/09/2023 16:54

All roads lead to Rhodes

😂😂😂

KnobbingtonKnobberson · 11/09/2023 20:09

romdowa · 11/09/2023 20:04

I actually enjoy the baby names threads. Even though some are absolutely tragic and you get some posters who are just foaming at the mouth at the thoughts of someone giving their child a name from a different culture, even worse if its not spelled phonetically. My sons name would send them over the edge , irish , unusual with silent letters and my husbands very unusual cornish surname

Caoimhín Poldark?

ParrotPaula · 11/09/2023 20:10

I think the whole thing about bullying is a bit silly too.

My stepdaughter is called China which a lot of of people would tear to pieces on here and it's not massively taste either, but she was never bullied for it. On the flip I went school with a Stephanie who was called Ste-Panties.
The difference was DSD was popular, the girl I went to school with wasn't. I don't think having a certain name will cause someone who otherwise wouldn't be bullied to get bullied.

ConsistentlyPeeved · 11/09/2023 20:22

I laugh at the snobbery around people who think -may/ mae names are awful.
Well that's part of my DDs name and we love it.
I don't like classic names to be honest. However that is my preference. I've never come on here and said a name is awful apart from when someone said they were going to call their child ab-si-Dee and spell it abcde

mathanxiety · 11/09/2023 20:28

I find the threads where someone wants to use an Irish name really interesting.

Best class of stupid comment ever is the one where someone can't understand how little 4 year old Daithi or Caoilfhionn will ever manage to learn the spelling of their own name.

Plus the casual racism and ignorance - "That name just looks like consonant soup to me lol", and, "Won't somebody think of the children!"

Apparently an Irish name is destined to be an unbearable burden to any child lumbered with one, and having to spell your name and pronounce it for strangers is going to blight a child's life.

And who can forget the ' Sorcha pronounced Soresha' battle...

unvillage · 11/09/2023 20:42

aspirationalflamingo · 11/09/2023 19:50

Bear Grylls seems to be doing okay.

But his name is Edward. According to Wikipedia his sister nicknamed him Bear when he was a baby, I don't know if he went through school being called Bear but even if he did choose that at least he had the option of Edward.

romdowa · 11/09/2023 21:00

KnobbingtonKnobberson · 11/09/2023 20:09

Caoimhín Poldark?

Not quite 🙈 but I think that sounds like a fab name

LittleObe · 11/09/2023 21:10

JoeyRamonesHair · 11/09/2023 16:21

The name threads do make me think that some people would prefer the UK to have an official acceptable baby name list (as Denmark etc do) - but only containing the names Jack and Olivia :)

Tbh as someone who knows a Boudicca, Six and Skylar it might be for the best

RegeRegeRege · 11/09/2023 21:24

What irks me is the amount of people that INSIST you can’t use a name that is/was considered a shortening, you must have a ‘proper’ name on the birth certificate even if you have no intention of ever calling the child that.

So Evie, Ellie or Alfie must be Evelyn, Eleanor and Alfred lest they be plagued with a child’s name for life, never have an ‘option’ of what to be known as and never be taken seriously in a professional setting (despite the fact that a lot of peers around the same age will also have these ‘shortenings’ as their names).

If you like a name, just use it! Who cares if little Callie is not officially called Calliope.

LittleObe · 11/09/2023 21:24

@Lulubo1 i actually know a Balthazar 😂

IsSheEverOnTime · 11/09/2023 21:31

Once I saw my daughter's name on a thread asking for favourite girls names..which warmed my heart as I still adore it- only for the thread to be derailed by people laughing at it! One person even put 5 (!) Crying with laughter faces! It's only a four letter girls name in a similar vibe to Orlaith or Isla!