To intensely dislike the “y/ie” suffix name craze?

[feelingnotbelieving]

Alfie Archie Albie Blakie Bertie Denny Ellie Evie Edie Georgie Lenny Ralphie Ronnie Reggie Vinny.

Today I came across a Jeffie. Why?!

If want to give you kid an old fashioned name, then name it Alfred, Eleanor, Leonard or Vincent. Or Jeffrey.

Added to the naff-ness of it is the fact that when that child starts school, he’s going to be one in at least half a dozen others with the same name.

I just find it it very unoriginal and effortless to give your child a “trendy” name that 50% of parents seem to also be naming their child. I’m assuming they think it’s quirky or cute but I can’t be the only person who thinks it’s naff and tasteless.

I get sometimes it’s to honour a relative. My grandad was called Bernard, but if I wanted to name my son after him I wouldn’t name him Bernie. I’d call him Bernard. As that was my grandads name.

Exactly!

My kids are both called after people, but in a way it’s easy enough to know who the person is.

One child is called after my grandparent so they have same first name but different last name. Their middle name is another grandparents names in a different form (think Jonathan/Nathan type situation)

My other child is called after someone’s nickname which is a form of their own name, think Agnes/Senga or Margaret/Peggy. So a nod to the name, without being the name itself. Middle name is another grandparent, but again different surname.

Another family member is known as their middle name - literally never used her first name - and it’s a nightmare.

It's not a craze, or something recent at all. It's a normal way of shortening names and has been for hundreds of years.

You are not wrong OP. It’s chavvy. No pun intended.

Exactly can you imagine an US president being called Teddy 😂

These are just diminutives of longer names. My DS is Frederick but Freddy or Fred now he’s older for short. This has been going on since time immemorial.

I agree. It feels like a cutesy, childish nickname - nice when they actually are a child, but maybe Albie will want the option of Albert when he grows up. If he does want to be Prime Minister Albie Smith, then fine, but having a choice is better than none.

I have a hyphenated first name. One name ends with -y and the other with -ee. Like Daisy-Maree. By the time I was five I'd ditched the -ee name because I thought it sounded babyish and was spelled wrong. Even 'Daisy' is more cutesy than I'd like as a grown woman, but I can live with it.

My daughter's name on her birth certificate is Evelyn. We call her Evie for short. Am I naff and chavvy? Then so be it!

@ILookAtTheFloor - My DD is Hester. Plan was for Hetty as nn but just didn’t happen. Brilliant name - unusual without being odd. She loves it.

Personally I prefer the shortened name a lot of the time - Reggie over Reginald for me. But I wouldn't bat an eyelid either way if a parent names their child either of the names to be honest. I cared what my children were called... but have never really cared what anyone else's are!

I do sometimes wish it was her name. It's very Regency era to me! But no, DH was adamant. He also vetoed my fave boys name for our youngest. He hates Alastair, I love it!

Prime Minister Albie Smith

Is prime minister Albie any different to Boris, Keir, Rishi, Neville, etc?

@ILookAtTheFloor - yes, it’s no good unless you both agree. I think of it as Victorian/ Puritan New England. She was named after Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.

Thank you

We’ve had kids at school in the same class, Hayden, Jayden, Brayden, Kaiden….

How would you manage if your Grandad’s name had been Bernie?

People have always used diminutives.

How many men called William went by Will, Bill, or Billy in years gone by? Loads.

There does seem to be an ie/ee/ey ending trend going at the moment, but it's no different to other name trends. It wasn't that long ago that classes were full of girls ending in -a sounds like Eva/Ava/Isla/Ayla/Skylar and then there was the boy trend of -en/an names so there were loads of Jaden/Jayden/Kaden/Hayden. Now the boy trends seem to be Freddie/Reggie/Albie/Bertie etc.

This really is something. How do people call their kids these names without realizing how trashy they sound.

Not to mention Tony Blair, one of those dreaded shortened “y” suffix names!

Liz Truss - evidently either going by her nickname professionally, or named Liz on her bc.

Alex Salmond, as above.

Now obviously these people are all arseholes, but they are successful arseholes, which counts for something.

I don't like the "ie" trend either. Archie and Alfie for example, unless they're shortened forms, although I can't say I care for Archibold. This might very well suit a cute little boy but not so much an adult. But I suppose there will be such a proliferation of these names at that stage that nobody will take much notice.

I don't like the celebrity following trend either such as Darcey. It really is unoriginal and a bit naff. It's the equivalent of Shirley in the 1940's (after Shirley Temple) and then there was Chardonnay and Alexis (Joan Collins' character in in the equally tacky Dynasty) in the 1980's. I know a couple who called their daugher Jaylee which was popular around 12 years ago. It sounds like something you'd call a pet monkey. Then there was the time you couldn't move without encountering another Beatrice after Heather Mill McCartney gave birth. A name is such an important aspect to someone's identity. Who wants to be perpetually associated with a bygone person from popular culture.

I think you need to get a life / hobby / friends / interests etc. What a weird post!

I’m not overly keen on Poppy anymore as it happens. But it is a full name, and I’ve not added any suffixes to it, or made it ie instead of y.

I agree but I'm a "give your child a full name" kind of person. Feel free to give a cute nickname but dont subject that child to having to put it on job applications, depending on their chosen career it could be detrimental. I worked in hr in the city - my boss was ruthless when it came to how professional names were

I'm not a fan but it isn't some modern craze. I'm a millennial and grew up with many a Sammy, Becky, Nikki etc. Some people love the sound, we are from the Yorkshire/Lancashire area and I think it sounds terrible with our accent.

Hayden/Haydn is actually a very traditional name. Unlike the others.

@SamAndEIIa Im not, go on the baby name boards, foreign names are unusually a no-no.

I do find the baby naming phenomenon where thousands of people choose what they think is a yoo-nique name for their kids only to find thousands of them at nursery very interesting though, does anyone know how/ why it happens? Is it some kind of subliminal influencing or just that we reject names which we grew up with (Paul, Gary, Hayley etc?).

I think it’s both. People hear names & then it gets in to the collective conscious.

One of my dc was named after a character I liked from 20 yrs ago & it was very unusual then. A few yrs later a celeb included it in their dcs name & it’s top 50 now I think. I’m an 80s child & dislike names like Garry, Barry, Mark, John, Paul, Chloe, Lucy, Tracy etc because so many kids I knew had those names.