For thinking baby names are getting silly

[bulbarsaurus]

Hi everyone,

Recently read through a thread with OP who wanted to name her child something completely ridiculous.

I have noticed a lot of threads with the same comments of very odd baby names, think things Like Spartacus or Amicablalette. For some reason this now seems to be the norm.

It seems like people are now either trying to make their normal child sound like a WW2 veteran by naming them Albert or Rodney or the lord or lady of the manner with names like Tarquin or Agatha.

Is it just me or do some of these names not look ridiculous. I know a child at a local nursery with working class parents called Horatio.

I can't imagine naming my children anything other than something normal so that when they finally go for a job interview their names appear professional and easy to read/pronounce.

Are there a list of normal Girls/Boys names you can give me! And does anyone else agree with me?!

AIBU?

But whats 'normal' changes all the time. 20 yes ago my cousin named her baby 'Oscar' and I thought oh my god poor kid is going to be so teased.....a few years later there were Oscars in every primary school class and now its a really common name. There is no standard 'normal'. Normal for my generation was Gary, Mark, Paul, Vicky, Michelle and Sarah etc etc you don't find many of them in primary schools now.

They've got to be members of the yacht club.

I work in a school and it fascinates me how names come in cycles.
My own kids are adults now, and when they were born no one was Archie, or Albert or Esme or Ava-Grace...now classes are full of them!
Some names are always around.. we always have a James, an Alex, but the 'old fashioned' names are very much in. There are no Debbies, or Sharons or Julies at the moment ( Gen X names) but I bet in 20 years time they will be bck again along with Peter and Mark.

I prefer an Agatha to the weird 'unique' misspelled names.

My young children both have ‘old people’ names. Classic names are so popular at the moment, majority of my son’s preschool friends have these kind of names.
I’d be more surprised to encounter a baby called Andrew or Rebecca than something like Arthur or Rosemary.

That baby on south west news for being called Vulture… vulture is probably reading the news now! Round and round it goes, Vulture, Doreen, Sarah, Gemma, Otis and then VULTURE again

They might be the wind up threads.

Normal names are boring to some people. You are being unreasonable for judging. It’s sad that you have to have a particular name for certain people to take you seriously.

Yes, there are ridiculous names out there. But there is nothing wrong with an old school name.

The thing is these ARE normal names now...
There's a boy in my sons class called Horatio..
Trends for names change abd right now there does seem to be alot of previously unusual or unique names being used.
So really if you decide to name your kid Dave or Mary, its probably going to make them stand out more than if you named them Sparrow or Bathsheba.

Yes, YABU, especially the comment about working class parents who named their child Horatio.

The "stay in your lane" mentality and the fear of standing out are ridiculous. The "job interview" silliness likewise.

I'm with op, as a working class woman I feel our children should only be given names that you'd expect a plumber from St Helens to be named.

Barry/keith/malcolm/Gary/Geoff.

I don't want HORATIO having to lower himself to sorting out my blocked toilet.

Actually a good few months back someone told me she was surprised my daughters name wasn't chavvy. I was so thrown by that I bloody thanked her and I'm still cringing 😂

What's wrong with Agatha? It's a normsl name. I wouldn't say it was ' Lady ifvthe Manor'. it's hardly difficult to pronounce either.

I met a kid called Davinci today. It suited him.

Child called Blue. Adults are laughing when they're a baby, other kids don't care at all. But child gets older, adults are always judging that name. We shouldn't but as adults we always get an impression so we can't push that onto the kids. It will be years before Blue will be taken seriously in a job interview. At best it's a nick name

Are people serious that working class people should give their children names that they imagine would suit a plumber? I'm not British so just curious. Do people never leave the working class once born in it? If you're successful are you still working class?

Disclaimer I live in the US. Lots of 'different ' names are normal these days. We are surrounded by so many different nationalities and cultures. My kids' friends have names that would be considered odd in the UK, but to us, it's not something that even registers as being different. Examples Ryder,.Colton, Aykon,.Senya, Grayson,Aliel, Hunter,Sawyer, Zahara, Winter. All lovely names. I don't believe any of these kids will be at any disadvantage when it comes to jobs .

My DD is Agatha. She was named after my gran, who was my hero. I certainly wasn't trying to play Lady of the Manor (God forbid I not know my place in the class structure!). I was just keeping a family name alive.

Names go in cycles. Twenty years ago Mabel, Hazel and Elsie were hopelessly old-fashioned and now they're having a comeback.

Horatio is a bit odd because it's an Anglophone creation based on the Roman name Horatius, and was never as well used as the similarly-derived English language name Horace, which also feels quite a bit old fashioned now. Horacio, Horácio, and Orazio are traditional, but not that common at the moment even among Spanish-, Portuguese-, and Italian-speaking populations.

Well quite.

The General Register Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should really put a stop to all of this nonsense. The working classes and unwashed masses really are getting above themselves and stealing our names!

Horatio is name that should only be given to a child of Jacob Rees-Mogg. And Agatha must be a child of landed gentry with an unearned income of at least £150,000 per annum.

These are rules that you must abide by, even if you want to name your child after a close relative, distant ancestor or favorite fictional (or historic) character.

Some of those names are names for pets.

It was a joke, yes 😁

I love a posh name, despite a working class background.
My cat is called Horatio.

OP, all your post proves his how little you know about name trends and cycles.

Albert has been in the top 100 in England and Wales for 10 years - it is the epitome of a normal name for a boy at the moment. Rodney suffers from its only fools and horses association, but otherwise would be very on trend.

You seem to have the bias a lot of people have where any names they didn't grow up with are weird

Agreed

when has this name ever NOT been in use? and by all "classes".

OP you are just showing your ignorance

A few years ago, I read an article about the changing trend in names. It said that middle aged, middle class parents were opting for traditional names and young or lower class parents were opting for unusual or attempting to find unique names. I thought it sounded like a load of rubbish until my son started primary school and it pretty much fits.

Article said that because of this names could lead to some class bias when applying for jobs with those with unusual names missing out. Can't bloody find the Article now so that I can post it, but made me very happy with the traditional name I had picked.