to ask what is wrong with ordinary baby names and spellings?

[FlappyTheBat]

Ok, why do people have to have outlandish names for their children?

Or choose a name that has a completely differentmadeup spelling, so that their child will spend their entire life going "oh no, it's spelt xxxxxx"?

Is there some sort of hierarchy of baby names?

What is wrong with ordinary and easy to spell names?

I'm sure that some people must go out of their way to find the most obscure name possible and post it on mumsnet, just to see what the reaction is!

Yes, but then again a lot of the names you think of as ordinary were made-up once upon a time- and pretty odd they must have seen at first.

Katie (from Katherine, meaning "pure"- would kind of idiot calls their child Pure ffs??- she'll end up on the streets!)

Alfred ("Elf-counsel"- yeah right)

Wendy (means nothing at all, the author just liked the sound )

Oscar (out of some pseudo cult work of fake folk origin)

and then there are the Puritan names, such as Prudence; or the months, like June and April

how we would laugh at a June, if it was the first time ever

I'm with you OP.

DS is an Alex, which I know is very common, I really don't care. I had a name that was common in the 70s, but it is a beautiful classic name imo, and there was a special family reason for me being given it, so I have never had a problem. Plus I always feel a special affinity when I meet other people with the same first name.

There were special reasons to us for our choice of DS's first and second names. We'll explain these to DS when he's a bit older. We hope he'll like it.

Plus, since we registered him as Alexander, he will always have the option of choosing from seeminingly endless variants when he's a bit older.

It's aspirational to have an unusual name. People with little education misspell ordinary names in order to make them "different". People with some education (usually less than they like to credit themselves with) choose rare/exotic real names.

Can you imagine starting school and your name is Skye-Blu?

It's a real name unfortunately, not one that many children would want to have or aspire to imo!

IsItme, have seen twins with your DS's name, it was the only name the parents liked, so split it between the two boys

A few friends and I spent a pleasant few hours yesterday afternoon looking over the utterly horrendous "interesting" local Bonny Babes competition, purely for the names.....Took us a while to work out that Enyaj was, in fact, just Jayne with a "unique" spin on it......

Its really irritating if someone who has a stupid alternative spelling of a name tells you you have spelt it wrong.
Years ago in work a new hire came in, and I'd been told her name was Sinead, so I gave her a name badge saying, oddly enough, "Sinead". She says to me, you spelled it wrong, its.....
"Chynade"
I had to bite my toungue not to say, no dear, you spelled it wrong.....

And I have a very unusual name, enough that in 30 years and living in 6 countries, I am yet to meet anyone with my name. But its easy to spell.....

LOL @ Chynade! I like unusual names if they are creative and attractive. I knew a girl called Sorrel and would have loved it for my DD but OH wasn't keen. The mis-spelt names are not wacky or cool IMO, they just show lack of imagination in parents who want something unusual but can't think of anything or don't have the guts so they just go with a known name spelt differently. I am also a hater of the surname as a first name trend although I am aware that this is a very old English way and not a new fashion. But tbh most of the children I have come across with surname first names are a bit, dare I say, chavvy!!

My name is a very common short 70s name but with the longest alternative spelling. I have spent my life correcting people and I get so fed up with the variations people use- even when they are looking at the correct version on my email address.

There are several names like this that spring to mind- Claire/ Clare; Ann/ Anne; Catherine/ Kathryn/ Katharine. They aren't outlandish or mispelt but still people get it wrong.

The whole point of a name is to distinguish you from everybody else, so the flipside of the OP is "why do people give their child a name in the top 100 so they will be one of 6 Isabels in the class?"

I think that it is made up spellings that annoy me, maybe annoy is putting it too strongly.

It is when you see a baby who's name card has several variations of the same name, all scored out and each one spelt worse differently, you just wish you could say to the parents "are you sure you really want to use that name/spelling"

Will never forget one young mum who wanted to call her dd 'Placenta" as she thought it sounded "pretty"

I realise that the names that I have chosen for my dd's are/have been in the top 100 for quite sometime, so yes, I am aware that they will probably be one of many. Not everyone's choice, I know

I am a Katherine. I spend much of my time saying "with a K, not a C" and even then there is the chance of Katharine or Kathryn. I have noticed Kathrine seems to be another way it gets spelt now.

But my name is reasonably normal - and yet people always spell it wrong. I had a teacher for three years at high school who spelt it Erica-May. I can understand the Maye being spelt wrong, but Erika..?

Names get spelt wrong whether they are "normal" or not, so why not stir the pot and spell them "wrong" to begin with?

I spend my life spelling my name for people and it is....Sarah! people constantly leave the 'h' off - which makes it a different name (Grrrr) or unbelieveably it is written 'Sarha'

p.s. I thought Erika was spelt e-r-i-c-a (shows that I am just as bad as the people I moan about )

I have two dd's and I think my daughter's names are both equally beautiful. But contrary to what most have posted on here, it is the more traditional name out of the two that gets the most comments.
One of my best friends clearly disliked her name at first, but dd2 has certainly grown into her name.
DD1's name was a compromise with DP, which resulted in the slightly less used alternative spelling for her modern name. Her only bugbear is that you can never find personalised items with the correct spelling, whereas we have yet to find dd2's name on anything, even though it it far more traditional.

I have named my dd a v unusual name which I forever get told how pretty it is and the odd person pulls a face. My son has a average name neither common or uncommon and no one comments at all I love unusual names but I think making up a spelling is tacky.

I like unusual names but not silly ones, ok subjective I know!
Quite often though "unusual" names are the traditional names as there can be loads of kids with so called "modern unusual names" eg Kian, Kyla etc.

I really think a name should be spelt correctly and not made up phonetically.

It is bad enough being an Isabel/Isobel/Isabelle and explaining the spelling everytime without the added complication of being an Izzabel.

I like traditional names that have stood the test of time.
I'm actually supprised that my daughter who is four and a half is the only Lucy in her class.
There are two Tallulah's, and three Olivia's.
I bet their mums chose those names to be different.

I have the dullest name in the world and still have to correct people...all the bloody time

I have worked in the same job for 8 years and my name is still spelt wrong. On my hospital notes and subsequently all the letters I get sent, my name is spelt wrong.

My ds's have fairly traditional names which can't be easily or sensibly shortened and not much room for mis-spellings deliberately. As I have a boring name I wanted something a bit less common for them but nothing too wacky or unusual.

On the whole I don't mind unusual names but I do find unusual spellings irritating. DS2 has a Brad-Lee and a Summa in his class

my ds 2 is called kenzie i like it and thats all tha matters to me ,dont really care if people like it or not

I like properly spelt names; DS has 3 names all recognisable, standard spelling versions. He does also have an unusual nickname/ short however it isn't made up, it isn't mis-spelt, its just not the most common 'short' version of his first name.

His middle name is James btw, and I admit to liking Jem as a nickname for James. If we had a girl one of her names would have been Margaret and I probably would have used Madge or Megan rather than the more common Meg or Margie.

Kenzie isn't really an outlandish name though, dd2 if dh had let me, could have been called Mackenzie so maybe I've been a bit cheeky starting this thread.

There is a baby that I've come across recently whose name I would dearly love to put in this thread to see if others had the same opinion as we did at work, but I really shouldn't.

I can give an example of the theme though: Windy Autumn or Icy Winters, it's when parents use these types of names that I feel sorry for children when they go to school or start work.

I would find it hard to take someone seriously if they were called something like the above!

What Cory said (great post).

I suppose as a pedant, I sort of struggle with non-phonetic-supposed-to-be-anglicised names in theory BUT in reality how much do we know about the reasoning behind name choices? Erika is German i think (but Erica is prob more common here?). Kacper is a polish name, that I might look at like this if not aware (mispelt Casper?).

We all have individual preferences for names (I can't abide the Alfies/Ella/Ruby names) but just get on with it. Really, the kind of people who judge are probably the same kind of people who judge if you wear the wrong type of clothes or read certain books. Live and let live - we don't all have to be the same!

(should be Polish name)

YANBU I'm sure there is a chapter in Freakonomics ( strangely interesting statistics book) which noted an inverse relationship between bizarre spellings of names and performance at school i.e. the more outlandindish the child was called the worse they were likely to do well in class.

Apparently also teachers shudder when they see unusual/misspelt names as it generally means trouble.

If we are lucky enough to have another DC and it is a boy I would like to call him John as no one I know calls their child that these days and it is such a lovely solid name.