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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

217 replies

FlappyTheBat · 24/10/2009 21:46

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!

OP posts:
ilovesprouts · 26/10/2009 12:42

hi ive just seen a birth ad in our local paper ..... boden !!

girlsyearapart · 26/10/2009 12:49

ilovesprouts d'you reckon they did that to save money on name labels when the child (boy?girl?who knows..) starts school??

Essie3 · 26/10/2009 12:49

babyelvis and haemomum - I'm Sara, pronounced differently (the Welsh way, or Spanish, has a strong rrrrrrr in the middle!), and definitely no h!
I was going to join in and say 'yeah, stupid spellings are annoying' but I suppose it could be argued that I have a differently spelt name...
My DS has two Welsh names, dead easy to spell if you're Welsh. His first name begins with an I, but so far we've had L spellings from over the border because of sans serif fonts on computers and mobile phones...

Can I just throw in Danyl from x-factor here? That is not Daniel. If it's anything, it's Dan-ill.
Sorry if his Mum is online!

Miggsie · 26/10/2009 12:53

It can be a problem, DD bounded up to DH and said "this is my firend Morgana" and DH replied "Christ!" in disbelief.

Ooooh that was embarassing.

PurpleZOMBIEbuns · 26/10/2009 13:04

There was a birth announcement in our local paper for a girl called O'hara, first name. I kid thee not!

I also met a nice lady, who looked at the most UNpopular names list and called her children, Anne and John.

BobbingForPeachys · 26/10/2009 13:06

Glad people like Stirling, I can confirm he is a likeable fella and unlikely to feature as a mass murder or anything one wouldn't want (!).

Girlsayear our school Head asked us if named them all with names starting with S so we could save money on labels- I despaired slightly as I pointed out the one in her school was in fact called Harry. Arrghhh.

(We just get all lanbels and name tapes printed out as The Peachy Family LOL)

RustyBat · 26/10/2009 13:19

DH & SIL are David Michael and Diana Mary Jean - MIL has admitted that she did it so they could use the same labels for both...

ItsAllAboutTheChocolate · 26/10/2009 13:55

When DS1 was born we named him Jack, as I loved it for being a strong name. He was one of six Jack's on the ward.

DH desparately wanted to call him Fergus, I didn't like the name at first as felt it had come from his love of tractors. Anyway Jack become Fergus, and I am very glad he did, suits his name very well. Had never met another Fergus

Blondeshavemorefun · 26/10/2009 14:21

my friend gave birth to a taylor

i brought a congrats boy card

taylor was a girl

how was i meant to know ?

my name ic claire, i get it spelt claire,clair,clare and Klaire?

i had 4 claires in my class at school, i know prob 8 cLaires who are all my age or around it 35-40 - was obv common 40yars ago

i dont know any baby Claires

I feel sorry for the children who have long names to spell when learning to write at school, ie Alexander Benijmane

if i have children i will chhose a name with 6 letters or less

MatNanPlus · 26/10/2009 14:32

blondes tis an easy mistake to make.

I have recently looked after an Ellie (Elise), an Iris and an Olive, proper names.

My bf is Sara and MY mum always said Zara grr

Blondeshavemorefun · 26/10/2009 14:40

thank you matnan - if you didnt know the sex of a child would you think taylor is a boy or girl?

CheerfulYank · 26/10/2009 14:52

I know a Kinidi. (It's pronounced Kennedy. Cripes almighty.) Also was very good friends with a Krystyna growing up. (Christina, anyone?)

Some of my friends thought my DS's name was too plain, but I named him Sam b/c there's really not a weird way to spell it. Sam he is and Sam he ever more shall be!

MonsterousNasalPustule · 26/10/2009 14:53

now a days girl but in our day would have been a boy unless it was american.

marenmj · 26/10/2009 15:26

Sorry, but YABU

I HATED my name growing up. I hated that my parents gave me a 'weird' name and then managed to alliterate my first and second names, thereby guaranteeing I would fall in love with and marry a man whose surname starts with the same letter (happened) and now I have to hyphenate just to have more than one letter in my monogram.

I am named after my mother

She doesn't go by it, as she and her twin both go by their middle names, and mine is spelled slightly differently to make it sound right in English.

I've met all of two other people with my name, one of them from Denmark, where my name originates. My aunts and uncles all have names that may seem 'made up' but are actually traditional family names ("Sig").

My brother has a surname-as-firstname. He was the first male child born in the family after my great-grandmother died. She only had one daughter so her grandkids agreed that the first one to have a boy would name him Davis to carry on her name.

I get loads of compliments on my name and wouldn't change it now, but when I was 7 I desperately wanted to be like everyone else. Too bad. If it hadn't been my name they would have picked on something else.

I've given my daughter an unusual name that can be shortened a couple ways to something more tradtionally English-sounding and a very traditional middle name, Rose (which unbeknownst to me was having a resurgence - thanks SATC!), because it is the national flower of both England where she was born, and the US where we are from. She has options if she wants them, but it was important to me to find a name that didn't have a passive meaning.

The names you assume are 'made up' may just be from a different culture.

Of course, adding letters is and I have to agree with this

RustyBat · 26/10/2009 17:47

I know three boys and two girls named Taylor, so I don't make assumptions.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyZombieSlave · 26/10/2009 18:44

There are oodles of infant Fionas in the US.

busybutterfly · 26/10/2009 19:36

I know 2 Taylors, one is a boy and one is a girl. And a Devon (girl). I always want to say "It's a place not a girl's name!!"

poshsinglemum · 26/10/2009 19:50

I like unusual names but hate naff spellings.

I had a student called Saxon once! A girl. Hated it at first but grew to like it.

Liska · 26/10/2009 21:15

I was teaching undergrads in Canada and had a student called Misty, which made me go . It was only when I saw that her surname was Whiteduck that I realised she was Inuit...

On the sign up sheet for the same class someone had written Jo King. When I took the roll call and said 'I guess Jo King isn't coming!', a very serious young woman raised her hand and said 'actually I'm Jo King'. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself asking why she hadn't just stuck with Joanna.

floatyjosmum · 26/10/2009 21:32

I think spellign things slightly different is good - but not strange tho! and i dont think traditional names should be changed!

when i ds who is 8 i vowed he wouldnt be joshua, jordan or jack - not because i dont like the names but because they are evrywhere. same as dd was not going to be ellie!

jennymac · 26/10/2009 21:59

We called our ds a not very common irish name - however, it is one of the rare ones that is actually spelt the way it sounds. Didn't stop both my parents and brother getting it round though. On his first Christmas I got two cards in the post the same day, with his name spelt wrong (and differently wrong!) on both. Still, mum and db are both dyslexic so I guess they had some excuse.

TinyPawz · 26/10/2009 22:46

My lo has an Irish name too, issues I have though is the complete and utter ramdom placings of the fadas. Her father who is from a different country doesn't even have a clue how to spell it. (but that is a different story altogether)

wigglybeezer · 26/10/2009 23:05

peachy, all three of my boys were born in Stirling, round here people would think your son was named after the local football team!

PS. mine all have very plain, popular names.

edam · 26/10/2009 23:28

It is possible to go too far with the 'must give my child the correct spelling' line of thought, though. My mother did it to me and I have spent a lifetime explaining it. Because usage has moved on and the version everyone knows is the male spelling but now given exclusively to girls. Unfortunately this means my name - the 'correct' female spelling ? looks as if my parents carelessly chucked an extra 'e' on the end to be different. Sigh...

edam · 26/10/2009 23:33

Oh, and people will mangle even the most ordinary name - dh's must have been in the Top 10 for boys in the 70s but every day he gets post addressed to a spelling mistake, or has people complaining their email to him has bounced back...

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