Do I just have really awful taste in names?

[Mahraih]

BF and I have discussed names, very casually, and the conversations always end up with him saying, "Seriously?!" as if he thinks I'm joking! I'm not.

Here's my list of names I like, please do tell me if I'm actually just crazy:

Boys:
Nichol
Fyfe
Felix (BF doesn't mind this)
Kerouac (I love this)
Auden
Jethro

Girls:
Kimya
Irene (pronounced eyereenee)
Perdita
Clotilde
Ottilie
Proenza
Belphoebe

Looking at them now, there's not a John or an Emily there. But they're not 'bad' names, are they?

OK, Adair, you're forgiven .

I agree that it is a bit small-minded when people say you shouldn't use a name because they haven't heard of it. Likewise Rufus=dog and Felix=cat comments annoy me.

But I still think there are names which just sound horrid or silly to the majority of people and they'll be fair game for ridicule on MN and also an accurate reflection of real life too (maybe just not in London schools).

Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe not Panda (but isn't it a shortening of Pandora? ... oh dear, the hmmm moment is a bit dangerous isn't it.

The one comment I felt was slightly unfair was that I was trying to 'outdo' my mates. I mentioned my friends have names like this (or indeed that I am drawing inspiration from family friends/relatives) to show that to me, these names aren't really weird or outlandish.

I think it probably depends on your social circles and the sort of school where your child is likely to go (and it's the secondary school that counts more here, primary kids are more forgiving/less noticing of difference I think in general). Where we lived in South London, and where our children went to school very few of those names would have seemed normal, but in some more yummy mummy areas I think they probably wouldn't raise much of an eyebrow.

I am a great book reader myself, but I don't understand why people want to use the surname of an author they like. My ds's middle name was inspired by one of our favourite authors, John Irving. So his middle name is John. I wouldn't have called him Irving because that's a surname. So if I loved Auden or Kerouac I'd be thinking about Jack or William, I don't understand why the tribute has to be so overt.

well I love Kerouac and Auden for a boys, my son has a very unusual name and I don't see anything pretentious about it if you love it, choose it. On the other hand I agree that Proenza does sound like an amalgam of drugs!! I quite like Belphebe actually, but Belphoebe (whilst Spencer may have used it as one of his spellings!! Can't tell without the text in front of me!!) does look a bit clumsy. I like most of these actually and think that a child grows into a name and it becomes a part of them 'without my name I am no good man' Proctor, the Crucible.

Maybe those of us with literary pretensions are just pretentious per se, but I think it is more to do with love of words for themselves and for what they represent. I enjoy unusual combinations of sounds and letters and love also what the word means.

I know I sound like a complete tosser, but you hopefully swim.