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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

What's the story behind your name?

196 replies

LetThereBeRock · 11/01/2011 11:57

Were you named for a relative?,a celebrity?,a character from a novel? or did your parents just like the sound of the name?

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whoneedssleepanyway · 12/01/2011 13:36

I have a double barrelled first name after my two maternal great-grandmothers....tend to only use the first name now.

My three cousins were all named after films stars

queenofthecapitalwasteland · 12/01/2011 13:43

My parents were very safe and picked a name that's been in the top 10 girls names since the 80s!

shouldnotbehere · 12/01/2011 13:47

A 1950s actress, and a derivative of my maternal grandmother's name.

Mum said it was really the 1950s actress I was named after, but she told her mother (my nanna), that I was named after her. Hmm

queenofthecapitalwasteland · 12/01/2011 13:50

threefeethighandrising I think I've guessed your name and I love it, I adopted it as my middle name by DeedPoll. My mum had obviously thought so hard on my first name she didn't bother on a second.

InMyPrime · 12/01/2011 13:57

My middle name is after my grandmother (who died when my mother was 12) and I like it because is very traditional and was used as a woman's name even in the Roman era. My first name is also very traditional, after my godmother's name, but the Irish version of it. It was the height of the folk revival, after all Grin

My mumsnet name is a pun on the title of a famous novel based in the city where I live...

loveulotslikejellytots · 12/01/2011 14:08

I was supposed to be Rebecca, but when I was born, I just wasn't a Rebecca. I still ended up a normal name, and I also have Louise as my middle name.

My brothers names are a bit more interesting though. My Brother's middle name is Louis becuse he was born on the toilet (loo - louis???).

And my youngest brother is Jack Daniel, because, well, why not! My Dad was incharge of middle names and he said that nothing else goes with Jack!

My aunt and uncle couldn't decide on a name for my cousin, so they decided to name her after the midwife that delivered her. Well in all the rush (cousing was born in just over 40 minutes) and pain etc. they forgot to ask the midwife her name before hand. So they explained the story and asked her name.. it was Shebana. Even though my auntie and uncle decided to make that her middle name, we still called her that as kids. Shabana banana!!

daisyj · 12/01/2011 14:12

Not me but my DH's family has an eccentric habit of giving all boys of the family the same name, hence his father and both uncles are called by their middle names to distinguish them from each other.

Original poster
LetThereBeRock · 12/01/2011 14:25

I might as well add my own story.

I was named after my grandfather,I have the feminine form of his name. He died not long before I was born.

It was a very popular name in the year I was born,and I know several others around my age,but I still love it,even if people often insist on sing that damned Beatles song to me.

My dp is named after a horse.
His name was supposed to be Henry Tristan other middle names,surname.
Henry is a family name,and Tristan was the name of his father's favourite hunter,and he managed to talk in his wife into allowing him to use it as a middle name for their firstborn son,but got drunk,or so he claims,and registered him as Tristan Henry... instead.

His mother still insists on calling him Henry,though he prefers Tristan.

OP posts:
MsInterpret · 12/01/2011 14:29

Hm, OP - a cryptic clue as to what your name is - Beatles song but a feminine version of a male name...

MsInterpret · 12/01/2011 14:29
Original poster
LetThereBeRock · 12/01/2011 14:30

Lol.Don't sing it please,or I'll be forced to do something drastic.

OP posts:
Meita · 12/01/2011 14:32

My parents didn't discuss names before I was born, but waited to see what I looked like. When I was born, they felt I looked like I a [name], which was the name of a neighbour's girl that they liked. As they were then living in Pakistan, it is a Pakistani name and I have never met anyone who has the same name. They say it means 'with a royal touch' which they thought was appropriate because of an old family tale linking us to a rumoured illicit son of Queen Elizabeth the first (who died childless, as historians agree). My middle name is Dawn, because I was born at dawn.
I'm the only one in my birth family going by my given name though. My mum goes by a biblical name she chose when she joined a pseudo-religious sect (Children of God, now known as 'the Family' - am ever grateful they left when I was still small); my dad goes by a comic figure name he was nicknamed after as a child, which has nothing to do with his real name. Most people don't realise that these names aren't my parent's proper names. My sister chose her own name when she came out as being transsexual. Her given (male) name reflects the fact that she was born into the 'Children of God' as it's all biblical and was chosen to thank god for having a son.

DS' name was inspired by a television series, but not named after the character - it's just a name we liked, it works well in the languages it needs to, and is unusual but a real name. His middle name is picked from my family tree, about nine generations back. We liked the meaning of the name (wanderer, pilgrim).

MsInterpret · 12/01/2011 14:34
Grin

I was not officially named after anyone but my mum has two best friends with my name! It's pretty unusual and old-fashioned - met a couple of my age where I grew up in Scotland (clue) but virtually none here in England.

systemsaddict · 12/01/2011 15:01

I'm named after my mum's sister, who died a few years before I was born - then my middle name is the name of my dad's sister, I think in an attempt to be fair to both sides of the family!

ladyofthehouseoflove · 12/01/2011 15:03

I was named after the dancer from an 80s psycadelic rock band, who used to dance on stage wearing just body paint.

Sadly, I've never really been able to live up to my rock and roll name but its a talking point at least Grin

OTheHugeManatee · 12/01/2011 15:04

I got my grandmother's name. She never used it (went by her middle name instead) so I suppose it was going spare. Hmm

iskra · 12/01/2011 15:13

I'm named after a character in THe Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Supposedly my dad read it, realised how much he hated his life, left his partner, met my mum, the condom broke & I was born Hmm

mckenzie · 12/01/2011 15:15

I'm giving myself away to those who know me but here goes...

I'm the third daughter. When I was born, my mother supposedly threw the book of baby names at my dad and said "can't you get anything right".

I was given the name that was on one of the pages that were open as the book landed. It's very unusual, people very rarely pronounce it correctly and very rarely spell it correctly either. I hated it when I was younger but now I quite like it.

gingercat12 · 12/01/2011 15:38

I am named after my Mom. Very old-fashioned. If I was a boy, I would have been given my Dad's name.

sparkleshine · 12/01/2011 15:56

Some interesting stories here.

AFAIK there aren't any names that have been passed down through generations on either side of my family.

My first name is one that they liked at the time, ( fairly common) but my dad chose to register me with the shortened version and an unusual spelling to be different. The shortened name is almost always spelt the full version officially. Don't mind this actually as I hate the longer name and doesn't suit me. Also have Louise as middle name.

DP has is uncles name for his first name ( though his uncle has always been known by his mn). His middle name is after his grandfather which he hates. ( also not keen on his first either)

DS first name we just liked ( always in top 20 but don't know any other children the same) and his mid name
is DP dads first name.

drivingmisscrazy · 12/01/2011 16:14

my parents thought they were being terribly sophisticated and gave me a French name which subsequently became very popular due to a certain Aussie soap opera - so having been in splendid isolation until my 20s, now everyone assumes - well...awful

My mother was called after a film star, Sylvia Sidney (and her dad's name was Sidney too)...

DD's name has been in every generation of DP's family since the 18th century, but we wouldn't have picked it if we didn't like it (very traditional name)

HopeForBaby · 12/01/2011 16:25

my parents asked my big sister to name me, she was 3 at the time. She wanted to call me Bagpuss as it was her favourite programme. Thankfully my parents didnt think this was a fit name for a child so I was called Emily as she was the little girl who looked after bagpuss. My sister will still often end our conversations with "and Emily loved him so".

spiderlight · 12/01/2011 16:30

Middle name of my mum's aunt, who brought her up after her own mum died. My mum decided on it when she was a little girl (partly because she wanted a name that couln't be shortened, for some reason!) but then didn't have me until her late 40s, by which time it was horrifically old-fashioned and I hated it. Don't mind it quite so much now though. It's boring but inoffensive and the foreign students I work with can all pronounce and spell it, so it has its advantages.

daisyj · 12/01/2011 16:31

HopeForBaby, that's so adorable - "and Emily loved him so" always makes me well up, for some reason Blush. I was three when my baby brother was born and I wanted to call him Zebedee. I still think that's a cool name, sadly my parents plumped for Paul. No imagination, some people!

clumsymumluckybaby · 12/01/2011 16:32

i was named after my grandfather,
slightly odd considering im a girl,they did change it to a female variant,but it's very 80's so obvious when i was born...

my middle name was picked by my sisters,

and my second middle name,well
it's 'march'...

i was born in December

that was a truly shocking teenage realization Shock and a tradition i did not inflict upon my own DD to my mothers great supriseHmm