What do *you* consider to be "horrible" names?

[HappyWifeandMum]

I was reading another thread here, where many people referred to a particular name as being "horrible". So it got me to thinking... What constitutes a "horrible" name, and how does that perception change from region to region?

Please... This is NOT to offend ANYONE... I just truly want to get a feel for what you think are truly awful names. Opinions vary greatly across the globe, and I would love to be able to compare them.

Here's the deal... I would be very grateful if each poster would post (as nicely as possible) the names they dislike the very most, and why, without taking merciless jabs. Also, if you are comfortable with it, would you please list the continent or country you are from as well. I am hoping this will be fun and informative!

Here goes... My uncontested, most disliked name of all time is "Nevaeh". Why? Because I think it is beyond senseless to reverse the spelling of a common word and call it a name. (North America)

[xstitch]

I am another one who's exes name makes me heave. Nothing wrong with the name as such, just reminds me of the bastard I don't like being reminded of.

I am not a fan of name combinations such as Donald Donaldson, Steven Stevenson IYSWIM, the pairing with the surname is important to me.

[tammytoby]

Jayden/Kayden/Brayden/Shaydon
Alfie/Archic/Percy/Bertie
Madison/Kaighleigh/Morgan/Chardonnay

[ByTheSea]

I don't like names with the 'th' sound in them. Ethan, Seth, martha, Ethel, etc.

[Bigleaf]

I wish Sharon would come back. I know it has bad connotations but as a word I think it looks and sounds nice IYSWIM. I also know a few Sharons and they are all cool, smart, un"Sharonish" women.

I don't usually like surnames as first names or names that are too "try hard" and I prefer names without an "ee" sound at the end, especially on boys.......actually, scrub that, boys and girls.

I like solid boring names like John

I cant think of a name I really really hate. Dh hates Nathan because that was the name of the school bully.

[Camerondiazepam]

Phew, have just searched for whole family and none of us appear so far!
Agree with Bigleaf on Sharon, also Tracy funnily enough.
Trying too hard is the ultimate, and I feel sorry for kids with names that they aren't going to be able to spell until y3 and no-one they ever meet will be able to spell without help.
For horrible, I can only think of Helga. Sorry to any Helgas out there.

[LifeOfKate]

I think the answer to the OP is that names are very personal, there are plenty of names on this thread that I like and also plenty that I don't.

Why people do or don't like names probably falls into a few categories.

1. Not liking names of their parents generation or their own generation. For this reason, I dislike names such as Trevor, Kenneth etc from my parents generation and names such as Stephen, Robert, Victoria from my generation. For some this dislike extends into their grandparents generation (see those with a dislike for Stanley, Edith, Martha etc), although I'm not one of these, I love a good old lady name :o
   
2. Not liking names due to bad associations. My bad associations include Emily, Patrick, and Rose... all perfectly good names, but I can't get past the people I have met with those names.
   
3. Not liking names due to connections you can make with words/concepts you dislike or would provoke teasing, e.g. Bertha, Gertrude and Gaylord.
   
4. Completely irrational dislike of a name. For instance, Olivia and Oliver are perfectly good names, and clearly very popular, but I really dislike them. No idea why.

[LifeOfKate]

Oh, also meant to say that it's not necessarily clear cut, I don't like or dislike ALL names, there are a lot of names which sit in the middle. I don't hate them, but neither do I want to give them to a new baby.

[SilkStalkings]

Oscar - I always hear Bonnie Langford in Bugsy Malone screaming 'Awwwwsca Awwwwsca.' Also I hate all names beginning with O because my name (Olivia) was constantly mispronounced as a child (Oliver being the worst.)

[Psammead]

I have a slight dislike of nicknames on the birth certificate. Not all - some are perfectly strong names in their own right - but certain (especially cutsie) ones.

Examples: Kitty, Bertie, Izzy, Archie, Lottie, Danny.

Nothing wrong with any of those names - all lovely - but I sometimes feel a bit when they turn out to be the BC name.

Call me old-fashioned

[PorcelinaOfTheVastOceans]

jayden and connor; i know three of each and they are all little shits challenging! i also hate the nicknames on birth certificates. two girls i went to school with have just called their daughters tilly and charlie, just seeing them typing it on facebook makes me go all tight lipped without even realising!

and don't even get me started on 'kre8iv' spelling!

[GrumpyOldHorsewoman]

There are soooo many (most of which have been mentioned - the Jaydens etc)

For some reason I can't quite fathom, I really dislike the name 'Freya'. It could have something to do with the annoying bint in a restaurant on holiday whose child (aged about 4) was crawling under the tables/chairs/through other diners legs. She just keep whining 'Freya, Freya, Freya' rather than actually stopping the lttle sod from doing it.

Also 'Louise' as a second name. Unimaginative cop-out.

[argylesocks]

Not that they're used much anymore but i HATE girls names that are just feminized versions of the male name, like Roberta, Pauline, Paula, Michaela, Geraldine, Georgia/Georgiana.

It just makes me think of fathers that are so full of themselves they want to name the baby after them even if its a girl. Awful!

And in a completely different kind of hate - anything that ends in 'ella or elle'. I can't stand the seemingly overwhelming trend of Isabella, Isabelle, Arabella, Ella, Gabrielle/a and most of all - Bella! It sounds like a dogs name to me.

[BornAgainDomesticGoddess]

For some reason I can't quite fathom, I really dislike the name 'Freya'.

Yeah, me too. I can't stand it. I have two friends with DDs called this name and I think it's awful. It makes me wince.

[smashingtime]

I don't find any name particularly horrible but for male names there is something about the name Keith that makes me want to retch!

There are very few, if any girls names that are horrible to me but I do really dislike the fashion for naming little girls with boys names - why, why why??

[CarefulWithThatAxeEugene]

Far too many individual names to list, but a category I detest is the made-up sort like ( cringe )

Beyoncé

[jellybeans]

'Kids won't know the difference between Vera or Eva'
I disagree. I was so ashamed of my middle name as a child as it was so old fashioned for my generation. I also know a couple of teenage girls who are teased for their old fashioned names. They do know the difference when they are at high school!

[jellybeans]

Just to add i hate any names with 'ham' or 'um' in. EG. Liam, Graham etc. Not sure why.

[Cattleprod]

I dislike most of the top rated boys names - Thomas, James, Henry, Jack, William, Harry, Oliver etc. They are all so beige and ridiculously overused - you may as well call your son 'boy' as these names don't achieve what a name is supposed to do i.e. give you a recognisable, unique identity.

Girls names I hate are the sort that you'd imagine on a princessy brat - Chelsea, Kayleigh, Francesca etc., and anything double barrelled.

The worst has to be boys named after their dads though (unless the dad has passed away)- how egotistical does a man have to be to want a 'mini-me' rather than give his child his own name?

[whizzyrocket]

I don't like people using surnames as if they were first names- Taylor, Madison, Elliot etc.

I don't like made-up names either- Jayden etc.

Nor place names- Chelsea, Jordan etc. Paris is ok as is has classical connotations, but the day I meet a Birmingham will be both very sad and very funny!

I don't like a lot of the names people of a certain class chose for my generation either- Kelly, Kayleigh, Hayley. Nor the ones of a generation before that- Sharon, Jean, Joanne, Sheila.

And then there are some perfectly ordinary names I just don't like- Emma, Peter, Richard, Robert, David, Sarah.

I also can't stand the habit of naming a child an abbreviation of a proper name- Charlie, Alfie, Danny,.. why not give them the full name and just use the abbreviation as their nickname?

Cute names are also appalling. People should think very carefully before using some flowers as girl's names- Poppy, Daisy. They sound like cows, and you expect the next one to be Buttercup! How can you respect an adult called Daisy?

As a teacher too there are names you would never use because you have never encountered a good one, or a nice one- Kieran, Jack, Evan, Holly. But I've never met a nasty Jonathan.

[SnailWhaleTail]

Its -ie names for me, cute-ish if you like that sort of thing when the DC is small but awful on adults. Katie, Rosie, Archie, Alfie, Bertie etc

[chipmonkey]

Anything ending in -May or -Mae. I quite like some hyphenated names but have an irrational dislike of that one.

Surnames as first names. Particulary Bradley but I think that dates back to a holiday where the parents were constantly shoutling at Brad-LAY!! and telling him off.

To whizzyrocket and others who wonder why not give a full name on the BC, my reason with ds3 was that I don't like Thomas at all and I love Tom! Now, you might say, use Thomas on the BC and just call him Tom but when I did this with ds1 ( BC Gregory, we call him Greg) MIL insisted on calling him Gregory for two years and used the fact that Gregory was on the BC as an excuse. I was not giving her the opportunity to do that again!

[Tuschinski]

Another one for the awful made-up Kayden/Leyton/Braydon type.
Also agree about overly cute and trendy girls names like Tilly which only work if you are 4.

[tammytoby]

Anything in the top 10 (William, Thomas, Oliver, Lily, Grace etc) because these names are so overused that they loose the ability to identify (the whole point of naming someone or something imo).

I know so many adult Steves and Mikes that again, I find it hard to remember their names (and have to add a mental adjective to their names e.g. big Steve, fat Steve, Steve B etc).

There are so, so many lovely names to choose from that there really is no excuse for so many of us choosing the same few ones .

[rachel234]

Actually, a person can be horrible, but a name? It really is just a collection of letters. Yes, some names may have negative associations (due to our previous experience) and others are considered too popular, but do so many of really find so many names 'horrible'?


I too dislike names that are overused as well as names that are too 'cutey' and 'babyish' as well as old fashioned names (Helga, Gertrude etc) but I don't really find any name 'horrible'.