Are there any 'perfect' names?

[KvetaBarry]

I mean names which won't get a child picked on at school, are not names shared with a product/margarine; aren't too popular, but can be spelt by anyone who hears the name; aren't considered 'chavvy' or 'posh'; names which suit both a baby and an adult, pass the playground test AND the 'judge' test, yet wouldn't sound totally out of place in a trendy bar; a name which isn't too old-fashioned, but equally isn't totally on trend; names which don't get shortened to something ridiculous or something totally different to the registered name; and names which don't have any particular connetations?

I ask because I have read so many threads on here where there is an objection to a name for being one of the above!! Plus my 'darling' sister told me yesterday that she thinks my DS has a 'weak' name and it's far too common too, unlike the name she chose for her DS, which is perfect classic and rare without being pretentious.

I could only think of Alice for a girls name and maybe Adam for a boy. I fell asleep before getting past the letter A :o

Any others though?

Elizabeth.

Agree with Elizabeth

Jonathan for a boy?

Anne

Hm, Jonathan can get shortened to Jonny (bag), or Jonty, which is a mummy's boy's name. I went to school with a Jonathan and some people never grew tired of saying, 'Can I borrow your rubber, Jonny?'.

Alice, Alice, who the fuck is Alice?

I don't think there is a perfect name. And the world would be boring if there was.

But Olivia seems to fit your list. As does Oliver and Jack. But that would explain why there are 8000 of them in every street!

Sarah?

ANY name can be made fun of! Children are very imaginative .

I think people in the UK worry far too much about names. They're just that, names. I've lived in the US and people are far more open minded. Just look at Condoleezzaa Rice or Barrack Obama - the person matters much more than thier name.

Ah, you see Elizabeth can be shortened to Beth or Liz - but other than that, I agree it's a great name.

Jonathan isn't the easiest to spell - I went to school with one Jonathon and one Jonathan...

Daniel is a good boy's name. Also Samuel. Although both can be shortened, it's fairly obvious which name they've been shortened from IYSWIM.

Also agree with Anne - although, again, it can be spelled with or without an e, which can be confusing.

Thankfully we all have different tastes, values and styles. So EVERY name will be disliked by someone, you just can't please everyone. And we shouldn't either, life would be so dull imo.

Almost any name can be made fun of (William -> Willy, Silly Tilly, Milly etc, Smellie Melly, Jack the Sack, Ollie the Trolley, etc etc....

Let's all worry less about teasing/labelling and teach our kids to be confident whatever their name .

seeksnewnamewithgsoh - you just said my DS's name :)

Sarah is good too. Emma? John?

I'm just thinking how the names sound when said after:
Baby ...
Judge ...
Dr. ...

and before
... come here!
... stop that!
... will now present his findings.
... will give a short talk on Ribosomal RNAs.

And yup, I agree that all names have teasing potential - but some much more than others! And there are some names which immediately tell you the decade that person was born in too, and which 'social class'!

Decade yes, social class no imo. Lots of names that were considered 'posh' 10 years ago are widely used nowadays (Sebastian, Quentin, Arabella, Clementine etc).

ANY name works as Baby..., Judge... and Dr. .... because people will get used to it. It is all down to our associations, which can easily be changed as we hear a name more often.

No, there are no 'perfect' names. Because perfect to one person is not perfect to the next. Thankfully we're all different.

Would we even want everyone to have an approved 'perfect' name, how boring. Life is much more fun and varied if we're all different, including being named differently. I agree, we put far too much emphasis on a person's name - it is just a collection of letters used to identify him/her. Yes, we may have associations due to past experiences but as soon as you meet someone new/different with that name, your associations change .

Anna possibly. Or Mary?

Elizabeth can be spelt with an s, Sarah doesn't always have the h... But then I know an Ana and a Mairie. I also knew a Johnathan, so that's definitely not the easy option! Even Jane will sometimes have a y, Kate can be Cate, there's Katy/Katie/Caitie - the list is endless!

James maybe? But then you have to like Jim or Jamie. I don't think there is a perfect name. But as others have said: what a boring place this would be if there were

i think if there were any perfect names , 99 -100% of babies would be called it , which would probably make it less perfect .

the only perfect names imo are my own dcs' names . they're the perfect names for our dcs ,in our family ,in our situation . i hope that is the same for the parent of every child be they called elizabeth , beryl or princess- cortnee .

james seems to be pretty highly rated on mumsnet although jamie and jimmy might not suit everyone.

"the only perfect names imo are my own dcs' names . they're the perfect names for our dcs ,in our family ,in our situation . i hope that is the same for the parent of every child be they called elizabeth , beryl or princess- cortnee ."

Well said . I agree.

p.s. my daughter is Anna and there are lots of teasing possibities (esp with a younger brother in the house) e.g. Anna the Banana, Anna-mal, etc. And yes people have spelt her name as Ana, believe it or not.

I suppose I didn't actually mean 'perfect' - just un-objectionable. My own DS has the number 1 boys name of his year of birth, and so my family have taken it upon themselves to remind me, regularly, how common the name is, and that he will never be 1 in a million, etc etc. My name is the same as a popular brand of cooking ingredient, and I hated it as a child - still not keen. I would have loved to be an Anna or a Jennifer - something where my own personality was more unique than my name IYSWIM.

Also, I would still call names such as Sebastian or Arabella much more 'posh' names, whilst princess-cortnee would be a bit more on the Jeremy Kyle end of the spectrum.

I was just trying to work out what names would be classed as classic but without being pretentious or trendy, and which would avoid too much teasing potential! There aren't that many, really!

the sort of name which probably cause least offence are liked if not loved by most people , are never very popular and never unpopular are names with long history often biblical .they never really offend but never really stand out as different are timeless and ageless
names such as

christopher
john
james
david

and for girls
emma
sara
katherine
elizabeth

it would be quite hard to place these names in any social group , or decade of birth . they could be 0 to 90, pauper or royalty .imo

"I suppose I didn't actually mean 'perfect' - just un-objectionable"

No name should be objected. A person can be objected but not a name imo.

Good point on Condoleezza Rice.

I can imagine Miss Rice's mother being on this forum, and being told it's made up, chavvy, looks bad on CV, frilly, too long, impossible to spell etc. Mums would be advising that it could not be a secretary of state's name etc.

I think classic names would best fit what you're looking for.

Hannah
Emily
Georgina
Charlotte
Lydia
Grace
Phoebe
Sophia
Sarah
Abigail
Victoria
Rebecca
Louisa
Lucy
Leah
Juliet

Jacob
Matthew
Samuel
Edward
Thomas
Isaac
John
Adam
Peter
Benjamin
Alexander
Gregory
Daniel
William
Luke
George

I have a similar problem, though it's my husband. He wants a 'progressive name'?!?! (Whatever one of those is!) basically, he wants a long traditional name that 'Dr' goes with. (Has high hopes. I will so laugh if DC1 wants to be Britain's next top model or a BB contestant, the next Jordan or a wannabe X Factor).

I think you may find that trying to find names that come under all categories will be tricky. Try to pick a name that is not in the top 50 of boys/girls names and cannot be shortened. At least then, when they start school they won't have to put their surname initial after their name on worksheets!

A friend called her daughter Maya which isn't as popular as Grace, Chloe or Sophie. If you have a vision of your child as being the next PM or Nobel prize winner (as we all do lol!), names that sound 'cute' may be out. Traditional names will fair best - in my opinion. (Our or my DH choices are, William, Charlotte, Rebecca or Elizabeth).

I'm a teacher so children's faces always appear in y head when I'm considering names. Never will my child be a; Summer, Daniel, Lewis, Emma, Charlie, Ellis, Zak, Kenzie, Kendall, Paige, Dylan, Harry, Jack or Tyrone. I wonder why????

ds1's name meets all your criteria, and i've never seen it mentioned on one of the names threads...

You need to pick a name you love IMO, there is no such thing as a perfect name....

We all have different opinions on names, for eg, there are plenty of names on SloganLogans list which I would not call Classic....

They're all ordinary names which have been reasonably popular for a long time and have old origins, e.g. there are many biblical names on there. Posh classics were deliberately excluded.