To all of you who want an unusual/quirky/'out of there' name for your offspring....

[2kidsintow]

Think first! My name is Tamzin (not as unusual as some, but pretty unusual at the time I was a child - it was years and years until I met another) and I do like an unusual name now I am an adult, but found it difficult as a child.

Unusual can be lovely, but do your child a favour and pick a name...

....that they won't have to be spelling out for everyone every time someones asks for their name.

....that people can pronounce easily when they read it written down (poor, poor children in some of my classes who lament that they never have their name said properly).

...that isn't so unusual that no other children have ever heard of it...so unusual in fact that it gives the horrible high school children who have never met you before an easy excuse to laugh at you- personal experience speaking here :(

my DDs name is popular so much so that ive met at least 3 girls in her age group with her name but her spelling is different so i cant get her named things but she doesnt even bother about it she's so unmaterialistic :)

when I got married I took on dh's surname thinking "phew, no more spelling my surname!" name is a tree, yet it turns out people can't spell basic English words so I still have to spell it!

I don't have a problem with unusual names but why call your child a normal name but spell it incorrectly to be different?

I have a BORING name and all my life have been surrounded by people with the same name as me. I couln't stand it ad a child and even less so as a teenager when I was trying to become my own person. Even now I am friends with at least ten people who share my name. I wish I had a more unique name...

I think it's different now because children are more used to difference: you don't stand out so much just for having an unusual name, it is far less of a marked choice than it was 40 years ago.

It's a bit like wearing glasses: sure way of getting bullied 30 years ago, often considered cool these days. Or just something children don't mention.

My dcs have probably never had their (foreign) names pronounced correctly, but I am not sure it worries them at all; they just accept that there are two pronunciations of their name: the home pron. and the school pron. Even my dh can't pronounce my name correctly, doesn't upset me in the least.

I have an unusual (ie Irish) name that i have to spell out on a daily basis. And it does get exasperating having to have a conversation about my name every time I meet a new person or talk to them on the phone. But once people know it, they always remember it and they always remember me. I think it's been the making of me.

I have a very, very plain-Jane name. In fact, when I was in school, 3 other girls in my one form class had the same - adding up to about 8 just in my year! I hated it and wanted something different to make me identifiable as an individual and not as another sheep.

I am ttc baby 1 and have picked out one name I absolutely love since reading it in a book when I was little but DP hates it so may have to go back to the drawing board :(

So, on behalf of all people like me with their standard, boring names that hate them.... give them something that will help them to stand out to give them confidence and something to be proud of! :)

I don't think it makes any difference nowadays tbh. Dd has a 'different' name, but compared with the huge number of African names in her class, hers is positively ordinary.

Amongst the 7 white Dc's in her class (of which Dd is white mixed race, one is Spanish, one is Polish) there is only one boy that has a name that would be deemed anywhere close to normal/usual/in common use.

We sometimes forget that naming someone or something serves a purpose, namely to IDENTIFY someone or something.

Kids couldn't care less if a name is unusual - they accept any name. We've got lots of foreign names in our school from different cultures and no one bats an eyelid. In fact, I think it is great.

And lots of names have to be spelt out sometimes, even very well know English ones e.g. Katharine, Cathryn etc. Who cares?

And, to answer the last of OP's point, lots of names require a bit of practice to pronounce correctly, but once I learnt how to pronounce Siobhan or Niamh or Condoleezza I tend to remember it, as do most children.

It seems to be a very British (or mumsnet?) obsession - this rejection of anything less than middle class British - so many lovely names are rejected as being too 'foreign', too 'jewish', too 'chav', too 'posh' or, and this is my favourite too 'try hard' .

IMO we should be encouraging more name diversity - helps to identify people better, makes life more interesting and hopefully makes our children more open minded than us .

I actually disagree with the OP. My name is very unusual, for a girl. It is a unisex name but is more commonly used a a boys name, in fact, a famous comedy actor and an archbishop both share my name.

I have to spell it every time. People always comment. People always make the same jokes.
As a child I broke another pupils nose by accident when he wouldn't stop singing a song about my name and I lost it (swung my very heavy violin case at him, oops)
When I was in hospital having DD's everyone used to call me by my middle name as they couldn't believe it was my name. Letters and emails come addressed to Mr. and I wouldn't change it for the world.

My name gets me remembered. Every place I have worked people have remembered me and asked for me by name. I had an excellent reputation in all my jobs because of this.

In my most recent interview I was one of the few candidates referred to by name. I had called to ask some info about the position before the interview and because my name was so uncommon I was remembered at every point. (I got the job, not because of my name, but I think it helped that it is memorable and so in the very closeknit community I am working it I am noted and known already)

OH, and all my siblings have very unusual names. When people hear all of them they are normally quite surprised and then they see the link between them all and think they are lovely. One of my sisters doens't like her name but the others love theirs for the same reasons as I do.
Our children also have slightly unusual names. My dd's have classic names that haven't been popular for years (As an example D1's name is that of a famous hollywood actress from the forties) and my niece has unusual first and middle names.

More importantly, there is a big difference between wanting a

"unusual/quirky/'out there' name"

and a

lovely classic but NOT overused name (i.e. everything outside the top 100)

My dc's both have unusual names, we knew we didn't want popular names (just personal choice) and their names both suit them very well.

They go to a large school and dd is the only one and there are two others with ds's name.

I always feel that it is more interesting to have a name that you don't hear all the time but again, that's just personal opinion.

Everyone should just go for names they like and not overthink associations, nicknames etc too much.

Actually I agree with Ilythia.

We're having our bathrooms renovated currently and every other tradesman is called Steve . I really, honestly struggle to remember who is who.

It is simply much easier to remember someone if they don't share a name with thousands others. As bigblue said above, the whole point of naming someone is to IDENTIFY him/her/it!

so what do you think of the name Cato?

Cato makes me think of The Pink Panther...and my friends cat now deceased.

argh! everyone says the pink panther thing but thats with a K, its different!

I know there is a journalist called Roger Cato, so presumably it's a surname.

Well, I wouldn't call Tamzin or Tamsin particularly 'out there'. I think it is a normal but not very often used name. Taht's what I actually wanted for my own children.

Just supposing you call your child Rachel, it can be Rachael or Rachel. I believe you almost ALWAYS have to spell your name. Susanne or Suzanne? Sara can be Sara or Sarah. Clare or Claire? Jennie or Jenny? Nichola or Nicola? Juliet or Juliette? Isabel or Isobel or Isabelle. Katherine or Catherine. Elizabeth or Elisabeth. Alice or Alys?

You almost ALWAYS have to spell your name, no matter WHAT you are called imo

Sonniebonnie+1

I love the name Tamsin or Tamzin, and I also rather wanted Thomasin for a DD (which I believe is the same name). I knew a Thomasin who was called Tom for short which I thought was so cool.

Ilythia were you the editor of the Erotic Review, by any chance

"Tamzin is an unusual name and I found it difficult as a child. People laughed at me"

Where did you grow up ?

Both at my own school as well as my childrens' school there are so many children with all sorts of lovely/unusual names from all over the world. And kids accept these names as just that, names of their mates.

Yeah, I am early forties and there was a Tamsin at my school.

My name is as common as muck and I still have to spell it to everyone.