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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Help! my family hate my baby's name!!

63 replies

karmum · 03/10/2011 13:20

I love the name we have given our son, it feels perfect and was not given without a good nine months of serious deliberation.. and yet I have become so uncomfortable with it after both my parents (separated) have made comments about it.. our boy is called Oswold - Ozzy for short... the problem is that people of my parents generation or + have mentioned the fascist Oswald Mosley.. i just don't see how this man should commandeer such a beautiful name 30 years later.. am i being unreasonable????

OP posts:

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LieInsAreRarerThanTigers · 03/10/2011 17:25

I loved Osbourne as a first name, with Ozzy for short, as it is an 'ancestral' surname, but the connections to Ozzy Osbourne were too strong for me! I know an Ozzy (Oscar) very well and never connect him with the crazy rocker, for some reason.

hillyhilly · 03/10/2011 17:25

Its a nice name and I've never hear of o. Mosley.
My mil said "you can't call her that, it's a ridiculous name" about our dd (Polly). We still like it

Original poster

karmum · 03/10/2011 17:34

frutilla THANK YOU, ive been trying to think of an example of a popular name with a notorious previous owner! perfect.

OP posts:

seeker · 03/10/2011 17:37

But please tell me you haven't spelled it with a 'o' ..........

VespaJasper · 03/10/2011 17:47

Oswald and Ozzy are great names and you should choose what you like.

But also, and at the risk of sounding stuffy, I'm shocked at some people not knowing about Oswald Mosely.

PonceyMcPonce · 03/10/2011 17:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 03/10/2011 19:05

I've never heard of the 'o' spelling, but that does differentiate it from Mosely.

I honestly wouldn't worry. Many names have associations with other people, but the owners of name come to claim them as their own. Stick to the name - before long, they will have forgotten that it belonged to anyone but your son. :)

Also very surprised at people not having heard of OM, but maybe they're not from the UK - people aren't always intimately familiar with every other countries' domestic history.

VFVF · 03/10/2011 19:06

Try and ride it out Karmum, my DB and SIL had the same kind of reaction when they announced DN's name. I was the only one who kept my mouth shut (although I secretly agreed!). Fortunately my SIL is made of sterner stuff and put her foot down! Now he's two and that's his name and we all love it now because we love him

Bunbaker · 03/10/2011 19:10

I like the name Oswald as well. We used to live in a road with Oswald in the name.

The only problem I can see is the spelling. I have just noticed that most of us have spelt it with an A - myself included.

seeker · 03/10/2011 19:47

There isn't an "o" spelling!

And i can't believe that so few people have heard of Oswald Mosely. And as for saying 'the past is past' - well words fail me!

kelly2000 · 03/10/2011 20:02

I am shocked at how few people have heard about Oswald Mosely, Britain's most famous facist and racist, leader of the blackshirts, nazi and hitler supporter, etc. Even if people do not know their twentieth century history I would have thought people might have heard of him after all the gossip about his son.
Saying that I think you should call him what you want if you really love the name. But as it is associated with Oswald Mosely, I think you will have to accept that it will raise eyebrows. But, then again, the only famous Eva I can think of is Eva Braun, hitler's mistress, yet it is a really popular name. It is weird how some names just get a negative conatation yet other's escape it, if someone says Myra I think of Hindley, yet if someone said Ian, or Rose, or Fred i would not think of Ian Brady, or Rose and Fred West.

pedalpants · 03/10/2011 20:07

Oswald or Oswold are great names. Mosely is less known these days and was never a particularly important figure anyway.

you'll have spelling issues if it is Oswold but that's the case with loads of names.

Don't listen to your MIL.

seeker · 03/10/2011 20:26

' Mosely is less known these days and was never a particularly important figure anyway.'

Oswold is is just wrong!!

Original poster

karmum · 03/10/2011 20:38

hi seeker - Oswold is a variation of the traditional spelling and to me is a more phonetic version www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Oswold

Anyway, thanks everyone for your responses as its really interesting to hear peoples views.. thanks for all the positive / supportive message especially! Im definitely sticking to my guns!

OP posts:

sheffieldunited · 03/10/2011 20:38

I think you have chosen a name you love, therefore you should stick with it. Does your child look like an Oswald and if you were to change it, what would you change it to? We couldn't decide on a name for our baby boy even though we knew he was a boy. We chose Noah in the end which I now love, my parents weren't so keen my dad thought he'd get picked on!! Luckily they know better to comment.

ImpYCelyn · 03/10/2011 20:55

There was a King Oswold. King of Northumbria I think. It definitely was an alternative spelling in the original texts.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 03/10/2011 23:41

I agree that OM wasn't a particularly important figure, TBH. He thought himself a lot more important than he actually was (the BUF was never any sort of actual threat) and if he hadn't had an affair with and married a Mitford he'd be a total history 'also ran'.

nooka · 04/10/2011 03:52

I agree that he was clearly an also run, but it's a pretty dark bit of English history, and the first thing that comes to mind for me too (and I'm probably not from the OP's parent's generation).

Ozzy on the other hand makes me think of Ozzie Osbourne. Not sure that's totally good either!

Thing is that it is an unusual name so the association sticks more, in a way that Jack just doesn't. However I am sure that given a bit of time your parents will get used to it and it will just become the name of your ds.

ImpYCelyn I think you are thinking of St Oswald/Oswold (with Old English who knows what spelling is right). Perhaps the OP could tell her parents that was her inspiration? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_of_Northumbria It might be that they are finding it hard to tell their friends their new grandchild is called Oswold if Mosely is the association that comes to mind.

BuntyPenfold · 04/10/2011 11:35

I think it's an age thing - I have heard of Mosely but never give him a thought.
There is a nice Oswald in the Story of the Treasure Seekers - I thought of him.

SpringHeeledJack · 04/10/2011 11:47

What Slinking said

Mosely wasn't as important as he thought he was, iykwim. The response to him was more important than he ever was

...that said, if I'd tried to call one of mine Oswald, my granddad (Cable Street veteran) would have excommunicated me

and fwiw, some of my family members were upset at us calling DD Maggie, as it reminded them of Thatcher. That said, she has made the name very much her own.

Take Oswald/Oswold back from the fascists!

RECLAIM THE NAME!

wigglesrock · 04/10/2011 11:48

If you like it stick with it, they will come around, people have different associations with most names. I'll be honest I thought of Mosley, but I just asked my husband and he went "Lee Harvey Oswald", I know the spelling is different. People use Joseph all the time, it was one of my favourites and Stalin didn't immediately spring to mind.

Jdub · 04/10/2011 11:48

It staggers me how unkind and thoughtless family of all people can be in situations like these. Having had first hand experience from an a**e of a fil.

Go with it - YOUR baby - YOUR name choice. THEY are the ones with the problem - they need to just get over it and move on! A new life has been born - celebrate!

chandellina · 04/10/2011 12:18

god they are rude. we got put off a name because family had such a negative reaction. won't make that mistake again - next time we will announce the name and I will make it clear I don't want to hear a negative word!

the name is lovely and no one is going to make some connection to one person whose day is long past.

PrincessScrumpy · 04/10/2011 12:19

The thing is they are grand parents - didn't have anything to do with conception, carrying baby or the majority of his upbringing so it's not their decision. I am regularly astounded by how rude people are re names.

dd1 told my mum we were calling our twins Fairy and Mary. Bless her, my mum even tried to get used to the idea of Fairy just in case - she told me she was glad we didn't choose it and it was just dd's imagination, but she wouldn't have said a thing if we had gone with it.

Tell them to get a hamster so they can name it!

BlueChampagne · 04/10/2011 12:56

Haven't read the whole thread so someone might have beaten me to it, but:

Saint Oswald may refer to:
Oswald of Northumbria (c.604?642), King of Northumbria
Oswald of Worcester (died 992), Archbishop of York

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Oswald

As the appositely-named SpringHeeledJack says, reclaim the name from the fascists!

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