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Baby names

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

Original poster

Anyone actually managed to pick an unusual name?

382 replies

Carlitawantsababy · 05/10/2011 18:44

I'd really love my DC to have an unusual name and personally wouldn't like it if there ended up being 4 others in his/her class at school etc. I gathered together a list of names I like bit looking on here loads of other people like them too so I've clearly, subconsciously, picked up a penchant for fashionable names. So..I was wondering, did you pick an unusual name for your DC which is actually still unusual now they are at school? How did you do it and have you got any tips for avoiding the latest trends?

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KreepyKeep · 06/10/2011 23:54

Unusual names are lovely.

Trying to be witty is cruel to the child.

I know an Asher Price. Asda Price!

Also a Cherry Ada. cherryade!

Original poster
Carlitawantsababy · 06/10/2011 23:58

Aoife is eefa

OP posts:
NoHunIntended · 07/10/2011 00:31

seeker, not a totally new preoccupation - my mother wanted names for us that were not much-used, and for the seventies, she succeeded (mine is much more popular these days (top 40), DB1's has grown in popularity but not as much as mine, and DB2's I think has risen a tiny bit). So she did well, seeing as she didn't have access to the Internet in those days!

I was the only one in my year with my name, out of 120 girls. There was one in the year below, and one the the year below that, in the five years I was at secondary school that was it - none at junior or primary, I don't remember another at sixth form. I like it that way.

LinzerTorte · 07/10/2011 05:35

Cheerful To my (British) ears, the parents of the Aaron I knew in PA pronounced his name as if it was written Arran - in fact, that's how I thought it was spelt until I saw it written down (pronounced almost like Erran). It's difficult to describe the difference, but I would stress and draw out the first syllable more. There's also the difference between the way in which "a" is pronounced in British and American English (to me, a in American English sometimes sounds more like an e and is widely copied by Austrians!).

Of course, I was generalising based on the one Aaron I knew in the USA and had assumed that was the standard American way of pronouncing it, but maybe not?

Theas18 · 07/10/2011 08:35

Most amazing name I have heard is a now departed elderly lady called Arras after the battle of Arras which her father survived but many of his "pals" regiment did not.

EssentialFattyAcid · 07/10/2011 09:10

Go for the names that were very popular from your own school experience as most of these are very rare now - I'm thinking Karen, Susan, Rebecca etc

msbuggywinkle · 07/10/2011 09:18

Our main criteria for naming (3DDs when DD3 is born in a couple of months) is that their names aren't in the top 100 for the last five years. Mainly because DP and I have very common names and both hated it.

DD1 is Helena (I don't know any Helenas under 30)
DD2 is Felicity (I know of a few little Flisses but don't know any personally)
DD3 is Miranda (which I imagine will get more popular, but I don't know a single one)

tummytickler · 07/10/2011 09:24

I love Susan and Rebekah - Susan is high on dh's list if dc5 is a girl.

MrsMilton · 07/10/2011 09:25

I know a baby called John. I think it's unusual now. I bet he won't have to have his surname on his clothes peg at school. He's all blond hair and blue eyes and adorable.

I know it's not ususual, but it's certaily uncommon.

wickedwitchofwaterloo · 07/10/2011 09:51

Stangirl I adore the name Atticus - always wanted it for a girl though (just to be different? who knows!)

Gavi · 07/10/2011 11:06

My daughter is Elizabeth Vera after her great gran. I'm worried she's never going to forgive me for the Vera bit.

reallacecurtains · 07/10/2011 12:00

Mopsy flopsy, I never demanded that others share our taste, just that by the law of averages, it is inevitable that at least one other person will. That is the nature of the social zeitgeist: it is difficult to find a name you truly love: sound, spelling, connotations and all and be completely alone in that, if that is what you want. I too don't want my children to have popular names

I don't think I've done too badly with Daphne, although 30ish other people will have had the same idea. looking at last year's stats.

grumblinalong · 07/10/2011 13:28

Dd is called Seren. I can not believe how many people mispronounce it. We have had sarah, surAnne, serene, serena, Sienna. Really gets my goat.

Imps7 · 07/10/2011 13:34

I've always thought that Maybelline sounds like a very pretty girl's name and that Kasabian sounds like a good solid boy's name.

Would never dare use them though, for obvious reasons!

FSB · 07/10/2011 13:42

4Madboys - that's so funny, we were going to go for Merryn as well for DD (looking for something unusual that could be shortened to Mimi). in the end we went for Cosima (only 19 born in 2009 with that name).

we've only met one other Mimi so far, that was short for Amelia, and no Cosimas :)

4madboys · 07/10/2011 13:51

FSB Cosima was one of the others on our shortlist! Grin we dont call merry mimi, tho i might now, but she gets called missymoo at the moment :)

KSal · 07/10/2011 13:58

my DS is Orin - one of 14 last year (there were also 20 Orens... one of which is in the same nursery as him!)

on the other hand my Emma is the only child I know with the name :)

FSB · 07/10/2011 13:59

that's spooky - talk about same wavelength!! Grin

Cortina · 07/10/2011 14:23

I met a Cinderella recently. That might be tough going forward.

But having said that, I'm all for unusual names. I have a friend with a large family and her children's names many would mock BUT her children are vastly popular, incredibly cool and I've come to realise it really doesn't matter in the end. These days anything goes :).

MamaLazarou · 07/10/2011 14:27

Hi Carlita. My little boy has an unusual name - he is one of only 9 born that year in the UK. He is two now and we are very pleased with our choice. My advice would be to read/watch lots of historical fiction. That way, you get to see/hear names that are perfectly lovely but have fallen out of common usage. We got our son's name from a display of 16th century documents in the British Library. Unfashionable is always better than new when it comes to rare names, IMO. That way, the child won't be forever spelling/explaining it.

Cortina · 07/10/2011 14:30

What's the name MamaLazarou please hint or share.

I love Ambrose for a boy - DH wasn't so keen to put it mildly. I think we'd have got away with it :).

MamaLazarou · 07/10/2011 14:42

My husband campaigned for Ambrose when I was pregnant! I thought it was a bit namby-pamby - sounds too much like Amber-Rose.

Sorry, but my identity would be a dead giveaway to anyone reading this who knows me if I told you the name. I would rather stay anonymous!

rachel234 · 07/10/2011 14:51

Our son has a name that was used 11 times in the year when he was born and think it was used 13 times last year. And no, it is not made up, easy to spell and pronounce, just not 'fashionable' (or some might say 'posh' Smile). We still love it!

lockets · 07/10/2011 16:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JugsMcGee · 07/10/2011 16:08

I quite like Wolfgang.

DS has a very normal name though! We wanted something not too popular but normal, that people had heard of and could spell. And something spelt correctly, not some newfangled version of it.