Genuine admiration for new baby's name

[firefoxy]

Do you get this every time you say your baby's/DC's name? And if yes, what's your child called? Trying to get a feel for unique but not too out there names.

My first 2 DCs' names are very traditional boys names but my DD's name always seems to get a positive reaction - usually "what a pretty name" or sometimes "thats posh!"

Its Arabella. I don't know of any other Arabellas where I live and I work in education so I'm exposed to alot of childrens' names.

I'm really proud that we chose this name, despite having fought hard for it with DH!

My grand-daughter has a nice but unusal name she is called Louiza and always gets the full name from her mum,its a nice change from the usual trend of what is popular on TV.

Alessandra always gets "ooh thats beautiful" type comments.

Not me, but friend (who lives in USA) came over with her 2 month old a couple of months ago. Her little girl is called Martha (hard T, like Mart-a) and everyone thought it was gorgeous.

I think most people, unless they are being incredibly rude ''just speaking their mind" would cluck over any new baby and baby name regardless if they liked it or not, because they wouldnt want to appear rude.

I genuinely get name envy sometimes, when I hear what people have named their kids, because I like indulgent quirky names but even at the grand old age of thirty would be too worried what the family would think if I brought home a Pixie or a Dolly...

What kind of names do you like, if you give us a couple of examples, we can help you better :)

I have 4 dc, and I love all their names, but the one I really, really love is Amos. He is 4 1/2 and every time I say his name, I just love it. I think it is because I wanted to use it for so many years but dh had always said no, and then he finally agreed!

Currently pg with 1st baby, so no children as yet, but friends with two or three DC often say how they get lots of genuinely positive remarks re. the name(s) of one or two particular DC, but not so much or none re. the others.

I have a Jonah and it feels like silk on my tongue when I say it. I do get niice comments but I also know it is not everyone's cup of tea. It's an easy to spell (except you HV - no he is not called Johan) and not very common name, which is important to me. I do hope he loves it too.

No particular names in mind as yet, but knowing myself would rather go for something conventional yet unusual, the sort of name that attracts an instant positive 'wow' if you know what I mean. And IMO all the names mentioned above would fall into that category. So pls keep them coming!

I think it's a hard one, as there is no one name, or type of name that everyone likes. Most people will do the polite thing and coo over any new baby, regardless of being called John or Tyger-Pyxie. My PIL are the exception and have slagged off every name we've ever mentioned to them...

I think another thing is how connected a person is to naming trends. New parents/TTCers/teachers have a good grasp on recent fashions and trends, and would take a Kai, a Jayden, a Lily, or an Isabelle in their stride, but many do not. My mum proclaimed how "unusual" a friend's daughters were; they are Olivia and Sophie - both really popular at the moment.

As long as you love it!

HKK, understand what you're saying but i'm not after the polite cooing over type of baby names. I honestly believe there are names out there which attract genuine admiration from the majority of people for being nice and traditional yet a little bit different and unusual. As one of my friends says, when random people express their unexpected positive opinion in the most unusual scenarios, like when the administrators at the GP's surgery can't refrain themselves from commenting every time you phone them for an appointment, or when you're sitting in A&E with your sick baby and the doctor is eager to know how you came up with such a lovely name...
Don't get me wrong I don't want a name that everyone admires, I want inspiration to the kind of names I know I would use but most probably haven't thought of. Such names I like are along the lines of Marianna, Ivo, Antonia etc..... but these have all been used by people I know.

Not really unusual or unique but I get lots of compliments for DD2 named Anna, I think because it is simple and classic. My brother is the only one who doesn't like it as it is "an old lady name" according to him! It's not very popular where I live either as I have met no other babies with the name, none in DD2's nursery or DD1's school year of 90.

My dd is two and is named Kathleen. She is the only one under 50 ten that I know :)

People (especially people over 30) always comment on it as a 'classic' and say that it's refreshing to hear such a lovely name being used again. Regardless of whether they mean it or are just being polite, it is nice to hear because I agree with them!

I also like knowing that if she dislikes her name as she grows, or thinks it's dated or whatever, she's bound to find something she can live with among its many nicknames. If she ends up as Kate, Katie, Kathy, Kath, Kat, Kitty, or Lena, that's fine too.

Rory gets nothing but positive comments and questions as to our heritage too (no, really, not celtic at all, we just like the name....)

Why are you so bothered what other people think? I'm fairly sure that most comments are insincere tbh. Especially unusual ones - people don't know what to say and so are likely to say something positive rather than negative. I have been guilty of this because I would never ever tell someone I think their choice is ridiculous nOt to my taste.

Go for something you love, not everyone will like the name you choose and don't seek validation from other people. If nOt everyone responds the way you hope, you will be disappointed.

Fwiw, I don't like marianna or Antonia at all, and I think Ivo is ok but not special.

I'm not usually so harsh on here, but I do think you should question your motivation, and be looki g for something you love rather than how others will perceive it for being so clever to have picked it.

(And popular names are popular because lots of people like them, not because they couldn't be bothered to think of an unusual one! Most people put huge amounts of time and effort into choosing a name. They may choose something you think is pedestrian, and yes may be influenced by fashion, but they haven't chosen it because they couldn't be bothered to think of something different)

We got generally positive feedback about ds's name, but a year or two after he was born it was used on Eastenders and it is now thought of as very chavvy. We moved to Canada a few years ago where the name isn't used very much and he has had a few people comment that it sounds like a girl's name, which isn't really the response a 12 year old is after! However he loves it and so do we, so really who cares?

I have a very unusual name and do get consistently positive feedback from all sorts of people, which is nice I guess, although it's a bit of a pain always having to spell it. I can't remember people making comments about it (positive or negative) when I was a child though.

To be honest I would avoid a name where people's immediate reaction is 'wow' because the only time I have ever reacted like that was when someone told me the name of their little girl and my mouth moved faster than my brain (the little girls in question was called "America" which to me is a really bizarre thing to call a child). Of course in embarrassment I then said something nice about it because I really didn't want to be rude/upset the other mum.

Personally I like Marianna very much, but not Ivo or Antonia. Different people have different tastes (which is great as otherwise all children would have the same names, which woudl be dull).

Agree with blastoff, your motivations are askew. :(

I have a Samuel Robert and most people seem to like it all right. My MIL loved it when he was first born and would introduce him to everyone with his full name. :o While we just called him Sammo.

I have a Hannah, and very rarely get any strong reaction to it, positive or negative. Sometimes I do get 'name envy' and wish we'd called her something more 'out there' that drew more attention, but we wanted a name that would never be particularly in or out of fashion, so hopefully she will never feel 'saddled' with it.

I get lots of positive comments about my dd's name, less so about ds. I do think that you need to choose something you love, not something that you think other people will love.

When I was pregnant, we said dp would name boys and I would name girls.
I had 2 boys.
I hated ds1's name for a long time, love it now as it really suits him. His name is Jacob. I hadn't met anyone called that before he was born, and now they are everywhere!
Ds2 is called Luke. I don't like that name. He is 3 and I still don't really like it. I wanted Jonah, Joseph, Isaac or Matthew.

Originally I wanted to call ds1 Ford! Love that name

We thankfully all have different tastes and surnames and so hopefully will choose different names for our children, especially as the whole point of naming someone is to identify them.
No name will be loved by everyone and if it were it would soon fall out of favour for being too 'common'. Choose a name You love!
We have a Quentin and love it. Most people's responses are very positive (whether genuine or not) .

I have an Amelia - that always get's lovely name comments, although is now hugely popular.

I also have a Claudia - that does not always get lovely name comments. A midwife asked me if I had named her after someone and looked confused when I said no. She clearly did not like the name, and I have seen a few people falter when I first said it.

Yet out of the 2 it is my favourite name

I let DH do the final choosing of DD's name, he chose Daisy. It was on our short list, but not my favourite and tbh, it was only as she got to 3 ish that I started to think it was 'her' name iyswim? I called her all sorts of nicknames before, so she was always Doodles, Pumpkin, Sweetpea etc

DS I chose the name, he is Fred (Frederick) but not Freddie. It is a common name in previous generations of my family and it suits my son perfectly. I love it and rarely call him any pet names.

I have three children with unusual names - as in, there isn't any others that i know of. I love all there names, especially DS3's as it just suits him so much.

Am really struggling with names for DC5 though.