arguments FOR calling child a ''ridiculous name" (direct quote from dear mum)

[Polkadotfanatic]

Yes, it is true, I like a name which fills everybody most with horror. ''You cant possibly do that to a child''. ''How will the child ever have a normal job/become a lawyer or advocate?" ''You aren't thinking of child's self esteem'' are some of the things I have heard ... etc etc...

I know it's ridiculous to have to argue a child's name, but the response from people is that the name is nothing short of child abuse...

So far my ridiculously weak argument is this:

Beyoncé - "different" name, but the girl has gone far in life, despite this name

I cannot think of anymore people with ''not quite normal'' names who are great politicians /famous/ have cured diseases/ nobel peace prize/ etc and wondered if you knew any. I am talking about people who weren't born into grandeur (as we all know, slebs name their kids a delightful array of unusual names)....

Help me please?!?!?

NB - This is meant to be a fun/tongue in cheek thread, I genuinely wont let anyone marr my decision once it's made, but it would be fun to be able to say - ''well what about Tsellaphunaria Golumptuous - she is a World class concert pianist...''

Thanks guys x

Poesie is great!
My middle name is Alice, so I vote for that one! :)

I think you should direct your mum to the baby name topic if she thinks Poesie is ridiculous, she will hopefully come away wiping her fevered brow and saying thank the lord, Poesie is pretty sane really

I really like it.

Sorry to be a negative, but I think that your mother is totally right. Poesie sounds incredibly twee and will be misspelled all the time.

I have a very unusual name, and yes it does get remembered, but it is recognizably a real name and I always get very positive reactions. If you are finding all your friends react with horror then bear in mind that the people your children may meet as she grows up may quite possibly do the same.

Do it if you love it. I will only ever name my kids with very normal, easy to spell names ('Oliver' sort of names) because I don't want them to feel 'saddled' with their name in later life, but I frequently get name envy when I hear more unusual names of kids with more daring parents

Well, Barrack is a pretty unusual name, but it doesnt seem to have done Mr Obama any harm.

Woodbine Parish(M). Friend of Charles Darwin, Paleontologist, VP of the Royal Geographical Society in the 1800's

Irving Langmuir (M). Won a Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1932

more recently (20th C),

Allena Leonard - American cyberneticist (F)

Forrest Mozer (M) - invented a talking calculator for the blind

Perhaps they are not as well known as some scientists, but they have all done pretty well for themelves with fairly unusual names!

FWIW I like Poesie. It's better than the never ending string of Kai, Kayden, Jayden, Keegan's etc that I seem to hear at the moment.

Cherie Booth, QC

I really really want to like Poesie (and it makes me think of Clemence Poesy who is a fab actress) but I think it sounds a bit poser-y. Or pose-y Sorry.

Zowie Bowie now goes by the name of Duncan Jones...

D

Barack Obama didn't seem too badly restricted by his name...

To be honest, I think rarer names are a positive. My DH has a bog-standard name (I have 4 in my address book) and is usually referred to as German XXXX instead of just his name to differentiate him from the others. His parents were very much of the 'Don't call a kid a weird name' camp but I can't really see the benefits of being one of millions.

My name is one of a kind. If I Google the name, I only find myself. It's been great - I'm remembered, never confused etc etc. Been great for my job as I'm often recommended via word of mouth.

And really, all this 'what if he/she is a lawyer or doctor' stuff is bizarre. What about if he/she is a world class artist, musician or dancer? William Brown isn't going to do any favours but Faraday Jones would be pretty fantastic.

Bear Gryll's sons are Marmaduke and Huckleberry....brilliant!

I think its a beautiful name and there are lots of unusual names around now so its a good time to be adventurous!

People will not be rude about after the baby is born.

They tend to do that before.

Thats why you should never tell anyone what you are thinking of calling your baby. People can be incredibly rude and make ridiculous predictions based on the fact they knew someone 60 years ago who was a bit odd and was called xxxx so you CANT call it that !

I called my DCs what I wanted to. They all have fairly unusual names (and lots of em).

I love Poesie.

You can work my name out - but there are so so many variations that I'm always correcting it anyway and it's really common!

I know a little Huckleberry

We're having Rosie Alice so I vote for poesie Alice!

We are going to call our daughter (if we have a daughter) James. Jamie for short. We love it, but won't be telling anyone prior to birth because of undoubted negative comments.

Agree that people tend not to say anything once the baby is actually born. There are so many wonderful, unusual names out there. Sod everyone else, go with what you like.

Lovely name!

FWIW I have pretty much the most common name in the western world and I still blardy have to spell it every time.

OP, we are in the CI (Jersey) and called our DC Fabian and Raphael (Rafe). I think more unusual names are more acceptable here, since we have a really good racial mix of folk. Go ahead with Poesie, tis a lovely name!

Poesie is a LOVELY name

Are you going to include the accent - Poésie?

Of Alice and Adele I like Alice but I think Poésie Marguerite is beautiful and keeps the French theme going.

I think Poesie Adele is very pretty. :)

I really do love unusual names...but I've already got a Sam so I can't really go too unusual after this, can I?

Produce the name as a fait accompli, OP, and people can stuff it. We're going to be doing the same with our baby's name, which (while it isn't finally chosen yet) I know perfectly well both of our families will loathe and find pretentious because it's not a strong, plain Irish boy's name.

However, I grew up with one of the most popular Irish girls names of the early 1970s - and my parents will admit quite freely that they chose it for that reason, rather than because they liked it, so that it wouldn't make me 'stand out' from the crowd! - and there were always at least six of us in the same class at school. It was completely miserable. I spent my childhood assuming it wasn't me being called or referred to, and feeling like a category rather than an individual. Hence one of the main factors for me in choosing my baby's name is that it not be so common that there are likely to be several others in any social group. I know people always say 'But how will the child feel to be called Something Zany?' But I'm here to report that being called Ordinary Name Number Six is really no fun either.

(Note - I'm not calling this baby something something mad, but I have checked popularity on any names we considered, and am avoiding popular names, even when we like them...)

Love it

I like local names that have links / history, so much more thought than just picking one that sounds nice.

Go for it.

Christmas Humphries, the judge?