Could you you use a nearly totally unique name?

[AlexanderS]

I've thought of a girls name I really like. It is used as a surname, and is not on the 2011 baby name charts for England and Wales at all, but I googled it and found details of one person - a writer - with this name so it is 'out there'.

The name is gorgeous but I don't know whether I'm brave enough to use it! It sounds like a first name, can be shortened to a reasonably popular diminutive and I don't know why more people haven't used it, but I can imagine myself going to mother and baby groups, introducing my baby and being met with blank looks. There is a certain comfort in using a name that dozens of people have used before you.

Could you use a name like this?

[Ciske]

I wanted Ronja or Phlox for DD.

As in Ronja the Robber's Daughter? I love that name!

With regards to original names, I think taking a normal name and giving it an alternative spelling is just being original for the sake of it, rather than trying to give the baby a genuinely nice name. If you like the sound of Bethany, just use that.

[TheCatInTheHairnet]

One is a toddler and the other is in her teens and goes to school with my son. She's American, but the toddler is in the UK.

[AlexanderS]

What ages, TheCatInTheHairnet?

[TheCatInTheHairnet]

I know 2 Bettany's!!

[OkayHazel]

I knew a Brettony, if that helps?

[delilah88]

I went to school with a Bettany! I never liked the name though, as a young girl.

[SirBoobAlot]

Its okay. I prefer Bethan, though.

[Chelvis]

I was considering Bettany, when my friend randomly mentioned that she was considering it for her baby... I don't think it will be unique for long!

[EcoLady]

I thought of the flower Betony. One of its other names is Woundwort, as in Gneral Woundwort in Watership Down.

Bettany is a pretty name though - I can see why you like it.

[AuntieShirley]

I went to school with a Betony, which is practically the same name, so it seems perfectly ordinary to me. I like the nn potential, and it is close enough to Bethany not to seem to weird.

[MrsEdinburgh]

Lovely name, go for it.

[SlightlySuperiorPeasant]

I like it but I wouldn't use it because of the lifetime of correcting it from 'Bethany'.

In RL I really wanted to call DD Amabel but she would constantly have had to correct people back from 'Annabel' so we went with the nn spelling. And now have to spell it out every time as there are so many spelling variations :o

[1978andallthat]

As a rule I don't like made up names but this is actually rather nice

[ScumbagCollegeDropout]

I like it.

Love Betty as a nickname.

[EmpressOfTheNorthPole]

I thought Chalet School fan too. DD has a fairly unusual name that has 2 different spellings. It annoys her when people don't get it right but she says she stilll wouldn't want to change it, so if you really like Bettany I'd go for it, and use whichever short works for you.

I'm not a fan of cutesy nicknames on BCs though, but that's just me.

[diddlediddledumpling]

Sorry, diddl, scanned through the posts, must have missed it. Am a bit dopey at the minute.
I like the name, btw.

[MoelFammau]

I like Bettany. Isn't it a flower? It's a proper name.

Look, almost EVERY name causes confusion amongst strangers. Our DD is Robin and every bloody time it's 'oh, with a Y or an I?'. Sara/Sarah, Lisa/Liza, Rachael/Rachel, Claire/Clare, Cath/Kath.... Whatever the name you can guarantee a stranger getting muddled.

The thing is, it doesn't matter. My own name is pretty out there - I'm the only one on Google if you add surname (maiden or married) - and I've never ever met another in 34 years. I spell it constantly. People get in wrong constantly. But people REMEMBER it and that's a positive. It's not the end of the world if people can't spell it or pronounce it right the first time (or 20).

I wanted Ronja or Phlox for DD. Parental pressure pushed us into Robin. Funnily enough, I confessed to DP today that I wish we'd picked Ronja and he agreed. At the end of the day, you have to use the name. Everyone else will adjust. Wish we'd been stronger.

Bettany is lovely.

[diddl]

Two posters have!

[diddlediddledumpling]

There's a tv presenter called Bettany Hughes, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned her yet.

[diddl]

Sounds like a surname to me.

Or someone not saying Bethany properly.

[Journey]

I don't think it sounds very unusual because it is so like Bethany. I think some people might think you're trying too hard to be a bit different though by using a slightly different version of a very well known name.

[jellyrolly]

I like it.

I have a first name that sounds like a more common one and always have to correct people. It doesn't really annoy me because I spend most of the time with people I have met more than once, not total strangers.

(I know someone who had a fling with Paul Bettany, just saying)

[pinkposey]

I like it and think that it sounds beautiful. My son's name is totally unique. I made it up. Reddon. It sounds like a name but it isn't, or wasn't. It isn't really that out there, people always tend to think that it must be an old family name. He suits it and everyone (now) loves it.

[LittleBearPad]

Seeker

If you had a boy OP you could call it Russell

[BikeRunSki]

I have a unique middle name (I check periodically, but it has never appeared on name lists in the UK since I was born) and loathed it. Children don't like unique, children like to blend it. I used to tell people my middle name was Laura.

As for Bettany - I agree with the potential for Bethany confusion and that it doesn't sound very feminine.