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?

[diddl]

Two posters have!

[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.

[diddlediddledumpling]

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

[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.

[ScumbagCollegeDropout]

I like it.

Love Betty as a nickname.

[1978andallthat]

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

[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

[MrsEdinburgh]

Lovely name, go for 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.

[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.

[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!

[SirBoobAlot]

Its okay. I prefer Bethan, though.

[delilah88]

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

[OkayHazel]

I knew a Brettony, if that helps?

[TheCatInTheHairnet]

I know 2 Bettany's!!

[AlexanderS]

What ages, TheCatInTheHairnet?

[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.

[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.