In your opinion, can people with names like 'Posy', 'Kitty' or 'Dotty' be taken seriously?

[Stateofgrace]

...I happen to think so, but my family and a few friends disagree. Strongly.

Almost every name I have considered is of the 'cutesy' variety - as well as the above three, I also like Polly, Lola and Nelly. I seem to just like girly names. My mother is fond of telling me ''You are naming a person, not a baby'' as if I am not aware that baby will grow up.

I know that you shouldn't tell people the names before baby is born and present the name as a fait acompli, but I really don't want to pick a name which everyone else seems to hate...

Any thoughts / experiences on this? My mother this morning has just told me that ''she wouldn't trust a Doctor called something ridiculous like Posy'', which is actually one of my favourite names.

Any thoughts/experiences on this?

I give you Pixie McKenna from Embarassing Bodies.
I don't thnk anything differently of someone because of their name, it's just a name.
If my lawyer is called Mitzi Smith or Barry Fife, I don't think, 'bloody daft name, can't take you seriously/awful old fashioned name, bet you're a stick in the mud'.
Bollocks. Call your kids what you want.
And don't get me started on 'Kathleen on birth certificate, Kitty for everyday' absolute nonsense.

Rant over

Do you mean Bernadette Ann? she chooses to use Pixie. Her parents didn't give her no other option!

Pixie McKenna? Do you mean Bernadette?

I'm thinking I've started a turf war!!
I was honestly not trying to be provocative, perhaps a little naively in the wake of the Katie Collins debacle...

But I do take all comments on board. It seems that if I am reading right, about 80% of you think it's a bad idea and dd would need something more formal on BC.

Like I said before, I do think you should be able to name your child the name you love, but I am not keen on deliberately disadvantaging a child because Mummy wanted a "cute princess" name (direct quote from DM)

That said, Posy is still my absolute favourite name. I just wanted to stay out of the whole area of 'generic ''acceptable'' first name' then use the name you love for middle name and have that as given name... does that pose a new set of problems for poor DD?

My mum called me just this morning - one of her friend's daughters has just had a baby and called him Bear.... I could sense the hen's arse mouth she was doing from 50 miles away...

Can Posy a nn for another name OP.

Sorry that looks like terrible grammar. I'll try again.

Can Posy be a nn for another name, OP?

Or is it purely a name in it's on right?

I think some parents are very selfish. Bear is going to have to deal with a lot of crap over the years because of his name. Yes, all names carry the potential for teasing, but some are the equivalent of pasting a target on the child's back.

Bear is truely awful he has to introduce himself as that for the rest of his life poor little sod

Bowlers, I think that is quite subjective and you would get people giving you both answers.
Yes, it can be a name in its own right, in that I know of children with the name, but I think it's fair to say that it is usually a nickname for something else, i.e. Josephine / Rosemary....

Neither of those names do anything for me personally.

Stateofgrace, please tell me you said "Oooh, Bear, that's lovely. I wonder if it would work for a girl?"

Personally I would always give a child the longer name on the bc, but not because they "wouldn't be taken seriously" with the shorter name -- just because they are individuals and I'd like them to have choices when they grow up. There can be practical considerations in future that you haven't considered, too. One of my brothers was always know by the short form of his name growing up; as an adult he spent several years living and working in a country where the short form was a common word so didn't really work as a name and he had the long form to fall back on. Similarly the showjumper Pippa Funnell reverted to Philippa for the Athens Olympics because "Pippa" is Greek for blowjob.

I think you should have a cunning plan,,OP.

Tell your DM how much you like the name 'Bear' now she's put it in your mind, and tell her your favourite girls names are Princess or Lulu-Trixibelle. She will then be truly delighted to meet her new GC Kitty, or Posy, or Lola.

snigger I did say ''we thought about that for a boy, too''.

The silence was deafening...

Bear is a truly fantastic name for a boy.

Personally I'd go down the road of giving the baby a full version of the name but always using the nickname. E.g delores but always called Lola

There are lots of names I'm not fond of. Bear is the only name I've ever heard that has made me thought the registrar should refuse to record it.

The poor sod will be 45 and still have people burst out laughing when he introduces himself.

What Twirly said.

Though I suppose Lama or Muskrat would get a tougher time in the playground than Bear. Just about.

I'm not sure I do agree with Twirly.

I bet there aren't many people who would know, or care, whether Bear Grylls is using his given name or a nickname.

He's seems a burly grown-up who's name suits him. I doubt many people burst out laughing when he's introduced/introduces himself.

He has chosen to use that. It fits the fictional image of him as a rugged, at one with the elements type. He's not an accountant.

Well, there are a lot if occupations that aren't in accountancy.

Yes there are. Bear the quantity surveyor, Bear the nurse, Bear the retail manager, Bear the customer service call centre worker, Bear the estate agent, Bear the maths teacher...

Now you get it! In 30 years time there will be nurses/shop workers/teachers/estate agents called all manner of names that you deem strange.

Bear will still be funny. But not for Bear.

One of my friends' eldest son is named Bear. It suits him. No one has burst out laughing yet when he's been introduced. But then thankfully the people he has met so far don't appear to have been ignoramuses.