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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

If you have an unusual name or a very common name...

42 replies

cowbiscuits · 16/10/2014 13:51

Do you think this affects your choice in name for your child?

I have an unusual name, I didn't meet anyone else called it until I was a teenager, and met very few since. It's one of those old fashioned names that is starting to become quite fashionable for babies now. I like it.

DH has a very ordinary name, which was No 1 the year he was born in the 70s. Most people know a few blokes called his name.

DH insists he would like an unusual name for the next baby. All the unusual names I hear on MN seem a bit "London" and, well, not very suited to us.

I am not so bothered about being unusual just for the sake of it. I wouldn't want a top 5 name but if I really like a name I wouldn't be put off by it not being unique. So what if they meet another?

I wouldn't want to abandon a name I really really like just because they might meet another one day.

Two of the names on my girls' shortlist have already been mentioned over on that rather unpleasant "boring names" thread and they are not even in the top 30.

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Aherdofmims · 16/10/2014 20:43

My name is quie unusual and was more so when I was a child. There was another in my class at a hook but she was the only one I ever knew - apparently her mum knew my mum and liked the name!

My dd has a name that everyone seems to have find of a similar type - they are same language origin and equal ish popularity.

Ds has name which has some things in common with dd's in terms of type. It is unusual but apparently getting more popular on mn.

scrivette · 16/10/2014 20:53

I have a very popular 80's name and at one point in secondary school there were four of us in the same class. (Although I was the only one with my spelling).

DS has an unusual name and I haven't met another although it is just inside the top 100.

I really want to know what all the unusual names are too

BestIsWest · 16/10/2014 21:00

I have a fairly common name and so do DCs. Best friend has a very unusual name, so unusual that if you google it only she and her aunt for whom she was named come up. Her DCs have very popular names.

Doilooklikeatourist · 16/10/2014 21:07

My name is a normal name ( now )
However when I was born in 1959 , it was unusual , in fact my mother was asked by the midwife why was she calling the baby that old fashioned name
One of my friends ( when at junior school ) had a cat with my name
My children have classic names
All well known , easy to pronounce but not one of many in a class
Remembers Sue B and Sue T sooty

AstoriaMalfoy · 16/10/2014 21:07

I have an unusual name although not particularly out there . I do love it and throughout my life people have commented on it .
My DD's have fairly standard names as being 'unusual ' now is much harder due to Americanisation and the trend for odd spellings

DramaAlpaca · 16/10/2014 22:03

My DM has a very unusual name which she has always disliked & actually found a bit embarrassing. She doesn't have a middle name which she could use instead, so she was stuck with it. As a result she gave me & my DB ordinary names that were very common indeed in the 1960s when we were born.

Funnily enough, DM's name has become more popular in recent years, although it seems to be pronounced wrongly! differently now. It's one of those names that is liked a lot on MN, though I've never encountered another in RL.

I went for quite classic names for my own DC.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 16/10/2014 22:06

My name is a common, but classic name.

My dcs have classic names. Nay, Royal names.

NormHonal · 16/10/2014 22:13

I have a name that was unusual growing up, but has had a resurgence recently.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with my name. Mostly hate during the teenage years and also when working overseas, because it's a name that furriners just can't grasp. They either think I'm male or Indian.

My DCs have more common names, although DC1's name is less common, it's by no means "out there" like mine was back in the '80s. What my DCs DO have, and I was determined to give them, is names that work across different languages and nationalities.

TheScottishPlay · 16/10/2014 22:27

DH and I have uncommon but not odd names. We have given DS a smilar name.
He has in the past been upset when he cant find his name on things on shop stands but had had lots of personalised items given to him over the years.
As long as you choose a name you both like or hopefully love it doesn't matter about popularity or lack of it.

Redhead11 · 16/10/2014 22:43

I've known a few people with my name. It isn't that unusual, but you don't get kids called this now - and precious few when i was a kid. It does have a less common spelling and i never could get things with my name on them. DD1 has a fairly common name, as has DD2, except hers is spelt differently and she is constantly being told she has mis-spelled it! I didn't want something way out there for my kids, but nor did i want run of the mill. I do recall one class of 20 kids in the school where my mother taught and there were 5 Lauras in it! I love the name Laura, but it has remained too common for me to have wanted to use it.

Original poster

cowbiscuits · 16/10/2014 23:02

I think a wider range of names are used now than in the 70s/early 80s.

Think of the names that were in the top 10 lists through the 70s, you know, Mark, Steven, David, Paul, Claire, Emma, Louise, Sarah. We all know tons of them because more parents were using fewer names. Whereas now, there seems to be a larger range of names used. So Ava, Isla, Amelia, Oliver, Harrry, Noah etc- they might be some of the most popular names but it won't be like the 4 Claires in a class thing, because there's more unusual names knocking about "diluting" the lists. If that makes sense.

This is why I don't feel quite as bad about using a top 30 name now if I really liked it, although I'd probably stay out of the top 5-10.

Some people on here refuse to even use a top 100 name which I think is a bit unnecessary unless you genuinely dislike them all.

I would really like to find an unusual name, but the names I like just seem to be the more popular ones, especially for boys.

OP posts:

Surfsup1 · 17/10/2014 00:34

There were 5 girls in my year at school who had the same name as me. didn't bother me one bit!

I choose baby names based on what I like.

These days there are so many more names is general circulation that even if you pick the #1 name you're still unlikely to end up with too many others in your class.

BuckskinnedAstronaut · 17/10/2014 00:40

My name was very unusual when I was a child (I've never met another one anywhere near my age) but is quite common now. My pet bugbear was that no one could spell it on hearing it, and no one pronounced it properly on reading it.

DH, on the other hand, had what was probably the #1 boys' name for the year he was born.

For the DCs we've aimed for "unusual but not weird" names that can be easily spelt (with only one variant spelling) and pronounced. We missed a trick slightly with DD1's name, which does have an alternative spelling in some European countries, but it's only generally a problem with people who are from one of those countries.

Aimey · 17/10/2014 00:54

We both have very common names, but mine gets misspelt (there are 2 equally common spellings) and his gets shortened when he'd rather it didn't.

Our kids have uncommon names. One is very rare, difficult to pronounce on sight, difficult to spell, not met another, we love it, she loves it, causes no problems. One is rare, have met two or three older people and one child with this name, easy to spell but sometimes misspelt, some people have never heard of it and mispronounce. We love it, she loves it, not a problem. One is uncommon where we are, more common in Lahndon I believe, although Celtic in origin, easy to spell, easy to say. We love it, she loves it, not a problem. :-)

tabulahrasa · 17/10/2014 01:51

My name is very unusual, not only have I never met another one, I've never met anyone who has ever met one before either.

It's a classical name and isn't pronounced how it's spelled in English rather than Greek, so I get spelling and pronunciation problems, every single time I use it.

If I google just my first name and the county I live in, I'm the first few hits because I'm involved in a charity...but I don't need to put in my surname.

All in I have a bit of an ambivalent feeling about my name...I like it, it's a nice name, but it does create (admittedly fairly minor) problems for me.

My DC have top 100 names that are immediately recognisably as standard names, everyone knows how to spell and everyone can pronounce. There are another two or three in their school, but, not in their classes. It wouldn't have bothered me if there were others in their class with the same name, I just happened to pick less popular names than that, but I definitely limited my choices to not unusual and wouldn't cause problems with spelling or saying them.

cheminotte · 17/10/2014 07:22

I have an unusual name. It is foreign but uncommon in my generation there too. My surname is pretty rare too so people remember me. Dp has name common in the 70s. Ds1's name is classic but rare in his generation. The midwives said it was the first they had had in years. Ds2 is top 50 but prob in the 40s. We couldn't agree on a more unusual name for him.

JustStirItUna · 17/10/2014 15:22

I'm a Corrina. I hated my name when I was younger but love it the older I've gotten. It gets pronounced a number of ways but I always correct people.

Not sure if this will have an effect on what I name my (future) children but I do always sway toward the more unusual names

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