Thurston

[Belazu84]

New to mumsnet and haven't even conceived yet. But will be TTC soon and I love talking about names. We have the most standard english surname, one syllable, so we need to avoid anything too over-used or boring. For ages my DH has loved the boys name Thurston. It's a real name with lots of history and I do love how strong and unusual it sounds. DH is into music and likes sonic youth (Thurston Moore) but that's not really the main reason- it just gave him the idea... The more I say it the more I think it sounds fab with our surname, and I am (guiltily) tempted by Thor as a nickname! But is Thurston too weird/pretentious? I'd love to hear your opinions...

Made me think of the sausage roll shop too, glad I'm not the only one!

Thanks everyone! This is great. So good to get a cross section of opinion. Knew it would be a bit marmite but wanted to check it wasn't universally derided before DH gets his hopes up! You're all absolutely right- Thor is pretty silly and Thor Boyle is hilarious. But I think Thurston may still be a contender.

I like Thurston - cool, strong and hardly used! Great choice.

CitronVert my first thought was Greggs style bakeries too. Wonder if we're talking about the same town?

Columnist Zoe Williams' son is called Thurstan. Good, solid old English name

So glad it has some supporters! I'll politely ignore the greggs bakery thing I think... Interesting it can be Thurston or Thurstan. And yes I found an article about names by Zoe W - the comments beneath were brutal though!

I like it, especially with a boring surname. Also you don't need a nickname to have anything to do with the real name (Rusty was the only one I could think of, aside from pretentious Thor). My DS has a childish version of his given name made up by DD, but DD's is a completely different word relating to an animal she shares characteristics with.

Rusty sounds cute! Thank you

DSS's middle name is Thurston. Go for it!

I like it but my first thought was the holiday camp Thurston Manor

I'm really glad someone else pointed out the Greggs connection because that's what it makes me think of too. And I used to really like Thurston Moore but he has been something of a dick in recent times. (Sorry OP!)

That said, if you love it, don't listen to strangers on the internet. Go for it!

Oooh yes, love it! V much associate it with Thurston Moore, which is no bad thing.

I would have said association with Thurston Moore would have been a good thing, until he revealed himself to be a massive dickhead.

What dickish things has he done?? I hadn't heard.

I lived in a Thurston Road once

Oh you know, marry the coolest woman in the world, leave her for a groupie then six months later tell the world how you've been so in lurve and in a great new relationship for several years. Turns out hipster guitar gods mid life crises are just as tedious as anyone else's.

Yeah... ^ that, basically.

I usually don't agree with much posted on Jezebel, but this explains it jezebel.com/philandering-old-man-thurston-moore-calls-jezebel-gend-1538686647

Yuk, I knew he and Kim Gordon has split up but didn't know about the cheating with a groupie bit. Just another sad old man then unfortunately?
Kim Gordon is still cool as fuck tho

I don't like it for a little boy or baby especially, but absolutely my first and only thought was Thurston Moore. Love Sonic Youth

I've only heard of it as a character in Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth - a kindly, crippled, old man.

It wasn't just one bakery -it was a whole chain spreading across Yorkshire before it was bought by greggs

Also a steam museum I was dragged round as a child

Oh no, that was thursford -sorry

Ha! Funny twist to this thread. Actually my DH said the exact same thing about Thurston Moore being a bit of a dick these days. But I actually don't think it matters much. If an artist inspired you a lot when you were young, who cares about their subsequent relationship issues etc. My (imaginary) DS could still listen to an awesome guitarist and be proud of the connection to him, I think?

Absolutely. Just make sure you call your next one Mascis

Namechanged for this, as will totally out me. We named our son Thurston, and have never had anything but good comments about it.

I get that most people aren't going to be rude about a name, whatever they think privately, but others' attitudes have never been an issue.

Most people didn't get the Sonic Youth connection (or any of the others). In fact, only one person has mentioned Sonic Youth to us (in a good way), and one person mentioned the photographer, Thurston Hopkins, and one person mentioned the Thurston character in Gilligan's Island.

As I understand, it was originally a forename that then became a surname.

We love it. We did have reservations, but genuinely couldn't imagine him as anything else - he just seemed to be a Thurston. He is still young, and he owns his name (this just happens - people will just associate the name with your child).

No regrets at all, and very very glad we did it when we were hesitating for the reasons mentioned by others above - for us it was the right name :)