Is my name a 'brave choice'?

[rosy189]

First time poster on this board!

Our first baby is due in the Autumn, we are not finding out the sex but if we have a boy we have decided to name him Milton.

I told my best friend and sister and they both said 'ooh thats very brave' but they were positive and seemed to like the name. I know you don't see many around but are we brave for choosing this name?

I didn't think it was too 'out there' maybe a bit uncommon?

ps, to go back a few posts to squoosh comments comparing the level of bravery choosing Irish/Maori/Korean names, I'd hardly put them in the same category! Not in the uk anyway. Are you quarter Irish? No way? I can't believe it, my sister's husband's cousin quarter Irish too! Being part Maori or part Korean or having connections to those countries is significantly rarer and requires more explanation. ie, a Maori / Korean name will prompt a lot more questions.

I've had two kids and thought poet, then Friedman.
I certainly never made the sterilising stuff connection (but then I never used it).
I think it is fine. I suspect the reaction you'll get will depend on where you live. In north London where I am, noone would bat an eyelid.

Ouch, you have had a hard time. I feel ambivalent towards it, but I am past baby sterilising and have virtually forgotten about the brand. I wouldn't give that too much thought - it's just because people are in the thick of babies that they are labouring the point.

I was at school with a Milton - he would be in his early 50s now. Unusual then too but I dont recall him ever getting teased over it

I think of the sterilising fluids - and fish sperm! All names will have something to consider and I do like the sound of the name 'Milton' but not sure about the sterilising fluids/sperm link being a great one for a child to contend with? Enjoy your baby when the time comes!

The bullying argument is silly. Bullies might use a name against a child, but children aren't bullied because of their name.

The most popular child in school could have an utterly ridiculous name and no one would ever mention it. Or a child with a top 10 name could get teased about it mercilessly.

True, Bobajob. I grew up with a male Meredith. He was rather cool and noone ever bullied him because of his name (or anything else).

I like it, at first it made me think of Milton Keynes, but the more I say it in my head the more it grows on me.

It's quirky, but still a real name.

I think MN is more unhibited that most people in rl, I doubt anyone at a baby group would say, "Milton, like the sterilising shizzle ?"

Why do people talk about "bullying" in this connection? It really trivialises what real bullying means.

As a few people have mentioned, some names lead to teasing. That's different. While I think that children need to learn how to cope with being laughed at or made fun of occasionally, it's very tiresome to hear the same jokes about your name for your entire life. It's not bullying, though.

Very mature.

Nah you hang on to that grip. Your comment that Milton would have 'the piss ripped out of him in the playground and later in his teenage years' sounds more than a touch hysterical.

If I was going to get hysterical, squoosh, I can assure you it wouldn't be over an unknown poster's choice of name for their unborn baby.
Let it go, you're just sounding silly and petulant now.

OP, if you and your dp like the name you should go for it. I wish you all the best with your baby, whatever you choose to call it.

Agree with Squoosh here. Name isn't to my taste but bullied?

I know a Jane bullied with Janus the Anus and an Eva the Eager Beaver. Kids can bully you about anything!

I agree with Squoosh too. But then I always think the shrieks about future playground bullying say very little about children who, let's face it, aren't actually born yet, and quite a lot about the adult posters who come out with that kind of thing. They frequently sound like the conformist, secretly terrified bullies' sidekicks whose life philosophy involves cutting down tall poppies and keeping your head down.

It may only be teasing but why set them up for it?
I wouldn't do it to them.

It depends on personality- some can carry it off but some can't and you have no idea from the baby which it will be.

It's Milton, not Frodo. Really not that teaseworthy.

Ah yes, Milton. He'll see his name every time you sterilise his bottles!

Isn't there a Milton in the Simpsons?

no that is Milhouse

I'd assume you were either a huge Paradise Lost fan or strongly committed to free market economics. I'd ask you which too, I think. But apart from that, it's pretty much unremarkable as a name.

I would be very surprised if children started chanting at little Milton about sterilising fluid, unless they are unusually mature/downtrodden for their ages, and are tasked with sterilising their siblings' bottles. In fact, in the unlikely event that happened, it would be a fairly straightforward way of seeing that some bullying attitudes are learned from parents.

I knew a ten year old Gandalf years ago in Oxford. He lived on a narrowboat and seemed to be the leader of his gang.

Sounds fine to me.

Sterilising fluid. But my daughter's name is a well known margarine and that didn't stop us!

LittleJohnnyDory don't you think it was a bit mean to call your DD 'I can't believe it's not butter?' Poor child...

Everyone will think of sterilising fluid. Everyone who grew up from the 1950s on knows it's called Milton.

And I agree with Nooka's comment about the potential shortening to Millie.

It sounds to me like an older American gentleman whose friends are called Byron and Earl and Lloyd. I can't get the image of plaid golfing trews from the 1970s out of my head now..

We noticed while watching old disney films, quite a few Miltons and Milts in the credits! So hopefully it will be shortened to 'Milt' like walter and walt I assume.
Being called 'milt' is not a good thing. It is the opposite of a good thing, in fact.