Yoonique names?

[TheCatsMeow]

Just wondering why everyone hates them? Surely at one point Catherine, Michael and Tom were unique? And people used to spell their own names multiple ways.

I'm not on about spelling a normal name differently. Jaymez instead of James will obviously just make spelling difficult.

But what's wrong with made up names or names that aren't usually names?

I don't mean why are people more truthful on line I mean why do they dislike them at all

"I mean why do they dislike them at all"

Personal taste.

TrojanWhore I'm not suggesting for a moment that those views aren't real or a true reflection of the way the poster feels. Unfortunately I'm very sure they are.

MN is very middle class. Mostly well educated people with associated norms, tastes, values.

These names, well they're a bit common, however distasteful of incorrect that impression may be it's true. MN refuses to use the word chav and shies away from admitting that there are certain indicators of a lower socioeconomic demographic, but that's what it is.

So it's because they're not "posh" names?

Personal taste.

I'd rather cut my arm off than name my child Nevaeh or indeed Alice. The latter is clearly not "unique".

Peoples views on here do reflect real life, these are the views people don't voice to parents in real life because it simply isn't done. But they are thinking it.

My brother is named Stanley, in my opinion a perfectly normal if old fashioned name after my father and grandfather, when he was in primary school the mother of another little boy commented on 'what a funny name he had'. When my mum asked what her child was called she replied that her little boy was named Sunny

What's wrong with Seraphina?!

(It's my daughters name.. Should I hang my head in shame?)

No Mary it's lovely! I just meant it's sometimes hard to spell so are lots of names so I don't get the "hard to spell" criticism

Mary I have a 2yr old Niamh, I will hang my head in shame too

There's nothing wrong with Niamh! My point was normal names can be difficult to spell so the criticism doesn't hold

I was born in the 80's to hippy parents and had a very unusual name which is not quite popular.

I LOVED having an unusual name and am now slightly gutted at having to share it .

*now quite popular

BinaryFinary I absolutely love that you think there are "associated norms, tastes and values" with being well educated. This says it all! The mantra of the middle classes. And yes you're right, I think MN - or certainly this particular thread - is the voice of that.

I suppose its because we value autheticity and a new spelling of a name my cheapen the foundation of it, with the name representing that child. If it is totally made up I suppose it would be gen unique. A very difficult thing to do because, certain sounds, words all stem or represent something. e.g if I was to call my child Bantao, sort of sounds like bantowel; yes the banning of towels :/. I'm still searching for names so difficult.

When I was born in the late 50s, my Mum invented my name. She still maintains I am the oldest person in Britain with this name. It was a bit tough growing up, as I was teased mercilessly, and no-one could ever spell or pronounce it correctly.

Now, just about every 20th female has this name, different spellings, but the same name.

It's how names come about, isn't it? Someone, somewhere, had to think of a name, any name in the first place, for it to become popular and commonplace.

Someone, somewhere, had to think of a name, any name in the first place, for it to become popular and commonplace.

Exactly!

I'm curious what your name is

If I told you, I'd have to kill you. (Curiosity and the cat and all that)

I think there's a big difference between a genuinely "unique" name, and a weird-spelling yoonique name!
To me a unique name, is a name that is not often heard, but is still obvious it's a name that might appear in a book of names.
In my mind, a "yoonique" name is a "name" that the parents have completely made up there's a kid a DD's play group who is called "Sunbeame"

I am not a fan of unique or creative names, partly because of personal taste and partly because it makes me think that the parents are using the child as a kind of lifestyle accessory rather than a person in their own right. More concerned about how cool they think they look as parents.

So how do you think any name came about in the first place, Sparkly and Fizrim. How can a book of names come to be, if no-one had ever thought of names to call their children?

Who thought of the names Abigail, or Paul, in the first place, just as examples?

For instance, my name probably wouldn't have appeared in a 'Book of Names' back in the 50s, but I expect it would now.

That's not the point of yoonique names though, is it Evans? They don't want another child with the same name!

The earliest recorded use of Abigail is about 1040 BC, so I doubt anyone can possibly say how it came to be used then, or before then.

Paul was coined by Jesus, wasn't it?

Well, I'd think that would actually be exactly the point. The person who first though of the names Abigail or Adam were being unique at the time. The fact that these are now popular names is because someone thought of them in the first place and other people liked them - albeit hundreds or thousands of years ago

(Spelling variations are another matter entirely, of course).

Perhaps I've missed the difference between unique and 'yoonique'