Does anyone else hate 'unique name'

[user1475010410]

I probably stand alone in this opinion, but I literally hate it when people announce they have chosen a 'unique name' for their little Bundle. Every time I hear the word unique to describe DC name I immediately ask what that name is, and to be fair it's either the same name as hundreds of other kids have, double barrelled with either Mai, Lee or Rose or alternatively it's a normal bloody name spelt differently. If you call you child Charlie, spelling it Charlay doesn't make it unique, it just makes it spelt wrong.
Please tell me I'm not the only one out there who feels like this!

sits back and waits for responses to fly!

You're not alone it boils my blood too. I was reading a Facebook thread today, Emma's Diary I think it was was about unusual names and someone was saying how unusual and unique their daughters name was and she was soooooo pleased with her choice of uniqueness. The name was Evelyn! It's one of the most popular names out there! Ridiculous

You're not alone.

It's not so much the "unique name" that's the issue - it's the smug twattery accompanying the name that makes people twitch.

In the USA recently I met a Miltonius and an Aquarianne.

It's the same as when people have a "unique" wedding with a barn dance, hog roast and wildflower bouquet 😬

It's so hard to be different, never mind genuinely unique, because everything is now on the internet

I knew a Dwayne Pipe.. And he had a stutter poor lad. That was pretty unique (in its cruelness), never met another !

Yep, it's wanky. As is trting to formulate an official name based on the fact you like a nickname. So bloody pretentious.

There's unique as in unusual and then unique as in made up or misspelled.

I personally dislike traditional names and names deemed as "posh" on here.

It's the standard names that are given a Unique spelling that get my goat.

Aaliveigha eg

NapQueen is that meant to be Olivia? It made my brain hurt

You're not alone it boils my blood too.

it boils your blood? Bit of An extreme reaction to someone else's name don't you think?

Not encountered this as hardly any friends have started a family yet but can imagine it happening! I suppose what seems exclusive to some (i.e. they’ve never heard the name before/don’t know anyone called that) isn’t exclusive to others. Hence the anti-climax when someone announces their DCs ‘unique’ name and it’s not all that...er...unique. Waiting for the day a child is named ‘Unique’ if there isn’t one out there already!

I probably stand alone in this opinion, but I literally hate it when people announce they have chosen a 'unique name' for their little Bundle.

Yeah such a niche opinion on MN..............

I like both unique & traditional names. What I don't like is people scouring for names that sound different & insisting they have found a unique name. Sometimes they don't even know the meaning of the name but will use it because it's unique to them.

 it boils your blood? Bit of An extreme reaction to someone else's name don't you think?

Agree with this. Who cares what other babies are called. Thankfully we all have different tastes. I love unusual but normal/classic names! But others may prefer other types of names, so what!

And let's not forget why w name people - to identify them (ideally without the need to add surname initials or other adjectives)

These people have a basic misunderstanding of what unique means. Unique means the one and only. You can't have something which is quite unique, very unique or somewhat unique - it's either unique or it's not.

In order to come up with a truly unique name you'd have to call your child something like SparklyUnicornPrincessPinkPetalRhubarbBananarama or use a random set of letters and apostrophes - "My child is wewfikj[afyu=409u12, pronounced Karen".

I am all for unusual names, every other child around here seems to be called Ben, Katie, Anna or Lily. But there are thousands of great names which have fallen out of fashion - things like Pamela, Alison, Martin, Clarence, Steven, Amanda, Rosalind, Susan - no children at my kids school are called those names and I'm sure there are thousands more out there.

That should be the starting point for an unusual name, not making up some monstrosity like Mackaylah'Mai-Destinee or SupermanJo-Kai.

A unique name to me would be something along the lines of Lisa, Joanne, Jane. A name you don't hear of anymore

Totally agree with you. I prefer very uncommon names, outside the top 100 at least but preferably more underused. So it's not that I'm against unpopular names, but I've also noticed if people use the description 'unique' it's just spelled a made up way or isn't actually unique. It seems like a lot of people have entirely missed your point though.

Well, there is a difference between "unique" and unusual.

If it's actually a "real" (not misspelled) name... well, in this case I actually really like unusual names.

How can Lisa or Joanne be unique when there are millions of people called that already?

Yes but you don't hear them on babies do you. It's all
Lily-Mae
Ava
Eva
Isla
Isobel

I agree with Luna. Unique means 1 of a kind so yo describe any name which has been used before as unique is just wrong. Bad English and wrong and it irritates me!

I do think '70s names are due consideration though. They're not "unique" - by definition - but names like Lisa, Joanne, Natasha, Nicola, Samantha (all heavily represented in my class at school) are very pretty and it seems silly not to use them just because the vintage to which they belong hasn't come back into vogue yet.