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Original poster

Regretted an unusual name?

161 replies

MickeyAndMallory · 20/04/2017 09:20

Reading comments on other name threads, a theme seems to be people saying they loved 'insert unusual name here' but stayed safe and picked a more conforming/normal name. Wishing they had been braver to pick those wilder names they loved- but has anyone gone the other way- picked the unusual name and regretted it??

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Cineraria · 21/04/2017 12:37

Cereal,

I look at names.darkgreener.com. It was linked to on the ONS site. You need to hover on the chart on your year to get the exact number

Cerealnamechanges · 21/04/2017 12:38

Thanks

raspberryblush23 · 21/04/2017 12:47

DD has an unusual spelling (about 7 births in 2014) of a more popular but not too popular name. No, it's not made up, it's an old Scandinavian spelling and version of a more traditional name that also happens to be the name of my sister, if that makes sense. Sometimes I think should have given her the more common spelling but that still has pronounciation issues...

60percentofthetime · 21/04/2017 13:08

My middle name is very unusual. It's religious. I have never met or heard of anyone with the same name and if you search for it on Bounty etc it's not there.
When I was younger it was a little embarrassing explaining how to pronounce it, but my parents gave me a very popular first name so I just didn't tell anyone. Now that I'm older though I love it, it fits me and I tend to use it in place of my first name as my surname is really common.

originalbiglymavis · 21/04/2017 13:22

Isis is a name of a 10+ dc I know. His parents his parents???

Reading this thread it would appear that almost every parent is happy with their unusual choice, but not all the kids are.

As someone with a unusual name (and bloody awful middle name) all I can say is think really carefully. I loathed my name as a child and dreaded telling people it. My school wouldn't allow me to be called the more normal version my family lumbered me with (but pissily allowed my sister to use her diminutive - think Katie for Catherine) but I was stuck with the name that caused me to be bullied mercilessly.

I've got used to it now but my middle name is still one that I cringe at.

Puremince · 21/04/2017 13:24

We used our much-loved very unusual name as DD's middle name, and used a top thirty name as her first name. She would have had a lifetime of spelling it, plus it would have been misheard as a similar but more common name. I feel we've got the best of both worlds.

Catherinebee85 · 21/04/2017 15:23

It's driving me mad that everyone's posting waxing lyrical but not saying what the names actually are!

MiddleClassProblem · 21/04/2017 15:32

I have a slightly unusual name and my brother has a very unusual one so for me it was normal and I liked growing up and being easily identified I was a bit of a performer 👐🏽😆 not sure how my brother feels but he's never changed it and again, makes it easy for him to network for work etc.
DH has a very common name and was one of several in his class at every school he went to. He didn't like that much so it was easy to suggest more unusual names and him be receptive. DD does have an unusual name as a result and we love it and people often say they like it, not that that matters anyway.

MiddleClassProblem · 21/04/2017 15:36

Catherinebee85 well it can be quite outing!

grannytomine · 21/04/2017 15:38

Ca55andraMortmain, isn't it funny how that happens. I wonder how a name suddenly seems to be everywhere.

Crabbo · 21/04/2017 15:49

My dds name is unusual for the UK (it's Hawaiian) but doesn't sound out of place and is easy to spell etc - it's quite similar to a couple of other more well known names. It really suits her though and she gets lots of compliments on it.

Theresomethingaboutdairy · 21/04/2017 15:50

Big regrets, yes. We gave our dd1 an unusual name. It was fine when she was little but she is almost 12 now and she just wants to 'fit in' She has renamed herself Emily. Officially she still has the normal but unusual name that is on her birth certificate but when you get the 'known as' section on the school form we have to put Emily.

I am disappointed but do you know what? I wish I had given it more thought. Chosen a name that could not be a target for bullies and that would see a baby into adulthood. Named her for her own sake and not to have just tried to be different/unique. Dc2 & Dc3 are Henry and Olivia, for this reason Grin

originalbiglymavis · 21/04/2017 15:54

One if my (other) sisters used to get compliments.

They weren't really - 'oh that's so....unusual' 'what? Is that a name?' 'is that one word or two?' and our and the family favourite (very loud horsey woman) 'x?? Your name is x? Long pause. Well that's a bloody stupid name isn't it??'

Please remember - most people are too polite to say what they really think to your face. Only one of my sister had an ordinary name.

Gardenbirdy · 21/04/2017 15:57

DS has a "proper" but uncommon name, and we've no regrets so far! We get "oh that's a lovely name" a lot which I love Smile

Crumbleface · 21/04/2017 15:59

My son has an unusual name. Was really worried at first (dp was insistent we called him this), but now we hear other kids with his name a lot. Once on TV, twice around locally, so it's not unusual at all. I think it suits him, although people assume his name is another name that sounds similar and he gets called that a lot instead.

The automated voice calling patients at the Drs says his name phonetically, which sounds terrible and nothing like his name. But other than that, no issues, and actually, a few compliments about his name.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/04/2017 16:01

"Reading this thread it would appear that almost every parent is happy with their unusual choice, but not all the kids are."

That's what I was trying to say earlier. It's the child that has to live with the name for the rest of their lives. Or change it. And changing it is surely the biggest indication possible that they regret their parents' choice

BroomstickOfLove · 21/04/2017 16:03

DD is 10 and has a name which, while a real name, is unusual enough not to show up on the ONS lists, so fewer than 3 per year in the UK. She likes it, and it can be shortened to a more frequently encountered diminutive.

originalbiglymavis · 21/04/2017 16:03

I've never considered changing mine. What a faff!
And what to choose? I'd happily drop the middle one though - shocking! Even DS was Shock when he first heard it.

Crumbleface · 21/04/2017 16:08

I forgot to add that I had a very pretty, but unusual name as a child myself. It's actually quite common now, but unheard of when I was younger (but common in Aussie or American soap operas funnily enough). It was not great as a child, but do love it now and would hate a boring name. I'm quite a boring person, so an unusual name adds a bit of interest!

I think these days there are so many unusual names out there that it's not such a big deal. When I was younger it was very much biblical names for boys and most girls in school had three or four others with the same name in their year. I like the diversity of names out there now.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/04/2017 16:10

Original I only mentioned that because the OP told me earlier that if DC don't like their name when they're older they can "totally change them! No big deal." Confused

Crumbleface · 21/04/2017 16:11

I mean "have" not "had". I still have my unusual name!

GinIsIn · 21/04/2017 16:12

My parents gave me a name which wasn't popular at all in the year I was born, with an unusual (although not made up!) spelling to boot. They gave my brother a not popular name too.... within two years of us both being born those names shot into the top 5, and stayed in the top 10 for the past 20 years or so.

I HATE that my name is spelled differently to the common variant of my name. And I hate even more that if It happens within earshot of my mother she will loudly and angrily correct it, even though I'm now in my mid-30s!! (We don't go to starbucks together, that's for sure!) I wish I'd just deed polled to the common spelling when I was 18.

BroomstickOfLove · 21/04/2017 16:18

Actually, DD has changed her name, but to give herself an additional middle name which is a real name, traditional in my family, but which is also so rare as not to show up in the ONS list.

Flicking through to check, I discovered that in 2015 Khaleesi was more common than Elisabeth or Elinor, and that only 5 baby girls in the whole country were called Clare that year.

yomellamoHelly · 21/04/2017 16:22

One of our dc has an uncommon name. I still really love it, but the response when we announced the name was underwhelming and made me doubt myself for a while.

grufallosfriend · 21/04/2017 16:35

Over time, a name gets attached to a person. Of course unusual names, in isolation, are not universally loved, almost by definition.

We name our children so they can be identified. An unusual name does a much better job at identifying, and the person can make the name 'their own'.

I have always loved having an unusual (not common/overused) name.