Does anyone know if there is an online resource or something where people feedback on their experiences living with their own name?
For example, I'm loving the name Gabriel and it tends to get mostly positive feedback online.
But I stumbled across this website
www.behindthename.com/name/gabriel/comments
where (while lots of people say they like it), there are 3 Gabriels who say living with the name was hard. Anything from getting bullied about having a 'girly' name, or Gay-briel, through to people constantly mishearing Gabe as Dave or whatever.
I know Gabriel isn't the most common name (which is one reason I like it) but it's still an established name and I don't think it's girly. The 'gay' thing is a risk but children can twist anything they want, and if it's not the name, they'll pick on hair colour or whatever. Can also hope that we might be moving towards a time when gay isn't used as an insult....
Anyway, the fact that men with this name disliked it has made me wobble. That said I know it's a small sample size and anyone could dislike their name. These men also might not be in the UK, which could have an affect (I think the website is mostly American). There are also two Gabriels who said they liked their name!
Does anyone know if there's any other way I can find out how people with a particular name feel about it? I don't want to inflict my child with a name he'll hate.