If you're thinking "I love the name, but I don't think I'm brave enough to use iit"

[BertrandRussell]

Please, I beg you, just remember, it's not you that will have to be brave.

No truer words said Bert !

Yes! Being brave is to face something unpleasant, painful or dangerous...

Quite

I think it depends. Some people think they're being very brave and it turns out to be a top 100 name

Yes because the world needs more George and Charlotte's running around about the only acceptable names on MN

Ffs get over yourself. I wished I'd been a bit more brave with dd2 name as we we were with dd1.

To an extent, I agree. On the other hand, I don't like having an extremely common first and surname (think something completely ubiquitous like Jane Smith or 2017's Lily Jones). So finding something that was a happy medium between "out there" and "ridiculously common" was important, considering my DC all have my surname, which is in the top 5 most popular surnames in the country.

If you really want to use a 'brave' name, then call yourself it. If you think it is brave to use it then you are using it knowing it is something potentially unpleasant.

Meh. One person's brave is another person's ubiquitous, and what's a bog standard safe name to some is chavvy or try-hard to another.

I have an unusual name, as does DD. We like them.

Ha my friend would like you to go back in time and say this to her parents. Her name was unique. Not in a good way.

She calls herself Leah now

Nonsense. The Mumsnet idea of being 'brave' involves daringly going to the cinema on your own, for heaven's sake. Clearly everyone should just call their offspring George and Olivia and go everywhere in pairs for fear of looking conspicuous.

Well said Bertrand.

The only unpleasantness facing someone with an unusual name is the reaction from other people. Now if everyone could accept people's names, however odd they may seem to them, no one would have to be brave.

That is true chaffinch but you just need to look at threads on here to know we are a long way from that. In the meantime your child has to live with those reactions for the whole of their life.

I was at a baby group once where a child with a 'brave' name was introduced to the group. He was with nursery staff, not parents, so people felt free to openly snigger :( Poor kid.

Oh get over yourself. Where would the world be if people weren't brave? All names at some point were either made up or taken from the world around them. As others have said, what's brave to some is ubiquitous to others. My friend thought I was brave for using Jude but her kids are Harry and Jack. How brave a name is perceived to be is all relative to your own choice of name. I would never pick something in the top 50 and I'm not a fan of traditional names but that is my choice and I respect that others feel differently. How awful would it be if there were only a few name options in the world.

My first MN post (before I really understood MN!) was about my 'out there' baby name options. I was basically told that if I gave my child any of the names it was tantamount to child abuse. I cried quite a lot! I honestly wish I'd never posted and used my favourite name.

Children nowadays are nowhere near as cruel as adults. I work in a really rough school with some really out there names-kids don't bat an eyelid, they are more concerned about their brand of trainers.
Adults are the judgey ones-maybe we should take a leaf out of the kids book here and teach tolerance and acceptance rather than a Katie Hopkins approach to life. The world would be a very dull place if we all had the same taste.

So why do people talk about "being brave enough" to use a particular name? Surely if you think a name will attract any sort of attention that means you have to "be brave" to defend your choice, the person with the name would have to be brave too? And why would you do that?

And no, I don't think everyone should be called Jack or Chloe, or whatever the top two are at the moment. And no, I don't think children are generally bullied because of their names. I just think having a name that has to be constantly spelled or explained, or which means people have to repress a smile when they hear it or which prompts the same witticism every time, will be incredibly boring. And there are thousands of lovely names to choose from of all types.

My sister is called Chloë. At the time, it counted as a crazy "brave" choice in a sea of Catherines, Allisons and Rebeccas. People couldn't pronounce it or spell it.

My name is Charlotte. Often mentioned as a nice, classic, can't-go-wrong name on here. A safe choice.

But I still have to spell it out for people constantly. I can't believe how many times I've had post etc addressed to Sharlot or Charlet or similar. I hate it! Also, it doesn't actually mean anything. And it's so common that I was one of about 20 Charlottes at my school. Worst of both worlds. Wish my parents had been braver tbh.

But there is a huge difference between picking a name not in the top 50 and picking a name that you know before hand could cause issues but then doing it anyway.

But when people talk about being brave, they are generally talking about using a name which isn't complete in their peer group. Some people would see it as brave to call a child Jayden. Some people would see it as brave to call a child Hugo. Both are perfectly normal names.

I think betrands point was it's not the namer who has to carry the out-there name it's the namee, so what's it got to do with the parent "being brave"?
Are people deliberately not getting that?

AnUtterIdiot - please use the name you love. The child won't get the same reaction you get, other children won't notice at all and I bloomin well hope adults would not be so rude to a child!

But parents who choose unusual names ARE "being brave" because actually people generally aren't rude to the child themselves about their name (unless they're real nasty fuckers), they're rude to the parents, and the parents have to defend their child. Which takes a bit of bravery. eg standing up to all the people who make a face when you tell them the name you're thinking of for your child.

My point is that someone will always struggle with any name to some extent, even so-called safe ones: eg "Is that Anne with an "e"?" "Is it Sarah or Sara?" "John or Jon?"

Just use whatever name you like. Incidentally, do you think Bertrand Russell's parents cared about wrinkled noses when they introduced their new baby Bertrand?