Does my son have an awful name?

[tabithamay]

I’ve done a similar thread on Nameberry but wanted other people’s opinions. I have a 17-year-old DS who’s started his second year at college, and we chose Ernest Leopold as a first and middle, after my DH’s great-grandfather. Recently, he’s become very aware of it as people are telling him how ugly/old-fashioned/frumpy/strange it is. What do you think?

sounds like an old man to me :S i imagine some frail old posh man and to be honest would be a bit meh if i heard a 17 year called that.

tabithamay I have an Ernest too, our DS7.
He's an Ernest Peter, second name after mine and DH's fathers and DH's GF too, but also chosen with an eye to the fact that if he gets to teenage years he can use his middle name if he finds it easier.
But tbf I can't see it, he is an Ernie through and through!
We chose it from Ernest Hemingway, Ernest Shackleton, Che Guevara. So many outstanding & interesting historical figures!
My DM was a bit when we told her the name when he was born, but it took about a month to win her round I guess. And now it's just completely him, as with every child, the name becomes them, not the other way around.

We gave DS, his great grandads name, it was reasonably popular when he was born and then suddenly it became very popular, at bit too much in fact and there were loads of them in school. He is fine with it though and don't seem to mind that it is really common.

I'm not a fan but I like classic names that everyone else probably thinks are boring like Robert, Richard, David, Thomas etc but then there's loads of people with those names and not many Ernest Leopolds so at least he's rather unique.

Really good names. Be proud. The time to hang heads in shame is when a Darren or a Tracey pops up.

Ernie is cute for a toddler but it's not great for a teenager. Ernest Leopold isn't something I'd have forced someone to live with, it's very old fashioned and clunky.

I like his name OP. It's great. And all those saying it's dreadful, be careful because you may well end up with grandchildren with similar names when they become popular again down the line, as with previous name cycles.
I have what is now a VERY popular name, think no.1 girls name for most of the last few years. I'm in my late 40s now but when I was at school, I was the only one with that name, had never met anyone else with that name and was occasionally teased for having a 'posh' name. I can guarantee that some of the people that teased me for my name will have named their children the same name. Only in my 20s did I start to hear it become used more frequently and now it's everywhere. Your son should embrace his name. It's cool. And by the time he is in his 40s it might be the most popular name out there!

Wouldnt be my choice but nothing you can do now. He sure wont be forgotten in a sea of Jacks, Joshs, Alfies etc

Haven't read the thread so gut response: he sounds like a cousin of Queen Victoria. Ernest is OK, but Ernie is awful. Leo is good. Ernie reminds me of a peculiar lodger my aunt and uncle once had and also Eric and Ernie and various seventies sitcoms.

What do the family call him?

I must admit, DS has quite a traditional surname too, so when we went for his six week check the receptionist did say she was expecting an old man to get up, not a woman with a six week old baby...

DS was born up north too so we've encountered lots of flat cap & whippet based jokes along the way...

Family doesn’t like Ernie, and I never call him Ernie, but some at college do. They call him Ernest, and my DD calls him Nesto. Sounds a bit like a 1950s malted drink but there isn’t much nickname potential I suppose! :)

We gave our son a bog-standard "normal" name entirely so that he wouldn't stand out for the wrong reasons. We both suffered horrendous bullying at school for being different, so have made every effort to ensure that DS doesn't attract the wrong type of attention in any way. Far better to keep your head down rather than engage in attention seeking.

I came here to say something but whippetwoman has already said it: your only mistake was to be slightly ahead of the curve with the revival of a classic name.
I used to think Oscar/Oskar was a ridiculous, comic name because the only Oscar I only knew of was the grouch from Sesame Street. Time has passed, Oscar/Oskar is a popular name, my prior opinion is out of date and I've changed my tune. That will happen with Ernie/Ernest now that George is overused and Jack has been done to death a thousand times over.

I like it. Beats the modern abominations like Jayden, Kaylem etc. Will thank you one day.

He's an Ernest Peter, second name after mine and DH's fathers and DH's GF too, but also chosen with an eye to the fact that if he gets to teenage years he can use his middle name if he finds it easier.

I'm not sure "Peter" is any more modern or easier to use. If that was part of your reasoning why didn't you pick a really common name? Not judging, just questioning your thought process.

I don't think it's an awful name.
Leo is quite a popular name (although not necessarily as short for Leopold, but still) and Ernest is fine. My husband chose Ernie as his nickname at school because he didn't like his own name!

Lots of people hate their name growing up - I know I did, it was so boooorrring - but you become accustomed to it and it's yours, after all.

OMG @Everanewbie - never knew such crap names existed; I'm still feeling ill at the idea of a Tracey

He could go by Leo if he wanted to blend in more...

Ignoramus because of the family connections - three Peters in immediate family was a bit of a no-brainer, especially now two of them are dead.
Does Pete really count as old-fashioned now? I must be really behind the times!

@Kazzyhoward how is it attention-seeking? We wanted to name him after a really really lovely kind man, not for attention?

Personally? I don't like them. My DH inherited his names from his grandparents and, though it's fair to say they don't bother him overly now, every time I mention his name to new people when he isn't around, they make some comment or other about it. It probably annoys me more than him, because once you leave the teenage years behind people generally have better manners than to make comments about people's names to their faces. He does passionately believe that children should not be named after relatives though!

I can't hear Ernie without mentally adding 'and he drove the fastest milk-cart in the west!'

Donald Glover's character in Atlanta is called Earn, surely that's cool points?. I think it only sounds old if you're our age, kids and young teens wouldn't have too many associations?

I hated my name as a teen. I liked it well enough as a child I think, but it's a unisex name and I'm old enough for that to have been odd rather than cool and edgy, plus it somehow made me seem out of place everywhere - it wasn't normal for any social group. I didn't think much about it til I got some awful responses as a teen. Then I thought about my name and it made me feel awkward. Still can't really see much good about it. Sometimes wish I'd changed it but I'm too old now. It's easier to live with in a non English speaking country.

Names are odd things, I sometimes think everyone should change them when they turn 18, like in some tribes - a child name chosen by parents and an adult name you choose yourself... But then a lot of us would cringe over names we'd have chosen at 18!

Ihaventgottimeforthis

Tbf I think Ernest is probably trendier than Peter as the really old names are back in fashion. The Peter era are not.

If it had only been Ernest on the id badge I don't think there would have been the same reaction. It's the combination that's the problem and any two names, whatever they are would probably generate a similar response.

I love it ..it's fab...but my dh would never let me have a name like that ..I wanted Humphrey for one of mine and I wasn't allowed it