Thoughts on having a really rare name?

[reeny19]

So I’ve recently found out I’m pregnant and we’ve had to seriously start deciding on names.

I’m torn between traditional, timeless ‘normal’ names but there are two very rare names that I love (one for a boy, one for a girl). I was expecting DH to veto my unusual names but he hasn’t and wants to use them!

What are your thoughts on rare names? Do you have one yourself? did you love/hate it or experience any problems with it? Did you name your own child something rare and how did you get on? What did your family think? Do you know of any children with rare names? Is it quite normal nowadays for children to have unusual names?

My issue with unusual names is that it’s does mean that the child will lose a degree of anonymity. I can also foresee my family disliking the names, people being confused when they hear it, struggling with spelling, remembering it, pronounciation etc.

Help please!

Ref Starbucks ...

Ariadne is a nice name, even nicer because it's actually a real name

What would be a fake name ?!

My name was rare enough growing up. I've only ever met one other. It was annoying coz I could never get personalized plaques or badges or pencil cases

Ariadne is lovely, I associate it with the story of the minotaur. I think many people will recognise it. I have a very unusual foreign name. I like it and get lots of compliments although I often shorten it for simplicity.

I have an uncommon name. As a child I was bothered by it, and often used to asked to be called Clare (my middle name) at school.

Now as an adult I love it! My last name is fairly rare too, I did find a website once that tells you how many people in UK share your name (based on electoral register) and I am the only one.

I have an unusual name although it has been made a little more popular due to a famous film star having the same name.

I won't say what it is, but people always get it wrong and call me Angela which really annoys me. They can't seem to be arsed to read my name properly. It isn't even hard to pronounce!

But for the record I like my name.

My daughter is called Aurelia and my son Dhruv. I think their unusual names but not rare. However they can never get their names on any plastic tat without me paying for it bespoke! They seem to like their names and so do we!
If we had another girl I love Phyrne. I've never met another one of those! My husband also like Quade for a boy but I wasn't sold on that!

I would have chosen a real but rare name. Except we wanted to honour a family member with a common name who sadly died in an accident. So DS has a very common name with a rare nickname which he can use (or not) as he sees fit. If I was having another child I’d totally choose a rare name though!

My name has been in the top ten for the last 20 years or so but was not common in the 70s or 80s as it was considered an old lady’s name then and I was the only person in my school with the name the whole time, at both primary and secondary. I really liked having a name that stood out, people always commented saying things like, you don’t hear that name much these days. I think it’s a bit like the old fashioned names that are coming back in. I know of someone who has named their child Ada which would have been unheard of 20 yrs ago but nobody who has got a Brenda or a Shirley, but then in another 10 yrs who’s to say they won’t start making a comeback. My eldest has an old fashioned name which is not common. There were only 9 registered the year she was born but it’s not a particularly weird name, and everyone in her school knows her as she’s the only one which she quite likes. My mum wasn’t very keen when we told her the name but after a while it just becomes them and you don’t have any other associations with it. If they are names you really love, go for it.

@Winterwonderland12 ABCDE, Apple Orange Banana Fruit Salad, Blue, Mihkeyleigh etc.

My name is odd in that it's very rare in that I've only met 2 others in nearly 40 years

But it's always mentioned in a very positive way on Mumsnet, never called horrid or common always referred to as classy. Still it's never been popular though shorter/similar versions of it seem more popular these days,

My child’s called Penelope which is, in my opinion, fairly normal and commonly used. The number of people who read it as Pen-lop is ridiculous. Don’t go for something unusual.

But to answer the question -

I find it is always misspelled both in long and short form

No merchandise growing up

If you give your child a rare first name

• give them a relatively common second name that they can switch to if they want
• allow them to shorten / adapt their name if they wish
• get used to it being mispronounced

and PLEASE don't make it be something downright odd
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46393501

I love Ariadne! Floated it to DH just now for our baby due in May. Unceremoniously shot down.

I have a very rare name, only ever met one other. It's an easily recognisable word and spelling and brings a smile to everyone's face. I absolutely love it and can safely say my life would not have been the same if I'd had a common name. I've blessed all 3 of my kids with unusual names and they love it too!

Slightly different but I have an Irish name with Irish spellings and it's a nightmare having to spell it or repeat it any time I'm anywhere abroad. When I lived abroad it drove me nuts and I didn't give my children Irish names because of this.

Funny how different people's experiences can be. I've lived outside Ireland my entire adult life, and have an Irish first and surname, and DS has an unusual Irish first name and both DH and my Irish surnames, and people seem to manage just fine. Obviously, non-Irish people won't know in advance how to pronounce or spell them, but, seriously, if you're crushed by a dental receptionist not getting your name right, or have a desperate need to be able to buy a mug/fridge magnet/stick of rock with your name on it, you're probably too sensitive to go out without a suit of armour.

I've got a really unusual name - I hated it as a child as I was really shy and found it excruciating when people asked me my name as I'd always have to repeat it/spell it/explain etc. Now I go by an uncommon but 'known' nickname for all but the most official purposes. Now I'm older I quite like that my name is unique but as a child I just didn't want to stand out. I was always disappointed that I couldn't ever buy anything with my name on in gift shops too - much worse than the Starbucks issue IMO

Is Olan Mills photography still going? Sorry that was my immediate thought for your boys name.

Important thing with unusual names : please research them before using
my colleague Jan hated the fact that her true name was Janus

I’ve loved the name since I was a child, I think from about 6-7 years old. No idea where I first heard it. It makes me think of spiders.

OP you are naming your DD after Ariadne the Spider from the 1980s children’s programme “Creepy Crawlies”.

Fair play to you, it was a great programme...

Ariadne was in my top 3, I think it is a beautiful name, it just didn't suit our baby when she was born.

Important thing with unusual names : please research them before using my colleague Jan hated the fact that her true name was Janus

Sounds as if Jan needed to do her research. Janus has lovely associations -- Roman god of transitions, beginnings, endings, birth, doorways and gateways, looking with two faces towards the present and the past.

One of my kids has a name that was almost unheard of 25yrs ago and is commons jie in under 5s. No issues

Janus has lovely associations

And contains the word anus.