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!

Mainie
She was horribly bullied at school for being "two faced"
teenagers pick on ANYTHING

Mainie I would suspect it wasn’t the associations that caused Janus problems with her name.

It’s what nasty school kids could do by just dropping the J...

@Pebblespony I loved Ariadne too. If your DP is anything like mine agreed to any name I wanted after watching me give birth!

My name is very rarely used but not ‘out there’. I’ve only met a few others in 49 years. I like it. It’s not yooneek, just unusual.

She was horribly bullied at school for being "two faced"

I would suspect it wasn’t the associations that caused Janus problems with her name

Then 'research' isn't the problem, bullies are the problem. And mispronunciation.

I really like your names too.

We named our son a very rare name (not featured in the lists at all for his year of birth) - however, it is an historical name, a saint's name even. It was quite popular in, oh, about the 1100s 😂 But it has a great meaning, it's easy to spell and it sounds a bit like other names of that era that are more popular (I guess a bit like Olan and Alan?), so people can generally figure out how to spell it.

Admittedly we live abroad so our son's nursery class is full of names I've never heard of from different cultures, but so far I've had no problems at all and lots of compliments on our choice.

That said, just in case HE hates it later, his middle name is James

I wouldn’t use Aria as an alternative, even though I really like it. I loved the name in Game of Thrones, saw a patient with that name and thought her mum had been brave to name her it as it was so rare and I would have used that name at the time if I had the guts to give someone a rare name.....now it’s in the top 100! So I think it’s at risk of being a flash in the pan type name, much like Nigel and Kevin were in the 60s. So no, no Aria.

I would be ok with Ariadne being shortened to Ari or even Danni. DH would call her Ari but I’d call her Ads.

I love that Starbucks pic of Marc with a C

@PinkCalluna - yes! I think that might be where I got it from! I was born in the late 80s, so if it was still running early 90s something must have sunk in subconsciously. I just had “Ariadne spider” in my head, no idea where or how it got there.

@pebblespony - give him time to think then float it again! A year or so ago I told DH I liked the name and he was like “what no way that’s weird”. Now when I told him I was preggers and asked again about names his first thing was “I like Ariadne”. What have I done

Some rare names don't always stay rare...
My names Naomi, I have only ever met one.
But apparently it's popular now!
I hate it, people don't say it correctly and let's not start on the spelling 😂😂
And shortening it isn't easy...
Used to get called Nay, but my mum would always tell people not to call it me.
Now it's shorted to Nomes... 😂😂😂
And Nomester 🙈🙈
Oh and check the spellings...
My name spelt backwards is 'Imoan' 🙈🙈🙈

If they didn't like their name they could always go by Aria or Ollie as a nickname rather than Ariadne or Olan.

Oh and I've never heard of Olan but it is very similar to Alan which is a totally normal name, so it works fine!

Oops.. Should have read your last post before I wrote mine!

Also my DS middle name is Jett, everyone thought that was a weird name 😂😂😂

I have one daughter with a super rare name, and one with a super common name.

Can’t say it’s bothered either of them.

I was fairly unusual growing up, and tbh never met many since, but it’s an obvious name, unlike my elder dds.

I love both of yours.

Unusual names are fine so long as they're not spelt weirdly.
Also when written down (as in School register) they're easy enough to read.

Ariadne is gorgeous! I liked Evadne too for DD.

As it happens OH approved her extremely rare name (out of use for 600 years...) And she has had a lot of approval. School friends unimpressed, it's just her name.

I have a name that was very unusual but shortened to now extremely common girls name. I didn't know anyone else with my name growing up, and my full name still very unusual, but it does feel annoying having my nickname yelled across every playground...

Love Olan. And I'm really fussy with boys names. I think this baby is a girl though!

I'm 42, have a rare first name and I love it. Yes it can be a pain to spell it out but I've never known anything different so...

At school (and now) people shorten it. I don't mind.

I've never met another (although I've heard they exist) and I'm sure if I ever do shake hands with another it will be like crossing the streams in ghostbusters 😂. I've now married and also have an unusual surname. Should be easy, but people just can't get it right!!

@cuppaqueen - see I really like historical names. I’m intrigued to know the name you used now! I googled Olan earlier and apparently it was more popular in the late 1800s.

I’d never heard it before. Just got the name from Olan Rogers (a not very well known celeb). I like that it’s similar to Alan but a bit different. Also maybe I just like names with the letters ‘n’ in! A couple of the other more normal names are Erin and Jonah.

There’s a great podcast called The Allusionist and one of the recent episodes was interviews with people with unusual names (one was Peregrine) and how it’s affected them so could be worth a listen.

@cosmoa, oh I don’t mind at all if she chose Aria as a nickname! Just not as an official name. (I do still love Aria it just got ruined by its sudden popularity)

I have a really unusual name as does my Daughter. I've never been bullied about it and neither has she! I've never really loved mine but I think it's because it was my Nanna's name and so I associate it with old people! Mine seems to be a mumsnet favourite-Meriel.

I had Ariadne, Artemis, Athena and Hebe on my list. Agree about Ariadne Oliver though - she was a little eccentric.

I go to Starbucks with a Bob and he always says his name is Cyril so it works both ways.

Now you’ve posted the names, it won’t stay rare as others will now use it.

Hmm, as the mother of a child with an uncommon name, I can say it does have its frustrations. No one has ever heard of it and people always spell it incorrectly. However, my DD is a real character who I think will enjoy having such an individual name.

We gave DD a very unusual name. But it's easy to spell and people tend to call her by the shortened version anyway. Most people absolutely love it and are curious about its origins (Scottish). I have the most boring name on Earth so I think I was compensating!

My name was uncommon but now isn't, didn't meet another till high school and everyone used to presume I'd be a boy going by it. Now I know quite a few. My sister had a common name and I loved having a different name. My DD's have uncommon names but they aren't unusual. They are old fashion but lovely. The oldest there were only 7 born that year and the youngest was the only one born in her year, although I have heard of others. I like that they don't have to have their surname attached to the first name for someone to know who they are

I have a really rare name, so much do that I'm 36 and I've never met or known anybody else in my lifetime with it. School is hard with a rare name, I would dread a supply teacher as they often pronounced my name wrong and everyone laughed.