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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Do you like your name?

162 replies

MustardYellowJumper · 23/04/2019 10:58

As I'm naming a baby girl, I'm wondering what you like/don't like about your name. (You don't have to say what it is.)

I have always liked my name. I like that it's feminine but not too girly or frilly. There's lots of them my age, but that's never bothered me - and there's a few different nicknames anyway. I never felt my name was boring or shared by too many people, although it was popular. I always liked that there were lots of famous women in history with the same name.

I didn't like that my siblings had a story to their names, and mine was a name my parents "just liked"!

So what do you like/dislike about your own name?

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tobee · 24/04/2019 14:37

Yes I like my name and always have done.

When I was young (born late 60s) I didn't know anyone else called it. It was often pronounced incorrectly but it didn't bother me. I liked being unusual. A bit different.

Now it's quite popular and people mostly like it on Mumsnet . Lots in dd's age group - early 20s. It's got some ok short versions too.

I can't understand why anyone would give their child a very boring "safe" name but I don't get the need to go for an outlandish name either.

bugeyedbarber · 24/04/2019 20:56

Really interesting how many people are unhappy with their "popular in X decade" names.

I wonder how many Islas, Olivias, Avas and Evies will be on some version of Mumsnet in 30 years' time complaining their name is so 2010s and really common.

Hitheresunrays · 24/04/2019 21:08

My name is Alice and I love it. It is one of my DDs middle name, and I would have loved to use it for my next daughter too but I already used it as a middle name. and my siblings all have very strange and out-there names so I’ve always been happy that I got saddled with the normal, nice name

TriSarahTops · 24/04/2019 21:22

I’ve never liked my name. It was just too popular. Almost half the girls in my primary school class were called Sarah - I was one of seven. It is difficult to pronounce with my surname (and they were constantly pronounced together - the initial of my surname wasn’t sufficient to distinguish me as there were two Sarah A’s). Think Sarah Ashley (not my actual surname, but a similar sound).

I have my grandmother’s name as a middle name (Eileen) - which is actually worse than Sarah (how I wish I’d got my other grandmother’s name instead - Elizabeth would’ve been much better).

These days I can appreciate that it’s quite neutral (I work for a large multinational company, so a ‘simple’ name recognised in several countries/regions is quite useful). I’ve learnt to tolerate my name, but I will never like it.

TriSarahTops · 24/04/2019 21:24

Oh, and I also hate my initials. SEA is the abbreviation for South East Asia in all our online systems at work. Having the same initials as this region is a PITA and frequently fucks things up.

Heymummee · 24/04/2019 21:26

I like my name. I don’t actually go by my first name though, never have, I don’t really understand why my mum decided to give me a first name which would never be used, apparently she didn’t think it had the right ring to it the other way around. My first name is long, middle name is shorter so I get her point but it does cause confusion. My (middle, the one I use) name is 6 letters, can’t be shortened to anything which I’m really happy about, it’s not massively popular - I would hate for people to give me a nickname without it being something I have decided to be called if that makes sense?

Shockers · 24/04/2019 21:39

I like mine. It’s never been popular, but has always been around. I don’t mind the shortened versions of it either, although I did as a child because there was a small doll (I was also very small) with an annoying advert jingle which friends used to sing to me.

DuchessAnnogovia · 24/04/2019 22:21

I've never really liked my name. It's a mixture of my fathers and mothers names. Mind you my Mother was thinking of naming me Andromeda!

MissLadyM · 24/04/2019 22:39

Mine is Maria & I really like it x

Perfick · 24/04/2019 22:46

I'm an Emma, middle name Louise. There were so many of us in my school. I hated my name growing up, and made several attempts at changing it, but it's grown on me as an adult and I like it being shortened to Em. DD sometimes calls me Mem instead of mum as it's a mix of mum and Em! I quite like that too.

DD doesn't like her full name, but likes the shortened version. We never use DS's full name either. DH has a really short name that cannot get any shorter!

MummBraTheEverLeaking · 24/04/2019 23:26

I'm the same as princessfaff. I'm meh about it, can't say I love it or hate it. When I was younger I didn't like it at all, bullies teased me using my name and it led to a lot of negative connotations. I tried changing the spelling to something I thought was cooler (that lasted all of a week when an English teacher pulled me up on it in front of the whole class, even though she MUST have known how unpopular I was, and gave them even more reason to laugh at me! Thanks Mrs Davies you cow ).

It also rhymed slightly with my surname which sucked. Mind you it rhymes even more with my married name but I don't care now! Now it's just my name, I can't imagine being anything else. It's not too out there but I wasn't one of many.

WoahJessie · 26/04/2019 10:52

I do now, but that's because I did a deed poll and changed my first and middle names. Before they were both ten a penny late 70's/early 80's popular names and they were horrible. So I changed them.

Sparkly124 · 26/04/2019 11:39

I hate having a popular name for my generation. I wish my parents had tried a little harder to find a more interesting name for me.

Itsagrandoldteam · 26/04/2019 11:53

I'm Helen, I like my name, I can't imagine being called anything else. There are loads of Helen's my age.

I hated my maiden though, with a passion, (people used to laugh when I said my name) I love my very common married name.

ABitOTT · 26/04/2019 11:55

I went through periods of hating & loving my name with a few indifferent periods too. Now I'm nearing 50, I love my given name, but am generally known by my nickname.

TooBusyHavingFun · 26/04/2019 21:18

I always wished I was a 'Clare' or 'Adele' instead I was/am Trudi - like it because it was unusual but that's all.

IckyTummy · 27/04/2019 13:15

I like mine. On here it is "awful and very American", but I always get complimented on it, it isn't common (at least in the UK), and it lends itself to many nicknames if I wanted them.

buttonup26 · 27/04/2019 13:25

Quite happy with mine. I was going to be called Naomi but my Grandmother died just before I was born so I am named after her.

PBobs · 27/04/2019 16:34

Love mine. It's unusual and I've only met 3 other people in 35+ years who share it. I get some weird spellings sometimes and some people struggle to pronounce it but it doesn't put me off.

foxtiger · 28/04/2019 13:14

I like my actual name but I don't like the back story attached to it. My parents didn't really think it through and gave me a name they loved in full, but didn't like the most obvious short form. So when I got a bit older and people started trying to call me by that short form, they tried to avoid that by suddenly starting to call me by a different short form, which I've been called ever since, which is quite nice in itself but is often used as a name in its own right and people often just don't twig that it's not my real name, so I get the short form on formal documents and things and have to ask for it to be amended. In an ideal world I'd be called by my full name and I wouldn't positively encourage the use of short forms, but I wouldn't mind too much if anybody did use one, even the one my parents don't like. But I don't feel able to do that because it feels rude to my parents somehow, even though I'm fully grown and one of them isn't even alive any more.

Creatureofthenight · 28/04/2019 13:36

I don’t like my name. It was very unusual when I was little, and in a primary school full of Clares, Lisas, Kellys etc I felt like I stuck out.
I use a shortened form but don’t even like that very much.

HerRoyalFattyness · 28/04/2019 13:42

I don't mind my name. I don't really have strong feelings about it either way.
It's Kirsty.

Butterfly84 · 28/04/2019 14:25

I like my name, it's classic and continental. However, I don't like that the common shortening of my name is often assumed, and I have never gone by this shortening. I often tell people the shortening I go by and they still call me the common shortening. Therefore, I would always be vary of giving my child a name that has assumed nicknames/shortenings.

I also agree OP that I don't like that my name doesn't have a story like my siblings'. My name was picked because my parents just liked it and it fitted with my siblings' names.

Birdie6 · 28/04/2019 14:29

Mine is Stella - I love it. I was named after the nurse who delivered me, so I've always been glad that her name was a nice one. When I was a child it was pretty unusual, but it has become more popular again in recent years , and I'm happy to have a bottle of perfume with my name on it, courtesy of Stella McCartney !

Peccary · 28/04/2019 19:11

I'm a late 70s Emma, I think it's a pretty name now but hated being so common (all the full naming). I spent some time in the US and got constant compliments on it which was nice. DD has a well known but little used name, it's quite popular on here though.

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