What makes a name officially ‘made up’

[ikeakia]

And why can’t you have a ‘made up’ name without Judgement?

Surely all names were made up at some point, even those with a very long history. Someone had to be the first one to use it and why are we so against that now? When does it become a ‘name’ in it’s own right?

Btw, I’m not talking about ‘yoo-nique’ spellings or presentations of established names.

I mean more ones you’ve conjured out of the air yourself or perhaps combination names from one or more other names to create something unheard of.

I’ve noticed there seems to be a real thing on here about declaring that names are or sound made up (even if they aren’t, just very uncommon) which often goes with the poster not liking the name. Just wondered other posters thoughts?

For what it’s worth, I have one child who goes by an unusual animal name, not bear/fox/wolf but a feminine one. And one with a combination name that is mostly easy to say/pronounce and sounds like a proper name anyway.

I would say mixing two words or names together for example Melandra Burrows. Don't even know if I've spelt that right. Her n a me was made up from both her parents names.
So it could be Sandra and Melvin mixed to create Melandra, that sort of thing.

What is a combination name?

Can we guess your animal name child?
Is the name Echidna?

The animal itself is common, it’s the use as a given name that’s unusual.

I quite like Echidna

Combination names take two or more other names and mash them together to make an entirely new name which is often something unheard of.

My DS’s name is like that, it’s not listed as a name anywhere but to me at least it doesn’t sound ‘made up’ despite the fact that I put together two names I couldn’t decide between to make it.

I’ve mentioned my DD’s name on here before, but also the fact that she has a beautiful ‘proper’ name to fall back if she wants. She refuses to let anyone call her that though.

I thought my nephew's name was "made up" but apparently there were 11000 registered in 2018

MN has a lot of posters who are very invested in what other people call their DC. There is a mixture of the ignorant- never heard of it so it’s made up, the snobs - it’s not a royal name so it’s common and the rasists - we’re not having any of those foreign names in this country, can’t spell it, can’t pronounce it.

In real life no one cares that much, we have all got better things to wrry about than what other people name their DC.

Catherine/Katherine, nn Kitty? If so, not that unusual and really lovely!

Give some examples?

As long as the name is easy to pronounce and doesn't sound silly or rude, then almost anything goes. We name people and things so that they can be identified easily!

Every single name has been made up and names evolve over time.

I thought my nephew's name was "made up" but apparently there were 11,000 registered in 2018

Are you sure? 11,000 boys in a single year

Very outing but her proper name is Octavia but she is known as Butterfly to everyone. She won’t let anyone call her Octavia.

My son’s name is Dracob because I couldn’t decide between Drake and Jacob. Never found another one.

It just seems so many names that people suggest here are ‘made up’, I just wondered why that means to some it isn’t a name?

A school friend made up a name for her son. She took two sounds she liked and chose a spelling for each of them, mashed them together and that's his name. I actually really like it and a Google search of the name brings up two hits, both my friend's blog. He has a truly unique name and I do wonder if there will be another one at any point.

I had a friend called Taqko (not pronounced as written and was his nickname, not his full name) which is rare I think and I nicked it for my cat. Similarly, I wonder if anybody else has used it having met him. Names have to start gaining traction somewhere.

I have a perfect example:

A yoga instructor that I follow on Instagram recently had a baby.
She named her “Metta IV”
Now that is what I consider a made up name.

@ikeakia I love your naming style 😍 I wanted to call my daughter Soraya Sunshine (to sound a bit like Ray of Sunshine) but it got vetoed 😭

Butterfly is a gorgeous nn and I love Octavia and Dracob too. I’ve had the “all names were made up once” argument on here so many times. People just don’t get it!

I think it’s weird that so many people share the same name, when we’re all so different!

I think if you are deliberately trying to come up with a totally new, unique name (even if it turns out not to be) then it is, and usually sounds, made up. Names that evolve out of language naturally have a different feel to them, even if you've never heard them before. They follow rules that we recognise unconsciously.

Octavia is beautiful. Little kids like fun nicknames. At least she has a choice.

Dracob is er, interesting

Omashu

Thank you! I feel the same as you. I love hearing unusual names as I love the stories behind them. Sometimes they’re for long passed family members, sometimes people found them in old books and brought them to life again, or they’re to honour living people who happen to have a story behind them having the name.

That’s all true for more common names too but there’s so many people with them that, lovely as they are, they just don’t stand out.

I just wondered about other posters views that ‘made up’ often seems to mean bad and why?

Are you sure? 11,000 boys in a single year
I've just realised that it was a US site that I looked on, which explains both the popularity of the name (it's a bit Surnamey) and the % of larger population!

What makes a name made up is when someone actually makes it up.

Clearly.

I think that's fine though, the issue comes in when the overwhelming majority of people think it sounds silly.

She’s eight now, and I really can’t see her choosing to use Octavia ever. It’s just not her name.

Not everyone will like everyone’s choices. I personally would never choose something in the top 100 or 1000 if I could help it, so a lot of names suggested here I wouldn’t like.

Dracob is perfect, it suits him beyond perfection. The two names that made it just weren’t right on their own.

She may chose to be Octavia as an adult, depending on her profession. Very few professionals would wish to be known as butterfly.

Drakob id have assumed was simply an Eastern European spelling of Jacob and his family were Eastern European. It has that sound to it.

Iirc
Lorna was first used in the book Lorna Doone, and Wendy was first used in Peter Pan.

Do you pronounce dracob with a soft a or hard? I'm assuming hard given it's hard in both the names it came from but if I saw it without the backstory written down I'd assume a soft a.

The problems arise when other people mishear. Does Dracob not get "Jacob?" when he tells people his name?

I’ve been asked that before about Dracob, if it was Eastern European.

And believe me, Butterfly is very much the type of person who would keep the name into adulthood and sod the profession. It suits her as she is very hyperactive and flits from place to place. She just doesn’t identify as Octavia, it’s like having a middle name you pretend you don’t.