What about your name?

[Quizeerascal]

I'm always curious about whether the questions and dilemmas people raise on baby name threads actually matter in adulthood. Does it bother you if you were one of three Sarah's in school for example and were always known as Sarah E? Does your name match with your siblings' names and if not does it bother you? Do you notice if your first name flows with your middle name or not? Does having a full name like Charlotte rather than a shortened name like Lottie matter to you?

I have a slightly old-fashioned name for my generation and I occasionally felt self conscious about this growing up but generally I liked having an unusual name for my peer group. I also like that it never gets shortened. Interested to hear others' views.

I had a very unusual first name (late 80s, actually named after my mother and grandmother for whom it was practically unheard of at the time they were named) that has now been in the top 5 for years. Due to my age it was unusual until I was about 15 so I only ever knew 1 person in my whole time at school and 1 at work with the same name. This just goes to show you can’t tell what will become popular in future.

My name alliterates with my surname as does my brother’s - never bothered us at all, we thought it was quite cool, again I never get why people think this is an issue.

My parents chose names that are easily pronounceable in most languages for all three of us which I appreciated. We had a very unusual Eastern European surname so I appreciated they chose first names which sounded British as a contrast, but could also travel.

I feel neutral about my middle name and don’t understand why people agonise over them so much when you basically never use them after the day you tell your relatives your new baby’s name or on forms. I think the only problem is if you name them after an elderly relative and the name is very untrendy when they’re in school, but on the other hand learning to deal with that might be good for building resilience.

Mine doesn’t shorten easily but you could if you really wanted. I prefer the full version and like my name very much.

I’ve got a very common name for my age group - I’ve always been one of two or three with that name at school/work. Mine is a less common spelling though (think Sarah/Sara) so I’m forever correcting people. I could never find a magnet or notebook with the correct spelling on it. I also hated that my name had no shortened version, whereas my siblings had a choice. Therefore I picked a name for my child which has multiple shortenings, only one spelling and is fairly unusual!

I have an unusual name, I’m white British as are both my parents and my name is Turkish. My df just really liked it. I was born in the 70’s and the nurse actually said to my mum “you can’t call her that it’s wicked” lol
I love my name even though I always have to tell people how to pronounce and spell it. My middle name is a common 70’s middle name that goes with every other name out there lol.

I’m a Sarah, and I HATE my name. There were 7 girls called Sarah in my class at primary school. I wasn’t even the only Sarah W. As I don’t have a middle name, I’ve been stuck with it. But I don’t think I’ve ever come to terms with having such a common name. Even nowadays it isn’t unusual to be in meetings or on calls with 2 or 3 or 4 other people with the same name. Which is often confusing.

My mother’s take on this is “well it was either that or naming you after your grandmother” - her name was Winifred. I’d much rather have been called that.

Oh and my first name and surname (before I married) alliterated. I didn’t really like that but I can’t say why 🤷‍♀️ But whenever I meet people with alliterated names I dont think it sounds great. Was delighted to change my surname when I married, and made sure not to give my child an alliterated name!

Funny, I'd have loved to have been called Sarah, or Susan.

I have one of those 'fancy for the birth certificate' names which I was then never called and was always called the diminutive. So Elizabeth is my name (not really, but same idea) and I've always been Lizzie.

The thing is, I hate the short version - it's twee and sounds too young and 'girlie' for the person I actually am and the fact that I'm nearly 40. But I just don't identify with the long version either. So it feels like I'm a bit stuck.

There is another shortening which I prefer, i.e. Beth, if I'm using the above example, but it seems too late and a bit silly to suddenly start trying to use that!

Whenever people are planning on doing this on the baby name board and want to tell them not to. Just pick a name and use that!

I’ve never met someone else with my name, but there would be many in another country. I love that, and I think would feel a little competitive if I met another me! People so struggle to pronounce and spell it on occasion, but it sounds straightforward so it’s generally not an issue.

I have a classic, well known name. There was one other in my year at school. Strangely I didn’t meet any for many years but now I know at least three others, two are older than me, one by about ten years, the other by fifteen or twenty.
I like the way my name looks written down, and it has never been hugely popular, but is still very well known. I have never met a child with the name though, so it must be dated to some degree, rather like Elizabeth, Jane, Sarah, or Anne, all girls in my class at school, but where I have never met a little girl with the name.

My name is unusual, which has always been a bit of a pain to be honest. It's a posher sounding version of a more common name (think Clara instead of Claire) and people constantly use the better known one, which is annoying. Even if people do use my actual name they normally spell it wrong. There is a TV presenter with my name but very few others that I've heard of. I've always said that if I have children they'll have normal, recognisable names.

It doesn't go with my sister's name at all. She has a real 70s name. They sound completely random together. Imagine something along the lines of Sharon and Ophelia (not our actual names!).

I think there's a happy medium between unusual and widely used. Lots of nice names from around No. 20 to No. 200.

My name was ahead of it's time. It became popular about 20 years after I had it. I always thought it was a bit theatrical and was embarrassed about it as a teen. My very dominant mum refused to let anybody ever shorten it, including me. I'm glad as an adult because I really dont like the short version and have grown to like my name. It's not particularly well received on here but people always assume I'm younger than I am so that's a bonus.

I have what is always considered here to be a timeless classic pretty strong name. Surprisingly underused which is kind of nice. It doesn’t age or class me.
I also have a middle name which kind of ‘goes’ or ‘flows’ but it really doesn’t matter one whit. I don’t think a single friend of mine knows what my middle name is nor
Me theirs other than the one whose middle name is “pearl’ as she couldn’t resist disclosing !

I’ve never liked my name - sounds dated but not in the traditional sense! Middle name that feels like a token “well she needs to have a middle name”. And phonetically it’s quite harsh too... at least “matches” with siblings who have the same sort of thing.

I changed my first name, middle name and surname when I was 41. My original name was very common and boring. Nobody could spell my surname and I got fed up correcting people all the time. I love my new names and making the change has made me very happy. I deliberately gave my children unusual names as I didn’t want them to be one of several in their class.

My given name is ugly on the ear, ugly to write, has no nice diminutives, and is mostly miss-spelled.
It also has some unfortunate rhymes.
I was teased a lot in primary school. Secondary school was more polite but I never grew into it and now I’ve changed it to the simplest girls name there is.

Oh mogg interesting! I was thinking I’d have a crises of identity if I did that but then realised that’s because I like my name/s and you did not. Glad it worked out.

My name is well known, but was not widely used for people of my age. Couple euthanasia very unusual middle name and a hard to spell Irish surname, I realky did bit like my name growing up. I wanted to be like my sister who had two other girls with her first name in her class and 8 in her yeargroup!

Euthanasia is indeed a very unusual middle name
Bet you love your name now eh ?

Mine was a very popular name at the time I was born. It can be fine in that everyone has heard of it (although there are two common spellings - think Jayne or Jane), but it is a bit of a pain to have to still always be the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th person with that name wherever I go. At work I am known by a different shortening from that which my family and friends know me, as there was already someone there with my name when I started. Other places I have to be 'firstname surname'.
I'd prefer my name to one which people comment on / ask you about every single time to have to introduce yourself though. Can't understand why someone would inflict that upon someone they purport to love.

I have a very typical 1980s first and middle name, a lot of my friends share the same middle name but I can't remember too many people with the same first name. There was maybe 2/3 of us in my secondary school year.

I never met anyone else with my name until I was in my late 20s and I always liked that. The only minor "problem" is pronunciation, but I'm used to it by now. I also liked the reason behind my names, which gave them a bit of extra oomph.

My name is really common and I hate it. It wasn’t particularly a problem until I grew up and moved away from the poverty stricken circumstances of my youth. Then I found I was often judged by my name and clothes. Boyfriends’ parents thought I must be trashy. Employers thought I couldn’t possibly be educated and wouldn’t present the right image to clients. I learned to dress better but couldn’t change my name because it would upset my family. I still long for a classless name like Elizabeth or Joanna.

I like my name. I didn’t as a child because it is fairly unusual but not strangely so. People often mistake it for another name with a similar pronunciation. It’s a name that was invented for a character in a classic novel.

I think the take away from this is that unusual names don’t thank you for them.
I changed my unusual surname to ‘common as muck’ when I got married, and enjoy the simplicity.
My first name’s common too, but I go by: ShorteningSurname. It works well and feels like me.

My name (which isn't my username) is well known in a couple of European countries but not in the UK. I have never met another one in the UK. I've always loved my name and sought out similar names for my children (established traditional names that were outside the top 1000). It has an obvious shortening but I'm not someone who likes shortenings so I always insisted my name was used in full- everyone has done that. So it is possible to avoid abbreviations.