Aibu? Baby names not suitable for adulthood?

[caz198917]

Wary I am probably going to cause a riot with this one! 🙈

Pregnant with baby boy number 2. And some of the name suggestions are awful.

Yes. Your name may suit a baby/toddler but an adult!?

Names such as Ralphie, teddy, hughie, Rupert, etc.

Do people honestly think there children are going to be babies forever.

Or am I being unreasonable and should just mind my own? 🤣

I think the usual thing is to actually call them Ralph, Edward, Hugh etc which become (slightly pretentious) adult names.

I personally wouldn’t pick one of those names but, think they’re fine. Ralphie becomes Ralph, Teddie Ted, Hughie Hugh etc. Or they would probably be fine as they are to be honest. There are so many cutesy ‘ie’ type names for boys that it’ll be the norm when they’re adults.

@winterowl

I think the usual thing is to actually call them Ralph, Edward, Hugh etc which become (slightly pretentious) adult names.

Ah that makes more sense. Thanks x

You mean Ralph, Edward, Hugh (Rupert is OK fior any age). People add the 'ie' sound for children but drop it when they are older. Edward can be Ed or Ted rather than Teddy.

I pretty much agree @caz198917 but I think a lot of people will disagree as those cutesy names are popular.
They just aren't to my taste. I think when naming a baby you need to bear in mind that they will end up an adult.

I know plenty of people who haven't given their children a long version, so have called their kid Teddy or similar, not Edward with the nickname Teddy. These kind of names just seem weird for an adult to me. But I guess by the time the children are grown up they'll be the norm as @Junemoon65 says.

I think when the current generation of small children grows up, there will be loads of adults with names like that and so it won't seem so strange.

I used to think the same but nobody ever thought Teddy Sheringham had a babies’ name. It was just his name.

I’m sure when all the Teddies, Ralphies, Alfie’s etc grow up they’ll know so many men the same age with those names it won’t even be an issue.

Having said that I do think it’s better to give a child a name like Edward/Theodore, Ralph on their birth certificate and if they do think the nickname version is too cutesy for them, it’s easy just to use the other version.

I agree with @MindyStClaire

Names only sound a particular way because of what we associate with them. If I hear a name like Deborah, Stephen, Lesley, Paul, they sound like men and women in the 40-50 age bracket but once they were children.

Of course, some names have maintained a reasonable level of popularity and some have never been particularly popular so aren’t tied to an era - ‘timeless’ names. These tend to be more to my taste but it doesn’t mean people will see Teddy and assume a three year old.

@MindyStClaire

I think when the current generation of small children grows up, there will be loads of adults with names like that and so it won't seem so strange.

I think the same. I don’t personally like all the ‘-y/-ie’ cutesy type names but they’re certainly popular!

I know plenty of grown men called Jamie, Robbie, Jimmy, Charlie... I don't see how Teddy or Hughie is different?

I know an adult (mid 40s) Ralphie. He has always been Ralphie.
I also know loads of adult Hughies. It seems to have been a popular name round these parts.

Ted Roosevelt
Ted Kennedy

Didn’t seem to have held them back in reaching the top …. and would imagine that they were registered their long form name.

I know a Billy in his early 20s. It's the name on his birth certificate and used to christen him.
Everyone, including his DM, calls him Bill.

I know a grown man called Freddy. Even as a little girl I thought it was such a cool name and was sure he was going to be handsome. He was/is.

I know a nearly 70 year old man who has one of these names and uses the diminutive version - doesn't sound silly because it's his name.

Freddy Mercury (although it wasn't his real name)
Robbie Williams

Never thought about their names being childlike.

I agree they will age fine . I would be more concerned about some of the strange names like Bluebell that are currently in trend. I can't imagine a CEO called Bluebell

Those names are also (mostly) quite popular, so it won't sound odd when those children are old because there are lots of them. There must have been lots of baby Garys and Neils and Keiths once, but we think they're adult names because they're out of fashion for small children now, so we only know adult ones.

(Generalising, of course - there are probably some little Garys toddling around somewhere!)

Sheringham was pretty much the only Teddy at the time
Mercury used as assumed name

Robbie and Teddy are Robert and Edward on their birth certificates.

I'm inclined to agree with OP, but there are lots of Freddies who are now adults.

I don't think the diminutives will be as strange sounding on adults as the "Gracie-Mae" type names.
Though I imagine Gracie-Mae herself will probably be Grace or Mae as soon as she gets chance!

@flippertyop

I agree they will age fine . I would be more concerned about some of the strange names like Bluebell that are currently in trend. I can't imagine a CEO called Bluebell

I know a Bluebell who’s about 11. She is super smart and cool. I fully expect her to be a CEO

I’m with you on diminutives but what’s wrong with Rupert? Genuine question as it’s top of my list! I thought objections to it would be more that it was a bit tweedy than childish.

Yeah YABU 😂
Of course you have your opinion that's cool but I don't think the examples you've given are great as they all are fine names for adulthood.
Ted, Ralph, Rupert, Hugh.

The name 'Bear' as an adult might fall into your category however I think most names just grow with the people, doesn't really bother me at all.
If everyone went for safe names the world would be full of the same names- boring.

Of course you won’t start a riot; your view is shared by most people on Mumsnet. There was a thread on this just a couple of weeks ago. The problem I have with this thought is that the -ie/-y nickname as a full name trend is an incredibly popular one, has been for some time and shows no signs of decreasing in popularity. In the top 100 in England and Wales in 2020 are Harry, Archie, Charlie, Freddie, Alfie, Tommy, Teddy, Albie, Reggie, Ronnie, Frankie, Bobby, Sonny, Ollie, Rosie, Evie, Elsie, Millie, Maisie, Hallie, Molly, Lottie and Ellie. And many many more further down the rankings. This means that the 'but what about when they are an adult?' question doesn't really make any sense as there will be literally thousands of adults with these names. Of course names will work for adults because of the volume of adults with those names.

That doesn't mean you have to like them. Personally they aren't the style of name I would choose, but I don't assume that my taste is the correct one.

My daughter has a name ending in 'ie' which most people will assume is a cutesy version of a normal name (whilst it can be, it's a name in its own right dating back to the 1880s) and I've sometimes wondered how it will affect her as she gets older.

Then I've thought, people grow into their names and it won't matter one jot in a few years because loads of adults will be called Teddy and Ralphie. It won't be weird then.