Anyone else think in the pursuit for a ‘unique’ name children are getting called more and more ridiculous things?

[Anotherdayanotheropinon]

and what is behind this desire for a unique name! I feel sorry for all the children whose parents seem to want a unique name to satisfy something in themselves without any regard for the poor child saddled with the name.

This also seems to be a new thing in the last 20 or so years - leading to so many made up names.

I tnink those countries that have a register of names are doing the right thing.

See thread on wanting to name child ‘Falcon’ or the ever popular Neveah (it’s heaven backwards) 🙄 and so many other terrible names.

The mumsnet snobbery and judgment around what other people call their own kids is baffling. So what if someone calls their child Xyneon or Zanyntha-Rose, it has absolutely zero inpact on your life. Judgements are also made with a nice dose of racism / xenophobia (“I know someone who knows someone who called their child L-A!!!”)

Some (quite a few) threads on here with unusual names are on a wind-up and not real at all.

Not everyone wants to call their child MN-approved names like Anna and Otto

See also oh yes give your child this ridiculous name and then call them this more normal nickname - why not just give them the normal nickname if you don’t want them to be called ridiculous name on a day to day basis! I don’t get it!

@ShirleyPhallus what about the impact on the child’s life being saddled with a ridiculous made up name? They do have to live as adults eventually!

I work in a secondary school with over 1000 pupils....the staff have a field day with some of the names.

Parents can make all sorts of harmful decisions for their kids — not to vaccinate, to bring them up in a strict and discriminatory religions, etc. This seems like one of the most benign and easily reversible.
My children were born in one of those list using countries you admire and it’s hugely disadvantageous to people from other countries whose names aren’t on the list.

Well if people enjoy it.. but yes probably doing the kids no favours.

The vast majority of people on MN appear to give their kids quite normal names though.

I don’t think the criticism of some names is always driven by snobbery. For me it is the selfishness of parents who are only thinking of themselves and how “cool” or individual they are by coming up with some crazy name - not considering the impact in their child in later life.

Falcon doesn't seem too bad but I've got a good idea what his nn would be.Shirley's username is a clue

@ShirleyPhallus, people do judge on names though. If you said 'Janet in Accounts' you'd not expect a 25-yr old, or if you said 'Blessing or Dayana in Support' you;d make guesses about their heritage'. If it was 'Debbie and Ian in QA', you'd probably expect them to be middle-aged

If people judge on names, why are we blaming the parents doing the naming rather than the people doing the judging?

Agree OP. It also makes it really hard to remember kids names when they are essentially made up. I know some wee kids and their mums and struggle to remember the names because they are so unusual and not "real" names.

I heard of a child recently who had the name "You-nique". I guess her parents REALLY wanted a "unique" name.

As someone who had four classmates with the same name all through primary, I’m more puzzled as to why people go on and on calling their children Charlie, Jack, Oliver, Sophia and Olivia.

Balonz anyone?

I completely understand wanting your child to have a name that isn’t another Olivia or whatever the most popular name is but that can be done by looking at more unusual names not by making up names or picking random words and using them as a name.

Poor You-Nique 🙈 it shouldn’t be allowed.

I normally see a name and dont give it too much thought. However the one I found odd was the American girl whose name was spelled Abcde.

@Snowcov

Agree OP. It also makes it really hard to remember kids names when they are essentially made up. I know some wee kids and their mums and struggle to remember the names because they are so unusual and not "real" names.

But... ALL names were essentially "made up" at some point or other in time! How can anyone determine what is a "real" name or not.

I love unusual names. The spelling of some throws me though and it must be annoying as a child to have a name few people around you can spell or pronounce.

@Snowcov

Agree OP. It also makes it really hard to remember kids names when they are essentially made up. I know some wee kids and their mums and struggle to remember the names because they are so unusual and not "real" names.

Maybe you need to do some brain training if you can't remember the name of someone you know just because it's one you've not heard before.

@HumunaHey if someone calls their kids "kababala" or something ridiculous like that, do you think I'm going to remember a made up word like that when I bump into them every few weeks. Seems a bit mad to me

Why do you assume that all kids with unusual names hate being "saddled" with them?

Just as there are parents who want their child to have their own identity and not be called the same as 5 others in their class, there are actually young people who prefer having an unusual, memorable name!

My name is not top 100 and I've only met one other person with it. Even so, I feel it's a bit boring and would have loved to have a more interesting name!

And, you do realise that when they are adults their name not raise eyebrows because unusual names will be more common, no?

Well, yes, if you were to see someone with an unusual name every few weeks it's not exactly mad to expect you'd be able to remember their name!

I dunno. I mean, I know I can be hugely judgy about names, but every time there's one of these threads, people post the "ridiculous" names they know and they turn out to be perfectly normal names from another language or culture, like Tomasz or Princess.

[quote Snowcov]@HumunaHey if someone calls their kids "kababala" or something ridiculous like that, do you think I'm going to remember a made up word like that when I bump into them every few weeks. Seems a bit mad to me[/quote]
But that’s difficult to remember because of the repetitive syllables, not because it’s ‘made up’ — for all you know, anyway, what you think is invented is the equivalent of Jack and Sophie in another culture.

Falcon or Eliza-belle isn’t any more difficult to remember than Phileas or Habakkuk.

I work in a school in a very multicultural area. I don't find there is such a thing as an unusual name these days as we have names from all around the world.

What might be a common Turkish or Iranian name is unusual to my ears, but it's the child's name and we do our absolute best to pronounce and celebrate it.

There's a fine line between name snobbery and racism and it's uncomfortable to hear adults mocking Children's names.

I agree that the search for uniqueness can lead to some interesting, strange or just plain weird choices. However it's not a new thing

Florence Nightingale was named after the city and is reportedly the first person to be called this. Now Florence is a pretty standard, mainstream name.

Falcon - Scott of the Antarctic was Robert Falcon Scott, and Falcon wasn't his mother's maiden name

Vanessa - totally made up name by author Jonathan Swift