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.

@Farrandau

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.

It was 6 others for DH - all the same name.

We tried for what my parents managed with my name uncommon but not unknown.

DS is often considered very unusal - though it's traditional - DDs names got very poplular few years after we picked them. Mostly though they know odd person with same name but not in same class as them.

There are countries that have a list of approved names??? And people actually think that's a good idea??? I'm amazed. Society sucks, who's business is it what you call the child that YOU made??

My husband and I are Swedish and to me English names sound ridiculous. And the fact that there are so many Jacks and Tom’s and Olivia and Emily… these names sound stupid to me personally.

It’s all about where you come from. Scandinavian names are hard on the ear for alot of people, yet my child will have a Swedish name.

I think it all Depends on where you come from. From my experience and my time in the UK, the need for “cool” names is something British and American people do. Your names sound ridiculous.

@MarshmallowSwede give us some examples of names you would choose?

Germany has a list of names - not surprisingly Adolf doesn't not appear. But it also used to exclude Islamic & turkish names which was a problem for the large numbers of 'Gastarbeiter' or 'guest workers' from Turkey. I think the list may have been amended to include more suitable names.

I don't know of any other countries who have an approved list

It' seems to be an older tradition coming back around - looking for unusual names.

Other countires do have some name restrictions:

Naming laws

I came across an (older ) woman the other day called Julie. Well her parents obviously wanted to be youneek so she spells it Jewlee. Really?? I wonder how many times (a day) she had to spell that? She was in her 60s.

@DPotter

Germany has a list of names - not surprisingly Adolf doesn't not appear. But it also used to exclude Islamic & turkish names which was a problem for the large numbers of 'Gastarbeiter' or 'guest workers' from Turkey. I think the list may have been amended to include more suitable names. I don't know of any other countries who have an approved list

France used to till the early 90s. Lots of countries did in the past, or still do.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_law

It's the 'unique' spellings that make me think wtf. Skyy and Jnr being two examples off the top of my head. Just why?!

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 YES!!! I would far rather have a 'unique' name than just the same old same old. Yawn!!!

@Anotherdayanotheropinon
“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!”
The only thing impacting the child / adults life in this situation is judgemental people like you! It’s a name FFS. Make your judgements based on how people act, not what their parents called them.

@Calennig, yes, DS has a name of which there were fewer than three, or two, or whatever is low enough to mean that actual numbers aren't reported in the stats for his birth year. Having said that, it is an old name, and commonly used in other countries, it's just currently unusual in the UK.

@LuckyAmy1986 -- as @Calennig's DH would probably agree, it was actually weirdly dispiriting to have a name that felt like it in no way denoted you as an individual as a child. You just got used to assuming that when someone said 'X!', they meant one of the other Xs. It made me feel very generic. (It didn't help that two of the other Xs had the same initials, so there wasn't even that way of distinguishing.)

It took me until well into my 20s, living abroad, to start to respond automatically to my name if someone called it.

@WhoppingBigBackside but...

(a) falcon and phallus have completely different vowel sounds

(b) the vast majority of the kids likely to bestow a sniggery nickname are unlikely to have encountered the word phallus yet

Naming culture has changed. That's it.

When I was out the other day I only heard three children being called (upper middle class area). These were three girls - Emily, Bluebell and Everdean.

If you're a foreigner in Germany it's not hard to get a name from your native culture approved, you just have to get confirmation from your embassy that it's a real name and not made up. It's not discriminatory unless you want to use a really odd name.

I suppose if you call your child something thousands of other children will be called and they then turn out to be a dreadfully talentless, boring beige individual, they will have nothing memorable about them at all.

If they are talentless, beige and boring and called Flagrandia Gonzo, at least they'll have something.

as Calennig's DH would probably agree, it was actually weirdly dispiriting to have a name that felt like it in no way denoted you as an individual as a child. You just got used to assuming that when someone said 'X!', they meant one of the other Xs. It made me feel very generic

Slightly different perhaps because they were boys but DH and his friends got used to being called by their surnames even beyond the school and college years by everyone even by family with same surnames.

DH very much wanted less common names for our children - he also want reasons for the choice and middle names as his parents always said it was a last minute first thought name and only one for him as MIL was adamant he would be a girl.

So I don't think his first name ever made him feel individual - even now it's so common many collgues still often use his full name to denote him in meetings or to other collgues - as there are others in office and department.

@MarshmallowSwede

That's fascinating insight. Can you explain more - what in particular about English names sound odd to you?
Just curious....

@notacooldad

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.

Pronounced "Alpha-bet"?

@Marcipex

I like traditional Scandinavian names. My son will be called Ivar (eeee-var). It’s a Swedish name.. old Norse actually but not uncommon all over Scandinavia.

Anders, Karl, Mads, Ole .. These names sound better to me than Jack or Tom just because these are names I hear in Sweden or know from other Scandinavian countries are normal names for us.

Of course we have men names thomas, but Tom i don’t like the sound of. Thomas Is ok.

[quote merryhouse]@WhoppingBigBackside but...

(a) falcon and phallus have completely different vowel sounds

(b) the vast majority of the kids likely to bestow a sniggery nickname are unlikely to have encountered the word phallus yet[/quote]
They do? News to me.

As for (b), you think???

@RestingStitchFace

The name Jack for example sounds like it is not a complete name. I don’t know why.. but it seems like more a nickname and not a full name. It could also be because the way we pronounce J in Swedish is yo.. so this name is Yack.. I know in English it’s a different sound for J but I do struggle with that I tend to still pronounce J as y.. so yack? This doesn’t sound right to my ear.

It’s sometimes a joke about how Swedes say j. But I can’t imagine this name for my own child. Or Harry.. this is weird. Harold yes.. but Harry I don’t like. For me Harold is a name.. and Harry (hairy) sounds funny.

But also English of course is not my first language so you have to understand the sounding of names that you grow up hearing you will just tend to not be used to hearing other names. Of course I’ve been exposed to British names before living in the UK for a couple of years, but your names are not common for Swedish people to name. I know no one who has a son named Jack or even Tom. Thomas or Toumas yes.. not no one called Tom.

There have been other English names I have heard and I didn’t like but cannot remember. I remember my English friend telling me there were many Toms and jacks ar her sons school and many Olivias. It just made me wonder as these just aren’t names I would want for my child.

But I imagine no British people would want to name a child Ivar or anders.

I don't think there's anything wrong in wanting your child to have a distinctive name, OP. 100 years ago the name pool was very much smaller which resulted in thousands of people having the same names.

Maybe it's a backlash against that era that led our parents, and now us, to seek ever more unusual names for our own children.

E.g. the name pool in Scotland in 1925 consisted of 1121 different girls names. The top name (Margaret) was given to 6576 girls, with Mary close behind on 6084. Between them they account for more than 20% of the girls born that year.

In 2020 the girls' name pool had expanded to 4347, with the top name (Isla) being given to just 347 girls, with Oliva on 334. That's less than 3%of the total girls born. Isn't that much better than every 5th girl you meeting being called the same two names?

Long live individuality!

What counts as a ridiculous name though? MNs seems to have a problem with names that aren't English.