Why the hate for modern “made up” style names

[sarahbiggs1]

This is a very unpopular opinion especially on this sub but i kind of like the new “made up names” like Everleigh, paisley, braylee etc When people say stuff like it won’t suit an adult it dosent really make any sense because names that are now considered old women names like Linda,Sandra, Nancy were once probably looked at as child only names . I don’t think people realise that the names of the 2020s won’t be weird to their generation, there will be lots of high paid working people with these names and it won’t be looked at as odd for an adult to introduce themselves as “Kinsley” because by that time it will probably be an adults only name. Although it’s true that names like olivia or lily are more timeless because they have been around a long time it dosent mean the current trendy names will be looked on as bad because at the end of the day a lot of people in that generation will have those names.

People judge names.

Traditional names have more gravitas than modern names.

I just can't imagine a high court judge called Bradley or Everleigh. They sound like names for DJs.

Having said that, the new head teacher of DCs' school has a made up modern name - one of those place name ones. It's not even a nice place. So I have just killed my own argument

So I'm very judgmental! And probably wrong!

Bit of this, and a bit of people liking names to have a cultural history, which is also why a lot of people like a full name on the birth cert.

Chav-tastic

If someone introduced themselves to me as Kingsley I'd assume they had invented a sex scale

*Kinsley

Which shows what we really need is names that can survive autocorrect

Well, what bothers me personally is the sense that those names don't belong. Existing names have a history, an etymology. You often (though not always) can tell what part of the world someone is from just going by their name. A made-up name exists in a limbo, it just feels weird and wrong.

I'm not a fan of made up names or "original" spellings (often uglier and more confusing than the original spelling - there's a reason names are written a certain way even if we don't know what it is).

I do like reviving medieval or ancient names that are known but not commonly seen. There's no need to invent something to be original, there are plenty of actual names out there that are not in the top 100.

When people say stuff like it won’t suit an adult it dosent really make any sense because names that are now considered old women names like Linda,Sandra, Nancy were once probably looked at as child only names . I don’t think people realise that the names of the 2020s won’t be weird to their generation, there will be lots of high paid working people with these names and it won’t be looked at as odd for an adult to introduce themselves as “Kinsley” because by that time it will probably be an adults only name.

Nancy, Sandra & Linda weren’t “made up” names 60 years ago, though. They are all hundreds of years old and derive from the names Anne, Alexandra and - actually I forget what Linda was diminutive for, something Scandinavian maybe? They weren’t newly invented, though.

That would be Kinsey not Kinsley.

This. I mean, if yo call your kids Braxleigh Brayleigh Jaideen and Bronsleigh....you're a moron, aren't you? Simple as that

To me, Everly(this spelling), Paisley, and Kinsley all look like normal names. They don't look made up. Replace the end with -leigh or -lee and then they look made up. It's weird though because they still sound the same and they sound like names to me.

To me it's the kr8tiv spellings that make things really made up. And names like Nevaeh and Braxtynn and the like.

It's the Lee, Den or Don at the end, somehow lumps them altogether and not in a good way unfortunately

Tbf I specified fugly -looking-. As in irrespective of how it sounds, they’ve chosen a spelling that is unusual but in a way that looks discordant.
A bit like if I wanted to call my daughter Jenny but decided to spell it Jenneigh. Or call my son David but spelled it Deighveighd. Just why?

I just think that you can call your kid whatever name you like. Everyone has different taste & their own reasons.

Thing is, when you work in a school, the parents expect you to have memorised all the spellings of their kids made up names. I dread first week of term for this when parents ring up and you can’t find them on sodding sims with some annoyed parent on the phone. Who doesn’t think they should have to spell the name out as it’s ‘obvious’ (it’s not).

My mother used to complain she had a tea lady’s name: ie female, a certain age and working class. That’s how people with these made up names will end up feeling.

I think there are some very valid posts on this thread, and what it shows is that even if you don’t judge by names yourself, you will be launching your children into a world that does. I include myself, I try not to judge but sometimes it creeps in and preconceptions about a person based on their name often turn out to be correct.

But I’m not sure you can make the point by saying you shouldn’t give a child a name that they will constantly have to spell out on the phone, etc, as that rules out a huge amount of traditional/very well established names, even very simple ones.

Ann/Anne
Katherine/Katharine/Catherine/Catharine
John/Jon/Johnny/Jonny/Johnnie
Nicola/Nicolas/Nichola/Nicholas
Elizabeth/Elisabeth
Francis/Frances
Louis/Lewis
Eleanor/Elinor/Elena
Sarah/Sara
Amy/Ami/Aimee
Thomas/Thom/Tom/Tomas

They date and become a bit chavy

It's class based discrimination.

Names are class markers and the English are obsessed with class.

MC people actually like it when perceived chavs call their DC's

Kayden
Brayden
Hayden
Layden
Jayden

As then they can't be confused with their precious DC's when applying for schools/unis/jobs.

1. they sound like the parents were illiterate or obsessed with being special/different - class/fuckwit indicators
2. I have a knowledge of OE placename suffixes and know that anything with a - ly/lee/leigh ending means “wood or a clearing” so calling your kid Braylee means “Bray’s wood”, which is just odd!

I've taught a Neveah, she was absolutely gorgeous and I can't see anything wrong with the name.
If you live in an innercity community, you will come across a vast array of types of names and learn not to pre judge a child or adult by their name. There are different trends depending on your area, ethnicity and class, and you do sometimes get the impression on here that some people never meet anyone of a different cultural background to their own.

There are lots of lovely modern names that get a bad rap on MN. The examples you gave aren't it.

@BishyBarnyBee The problems with Neveah imo are 1) it’s spelt wrong - it’s meant to be heaven backwards ie Nevaeh but this spelling is unintuitive 2) unclear how to pronounce it and 3) isn’t heaven backwards kind of satanic? Angel or just plain Heaven are much better…

The only name I see on that list in school is Lewis. Never Louis.

Lots of those names have the same start so okay to find. Often name pronunciations don’t even make spelling easy with extra letters added in like Jaiii for Jay.

@ArseOnSaddle it’s quite common to get the vowels that way around, because the correct way is so unintuitive imo. In 2020 there were 16 baby girls named Neveah.