Comments about names that you just don’t get

[jrt2022]

On mumsnet, I always see the same comments repeated about certain names, and while some I get, others I just can’t get my head around at all! For example:

On every thread asking about Lydia, someone mentioned ‘Lydia dustbin’. Lydia dustbin??? As in … lid of your dustbin, I assume but … WHY? Firstly - what about the lid of my dustbin? Also, loads of things have lids, so why only ‘lid of your dustbin’ in particular? Why not ‘lid of your jam jar’ or something. And even then - what about it? What is funny or interesting or bad about it? I just don’t get it.

There are loads of others but I don’t want to list them as I want to see what others think rather than just rant on about my own! So, any regularly thrown out comments to dismiss names that you think are weird/don’t make sense?

How can people knowingly pick chavvy or common names and just be ok with cementing your child's place in society like that?

People on here who attempt to get super judgmental on cultural or historical name threads 'ie irish' and then embarrass themselves by trying to correct an actually irish, welsh, greek person etc.

No, it really doesn't - see @Juicelooseabootthehoose post that explains it.

Here's a little in return

@SirChenjins , I don't think you are right on this one.

Because only insecure nouveau-riche think a name ‘cements your place in society’.

And likewise - but it’s just our respective opinions rather than based on anything factual

@SirChenjins , if I followed your logic, if I named DD Olivia, she'd be just as likely to be the only one with that first name as if I'd called her Brunhilde or something.

One thing is that, before you have a child and name it X, you don’t really notice all the Xs you come across. Afterwards, you start noticing them everywhere.

You might never have been aware of the Endas or Bunhildas or Aramintas out there. But take your Enda to the park enough and you’ll come across another one. And notice it, only because you now have an Enda.

There is no way to prevent your child being Brunhilda W because you cannot possibly know that Brunhilda S is also starting reception at your school. Most classes in the country won’t have one. But your class has 2.

There is no way to prevent it, even if you made up a name someone else might hear it and use it, but you are far more likely to be one of two Olivias than one of 2 Brunhildes in a class.

Of course you are more likely to have several Olivias in the class.

But you’re also less likely to notice or care about all the other Olivias you come across. You would be aware that it’s a popular name.

Bartlby’s parents, on the other hand, will really notice it when they come across another Bartlby at rugby.

No , that’s patently not what I said. However, given that it’s also highly unlikely you’ll find several Olivia’s in one class (work the probability of that out from the total number of female births divided by number of girls called Olivia).

It really doesn’t matter though - as I have already said several times, don’t obsess about the current popularity of a name (which can change on a sixpence - Ruby anyone?) and give your child a name you love.

@SirChenjins , primary school near me had 4 Olivias in a class.

And my children’s primary didn’t.

Primaries plural

Yes anyone with a different approach to picking a name from you is clearly immature and ridiculous 🙄

We didn't pick Nosh not because we thought our baby was more special than any other Noah to anyone but us, but because we'd both had the "pick a shortening, be known by your initial" thing and just wanted to reduce the likelihood as Noah was literally top ten across the whorl Western hemisphere at the time. Typically we know none, and Xavier isn't so rare that he'll never meet one but we picked a different name we liked as much and it definitely suits him

Which is a shame cos Brunhilde is a much nicer name

Because they don't judge a name the same way you do? Jaiden in oft cited on here as chavvy. The only Jaiden I know is the child of an educated MC father and an smart and articulate American Mother. You'd judge the child, other people wouldn't.

Unsure if you mean common like the riff raff Persephone isn't allowed to play with or common as in very popular.

@Twincrazy19 , for a second I was impressed by you naming your DS Nosh.

Haha could you imagine the baby names thread on that 😂😂

He'd probably be one of three in his class. Always Nosh C, never just Nosh.

I'd change my surname to Evans so he could be Nosh E. The Noshiest Nosh in class.

@Twincrazy19 , Is your surname Sark? I'm going to start a different thread.

There is no way to prevent your child being Brunhilda W because you cannot possibly know that Brunhilda S is also starting reception at your school.

True, there's no way of 100% preventing it.

But the likelihood of having another Brunhilda in the same class is MUCH lower than that of having another currently popular name like Olivia!

If a name becomes popular 10 or 20 years later, that's not such an issue.

Yeah still makes no sense. You’re never going to be the only one unless you make something up.

And does it really matter at school? I can’t see how it can be an issue in the workplace where you’ll go by your full name anyway.

^I think some people get funny about top-100 names because they are thinking of their child as adorable-unique-magical-precious, and when introduced to another Angelica they are suddenly not "their special unique Angelica" after all because there are (shudder) two.
Time for them to grow up a bit lol^

What a strange assumption?!

Have you ever considered that parents simply love a name? A name they love the sound of, a name that flows well with their surname, a name that's beautiful and memorable?

No but Arya was on my girls list (says Mother of Boys)