If you named your baby an unusual name

[GorgeousLadyofWrestling]

And they’re now older, how is it?

Just curious really. I was idly reading through some of the posts on here and for anyone asking about an unusual name, there’s a lot of posts warning the child will hate it/ they’ll be teased etc etc. So just curious about how it worked out for you. My DD has an unusual name and it’s very polarising on MN but she’s now 7 and suits it down to the ground.

It will depend on the name and the nature of the child.

She's not called Lucky-Girl is she?

🤣🤣🤣

My dd is an adult now.
My dh chose her name and at the time it was not very common.
Older people especially made rude remarks.
Dd herself,aged 5, wished she was called Emma.
From about 9 she really loved her name.
I gave her a classic middle name just in case.
Her name is Brooke.

I’ve just read that thread 😂

Well yeah….that’s what I’m asking. If you did, how did it pan out as they grew into their personality and name?

@Maldedos

My cousin is called Brooke, it's a family name so pops up every now and again! So I wouldn't call it unusual.😁

One of my daughters is called Adeline, it suits her perfectly. She's a girly girl, strong willed and is a self proclaimed feminist. A few people have said it's an old lady name, I think it's a classy name. No one has had problems spelling it thankfully. She's Addy at home, her best friend calls her DeeDee

My mum has an unusual name in this country which is where she grew up (her parents are not from here) and she has had a lifetime of people mispronouncing it and misspelling it. She's been called hundreds of variations over the years! I don't think she has ever been teased for it though. I don't think she dislikes her name at all, but she did opt to give all three of her children names local to us in this country and use the accepted spelling from here...

I have an unusual name and growing up I used to tell everyone my name was Lucy instead 😂
I've always liked my name but I don't love it, I was just fed up of comments about how unusual it is or being asked how to spell it etc

My mum and my grandmother had very unusual names (so unusual that I'm not going to say them as it might be outing!). They both hated them and went by a nickname / middle name instead. Hence my DC have pretty ordinary names.

My DD has unusual (but not made up) first and middle names. I don't know what I was thinking, I was quite unwell after her birth. She hates them. Everyone gets her name wrong, which embarrasses her. I wish I had chosen something simpler.

She loves it. It is definitely marmite for others though, and because I live in a small socially conservative town where 95% of kids have names from whatever is top ten (multiple Jack, Harry, Olivia, Emily in every class) people definitely look askance at us as ‘odd’. It is a slightly old-lady name that is a saints name and still very popular in lots of european countries with slight variations, and we have a strong family connection to the area where the saint was from. But STILL people are a bit side-eye!

But she adores it so that’s the main thing!

I'm Natalya, other than spellings I've never had an issue with it. My family are Eastern European so that is the link. My baby is Yelena and sometimes people mishear but it's not a massive issue. She gets called Lena too.

I've had a couple of friends with unusual names and both hate them. One uses a shortened version that is more 'normal' and another uses their middle name. It does greatly depend on the name and the reason for it being unusual. If you're just using something outside the top 200 for example then that's quite different from calling your DC something that's not really even a name.

My ds has an unusual name (but easy to spell/pronounce) and loves it so far aged 10. It really suits him. We didn’t have any negative comments so far really but didn’t tell anyone before he was born and took a few days to choose so I think people were just glad he had a name!

My 16 year old has had no problems from her peers at all other than misspelling (which happens even with more usual names). She’s had problems with teachers who couldn’t be bothered to remember how to say her name after 5 years of teaching her, and one who skipped over her in the register every single time. It’s an unusual name but it’s said how it’s written so no excuse to not even try!

Depends what you mean as unusual. My DC go to a very multiethnic school and no one has the same name as anyone else in their year group. There are no Olivias or Olivers or Freddies or Evas etc at all, for example.

I was just talking with a friend about this yesterday. She is of Egyptian heritage on her father's side but has always lived in the UK. Her British mum gave her a transliteration of an Egyptian name which people do sometimes struggle with as it's unusual (although her mum was correct that the transliteration is easier to pronounce). However, she has had a couple of employers assume she is Muslim, which she is not.

My DD has an unusual name and she loves it. I did give her a more common middle name in case she wanted an alternative (my mum did the same for me and my sister).

My DH, however, has a traditional English/Scottish name and people really struggle to spell it, including members of his own family!

Might as well please yourself!

DS has an unusual name (only boy named this is Scotland between 2000-2018) & he's never had any issues with his name other than he doesn't like the shortened version me, his dad & sisters use it's what he called himself before he could say his name properly

We got the usual "where did you get that from?" from older family members but 15 years on it's just his name.

It is easy to pronounce & spell though so not sure if that has anything to do with it not being an issue - if he had to constantly spell it or confirm the pronunciation it may have been a bigger issue.

I have an unusual name.
Only ever use it professionally- no one calls me it.
I wish my parents had called me something boring and easy to pronounce.

DS16 has an unusual name, which was pilloried here on Mumsnet when he was born. He loves it (it can be shortened to a less unusual name, but he likes to make sure people know his full name), and has never experienced any negativity about it. It suits him down to the ground. I'm so glad I wasn't swayed by the boring name brigade.

My brother has an unusual middle name which he hates so both his DC have short first names that can't be shortened and no middle name. My name is fairly unusual and over the years I've had every spelling variation you can imagine and some you can't!! But my name isn't very out there, it's just an old fashioned French name!

I have an unusual name. Hated it as a kid, still hate it now. As a kid I could never find stuff with my name on. As an adult I constantly get called the wrong name, or people try and shorten it. No. Just call me by my name. I'd change it but it's the updating of everything.