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.

One if our kids had a traditional name that gained notoriety - think like Myra, for example - and got the bad rep after we had chosen it.

They ditched the name as an adult.

DH has an old fashioned Irish name. He has to spell it every time.
I share his Irish surname - we have to spell that too, every time.
It's very wearing.

I guess it depends one what kind of unusual you’re thinking of.

Names that a VERY MUCH actual names, just not used very often - it’s not really cruel and selfish. They’re established names - just not popular.

Completely made up words with random spellings? Sure I think yeah that’s pretty selfish to do.

My mother took issue with my DD’s name because it’s a noun. But so are lots of other names, just not as widely used. All my DC’s have names that are established as names with no weird spellings or anything. They’re just not popular names and would be considered unusual. Don’t think that’s particularly cruel or selfish.

One of my kids has an unusual name (in the 3000s rather than the top 200 like the others). She has more nicknames than any of my other kids, but the only big issue she has had is something no one can control - Disney used it which was at first really exciting for her and then her classmates ruined it.

That sparked a pretty normal teen 'I'm considering using another name' phase, but she only looked at names that are even more unusual for where we are so it wasn't that it's unusual but that she was fed up of her classmates remarks/singing at her. That has now passed as they got bored with it and now she's back to being fine with it, though sometimes gets irked by people misspelling and mishearing it, but both she and my other daughter with a very well known name get this.

I'm in my 50s and my name was always unusual growing up. It was my grandmother's name but I never knew anyone else with the same name. Then a few years ago a character in a popular tv drama had the same name. It's now quite popular!

My kids both have relatively uncommon names - one is a family name but I’ve never met another, the other is a name from my husband’s country which is common there but unusual here. They haven’t had any issues so far, but their school has kids from a variety of backgrounds so most kids have ‘unique’ names.

Yes, I have an unusual name with unusual spelling. My name is Tamson, yes that is how it’s spelt. I actually really like my name, my dad gave it to me and it meant something to him. I have spent my life correcting people spelling it. Oddly everyone seems determined to tell me I have spelt my name wrong.
DC is 22 and has a strong biblical name that no one ever spells wrong but although everyone has heard of this biblical person no one in the UK ever uses it (it’s not Jesus!). He loves it, no one forgets it and he never has to spell it out.

We wanted to call DD a very unusual name (geographical relevance). Once we thought about it seriously, we realised it would be shortened to some thing we didn't like. So we gave it as a middle name.

DS has an unusual name for where we live. We all love it - he's only had a small amount of hassle at school about it.

Mine both - DD and DS, have unusual names and have always liked them. They are 'proper' names and not made up silly non-names. Just unusual, especially in England (my ExH is Canadian).
They liked not knowing anyone else with the same names, plus I think they thought it was rather cool. However, as adults they have each met someone else with the same name though.
I've only met one person too with the same name as me - I noticed her on a mutual FB friend's posts and we have since chatted about it.

I’ve got an unusual name which is more a word and is Eastern European. I’m not from either of the countries it comes from and I don’t have heritage from there either which I have to explain. I’ll get a few people saying oh it’s from X country and it means X.

Funnily enough when both me and DB were at school (both have unusual names) the other kids didn’t comment on it much, mostly teachers at roll call.

It has meant that you’re memorable and DB has sometimes used a common British first name for work.

Both our middle names are quite unusual too. If it were me, naming a child an unusual name I’d give them at least one proper name on the birth certificate so they have the option of using it. I know DM would be upset if I ever changed my name but I do think sometimes she was doing it to be different and not thinking about the children.

With my name there is an actual name which is very similar to it. I often get people saying do I pronounce it this or that way (there are 2 ways but 1 I use).

I do think if my name was Jane or something it’d be much asked.

Both my children have names that are rarely used. I mean they are real names but not popular in this country. DS is 19 and while he does roll his eyes occasionally and say why on earth, it’s very good humoured and is the name he has chosen to keep using. He has an ordinary middle name he trialed at one point for a new group of friends but went back to his own name within weeks. He is quietly very unconventional and on a very unusual career path which I didn’t see coming at all. DD is still v young but so far does not follow the crowd either. They are used to being the only one with their name so maybe it does set you on a path?

Why not chose a name that doesn't cause any hassle at all, rather than a small amount?

My son (19) has an unusual first name but a very traditional middle name. No one has ever said something horrible about it, he says he loves it. It was the only name myself and my husband agreed on (apart from Gabriel, which is lovely but just wasn't "him"). I do think people hearing it don't expect a fair haired, blue eyed boy - and not because of his very common Indian surname, most people don't have a clue that it IS Indian as it's also a very popular brand name.

My daughter on the other hand has an absurdly popular name - I had no idea it was at the time. There are three of them in her class at secondary school. She does have a very unusual middle name which she uses as her stage name surname (she's in a band). She likes both names.

My husband really hates his name though - he's half Indian and his name is very unusual. What's worse is his sister has virtually the same name. Nobody can ever pronounce it or spell it and he really wishes he'd changed it years ago.

I have an unusual name. I hated it growing up as I couldn't get things from souvenir shops with my name on! I loved it as I got older but still hate all the mispronounciations and misspellings even though it's said exactly as it's spelt. Although, I picked a name for my DD that isn't very unusual - easy to read, easy to say - will never be misspelled or pronounced wrong!

DD has an unusual name. Sounds like a ‘made up’ name but was in use 300 years ago, I resurrected it for and it absolutely suits her down to the ground. No births registered under that name for well over a century so is definitely unique, not just ‘normal name with extra ys’ unique.

She has a normal but pretty middle name she can go by if she wants that ‘links’ with the resurrected name, did that on purpose in case she hated having an unusual name. I sometimes ask her how she feels about her name. She feels annoyed when people spell it wrong even though it’s written exactly the way it sounds. She likes her name, she likes that she knows people mean her specifically when they say it. She sometimes goes by the combination of first and middle name when introducing herself as she likes how they sound together, and her surname!

I do think if she wasn’t a popular child she would feel differently and would hide behind her normal middle name. But she’s lucky enough to be very socially adept and it suits her.

It would be helpful if people added how unusual a name is by stating how many times it was actually used in the child's year of birth.

My dc has a fairly unusual name in that it was given 27 times in the year they were born.

That's irrelevant though. Could have been used 1000 times in the next couple of years.

It would still be helpful to know how often a name was used in the year of birth and the subsequent trend?

The last time DD’s name was registered at a birth was in 1835 so pretty underused!

The last gasp popularity boom was 1771-1790 with a handful of babies with her name, then it pops up once every few years, and since the last use in 1835 nothing until the year of her birth.

The last time DD’s name was registered at a birth was in 1835 so pretty underused!

Wow, that is indeed very rare/unusual!

@Sarahcoggles, we chose it because it's related to DS's heritage, and that means a lot to all of us.

We didn't want to call him the popular name of the moment just so kids wouldn't mention it at school now and then - I mean, if they're going to mention that, then they'll just mention anything that's slightly different anyway. The positives outweigh any negatives for all of us, including DS.

We don't all need to conform 🤷‍♀️.

Im Irish and was going for names like Oisin and Saoirse when deciding but at the time was going to move abroad and thought the kids would be spelling their names out all their lives so went with names I loved but that are not popular but certainly not out there like pilot inspektor or the like. They both are the only ones named their names in their schools. One had a hissy one year cos his name could not be gotten on any but over the years they have established that they do not need tat with their names on and are happy enough.

Brooke was also on my list to whomever has the Brooke. Lovely lovely name :)

Wish there’d been a rule that anyone posting on this thread should name-change first so they could disclose the ‘unusual name’ they’re talking about. I’m so intrigued as to what all these unusual names actually are and there’s definitely a world of difference between an ‘unusual’ name like Brooke which is well known even if not in top 100, a name from another culture which is unusual in the UK but not in the culture of origin and then names which are made up or almost unheard of such as a celebrity would use (Apple, North, Morrocan etc)