Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

To be surprised at friends/family’s baby names

459 replies

AllyCatTown · 08/01/2023 19:03

Anyone else been surprised at what people in their lives have called their children?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Whyarewehardofthinking · 08/01/2023 22:57

Random. DP taught him in Y10 and Y11.

Apparently it was a good description of the boy. He had siblings with quite random names too, but DP can remember them. He has asked a friend 🤣

StrawberryAnnie · 08/01/2023 22:58

SpottyBalloons · 08/01/2023 20:56

@StrawberryAnnie I take it you haven't heard of Dante's Inferno!

Personally I wouldn’t see it as an issue- it’s one of a series of three poems in the Divine Comedy.

Everyone has their own perspective I’m sure. To ‘live up to the name’ of Dante would be a positive in my eyes, not a negative.

N00bz · 08/01/2023 22:59

In my friend circle we have:
Ocean Eyez (a girl)
Diamond (boy)
Ulysses (boy)
Navy Lee (boy)
Maryjoe (girl, parents are Mary and Joe)

Whynowwhynow · 08/01/2023 22:59

I know an Eileen, Joanie and Betty

Puzzles85 · 08/01/2023 23:01

N00bz · 08/01/2023 22:59

In my friend circle we have:
Ocean Eyez (a girl)
Diamond (boy)
Ulysses (boy)
Navy Lee (boy)
Maryjoe (girl, parents are Mary and Joe)

The Navy I know is a girl!

Kitkatcatflap · 08/01/2023 23:03

Sockmonkeysloth · 08/01/2023 19:19

I’m hoping for dungarees…

Please be Knickerbockers

Lalliella · 08/01/2023 23:04

TulipTuesday · 08/01/2023 22:36

I know of a toddler who has the same name as a village down the road from where they live. As in first and last name. I did raise an eyebrow at that one.

Royston Vasey?

ShesThunderstorms · 08/01/2023 23:04

I won't lie, I wasn't expecting this when I opened this thread Grin

OnaBegonia · 08/01/2023 23:10

I know two sisters who had boys about 4/5 months apart and gave them the same name; regular ordinary name ; 2nd sister claims it was always her name for a boy (even though she has an a older boy)🤷🏼‍♀️

Whatwhatwhatnow · 08/01/2023 23:21

Leafblow · 08/01/2023 19:41

Only once, when a family with three older children who all had traditional Thomas the tank engine style names then called their youngest son 'Radar'

I don't find this surprising - they moved on from Thomas the Tank Engine to Fireman Sam!

Adultchildofelderlyparents · 08/01/2023 23:27

Bananarama21 · 08/01/2023 19:40

Begins with the letter C

I was hoping it would be Croc until you said around the neck.

Cactusprick · 08/01/2023 23:31

SunsetSkies11 · 08/01/2023 21:17

Well done everyone!

It was mentioned in one of the guesses...

Penn
Crate
Cage
Cat bed
Guinea pig run
Hutch
Zoo
Menagerie

Please tell us!!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/01/2023 23:32

I know someone who called their daughter Chynna. (As in Chynna Phillips)
Then had to keep explaining to people that it was pronounced 'china' and not 'chinner'.

Even with the unusual ‘y’, the only conceivable reason for adding the extra ‘n’ is to change the sound from ‘China’ to ‘Chinner’. Why would you want to name your child the equivalent of ‘Somebody who punches everybody’???!

My sister in law’s a teacher, and she had a ‘Sharlit’ in her class years ago. Not so much an unusual name as crap or inventive spelling. She said she thought they liked the sound of it, but didn’t know how to spell it.

How many years ago are we talking? Was that internet thing around yet at the time? These days, there’s no excuse whatsoever. I’m sure some people spend far longer online uploading pictures of their very ordinary meals to Facebook than they spend doing the most basic research on the intended name of their child. We also know an ‘Issac’ – but pronounced as Isaac.

Rolf.
I can’t get “tie me kangaroo down” out of my head when I see him.
They got quite a few mini didgeridoos as gifts when he was born. They were not amused.
Also, her FIL said, “can you tell what it is yet?” when he visited in hospital and she yelled at him to fuck off.

That really made me laugh a lot! What did they expect? Imagine if she’d been having twins and it had turned out to be two little boys Grin

Wondering if any of my friends are on here critiquing my kids names 😂😂😂

Why – are they ‘interesting’ ones?!

I know of a toddler who has the same name as a village down the road from where they live. As in first and last name. I did raise an eyebrow at that one.

Burton Joyce?
Mavis Enderby?
Upper Thong?
Slack Bottom?
Little Snoring?

DietrichandDiMaggio · 08/01/2023 23:36

TheWayTheLightFalls · 08/01/2023 20:25

I've heard some absolute clangers (I'm in the thick of the new baby years), but most are down to cultural differences tbh. I've learnt to develop an automatic "Aw, lovely!" reflex. The worst off the top of my head are Serena (you can hear her from three blocks away when she's being delivered to nursery) and Manuel, whose south American parents just stare blankly at the umpteenth person holding back a Fawlty Towers impersonation.

My pet peeve, pun very much intended, is the dog name trend. In my local park people shout out for Rex, Barney, Bo etc, and I don't know anymore whether to expect a labradoodle or a toddler.

What's wrong with Serena?

rafanadalsarms · 08/01/2023 23:36

I know of a family that called their twins Marley and Hendrix

Reugny · 08/01/2023 23:39

Cactusprick · 08/01/2023 23:31

Please tell us!!

Penn, Cage and Crate are all boys names.

Penn seems to be the most popular out of then if you move in some US circles.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/01/2023 23:43

I can maybe see 'Penn' - especially if you're from or have links with Pennsylvania; but 'Cage' and 'Crate'?! Why not just call him 'Wham-Box' and be done with it?!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/01/2023 23:46

I know of a family that called their twins Marley and Hendrix

I never understand why you would name your child in honour of a famous person you greatly admire, but then use their surname???

I remember reading ages ago in an old Take A Break 'You called them WHAT, you blithering idiot?!' column about a mum who was a massive fan of Tommy Steele. Nothing wrong with Thomas (known as Tommy) at all; but no, she named him 'Steele'.

AnotherNameChangeYes · 08/01/2023 23:53

I know through friends, an Effie Boo.

Wtf is that about.

Cactusprick · 08/01/2023 23:55

Reugny · 08/01/2023 23:39

Penn, Cage and Crate are all boys names.

Penn seems to be the most popular out of then if you move in some US circles.

I’ve not seen Crate before as a name. I know Hutch is a boys name too.

Wetblanket78 · 09/01/2023 00:00

Levi? Armani? I know a Parker

Whelm · 09/01/2023 00:02

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/01/2023 23:32

I know someone who called their daughter Chynna. (As in Chynna Phillips)
Then had to keep explaining to people that it was pronounced 'china' and not 'chinner'.

Even with the unusual ‘y’, the only conceivable reason for adding the extra ‘n’ is to change the sound from ‘China’ to ‘Chinner’. Why would you want to name your child the equivalent of ‘Somebody who punches everybody’???!

My sister in law’s a teacher, and she had a ‘Sharlit’ in her class years ago. Not so much an unusual name as crap or inventive spelling. She said she thought they liked the sound of it, but didn’t know how to spell it.

How many years ago are we talking? Was that internet thing around yet at the time? These days, there’s no excuse whatsoever. I’m sure some people spend far longer online uploading pictures of their very ordinary meals to Facebook than they spend doing the most basic research on the intended name of their child. We also know an ‘Issac’ – but pronounced as Isaac.

Rolf.
I can’t get “tie me kangaroo down” out of my head when I see him.
They got quite a few mini didgeridoos as gifts when he was born. They were not amused.
Also, her FIL said, “can you tell what it is yet?” when he visited in hospital and she yelled at him to fuck off.

That really made me laugh a lot! What did they expect? Imagine if she’d been having twins and it had turned out to be two little boys Grin

Wondering if any of my friends are on here critiquing my kids names 😂😂😂

Why – are they ‘interesting’ ones?!

I know of a toddler who has the same name as a village down the road from where they live. As in first and last name. I did raise an eyebrow at that one.

Burton Joyce?
Mavis Enderby?
Upper Thong?
Slack Bottom?
Little Snoring?

Somewhere between Maidenhead and Dorking?

Cactusprick · 09/01/2023 00:02

Wetblanket78 · 09/01/2023 00:00

Levi? Armani? I know a Parker

Parker is fairly common now

OppsUpsSide · 09/01/2023 00:06

Cupcake was a suprise, but that was actually a few years ago now.

Missdiva · 09/01/2023 00:07

Not as such.
i still find little baby Angus strange

some one I know have a baby Olivia, some more kids (all girls) then a surprise baby boy ‘after she was done’ called him Oliver.
wondered if they struggled to find a boy name they liked.
dno if that came out cruel. Not meant to be. Just odd to me

Swipe left for the next trending thread