To be surprised at friends/family’s baby names

[AllyCatTown]

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

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I think they're riding the edge. Didn't expect pronunciation issues with one but apparently it's not obvious, and I spend a lot of time spelling them which we perhaps under anticipated. They have shortening we use so they can def go with easier spelling etc day to day. But we really like them and couldn't find anything else we both agreed on. I wanted Gideon and Torbien tho so I couldn't necessarily have been trusted alone either

I know through friends, an Effie Boo.

That could sound very awkward as an indistinctly-mumbling toddler - might sound like some kind adult is just asking your name and you reply with "F you!"

Calling the son and daughter the m/f versions of the same name, David and davina
anthony and Antonia, Robert and Roberta etc. I know a few families who have done this - makes me wince

I wanted Gideon and Torbien tho so I couldn't necessarily have been trusted alone either

Nothing especially wrong about those, although possibly not if you don't live somewhere quite gentrified.

I know of a lad with a very similar name - Torben - and I always think it sounds like an Irish Sikh describing what he wears on his head

I wonder if there's a couple anywhere out there who followed the Highland tradition of naming their daughter her dad's name with 'ina' on the end and now have a DD called Iainina. Sounds like a police car!

I have recently met a toddler Keith. Very cute baby - maybe that style
Is the next generation old names and we are due a glut of Sharon, Tracey, Debbie, Mike and Steve!

My own step daughter has a name that looks a bit like it should be pronounced “anal”. I try not to appear phased in airports. Poor kid.

My own step daughter has a name that looks a bit like it should be pronounced “anal”. I try not to appear phased in airports. Poor kid.

Are you sure it isn't just Lana and you're looking at it in a mirror?

Our family has 2 cousins, born only a few months apart that have colour names. Colour names that none of us have ever heard for an actual person! It seems they were trying to out do each other on the most 'unique' name.

I'm always a bit surprised when people pick very common names that a couple of other people in their friendship circle have already picked for their own kids. I mean, the purpose of a name is to identify someone - can they really think of nothing other than Isabella, Lily or Theo? (Perfectly pleasant names, but....)

Also, someone who called their children REALLY similar names. Think "Leah and Leila." I think some people get stuck on a certain sound and can't imagine options outside it!

I know a Nero.

It's a nice enough sounding name but it's a bit like calling your child Lenin

I feel rather sorry for those people being related to such a bunch of bullies. Was this before or after Operation Yewtree? Rolf is a perfectly standard Scandinavian name.

A lot of the names on this thread seem pretty normal and unsnigger worthy to me: what is wrong with Serena, Cameron, Keith, Brian, Dante for example? They may not be names you like, but they are recognisable standard names in regular use and straightforward to spell - what is the issue?

“Baby” Rolf is now in his mid 20s.

@TulipTuesday
Virginia Water?

I think the point being made about Serena was that the serenity is missing. I do think any sort of virtue or descriptor names are a risk - an ungraceful Grace or a short, stocky Willow. A blonde Raven, a really shy and unassuming Maverick or nervous Danger. Abel as mentioned up thread is a shock.

I know 2 sets of adult siblings called Michael and Michelle. Stunningly unimaginative. I also know of more than one family where the siblings are anagrams of each other, like Amy and May (but not) or alliterative siblings or "matching" twins.

I find misspellings odd, like why wouldn't you Google? Things like Pheobe, or Pheonix, Immogin etc. Names with a variety of legitimate spellings are trickier I guess. One DD went through a phase of being surrounded by Lily/Lillie/Lili/Lilly and I spent a lot of time checking before writing invites/cards.

DS played in a football match where the other team seemed to be all surname type names - Hudson, Baxter, Berkley, Cooper, Oakley. It seems a real naming shift especially among boys. Nothing necessarily wrong with any of the names, just a real shift.

When we named ours we went v traditional, family names, mainstream spelling etc. I know a lot of friends and family saw/see our choices as boring or unadventurous. Some openly said so, or that they pitied the kids. Mine are all the only one of their names in their school though, have no issues with spellings or pronunciations and no preconceived stereotypes to fight.

I've learned though, that however much you think you won't get used to a name, you do. They just become who they are and you use it. So while I do have thoughts, I never ever voice them.

My younger cousins are becoming fairly consistent with their children's names - Ulysses, Achilles etc. They are French but those children are going to have to live up to their names when they are older!

I think your overestimating the younger generations knowledge of Greek mythology.

I am always surprised at parents who name their dc to match the surname eg. Robert Roberts, seems terribly lazy to me.
A work colleague with no Scottish connections named her dc Hamish.

I went to school with a Serena, I think its a lovely name.

@LakieLady - Puck- by the age of 2-3 he was known by his middle name!

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.

About ten years ago. So no excuse....

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

I used to live quite close to Upper Thong. And Nether Thong. I can't say l'd ever have considered either as baby names.
There were some odd village names over there, too. The 'local' name for the one where Jodie Whittaker comes from is 'Shat'.

There were some odd village names over there, too. The 'local' name for the one where Jodie Whittaker comes from is 'Shat'.

Imagine living there! See also Twatt, Bell End, Shitterton, Lunt, Butt Hole Lane etc.

Not a rude one, but there's a village called Cross Houses that we sometimes drive through - we always think it should have been called Angry Bungalows!

Just at my cousin, who named her daughters Carmen and Mercedes, granny names over here in Spain. Even my 70 year old uncle had a laugh.

@Tricolette , I know lots of people with similar names. It's quite normal in Wales.