To be surprised at friends/family’s baby names

[AllyCatTown]

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

I’m going for Henley for the piece of clothing name.

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.

I once knew two brothers Retro and a Vibe.

I took initials seriously. We decided to give our son my dad's name as a middle name which begins with A and our surname begins with G. There were some first name initials I really wanted to avoid!

Yes one of the children in the family has a ridiculous name, hes named after an item of clothing. I feel sorry for him as all the other kids in the family have normal names even his brother. When I've mentioned his name in passing to people always ask me to repeat the name.

Gene? - if so it’s been around years… and not unusual at all.

Does the baby have a preschooler sibling, who chose the name?

Ty isn't that unusual now

i thought the same. Im currently pregnant and our 3yo wants to call the baby power ranger. For a boy or girl.

When I was pregnant with DS1, DD who was 4 at the time wanted cupcake rainbow glitter for a glitter or, interestingly, George for a boy. 😂

Oops; *for a girl.

Someone called her son ‘ Harry’ nothing wrong with that, just their surname is Potter.
Poor child

I've met two Merlins: one born in the early 60s like your colleague, and one in the 90s.

There was a Labour cabinet minister in the 70s called Merlyn Rees.

Collar

No it's not as it's not a first name!

After a close family member had 4 children with very traditional classic names e.g. Edward, Alice, etc., their 5th child "Nation" was quite a surprise.

Occasionally I've come across names which were fine in themselves, but not when combined with the surnames, e.g. Thomas Jefferson and even Al Capone, My dad knew a Dawn O'Day.

I do a lot of family history and came across a pair of servants (brothers) from about 250 years ago who were not only called Castor and Pollux, but rejoiced in the surname Gollihoff.

Pollux Gollihoff. Any nursery teachers here got one in their class?!

"Rex is a lovely name."
Agree. Our German Shepard was called Rex.

A colleague named his son Brian. I guess after his Dad/Grandad etc?
It's the only one I struggle to say out loud tbh.

The most unusual I know is a baby Ariadne. She gets called by a completely different nickname though

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.

Reggie and Ronnie for twins. Why would you?

Where I start?

OK, I'm a dinosaur. I'm old enough to remember people born in the late 19th century (grandparents generation), 1920s-1940s (parents), 1960s (mine), and I wince every time I hear a small child addressed by a name that I associate with an elderly dementia sufferer living in a care facility.

But I loathe made-up names and idiotic spellings. Why would you do that to your child?

My real name is really quite classical (as in, it features in ancient myths) but I have spent my entire life spelling it out to people and being v embarrassed when people call me from waiting rooms and mangle it. It's not that difficult FFS. So I chose a name for my DD which is easily recognised and pronounced; sounds the same despite slightly different spellings across cultures; has never been incredibly IN or OUT of fashion. No-one ever gets it wrong. I liked it 30+ years ago and I still like it now.

OOH when I tell my dinosaur friends my DGD middle name, they look stunned, then laugh, then say "why?". I think you might call it a "nature name". I wasn't keen to start with but it's grown on me and I really like it now :)

Another one who has come across a Ronnie and Reggie (as a teacher, in London). Based on my experience they were making a point of trying to live up to their namesakes!

Former work colleague named her daughter Destiny Breeze, which sounds like a new variety of air freshener. And DD has a Bluebell in her class, who couldn’t be less delicate and flower-like.

My name is Sapphire, that was pretty unheard of in the 70s when I was born. My mum wanted my middle name to be Blue. My dad point blank refused…

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