Unusual/uniqu names - why?

[seeker]

i really don't understand why people are so keen to give their child a really unusual name. I could understand not choosing the "most popular name of the year", but I am always puzzled by threads that say "We were going to call ds X, but we discovered that someone else in the town has chosen it so we can't now"

My Ds goes to a primary school with 420 pupils
and the only names that duplicate often enough to be at all confusing (ie more than 2) are Emily, Callum, Connor and Jake. Apart from that, there is only one of even the most traditional names - Patrick, John, James, Charlotte - the list of tried and tested spellable, non eyebrow raising, non-pigeonholing, non potentially embarrassing, non dating, non "I hate my parents for doing this to me" names in endless. Why choose Sequoia when Rose, Lily, Daisy and Fleur are available?
Of course in 5 years time the Reception classes of the country will be full of little Sequoias - and it'll all be my fault!

different names make someone memorable. If you go to a job interview and your name is willow thex are far more likely to remember you than if your name is emily. Both my kids have unusual names and you always have a risk whether they are unusual or not that your kids wont like them. I have quite a common name and dont particularly like it. Its boring.

my previous favourite programme was the lucy show

I used to have a cleaner called Comfort.

And my then boss had a cleaner called Lenor!

but being remembered and being remembered for good reasons and not just labelled are different things

i think choosing a name is very much about projecting your personality and that of your partner it is often where you face some of the cultural differences between you and your family and resolving those and identifying yourself as a family unit is all part of the process and a lot of it comes through the naming

naming is a huge cultural issue in all cultures through the ages

it is not therefore at all surprising that it causes angst

will continue my dissertation later lol

Well I'm very sweet zippi .

Yep I think it's more to do with associations as F&Z said, rather than wanting a precious unique name.

Surely you can see why people might want to pick a name that at least gives the child a chance to be unique, rather than blend into all the other people with the same name as an adult?

I personally, don't get why anyone would choose such bland names as John or Dave when there are thousands of more interesting names out there.

Whats wrong with Sequoia?

Apart from the fact nobody can spell it...

Actually hanaflower if you called your DD Sequoia because she looked like one I would be very sorry for her! They are sodding enormous trees! Actually thinking about it I think it seems like a more suitable name for a boy really and now I am wondering why I think that names of flowers are suitable for girls and that names of trees should be only suitable for boys.

seeker - Clemency is lovely. A friend here has two DDs - one Clemency, known as Clemmie and Zara (called that before the shops arrived in UK!).

belgo - a friend here has just had a DD and called her Willow. There have been some raised eyebrows and she has had some comments from her family. My DS rofls laughing when he hears it! I think it is lovely. Her own name is Heather - I think it continues the theme nicely!

I was always the only person I knew with my name when I was a child and it's not that unusual - in fact it is fairly common in some areas. I did like being different. There were 4 Sandras in my primary class and 3 Carolines and 4 Siobhans and 3 Anne-Maries.

I do understand not wanting your child to have a name whereby there will be 3 or 4 in the class at school. I also understand not wanting to use a name that you already associate with someone you know well. My sister called her DS the same name as one of his cousins on BIL's side. I never understood why really.

the problem that we have in the uk often and in consumerist culture anywhere is that naming is divorced from traditional cultural/social/family/community roots and in the vacuum different ways of nasming are looked for

some people find a clear route to choosing a nmae because they have the approach of a family tradition

in the absence of that or indeed in rejecting and rebelling against that other people search elsewhere

naming is one of the few things we do which is a free choice and without parameters restricintg choice we often strugle to make a choice

i could also make some observations on celebrity occupying a role previously occupied by extyended family/local heirarchical community

well in my next post maybe lol

Buda - that's the other problem with the name Willow - it would carry on the theme a little bit too much - we already have one tree in the family!

And I know my parents would not like the name, and I really want a name that my parents like.

But dh and I have now decided on names for db3, although we still have six months or more to change our minds!

willow rowan holly ivy hazel all traditional names i think

belgo my dd 2 is one of these and my brother has always insisted on calling dd1 ivy to match he thinks this is very funny

I like the name Heather as well but flemish people can't pronounce the 'th'. Also a certain Heather currently in the news puts me off the name

Its become competitive. Like many other areas of parenting. It is trying to find the most unusual name.
Pointless and silly.
And I think unusual names for boys are worse than for girls. Boys just want anonimity.
And that stupid spelling of normal names, really is just pretentious.

LOL belgo - yes! That Heather would def put you off.

zippi - I like all of those names except Ivy - memories of Coronation Street!

Someone once told me they liked the name Labia for a girl

No TFFT?! I suppose her sister could be Clitoris or Vagina or even Candida!

Twofirtrees, that is terrible

rofl at 'if your child looks like a Sequoia'

i wonder why the american thing for calling boys the same as dad doesnt happen so much here ...people dont do that george junior thing lol

Well Seeker, I don't know how it doesn't bother you. I have 32 cousins, and they had used up every name I liked from Eliza to Lydia. There was nothing decent left. I could not have borne for one of my cousins to think I copied them, and if you'd grown up as Jennifer G (for example, not my name) then you'd understand.

FyI my children's names are unusual for their generation without sounding too dated. My son's name was apparently more popular in 1960.

I'm confused. My son's mn is my Dad's name, and my daughter's mn is my mn. Was this wrong?

What is the formula for picking the perfect name?!!

I'm confused. My son's mn is my Dad's name, and my daughter's mn is my mn. Was this wrong?

What is the formula for picking the perfect name?!!

I have interviewed hundreds of people in my time, and sat on hundreds of promotion panels.

I have to say that people's names have had absolutely no influence over my decisions - I just don't think the "unusual name will get you remembered" theory holds any water at all.

We might have had a bit of a laugh at some during coffee breaks, though......

And having a unique name doesn't make you unique. Being you does that. You can carve any path you like as a John. Being a boy called Marion means you have to be a strong silent film star.......