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!

these statistics apply to my sons name which is perfectly nice and normal sounding but for some reason is not particluarly poplar

First Year in the Top 1000: 1880 (earliest year for which we have data)
Last Year in the Top 1000: 1995
Average Age: 65.13
Highest Percentage: 0.066% in 1912
Best Rank: #201 (in 1898)
Represented in the Top 1000 names in: 114 of 127 years (89.76%)
Total* Male Population in Top 1000: 37455

Urrr Fleur is ponce-a-rama! Other than that, I hear what you're saying.

"That kid with the unusual name, who is dull as ditchwater, with the obviously twaty parents ? "
"oh yes, I rememeber him."

Zippi - tell us what it is to save all the back-Googleing!

rofl

i dont post on mn to stop people wasting their time

Besides, you CAN'T choose an unusal name now. Becasue everyone is trying to, thus they all become more and more zaney, and thus it impossible to choose a really unusual name.
You just can't do it.

oh is that the Dave whose mother slept with that, you know, famous actor, now what was his name ?
No silly that archibauld-tarquins mother.
Oh god, yes, so who is this bloody dave then ?

i think people often fit their names because wacky parents choose wacky names or stubbornly ordinary ones or whatever and children are quite often quite like their parents for most of their lives perhaps with a bit of a rebellious phases at some point

its a bit unusual for choosing a nmae to be the only thing a couple does to stand out from the crowd

i think people often fit their names because wacky parents choose wacky names or stubbornly ordinary ones or whatever and children are quite often quite like their parents for most of their lives perhaps with a bit of a rebellious phases at some point

its a bit unusual for choosing a nmae to be the only thing a couple does to stand out from the crowd

i think people often fit their names because wacky parents choose wacky names or stubbornly ordinary ones or whatever and children are quite often quite like their parents for most of their lives perhaps with a bit of a rebellious phases at some point

its a bit unusual for choosing a nmae to be the only thing a couple does to stand out from the crowd

zippi's post of 08:22:13 is spot on
i actually found myself choosing a name for my dd that had family associations and so had some additional meaning for dh and I apart from being nice/interesting- it just seemed a bit too random otherwise. Of course it was also a name we both loved. And I'm not sure what we'll do next time roundthough....I find too much choice hard to deal with!! < am probably a weirdo >

All the people that I have evcer met who were incredibly bright/witty/multi-million-pound-businessperson-in-the-making, have had ordinary names.
Actually having a name like Archibauld-Tarquin, MAKES you as dull as ditchwater, becasue everyone else already has an unusual name.

Having an unusual name doesn't make you unique. That takes whats called PERSONALITY.

I don't think so sprogger . I am very particular about who I think is very bright etc. I think that if you have a lot of personality or are veyr bright, it is irrelevant what your name is, and people will talk about you , and know who you are even if you are an Anne, Jane, or Dave.
(Dh, ds and I all have th most ordinary names), I thinkt hey all come in the top 10, but I don't meet that many people with our names, particularly.

spogger, what I am saying, is thet people think that giving an unusual name, will make someone unique. But that isn't necessarily so. They also have to HAVE th epersonality to make them interesting. There is as much chance as Dave or John being dull as there is for .... Deniz or Apple.

my name is quite common in my age group and in fact with younger women too

people do say stuff to me like you should write a book etc so i take this to mean they find me interesting in some way despite my not unusaual name lolol

I have a name that is unusual outside India, and a surname that is outside Sweden. I have sort of ended up feeling that it's a bit weird to have a name that other people have - I get majorly freaked when I meet someone else with the same one of either name.

So yes, I did try to think of names that Not Everyone Would Have. In DD1's case, her name is fairly unusual in non-Jewish communities. DD2's name is relatively common but I blame the gas and air.