Are there any "normal" names that feel forced for contrived to you?

[hcarter8]

I know this isn't logical, but some arguably "normal" perfectly fine names just sound slightly awkward to me because they sound abit contrived. I don't mean names that are creative or modern in origin (e.g Everleigh, Jayden). I'm talking about names that feel reserved for fictional characters or historical figures, or feel as if the parents got the idea from a "100 unique baby names for your new addition" list.
Examples for me would be Calliope, Octavia, Cordelia and Prudence.

I just cringe a little inside when I hear those names on a real living person. I'm fully aware that i need to touch grass but am I alone in this weirdness?

What do you mean by ‘contrived’?

Like they've deliberately looked on unique name lists to find a name that sounds like it comes straight out of a Shakespeare play.

Having seen many of the baby name suggestions on here, most definitely yes!

We went through a phase of everyone seemingly making up names, or taking "normal" names and spelling them wrong.

We have gone the other way now and people actively look for old fashioned names, that are maybe so old fashioned that they can also be seen as a bit "out there"

I think parents just want their kids to have unique names, so calling their kid Sarah, Paul, Abigail or Gary is just not the done thing 😁

I'd much rather meet a little Calliope than yet another Olivia, Evie or Isabella. I don't find it (or any of the others that you mentioned) contrived at all.

There was a sibset being called by their parents in a zoo that we went to a few weeks ago. Their names were Edgar and Dorothy and it was just so refreshing to hear names outside of the top ten for once.

There are so many wonderful and underused historical names out there. Why shouldn't they be used?

Yes. Well, kind of. I question why parents pick elaborate names; is it to give their child a perceived advantage or reflect their artistic nature? My grandmother's name was Thomasina and I loved it, but my children have more common names, I think in part because I recognised that it's hard to blend in (if you want to) with such an outstanding name.

The test is whether you’d feel even a tad hesitant about yelling the name across a crowded park.

Too much of a name for me might be someone else’s ‘that sounds perfectly wonderful!’

I like the name Cordelia.

I would use it for a child if I wanted to - it's a perfectly good name. It's hardly Ptolemy.

@MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel but those names aren't used very often anymore so any children called Sarah, Paul, Gary would probably be the only one in their class.
Whereas a little Prudence could be one of many as all parents are wanting their child to have a 'unique' name.

But lots of completely ordinary names are in Shakespeare — Juliet, Duncan, John, Rosalind, Henry, Nick, Katherina, Beatrice etc.

Maybe you should widen your range of reference. People move around and have children in different cultures. Both my name and my son’s name were unusual and ‘exotic’ in the UK, but deeply ordinary where we live now. I’m

I'd feel like a knob yelling for 'PEREGRINE!'.

😂
It always amuses me that the aristocrats and upper classes who give their children these names usually invent nicknames to call them instead. For example, Peregrine Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire has always been called 'Stoker' by his family.

Other nicknames I know of as replacements for their actual rather pompous names are Plum, Toots and Lala.

I was watching re-runs of the Great British bake off the other night and one of the bakers kids were called Barnaby and Constance.

I actually feel the opposite. I can't understand why parents want to pick a name that is everywhere. Why would you want your child to share the same name as thousands of others and will not age well. As for naming a kid after a celebrity's child or a character in a TV show, how unoriginal and pretty naff.

I know what you mean. I'd say these names were a bit try hard. There's certain names I think are very beautiful such as Seraphine, Persephone and Ophelia but my Goodness who would choose such previous names?

When i was 10 i decided i would call my future DS "peregrine" as i was in a lord of the rings phase haha. He has a very normal name now.

Cordelia and prudence are lovely names (i know a prudence my age, she is v v posh). I actually had cordelia on my list as i spent my teenage-hood watching buffy the vampire slayer 🤣

Calliope will be forever correcting people which is tiring. Octavia is gorgeous but i drive one so wouldnt name a DC it.

None of them are ‘normal’ names to me! I mean i know they are proper names rather than made up, but I’ve never heard anyone called any of them here in Ireland.

People calling their children things like:
Mabel or Mildred.
Teddy or Albert.

'Gies Peace', as they say round my way.

But why wouldn’t you, if you liked them? Do you think they’re ’not for the likes of us’ or something? Who do you feel is ‘allowed’ to use them? Are you worried about other people’s judgement?

I agree with @ginasevern — I think it’s far harder to understand why people give their children generic, well-used names that suggest their chief ambition is not to stand out in a crowd. (And why they worry about sibling names ‘going together’, as if they get points for ‘matching’…)

I agree. People desperate to be different but going a bit too far. You don’t have to give your child a top ten name either, there’s lots in between. And often people give their children these names as they think it makes them look intelligent or edgy or whatever, forgetting it’s their child that has to actually live with it!

I have a name straight out of a Shakespeare play and DS has a less common name.

I don’t understand the trend of naming your child the same as everyone else’s child. It doesn’t inspire any individuality if you’re one of five Amelias/Ellies/Olivias in a classroom/workplace.

But they are never going to be unique, because unique means one of a kind. You would have to call your child askdhnkashflsdjf.lds to be totally unique.

Jayden isn't modern, it's in the Bible.

Ah, but you could shout “fool of a Took!” if they do something naughty 😂

Someone I went to school with has just named her baby Atticus. Great character in a great book, but very pretentious, so clearly she hasn’t changed a bit since school 🤪

I think because it's not only about what you like, you have to consider the child who has to live with the name. Persephone, for example, is beautiful but a child is going to struggle to say it and write it for many years. Then there's also the fact that they will stand out with a name like that, whilst most kids want to blend in. My son has an unusual but beautiful name from his father's culture and he told me how much hates it because it's weird and different. We really thought he'd love the name because we love it so much. We now use an anglicised version of the name which he's happy with. I think some parents are too focused on what their child's name says about them (the parents) and don't think about names a child will want to live with. I do think I'd feel a bit pretentious if I used that name like that.

@JoanThursday1972 Jadon is a Biblical name which would be pronounced more like 'Yah-don' I think?

Jayden (along with Kaiden, Braden etc.) is a modern invented name following the Aidan trend of the early 2000s.