Your thoughts on... Harker?

[boudoiricca]

for a boy. It's a family name and I really like it, but am worried about potential nicknames...?

I've never heard it before. It sounds American.

if you like it, call him it

don't ask on here

you will get 100 people who are scared of unusual names, slagging it off

ignore them

Well I like it.

I like it - haven't heard it before (And am not a general supported of weird unusual names)
I am quite a big fan of family names though,

What nicknames are you nervous of (seems pretty innocuous to me)

I think you are right to be concerned about potential nick names. Nothing springs to mind btw, but my dh has an unusual name which made his life at school an absolute misery. He actually doesn't mind his name now (he's 40s) but hated his parents during teenage years for giving him such a stupid name and an equally stupid second name too.
I won't say what it is for fear of offending anyone with dc's called the same!!!But, as I said, as an adult he doesn't mind it.

My first thought was is that made up?

But actually I think it could work and would be unusual but nice.

Just sounds like a word and not a name if that makes sense.

"Just sounds like a word and not a name if that makes sense"

you see that is the quality of half-assed comment you are going to get

use it if you like it

Capppuncino, presumably she asked for opinions because she wants to hear what people have to say.
I'd have thought 'use it if you like it' is probably the least helpful if somebody is askng for input.

Sounds made up - is it a family surname or Christian name, and where does your family orginate from?

Not keen myself, but then it's not my child, so go with it if you really like it.

Struggling to think of offensive nicknames, but he might get fed up around Christmas time, when his friends start singing 'Harker herald angels sing'

It does sound like a word and not a name though.
I personally wouldn't use it but it's not my child, I wouldn't worry about nicknames, ALL names lend themselves to horrid nicknames if kids want to be cruel.

Unusual but tasteful. I'm warming to it.

Haha Capp - I can see you feel quite strongly about all this!

It was my great Grandfather's middle name.

is it a family forename or a family surname?

It'd make a fab middle name for either a boy or a girl in a second-surname type way.

and Nancy, I'd have thought having complete strangers say facile things about a name that you love is even less helpful

I know children with unusual names. I have children with unusual names. People get over the 'what? how do you spell that?' remarkably quickly

I quite like it.
We have a lot of surnames as middle names in my Dad's side of the family. Very common for Scottish people to give their firstborn the mother's maiden name as a middle name.

Message withdrawn

boudoir I hate these name threads

if people come on and say "What do you think of Ellie/ Rachel/ Anne" everyone goes oh how pretty

anything slightly out of the ordinary you get this ridiculous 'oh it sounds funny' malarkey

calm down dear, it's only a name

hmmm, not sure about name tbh, middle name maybe?

and 'my friend had a horrid name and it made them miserable' is another one

I have a perfectly reasonable one but schoolkids still managed to pull it apart

oh olive not you too

It does sound like a word not a name though!

But as soon as someone IRL says it's unusual or theyve never heard it before and the OP says 'it was my great-gradfathers name', that'll be the end of convo, if she'd made it up then I'd say, don't be silly, but she hasn't.

dont let it get to you capp, these name threads are all the same. if the op has any wit (which im quite sure she does) she'll take it all in her stride. you get anonymous opinions on here if you ask for them... shes asked... so shes gonna get them. she'll no dobt decide based on overall feeling and how much she likes it, not on any particular post from some random on the internet

I'm not sure. Don't love it or hate.

Like all of these threads it really depends on the surname and how the name flows as a whole and for obvious reasons most people don't want to disclose their surname on mnet so it's really hard to judge how it will sound in rl.