Whay do peopel give their children 'unusual" names?

[seeker]

I am prepared to bet (unfortunately there is no way of testing my theory so I am on pretty safe ground) that the vast majority of children would much rather be one of 2 Toms or 3 Emilys in their year at school than the only Halcyon or Sequoia.

I also think that people are very disingenuous when they insist that they are choosing made up or off the wall names so that their children are the only one in their year. I have a Grace, who is one of 2 in a school of 1420 girls,and a Patrick, who is the only one in a school of 430 children. I don't know why people choose off the wall names, but uniqueness can't be the real reason.

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Because they are American?

They've got the market cornered on weird, naff, silly, made up and flat out stttooopid names.

I think for some parents, they see their choice of names for Dcs names are some kind of badge or status symbol.

i chose my sons name because of its meaning.

I gave my DS's very common names..........except they're not too common in the UK

(still in shock that someone picked up on her oldest sons name in a thread similar to this 1 month ago, while her 2 younger sons, who have slightly more unusual names were left alone )

I have an unusual name and was always very glad not be one of the 3 Emmas, 2 Michelles, 5 Charlottes in my year, etc. Emma P and Emma D and Emma G. Not for me! I love having an unusual name. (And no, my name isn't Sequoia! It's actually not unusual in my parent's country of origin, but is unusual in England).

People have different opinions on this, as is very clear from the baby name's board. Personally, I'm in the 'never name my baby a Top 10 name' camp.

(And I do have a good chuckle sometimes at the local playground when one mother screeches 'Joshuaaaaa!' and 3 little boys turn around and say 'Yeh?')

Some of the names this week on Mumsnet have been horrendous!

I suppose people want to be different and for their child to stand out a bit rather than being Tom H, Tom G or Tom P.

Ds has a name that is becoming more popular now but I didnt know of any when he was born.

DS2 has a very popular name but I still love it and if he has more than one of them in his class then so be it!

My daughters have Gaelic names which are not ususual here, but people outside Scotland or Ireland may find them so.

I liked their meaning, too - Helen and Rose.

Because everyone is different and they are perfectly entitled to call their kids what they want. So what if they want to use 'poncy', 'chavvy' or made-up names?

There are the ones who go a little too far with names like Chlamydia etc and that it just a shame.

Vacantlypretty - but they never say "I'm calling him Sequioa because I love it" - they say I'm caling him Sequioa because it's unique and will make him a unique person" Unlike Tom, who is, of course a clone of the other Tom in the class......

My mother and grandmother have beautiful, unusual names. I was one of four girls with my name in my year at school and hated it. My dd doesn't have a top 10 name, and my ds won't either. Not weird, made-up, mispelt oddities, just something slightly unusual.

I don't understand why people seem threatened by others who show a little individuality.

I don't think there's anything really wrong with unusual names. DD2 has a name that is very unusual in th UK. But I don't like many of the more 'modern' names around, which parents have chosen to be 'different',they do make me cringe.

TBH I absolutely hated being one of 3 with the smae name in my class at choll & 1 of about 15 in my year grou. So yes dd does have a name that is not in the top 10 (or ever likely to be tbh) However it is also a lovely name which is why we chose it. You may well class it as off the wall if it doesn't correspond with you ideal of common enough.

mind you I do get plenty of looks when I call my youngest "TK" - he's actually Takunda, but we've called him TK almost since he was born - and it's stuck LOL

I actually manage to render Americans speechless with my childrens' names. No mean feat in that place.

The names they think are Scottish are usually ones no Scot in their right mind would ever name their child.

This one will be Muireann if it's a girl and Struan if it's a boy.

"Vacantlypretty - but they never say "I'm calling him Sequioa because I love it" - they say I'm caling him Sequioa because it's unique and will make him a unique person""

Lots of people on here say they're choosing [unusual name] because they love it, so I'd be willing to bet that lots of people in the wider world do too.

Besides which, saying you're giving your kid an unusual name because it's unique isn't really that different to giving your child a solid top 5 name "because I want them to feel like they fit in/don't stand out/are normal".

It would be a very tedious world indeed if it were only populated by Janes and Johns.

If you want to choose a name that is differnet, do it, but PLEASE make sure it's readbale and not too hard to pronounce or your Dc will be forever spelling/explaining it to people.

I don't see why people say I'm naming her dbayfguseyfv pronounced Clara.

Oh, I hated my name when I was a child, although it was not a strange name (something like Grace but I never came accross another person with the same name until I was probably about 8yrs old, now it is very popular but before it was a rarity).

Having a not so popular name gave me some trouble as a child but the advantages were enormous when I grew up. People found it easy to remember the name because it was unusual and it certainly help to advance my career faster (part of it was in fine arts).

So, tried to do the same with DS, has a regular french name that although increasingly popular in France, here is still pretty unique.

How do you pronounce 'Muireann' Expat?

I wish there were some really nice flemish names. DD2 has just about the only nice flemish girl's name, but I don't really like any flemish boy's names.

We'll go for an english or maybe french name for dc3.

expat - fab choices that go very well with your DD's names LOVE Struan!

Ah but FAQ, you didn't choose that.

Oh and another good point of choosing a not extremely popular name is that you are Halcyon, full stop, not Halcyon the tall, Halcyon the lazy, Halcyon the clever, or Halcyon the Daft.

Unusual name - good.

'Unusual' spelling of regular name - bad.

no but I could have chosen to keep my maiden name when I got married