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.

I have an extremely unusual name which (apart from a couple of years in my teens) I absolutely love. Apparently I was about 2 days away from being called Jessica though, phew. Can't ever imagine having the same name as anyone else (never met one yet!) it would be really wierd.

DD has what i thought was a pretty unusual name, which means the same as mine actually, but in a different language, but have since found out is pretty common (esp in Surrey, apparently!) and on top of that, slebby, chavvy, and poncy as well! blimey. Still love it tho.

Maybe they don't want to pick a name like Grace, which is HUGELY popular, especially in the 1 - 4 year olds at the moment.

the definative answer

its all in a name

lisas are well shit

MI - I squeaked with delight (there's madly peculiar) when I came across a character with your name in Haldane's My Friend Mr Leakey.

My name was the most popular for ages when I was little and I absolutely hated it. I was always one of many in any class or club, and always known by my surname or a nickname a a result. We've picked an unusual name for our first (due in July) because we loved it as soon as we heard it.

Names are largely influenced by fashion. Asking why people pick unusual names is like asking why not everyone is wearing the same 8 most popular outfits. Some people genuinely don't like any of the names in the top 10 so choose something that is more unusual.

yes, but i haven't set foot there in years and don't miss much.

especially not those dumb ass, made up excsues for names many come up with in order to be unique, different, unusual.

when it's really just dumb ass, made up and naff.

i don't miss all that fluffiness, baby showers, going overboard and analysing every minute of pregnancy or parenting, competitiveness - the level of childishness displayed on some of those boards is astonishing, including boasts or moans about having/not having 'the first grandchild' or how their siblings fell pregnant with no thought to the timing of their children, etc.

and i won't get into all that 'I'm Scottish/Irish' and then you find out they had a great great great great granny once removed who visited the place once BS.

yeah, you can say i didn't fit in well with all that shit.

Santa is an old Italian first name - not common there either but v traditional

mmj - is that from that bounty thread? her name is kay haigh. dunno what the lz is for.

Surely it depends on what you think is unusual. My name is not so uncommon in certain circles, however the spelling is - i am yet to come across another person with my name who spells it the way i do - and i really like this. DD has a not so run of the mill name, but we named her for the meaning - helper/healer, depending on which book you read

Santa is lovely.

Kitsmummy - that's the point. Grace may be common among 1-4 year olds, but it is NOT among 12 year olds. And she was definitely the only baby Grace anywhere in our circle when she was a baby. You could call your child Sequoia, and he would be the only one, but in 12 years time it could be the number one baby boy's name. You can only guarantee a very brief period of exclusivity.

And you may have noticed that I deliberately refrained from commenting on the name of anyone's dcs except my own.....maybe we ought to make that a rule for this thread?

I think that there's a distinction to be made between 'unusual' names and 'uncommon' ones. Uncommon ones can certainly use the argument that they don't want to be one of many - my name is uncommon, as is dd's currently, but neither are unusual in any sort of made up sense.
I really don't know why people use unusual names, in the sense of ones that they've made up, or ones whose spelling they have chosen to change for some woolly or non-existent reason.

I had an uncommon name and it was great at school. I felt dreadfully sorry for Rebecca H, Rebecca D, Rebecca R, Rebecca J etc. And when someone calls my name in the street, I know it is me they mean! Imagine turning around all the time when it's not you!

I find it very sad when folk want to spend their time judging other people's choices of name for their beloved children.

I shouldn't judge people by their names but I do, I think that most people wouldn't be able to stop their first gut reaction however much they rationalise it afterwards.
Tests have been done that show that teachers and examiners are influenced by names when they mark work-they would be horrified to find they did but it has been proved.

agree with you hatrick

I wanted it to signfify my ownership of him I suppose, I have enough trouble feeling confident and accepted as a parent because of the fact I'm single, so I guess doing something against the tide appealed to me, to show people that actually 'Yes, I do know how I survive, Yes, I do know why I'm alive' as Chrissie Hynde puts it.

I also love their names, dearly.

I had a quite unusual name and didn't think about it much till later on when I saw its niceness and context and then it gave me a confidence boost as well.

Definitely preferred being that to being one of seven Claires or whatever.

Also I have a problem with my place in the world and feel like I don't fit in very well - so an unusual name represents me better perhaps. To have an ordinary name as well as being a freak would be almost unbearable!

..as in having to live up to the other 25 people who were normal, iyswim...

Claire C
Claire T

and Odd Claire

I like Halcyon - I think that's rather lovely

Not entirely sure about Sequoia - sounds like sentencing the child to a lifetime of

"That's ESS-EE-CUE-YOU-OH-AYE-EY" ad infinitum

You would be surprised! There is a test on the internet about prejudice -unfortunately I can't remember where it is-and it tells you that you won't like the results! It flashes words and pictures and you have to make quick fire responses-hesitating is counted in the results. I think that if there was one with images and names and you had to make instant decisions you would find that you were prejudiced.Of course teachers don't think they allow names to influence them - they would be horrified- but tests have been done with unknown students where the name is the only thing to go on and names have influenced them.

Sorry-it moved on quickly-I was replying to hatrick and martianbishop.