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.

Is it a pizza?

Kale - zjay guh

it's not an english sound so I can't use an ebglish word to illustrate!

They have it in french and russian, do you speak either of those?

is it like what, man?

Re Students names.

I always mark 'blind'. So I mark the work and then check the name. I mark too many books to recognise the handwriting

Wow Janitor I didn't know it was a cover. Mind you I am Mrs Thick about stuff like that.
And I have an original 7" copy of I Feel Love which you are now going to tell me was written by Elton John, right?

Sorry, can't help you there, but it was from someone who said that we have odd names on this site and don't use our real names.

ironically that wasn't even her real name. well it was her first name and last name combined together by lz in the middle.

Kelsey?

Bit like chalmondelay being pronounced chumley innit?
Or featherstonehaugh being pronounced fanshawe.

kaylzhaigh is obv either kayleigh or kelsey imo.

My mum and dad gave my brother an unusual name. He was teased a bit but now he's an adult he doesn't get the same treatment. It was the childish bullies who were in the wrong, not my parents, and my brother loves his name.

What is it to you what people call their child? I think it is reverse snobbery to judge people on their choice of name. A name should have meaning to that family - full stop.

My name is not unusual but not common. I often thought when growing up that I was sooo happy not to be called a name the same as lots of others in my class.

DH has a really unusual name, and he is very happy with the name.

MMJ thankyou, that was awesome

(only read the op)

I was one of 6 Michelles at school.
If you call me in the playground at least 10 women turn around.

I would have loved to have had a more unusual name.

both my children have names that are traditional. i chose them because (at teh time) they were not very common.
(and because i liked them of course)

If i had another child they would be either Ophelia or Reggie.

i don't hear eitehr name in the street or the park but no doubt by the time i get round to suing them they will be loads.

(only read the op)

I was one of 6 Michelles at school.
If you call me in the playground at least 10 women turn around.

I would have loved to have had a more unusual name.

both my children have names that are traditional. i chose them because (at teh time) they were not very common.
(and because i liked them of course)

If i had another child they would be either Ophelia or Reggie.

i don't hear eitehr name in the street or the park but no doubt by the time i get round to suing them they will be loads.

Just reassure me that your surname isn't Balls, Mamazon, if you fancy a little Ophelia

My DH and I both have very typical names for our age, and in fact know of at least 3 other couples of the same name (not Jane and John, much more 70s than that!). It wasn't a curse or a blessing, just a fact.

DS1 has a name that is unusual, but is a wellknown surname (name of an author, so people say "oh, as in XXX") and easy to spell. He is in fact named for the street where we lived when he was born, so there's a strong reason to call him something unusual. We know of a couple of other ones, and can't think HOW they thought of it, without the sign at the end of their road to give them the idea!

DS2 was very nearly Diggory, a name I've loved since my teens. But I couldn't quite cope with screaming 2 weird names across the park. Instead we gave him a name that has a VERY popular short version that we don't like and in fact we call him something totally ridiculous instead. So I do end up shouting 2 weird names across the park.

The nice thing is I just put DS1's first name in all his clothes for nursery etc.

Because I have a practically unique name myself, and loathe to think of meeting someone else with the same name. It has loads of advantages and I wanted to share those advantages with my children, particularly my daughter as she may change her surname if she gets married. With an unusual enough name, you don't need a surname, really.
disclaimer: it's a proper name, just a very unusual spelling due to it being ancient Irish. Not a made-up name.

Have read quite a few, but certainly not all, of the posts and didn't see anyone give the reason for unusual names that I am about to give.

When I am thinking of names, I have to avoid any name that either, a) reminds me of something or someone (like Harry immediately, in my head, becomes Harry Potter) or b) I actually know someone with that name. I don't really know why other than that I think in images a lot so tend to visualise what I am saying, and that includes people. I also have the problem if a name crops up in a song or chant.

Anyway, my reason for chosing unusual names for my children is so that I don't picture other people/things when I think of them or talk about them, etc.