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.

Message withdrawn

It's true that as children we may want a name that will blend in, but as adults, if and when we realise we're never going to be unique or famous a name that sets us apart slightly can be a consolation.

I have quite a fancy name which I found a bit embarrassing as a child and which I shortened until I was in my twenties, but now I love my name and hardly ever meet another 'me'.

but is it unusual as in sequoia etc that no one's heard of, or unusual in the sense of say violet - everyone's heard of it but not many are called it.

I second mmj. I have an unusual name, I was also very, very shy. I hated my name as a kid, even now every one can figure out my mam and dad were hippies. The only problem I have is originally my name was hippie name normal surname, but, I got married to someone who had an unusual surname. So now my first and last names are weird/unusual take your pick. Put it this way, no one else ever, anywhere will have my combination of names.

I second mmj. I have an unusual name, I was also very, very shy. I hated my name as a kid, even now every one can figure out my mam and dad were hippies. The only problem I have is originally my name was hippie name normal surname, but, I got married to someone who had an unusual surname. So now my first and last names are weird/unusual take your pick. Put it this way, no one else ever, anywhere will have my combination of names.

Sequoia is the name of one of the lodges at Disneyland Paris, so it's only a matter of time before it finds its way onto the class registers

i have a relatively unusual name

hated it up until maybe 14 then liked it

my sisters names are all very ordinary oddly

i am pleased with my name now and have a very normal surname so use my full name all the time

never met many - half a dozen in my life

oddly enough there are two others in my small ish town ..bizarre really

My all-time favourite girls' name, taken from the yearbook of an (American) school where my godfather's wife teaches:

Inertia Brown

(My children will not be called Inertia)

LOLOLOL at Inertia.

Were the parents physicists do you think?

acksherlly, DD's unusual name IS because we absolutely love it, not just to be 'unique' (although as it happens she might well me nearly that in NZ). DS's name isn't unusual in the slightest, but we love it too.

Butterfly are you a name changer? cos if I know you, then I know another person with your name too

Why is that people who have given their children common/traditional names always raise the issue of why somebody would give their child an unusual name?! I think it gets down to a bit of the green eyed monster.

My children have unusual names. One of which is extremely unusual. Why did I give them their unusual names? Because my DH and I loved the names.

Have my children had any issues with their names, or have I or my DH had any regrets - no never.

Seeker - your question is a bit contrary though. I mean you've added up how many Particks and Graces are in your children's school! Why would you bother doing this? Deep down you must want your children's names to be a bit different!!!!!! It is definately something I'd never do to such a a factual level.

Ds1 has a very unusual name.
Ds2 has quite a common one.
We chose our ds' names because we liked them. Isn't that how most people do it?

I actively seek out unusual names. I'm pretty middle-class, highly educated and professional but we "made up" a name - it was a word already but not used as a name before.

Why do I think that way? - because I value individuality and standing out quite highly, and I want my child to have that option, of having a unique name - though we did take care to choose a name that an be easily shortened to something more common in case he prefers to fit in. Being one of several kids in the class with the same name sounds awful to me.

It does occur to me that, whether you prioritise a "common" name because you think fitting in is important, or want a "unique" name because you think being like everyone else is anathema, your child will probably soak up your values to some extent and so in most cases it should work OK for them. In other words if you are brought up thinking that fitting in well and being normal is important, it will suit you to be Tom or Emily, and if you are brought up in an eccentric family and are used to standing out anyway, it will suit you to be Ziggy or Leaf or whatever. IYSWIM.

My dd has an extremely unusual name. I think it is lovely and as it has scottish connections it pleased my scottish husband (who was initially dubious when I suggested it).

The name we chose for ds is 'normal', but not particularly common (at the moment). It really suits him.

I am really proud of my kid's names - I have a very boring plain name and I wanted them both to have names that people will remember (which they do), although most people can't spell dd's!

When I was 14-15, there were 6 boys in my class of 25, of whom 5 had the same name. There were also four girls with the same name, and three with the same other name.

I was glad to be the only one of me in the school/ town. Sooner that than one of a crowd of identically named children.

I thought seeker's point was that you can use REAL names for your children with there still being a chance that they will be the only child in their class with that name hence not being known as Patrick W or Patrick S instead of just Patrick.

I was one of at least 3 girls with the same name at primary school and most secondary school classes /groups had another girl with the same name. I didn't care then and I don't care now. Its the person within that makes you an individual who stands out, not your name or clothes or hairstyle.

If you value individuality and standing out highly and don't want to leave it up to your child to do this for themselves at some point, in some part of their chosen path in life then I suppose giving them a very individual name at birth is attractive.

duchesse, could you really not see beyond their name ? I think that's sad.

I fail to see your point or understand your question.

It's about not having to turn round or stop what you're doing whenever you hear your name called, only to find out that you weren't the person they were calling and you stopped for nothing. My once very unusual name is now fairly used, and it really pees me off to have to stop whenever I hear someone calling my name in town/ shops etc only to discover it's a 4 yr old they're after... I much preferred it when I knew it was me they wanted.

Snowleopard - that is an extraordinary thing to say!

Just because somebody chooses a name that there is the possibility that someone else within a million miles might also have doesn't mean that they value "fitting in" and being "normal" above everything else!

Um well your OP suggested that you think children want to fit in. That they would "much rather be one of 2 Toms or 3 Emilys in their year at school than the only Halcyon or Sequoia". That's the kind of thing I mean - in your outlook, being one of 3 with the same name would be much better than being unique. In my outlook, being unique would be far preferable.

Your outlook will probably rub off on your children a bit and so they'll probably agree with you IYSWIM. I don't think it's that extraordinary. And I didn't say "above everything else"!

But I think my children are unique for their personality, their talents, their faults, their senses of humour - their essential "them-ness" And in my dd's case for her startling red hair.

I don't think they have to go through life saying "Sequioa - that's S E Q U O I A. Yes it is unusual - no my mother wasn't a botanist - yes I suppose Giant Redwood would be worse - now can I just have a season ticket before the last train goes?" in order to be unique!

Because Dh and I both have 'unusual' (for the UK) names, and like it.

I've had the experience from both sides, as I've lived in the UK and in countries where my name is not at all unusual.

Because we don't know where ds will end up we chose a name that would work in as many of the languages we speak as possible. The fact that it's unusual was a secondary consideration (I did like a very common one but dh felt he didn't want ds to be known as tall x or big x or whatever).