Names You Would Never Use

[AubernFable]

I am an absolute name nerd and love hearing other people’s preferences, but instead of being boring and asking for your favourite, I want to hear your least favourite baby names.

Disclaimer: I am not encouraging anyone to hate on anyone’s name choices—everyone has different tastes and it makes life interesting. I just want to hear the names that you personally dislike or would never use.

Some of my least favourites…

Boys

Hunter – also see Gunner or any other violence-based, American-sounding name (Nameberry Baby Name Trends 2025)
Kai – Jax and similar three-letter names
Kayden – Jayden, Brayden
Archie/Teddy – shortened names in general
George – just don’t like it

Girls

Luna – and Nova sound like pet names to me
Emma – Olivia and Amelia type names, just because I know so many DC with those names
Savannah – I don’t know why
Francesca – weird because it’s similar to names I love
Poppy, Rosie, Ruby – cute but I feel like they don’t suit adults
Angel – also see Honey or Princess (all real DC)

In general, I don’t like unique spellings or really modern names like Graeyson, Blakely, Azra, or Kyndall.

I don’t hate girls with boyish names, I think Rory on a girl is very sweet but I would never use it. James isn’t pretty on either gender IMO.

I forgot about double surnames though, completely agree!

Eve/Sophie/Grace/Amelia/olivia and any Isabel name. Totally overused wallpaper names. Every other girl called one of these. So dull.

Also can’t bear cutesy ditsy names that are cringe on adult women Poppy/ Daisy/Honey

Also! I forgot I’m not a fan of no middle names, or just one short one but that’s just a personal preference for longer names, with two middle names.

Yeah agree with all of these, can’t imagine a 36 year old Honey, Angel or Cash for a man.

All the old lady names that seem to be popular

I remember the old women they belonged to and they were horrible people

I agree with all of your OP, OP, apart from Francesca, which I absolutely love.

I don't like anything top ten - of even top 20, really. I think we should have a law that says that if it was in the top 10 the previous year, it is not allowed for ten years, and parents have to choose something more original.

I don't like biblical/religious names.
I don't like royal names.

I don't like hyphenated first names (fine for surnames).

I don't like names 'honouring' people - just pick a nice name on its merit. I especially don't like middle names honouring people where the names are truly ugly but the parents are martyring their child to the altar of great aunt Gertrude just to have some link. Give the child their own name!

I don't like names where there are more than one spelling of them - e.g. Katherine/Kathryn/Catherine. I don't like names that have to be spelled - it should be obvious how to spell a name.

I don't like names that don't give the child options for a shortening.

I cannot abide names where the child is named after their parent, making them an X Junior. Yuck. Especially yuck if the child is called Junior.

I don't like no middle names either! Ideally people should have two middle names, and at least one of those should be fun and whimsical.

Dull filler middle names like Rose, May, Louise. Dullllllll.

I don't like it when siblings have matching initials.

I don't like it when siblings' names don't 'go' together nicely.

Should have added old people names to my long essay above! Can't believe I forgot. I can't stand odd fuddy names. They are all so frumpy.

I’ve come to realises i think of Annabelle as a child’s name and not an adult’s. There is a mum called Annabelle at my children’s school and every time there is mention of her or a message from her pop up on WhatsApp I immediately think of pupils at the school with the name which makes no sense as why would a child be on a parent group discussing bake sales etc 😀

I don’t get the popularity of George but I like Georgina .

Jordan or Morgan. I’ve always thought they were both beautiful names but have been totally ruined.

Asher.
Jake.
Nadine
Danica

Virtue names. Saddling a newborn with a descriptor that may not suit them as an adult.

being named after living family members. Deliberate confusion or enforced nicknames / additions. My family has a bit of this and I unfortunately married someone whose family also do this with the same name - DS ran the risk of having the same name as both this grandfathers, both his uncles and several of his cousins: I refused to entertain if.

Kayleigh.

I don't like any hyphenated first name!

I don’t like names that are off tv shows or movies, like Madison becoming popular after the movie Splash, and then obviously the game of thrones names.

In the same vein i avoid names that have been used recently by celebrities. Hazel was my all time favourite name from childhood, but then julia Roberts used it for her daughter before I had chance to use it so I had to avoid it.

Long or frilly / fussy names that don’t shorten easily to a useable everyday version. I introduce myself to new people multiple times per day at work and am very grateful for my two syllable, standard spelling name! I also have teenagers, and long names are all shortened by their friends (even if against parent’s wishes) so, for me I wouldn’t use a longer name unless I loved the short version. An example would be Felicity (in my job this would sound pretentious to insist on in full, but Flick / Fliss are too informal to introduce myself with to new people everyday in a professional setting).

Hyphenated names and ones with unique spellings (just makes me feel sorry for the child, constantly having to spell their name to other people)

Umph I’m glad this is anonymous!!

So my kids have short, quite common traditional names. Not because of any other reason than we liked them, ones a family name. For us we did wobble about whether they were too common - but they really suit them and so far in a small primary we’ve been fine 😆

my no goes are…

anything hyphened with May, or worse Mae
(Chloe - mae, daisy Mae etc)
anything spelt quirkily
Taylor, Tyler, Braydon, Jaxon, Logan,HARVEY/HARLEY

sorry..!!

Anything ending in -bert, it’s such an ugly sound.

Names that are the nicknames of a traditional name. So the child can never choose the “full” version of their name to fit a formal or professional situation as an adult.

I don’t understand when people talk about wanting “cute names for a baby”. The baby will be an adult for 20 x longer than they will be a baby/small child!

One of my DD's names has already been covered in a category above so it just shows we all have different thoughts and tastes and that's OK. Here are my personal name dislikes:

Names that are nouns - so so many out there but I like names that are names, not random words like professions or seasons etc

Names from current popular culture (TV series', movies, pop stars, celebrities etc)

Yoo-neek spellings of well known names just for the sake of being different

Double barrelled first names, especially anything -May, -Rose

More than one middle name

Middle names that don't flow with the rest of the name or are really ugly but chosen just to 'honour' a family member. Give your child their own name!

Filler middle names that every other child has, chosen just for the sake of having one (the modern day Louise's, Jane's, Marie's, Anne's - you know the names I'm talking about)

Siblings with the same first initial (Kardashian style)

Alteration - it just sounds so twee and what might be so very cute when they're a baby won't be quite so much when they're a professional adult in the workplace.

And saving the best for last, having basically the same name and surname - think Neville Neville, Peter Peterson, David Davidson etc. Just why???

Virtue names are quite bold. We know several Graces who are the exact opposite of graceful in every way. Seems cruel somehow.

Old people names, Elsie, Iris, Ada, Arthur, Alfie etc. they’re just ugly names.

Irish or Scottish names on people who have no relation to those countries, or even worse people who’s grandad’s, second cousin’s, cat’s sister was Scottish/Irish so they give all their kids Scottish/Irish names and tell everyone they’re Scottish/Irish really when they’re not, they’re as English as they come. I don’t know why this annoys me so much, but it does!

For me it is always related to individuals with that name.

1. Martha- works for Pfizer, poisonous bitch.
2. Olivia from school- apparently normal these days.

I hope you all have psychic abilities. Two names mentioned often on these threads weren't even top 100 when my adult DC were born. Now they're 'over-used' and 'thoughtless.'

B: Jayden and Adolf.

G: Anything with May or Mae