Have you ever given a name of someone you know?

[BeGreyFinch]

I'm thinking of future baby names, as we are trying to conceive. I keep thinking of different names that are beautiful to me, but there are many people that I know with these names. I keep thinking that they might get different qualities of people that have the name, as I know there are some generalizations about them lol. Is that possible? Should I just go for it?

I don't understand the question. Are you asking whether it's OK to give your child the same name as someone you know? Of course it is. Most of us know hundreds of people and our shortlists would be quite drastically reduced if we couldn't use the names of anyone we know.

The only thing I actively tried to avoid was names of people's pets! If you try to avoid names of people you know, what happens if you call your son, (for example) Ben, because you don't know anyone called Ben, then a Ben comes to work with you, your DH's new boss is called Ben, your best friend gets a new boyfriend called Ben...

That way madness lies. Just pick a name you like.

Of course it's possible, go with the name you like.

But a lot of people avoid names that they'd immediately not have a great association with of someone with that name. Hence, I guess, why some names skip a few generations before they become popular again. I've rarely met a baby or child nowadays that shares a name with anyone I knew or went to school with when I was a child around 30 years ago for example.

Agree with the others! Just use what you like.

I keep thinking that they might get different qualities of people that have the name That's not how it works.
My parents might have named me after someone, but I won't have the characteristics of that person unless 'nature or nurture'.

A teacher when I was in secondary school was pregnant and confessed that she’d think of a name she liked but recall a kid of that name who she didn’t like, so would avoid it

A friend and her DH dd that, @Paynoregard , and their DC had names that were quite unusual, but the name of one is very popular now, and the other isn't unusual.

DS ended up with the same name as my BFriend’s stepdad. So not a close connection but they share a name all the same.

Neither are remotely close in personality.