Did you get compliments on your name choice?

[Violetsatautumn]

Just curious if people commented on your name choice for your baby?

did you get compliments? If so did you go for a classic or more unusual name?

just getting a feel for whether a classic traditional name would be more suited than a more unusual name.

(unusual I mean out of the top 100-150)

thank you x ☺️

I think most people compliment most names, but you wouldn't know whether it's because they're being polite, or whether it's because they think it's an amazing name. I suspect unusual names get more compliments because people think they have to say something specifically about the name, and if they are nice and polite then they will say something nice. What names do you like best?

We did for our second, whose nickname (that he's known by on a day to day basis) happens to have quite a cool rock star reference, although that's not why we gave him the name. He's actually named after a great grandfather, but the name happens to shorten well.

Ooh I’m wondering now…. Flea?!

No, we didn't. I don't care; we love them. Our first DD's name was about to fall out of the top 100, and is now down around 2000. Our second daughter's was about to drop oit of the top 50, then had a brief resurgence, and is now around number 1000. There were two other girls with the same name at her school - both much older than her, so eventually left. We have met one other child the same age as DD1 with her name.

Most people who compliment a name are just being polite.

"What's her name?"... "Oh that's lovely". It's a standard answer most people will give to any name they find remotely ok.

If you truly hate the name, you just compliment the baby instead so as not to appear rude.

"What's his name?"... "Oh he's lovely" 😉

We did, but the one that surprised me most was someone who said “oh, and it goes perfectly with yours and DH’s names.”

It hadn’t occurred to me to say all three names together to check that they sounded good as a three!

edit to add - not an unusual name at all, but haven’t come across any more at baby groups/in nursery. Met one other child with the same name in the park, but that’s it. No idea where it came in the top 100 or whatever because I didn’t look!

Yes, especially for our dc’s quite uncommon name, used about 20 times in their birth year.

Three of my DC have incredibly boring names. When they were small, if you called to them in the playground at least three other children turned round. People were very positive when I shared their names.

In contrast, my first DC has a name that - whilst very similar in style to her siblings - is slightly unusual. When we shared her name, nobody liked it. There was a couple of seconds pause, before a comment along the lines of "oh, how unusual". Nobody was rude enough to criticise it, but it was somewhat obvious what they were thinking.

It really isn't that unusual a name, btw. And when mentioned on MN, responses tend to be positive. For full disclosure that name is Esther.

Yes. Not sure if our of politeness. We went for traditional Englishy names and people always say how lovely the "old names are back in" 😂

Classics

loads of compliments for not going for silly made up or Americanised names

Define “compliments” - somebody saying “oh what a lovely name” is just politeness.

“Oh what an unusual name!” means “omg what made you call him that!” 🤣

I don’t remember getting compliments and I don’t comment or compliment names either.

Congrats on the baby, what’s their name, oh wonderful, hope you’re doing ok……

Both are complemented a lot, often by strangers who happen to hear us say them.

Neither are off the wall, but also not particularly common. They’re rare enough that we comment when we come across another child with those names.

But in the end, we like them. And I think as long as you don’t go for something ridiculous (creates something unfortunate with the initials or surname, or spells David Dhayfhfhfhuud or similar), it doesn’t really matter.

at some point, loads of people must have thought Gary / Sharon / Tracey / Wayne were lovely names. I don’t recall coming across a baby named one of those since the 80s

No, all four grandparents hated it, but given the generic names they called their children, I would have expected no different. My parents think all children should just be called John, Tom, Mary and Ann or such.

And honestly, even in somewhat less 'magnolia paint' circles, naming tastes differ hugely. My NCT group/people I used to meet at NCT coffee mornings in London included babies called Thiago, Ferdinand, Elsie, Lasairfhíonn, Rhadisat, Phineas, Nelly and Ace.

Gary, Sharon and Tracey will be back, and will seem fresh and charming to a new generation of parents, once the current crop of Garys, Sharons and Traceys have died off. The reason so many older people hated the trend for Edith, Violet, Stanley, Ivy, Mabel, Arthur, Reggie, Bertie etc is that for their generation, those names were Gary and Tracey.

I’ve had a few over the years that have seemed really genuine- like mentioning her name in passing and being asked to repeat it and then getting a compliment.
But, when it appears on MN it is never in a positive light! But I adore it and I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My boys have very 'usual', top 100 names My girls have more unusual, and very much not in the top 100 names. Two of them (still, and they are in their 30's) get compliments on their names, the third constantly has her name misunderstood as a Welsh word, but goes by a diminutive of her name anyway - also unusual.

They have their father's very very boring surname, and they've all loved having names that have meant they've not been 'one of ten' in their school, unlike their brothers!

Should point out that none of them have 'made up' names/names that are hard to spell/hyphenated or otherwise filled with punctuation names.

Yes, with DS (now 16) lots of people made comments- it was a biblical name that at the time was not in fashion at all… So it seemed to get positive comments for being unusual but not made up or completely out there…

Unfortunately it then became SUPER popular (he jokes he was a trend setter), and became the number 1 name for many years…

Yes it’s Noah. He’s the only one in his year at school. There are millions of them in his siblings primary school…

My dd is Olivia we got a lot of compliments about how beautiful it was . (Three years later it was the number 1 name)
mmy ds has a very cute surname so with his first we got a lot of awww how sweet.

My Mother said on hearing DD’s name “ I suppose I’ll get used to it “ it’s an uncommon name but I think lovely, she came to like it as it suited DD as her personalty emerged.

I don’t think popularity takes away from beauty- Olivia is so popular because it is beautiful and timeless.

Define ‘compliments’?

Also, some people’s tastes are so different (bad!) that I’d rather they don’t like my name choices. I wouldn’t like theirs either 😊

Yes, her name isn't even in the top 4000 and everyone has always reacted positively.

That’s a pretty low bar… just goes to show how we all define differently what constitutes a great/beautiful name!!

We gave DS2 such a common name that we got loads of compliments from about 6 different adults we know with the same name confirming that it is, indeed, the best name.