Poem

[fairycupcakes]

Am I crazy to think this would actually make a beautiful name? (Not pregnant but adore names and name-meanings and adding to my list for when that day finally comes)

ChatGPT says fewer than 5 babies were named it last year in the UK so I’m not the first to have the thought!

I would quite happily be called Poem! - if that was my given name. But it’s not, I love my name because my older brother chose it so why would I ever change it! It’s also been my name for over 3 decades so it’s pretty solidly part of my identity now 😅

I don’t think essays are as pretty as poems!

Personally I hate it, but that’s largely because I don’t like the word as a word, let alone as a name, if that makes sense? I don’t particularly like any of your music equivalents either though 😅 I don’t think it would be cause for bullying though, that’s narrow minded imo. Names have got rather.. unusual now, there’s some crackers in my son’s preschool class.

It's nice. Have always loved the name Posy, too.

Not personally keen on Poem, but I do adore the name Fable and when I was pregnant I seriously considered the name Velvet for a girl (I blame pregnancy hormones and I didn’t pick it but I still quite like it…)

OP, the difficulty is that you are choosing a name based on your own personality. But your child will have a different personality. He or she may not be artsy or interested in books, he or she may have completely different interests and traits to you. For this reason, I prefer names that are more neutral and do not carry heavy connotations, ie not obviously hippyish, alternative, quirky, cutesy, etc

Absolutely understand this perspective but I think it would be lovely to be named something that your parents found so beautiful (personal meaning as to why Poem came to be on my list in the first place) 😊

OP, you may be right or wrong about how your future child will feel about it. She may love her special name, she may feel embarrassed and hate it. She may love it at age 16, but hate it by the time she is 25 and applying for jobs. We don’t know, you and your child are the ones who will find out. But it is interesting that you posted on AIBU and have only really reinforced your point about the name being a good one. If you do use the name, I hope she loves it and appreciates all of your reasons for choosing it.

Very true!

I haven’t posted on AIBU this is in baby names 😊

…or, Limerick, Ditty or Doggerel🙄

I don't understand the jokey comments in this thread. It's a pity cannot use Saga in UK. Another similar name I've come across once is Tarina, Finnish for a story. I'd much rather be called Poem than Destiny etc.

It's a name that says a lot about the parents, tbh. But what if the child grows up to be as poetic as a housebrick? To be resolutely stolid and down to earth without a creative bone in their body? Wouldn't it then begin to sound like a cruel joke?

(I know that a name just becomes a person's name and any attached meaning very soon gets lost - I know a very very clumsy Grace, but I think it should be taken into consideration by parents that their little darling might not live up to their bohemian ideals).

And what if sensible middle class William and Charlotte grow up to be anarchic, hut dwelling hippies in a remote Welsh woodland?

They’ll do what counterculture types have done for decades and change their names to Faery and Moon or whatever and crack on.

If Poem grows up to be an eminently practical electrical engineer who’d rather have six pints at the rugby, than go to an open mic night, they can change their name to Patrick or Penelope and have a lovely life.

Really it’s not that deep.

I'm an english teacher and can just imagine the jibes 'we're going to study Poem today'

But, to be honest, that is the answer to every single question in the Baby Names thread. 'Call you child whatever you like and they can always change it.' Which isn't really the debate at hand.

It does say a lot about the parents, names usually do. If you name your kid Poem, they’re unlikely to grow up with the creativity of a house brick, because the people who named the kid Poem are more likely to be a bit more adventurous and have more creative or alternative households. Just like people who want common/classic names for their kids are very likely to have ordinary/classic lives.

Mm, not sure. I was a sensitive/daydreamy type of child who loved books and poetry, but i was also one who liked to blend in. I'd have hated to be called Poem and still would as an adult.

I've got one of the "classic" names in the William/Charlotte vein, and while I've never particularly liked it, I liked that it was normal and never had to be explained or commented on. The point of those type of names is that they can be anything, any class, job, personality type and won't raise a laugh or an eyebrow.

Doesn't mean we all have to pick one, of course. You can be a bit out there naming your child, it's just a bit more of a gamble as to whether they're going to be happy about it or not. It can also go the other way - one of my siblings has a normal, classic name but renamed himself something very unusual to go along with his lifestyle.

I think Poetry would be nice than Poem

This is such a typical thread about a ‘unique’ name:

OP: Isn’f [insert ‘unique’ name] beautiful

People: awful

OP: well - Banana, Whyborn, etc ARE awful, but my ‘Unique’ name will signal I am educated, quirky, and special. I’d love to have that name.

People: You are not your child. They will
be bullied for the name you chose, and they won’t care if people think YOU are cool. Naming the child is NOT about you.

OP: don’t care. I am going to use my child’s name to signal the world about myself…

As someone said - people do use names to signal heritage, and class (at least historically). Those are historical conventions - and were used with the best interest of the CHILD - to confer privilege, etc.

In other cultures - names were chosen to have meaning, or confer good luck. Again - thinking of the CHILD.

The ‘unique’ name trend in the west these days is purely PARENT focused - it’a all about …look at how smart, unique, quirky I am… It gives very little thought to the actual child and treats them as an accessory to the parent.

If you poll most of the kids with those unique names - i wonder what they’ll say.

Just as an idea - OP says she’d like to be called that name - why not just change hers?..🤔🤔

It’s awful. Why ask the question if you’re just going to dismiss the comments of anyone who disagrees with you?

If pronounced "po-em" it sounds more like the nickname "Em" for Emily and thus more proximate to a sound we associate with a name.

But the pronunciation is inconsistent, which may be annoying to you/her in future - see on this very site, a thread from 2008!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/culture_vultures/512098-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-poem

So you took yourself and your partner and all the influences you’ve had over your lives, all your cultural touchstones and social associations out of it when choosing your children’s names, and gave them totally neutral names?

If so, I’m sorry to say that a truly neutral name is impossible as everyone hearing the name will have their own set of associations and references and therefore there is no neutral. You’re overthinking it somewhat! Sometimes things can just be nice and fun and work out well. Usually kids take after their parents.

Imagine if “Poem” grows up to be a kick-ass rugby-player who hates music and books? The same applies for the other ludicrous “musical” names you mentioned. Who wants to be called Lyric? - that’s terrible.

What can you do with a name like Poem? I guess you could be an “Em” if you hated your name. You could be a Po-Po, that’s kind of cute. But it’s limiting.

I think you’re saddling her with a beautiful name that imposes far too many “girly girl” expectations.

Just call her something normal like Elizabeth. It is a beautiful name and she can be Liz, Eliza, Bettie, Lizzie, Beth, Liza.

I agree, @josuk .

@ResusciAnnie , we gave names we like. What we liked was influenced by our lives. The names were quite 'neutral' and popular.
We may have liked names that were a bit out there, but we didn't pick them because we wanted names that we'd always like.

You will see I haven’t dismissed anyone, happy and interested to see different perspectives 😊