Is it odd to have favourite initials for baby names?

[Gdday]

Am I odd for having initial preferences? I usually like names that begin with A, B, C, J, K, M but find that I don't care much for names that begin with E, H, I, R, T, W. Also don't like the rare ones (Q, U, X, Y, Z). I'm neutral on the rest. It's not actually the letters themselves but the names that begin with those letters. Certain letters just seem to have better names. DH says that I must be the fussiest woman ever.

There are families out there that have entire letter themes, so I don't think it's odd or uncommon. I personally don't see any appeal in O and P names. They're all rather unmemorable to me.

I agree with you, I also like names that just happen to start with similar letter.

I find names beginning with D particularly ugly: Donald, Damian, Dwayne, Delia, Dave, Daphne, Dwight, Dora, Dorothy.

Also not fond of a hard G, as in Gerda, Goran, Gail, Greta, Graham etc

Some letters seem much more popular than others.
In 2024, the top 100 girls' names has 17 names starting with E (17), 12 starting with M and 10 starting with A.

The top 100 names for boys has 10 starting with A and 9 each starting with J, M and R, and 8 each of E and L.

Everyone seems to hate K names now (guess they're seen as chavvy and Kardashian-esque), but I think they're typically quite nice (as long as not newly invented). I also like C and S names. I'm not fond of T names. Thomas? Timothy? Toby? Taylor? Tatum? Tracey? Meh.

No I don’t think it’s odd. For some reason when thinking of girls names I’ve always had a lot beginning with L on my list. I don’t know why I just think a lot of L names are pretty.

For boys, F, H and T each had 8 in the top 100 names.

For girls, L had 8, and I, R and S each had 6 names in the top 100 names.
J was only 2 and none started with K.

For boys, only one name starting with K (Kai).

I'm not fond of T names. Thomas? Timothy? Toby? Taylor? Tatum? Tracey?
The popular ones are Thea, Teddy, Theo, Theodore, Thomas, Toby, Tommy.

Looking at the ones starting with the same letter, like the T ones, there seems to be quite a bit of similarity between several.

(I don't like Th names but Thomas is ok)

I love T. Its a beautiful, balanced letter with a nice crisp sound.

I like T too, just not names like Theo and Seth.

What about initials spelling the name? I know someone with sons called Timothy and Samuel and their initials are TIM and SAM. Blame the dad.

Names beginning with A and J are nice simply because there are so many of them to choose from. My favourites are names beginning with M and L. If I had to, I could name 20 children using only M and L names.

All H and V names are ugly to me: Hannah, Hazel, Harper, Hailey, Heidi, Helen, Hope, Heath, Harvey, Hugo, Harold, Howard, Herman, Virginia, Vanessa, Veronica, Vincent, Violet, Vernon, Victor, Vivian.

Not letters but I am with months/ dates

When first trying to choose a name for our baby my partner and I were poles apart (his suggestions were along the lines of Mark, Dave, Mike - basically people he'd been to school with). But over time we realised the common ground we had was for names beginning with R. And our son does have an R name! I also tend to like M names. So no, I don't think you're weird!

Well, going against the grain here.
It seems a very odd starting point for deciding on a name to me.

I can understand people starting with 'I want a traditional / really unusual / Biblical / multi or mono syllable name' or 'one that is easy to spell and easy to pronounce' or 'one that doesn't have multiple spellings' or other reasons, but 'one that starts with 'D' (or whichever letter), that you see people ask on here for, just seems a very strange place to start, to me.

I have preferences for attractive name initials too.

@JustGiveMeReason , Not many decide to use it as a starting point. They probably pick a few names they like and decide they prefer some initials over others.

E names for girls are now VERY overused. They all blend together at this point. J names for boys used to be overused, but I think that’s changed.

I like most D (boy) and L (girl) names and dislike most F and I names. W names (especially the American style ones) can be particularly awful, though - Wesley, Weston, Walker, Waylon, Wyatt, Winifred, Wilma, Wanda, Waverly.

Here are the names starting with E that are in the top 100 names for girls.
Eden
Eleanor
Eliza
Elizabeth
Ella
Ellie
Elodie
Eloise
Elsie
Emilia
Emily
Emma
Erin
Esme
Eva
Evelyn
Evie

They're listed alphabetically, not by popularity. The most popular is Elsie then Evelyn.

I've seen several threads in 'Baby Names' where people have asked "Can you suggest names that begin with {insert letter of choice}"

There's a current one asking for names starting with C.

There might be reasons for not using a certain initial e.g. Sienna Taylor-Davies or Brodie Jackson would have dodgy initials.

I think some letters/sounds are more appealing to some people than others. I'm drawn to 'R' names for boys, and the first 3 grandchildren for my parents started with 'S' - total coincidence. Obviously you have to be aware of initials being an acronym for something unsavoury.