are these really that unusual?

[grumpypants]

just read an article in Bella (I know, I only put the Booker list down for a moment) and they had an article about mums who had chosen really 'crazy' names - Starry; Lettice; Edith; Koolio; Aria; Angel-May; Caius; Orien; and Ianthe. TBH, I thought some were just classic pretty names and others not that article worthy really? I've heard worse...

lettice? Koolio??

Edith is ok.
Am meh about the others - they're a bit 'trying to hard to be different'.

Lettice is a version of Letitia - I know 2 little Lettice's, an Edith, a Caius and an Ianthe too. Reasonabley normal names IMO

koolio's worth an article of it's own.

well, ok, i give you Koolio. She changed the c to k to make it more unusual, so qualifies on that front. But, loads of middle class people use posh upper class names now, surely - guilty .

Lettice I always think is posh 1920s-40s. Edith is fairly classic and probably due an 'old lady name' revival. Caius is Roman, non? Ianthe (???Greek, ???Gilbert &Sullivan - okay we are heading towards Crazytown and the rest, I admit are firmly within its borders - Angel-May is simply vile - Angel is a boy's name (see Thomas Hardy) and doubt a boy would want May...

Angel - May was a girl. I was just so 'whatever' about the artice - if the'd tried harder they cd have found some proper unusual names surely?

I spoke to a girl called Hero the other day. wtf was that all about

I have never met anyone with those names. I think they are all unusual. They would certainly get 'looks' from most of the grandparents and a lot of the parents I know.

Caius and Edith aren't so bad. I don't love either of them, but Caius at least sounds like a classic Greek or Roman name and Edith is a "real" name.

Everything else is ick in my VHO.

One of our rats was called Orien, I think it's a lovely name, although I could never use it for a child without thinking of ratty ORien's nicknames. Fat Bastard and Hannibal Fatty.

How do you pronounce Caius?

Is it keys or kay-us?

I was thinking it KYE-us

There is a girl at DD's university called Velocity.
Apparently her dad is a pilot...

Lettice is a really old name. It was around in Elizabethan times. The others (apart from the truly hideous Koolio) are either classics or not that unusual really.

They must have had a shortage of freelance submissions or something!

I'll give you Edith. Still haven't met one or heard of one among my acquaintance.

my ds3 was very, very, very nearly called Caius

DD is Edith.

Velocity? Now why didn't we think of that for dd?

From the list, Edith Caius and Ianthe are the only ones I would contemplate using but I agree that, if the point of the article was to highlight poncetastic or otherwise ludicrous names, these are lightweights.

I think Edith is lovely

I like Hero too, shame that it has another meaning rather than just a name iyswim - it is really pretty otherwise

There was a comic book character called Lettice Leefe

maybe edith after edith bowman? I'm sure I know at least 3 children with wacky names that would merit an article.