What's in a name?

[Breton1900]

Maybe I'm getting old but why do some parents give their children such unusual,and often unkind, names?

Class registers are becoming a minefield as one finds pupils with names that are increasingly bizarre, unpronounceable or just downright funny.

Below are just some of the ones I can recollect:

Armani
Remy Martin (not sure if this was in honour of the cognac, the rapper, or the French rugby player but "remy" has its own connotation in the playground)!
Jack Daniels
Fox
Blondel (who clearly wasn't)
Pagen
Kiaora (pron: KIA O RA)
Amanda-Lyn
Ptolemy (no the child wasn't Greek)
Priam (nor was this child Trojan)
Taboora,(presumably what Mum was consuming when she got pregnant)
Summer (reminiscent of The Wicker Man)
and twins called Anna and Lynne, which of course are not unusual names of themselves, but do cause some unintentional mirth when given to children who's family name is Seed!

As someone with an unusual name and surname, I have no problem with most of them - though I did give my kids more usual names. These days people seem much more tolerant though. I quite like Ptolemy - there is one in my child's school - but I don't think I would actually name a child that. In my day there were 3 Karens in the class, 2 Traceys and 3 Susans, a bit boring not to mention confusing. Now we know lots of young Sophies and Charlottes etc. I have also heard of quite of few Summers or Summer-Roses. A colleague has an Eiran (a boy) which I think is vile - just a matter of taste I guess. Some names like Remy Martin are downright cruel though, reminds me of the story I read about the Niamh who thought her name was pronounced Nee-am until she started school!

Unusual is fine up to a point, but downright odd is cruel in my opinion. So many of these exotic names will, just like those more prosaic names of fifty years ago (the Keiths, Valeries, Dereks, and Deidres) sound so dated in the future. Of course names do go in phases I remember when my own son was born practically every other boy was called Thomas. Likewise I have recently had a class with five Rachels three Laurens, and four Sams!

Your comment about Niamh reminds me of a boy whose mother pronounced his name GOO WEE - turned out she'd called him Guy!

Some absolutely god-awful names at my DCs school, but of course I wont tell you for fear of being outed...

I am actually amazed that you lot haven't been severely flamed for daring to suggests that god awful names unusual names are anything but individual and creative.

I have always thought that in giving your DC reasonably conventional names, you are creating a blankish canvas onto which they can choose to paint themselves; a wild and woolly 'out-there' name consigns a child to 'otherness' from Day One. Whilst most would not admit it, it is often an ego trip on the part of the parents.

Summer isn't that unusual, surely?

Am at Taboora though...

If they call you Cherry-Dew ... you will change your name to Mary as soon as you turn 18

I have a name that's the less common spelling of two - and it's driven me crackers for years correcting people's spellings of it. Until I got married I also had a really annoying to spell surname as well - hence my very quick name change to my husband's very conventional, easy to spell, easy to pronounce surname.

I really feel for some of these kids - where's a kid going to go in life called Jaimz? Plus then you've got the latest craze in the more "lively" parts of town around here to double-barrel so they're saddling their kids with names like Heaven-Leigh (anything but) Smith-Jackson. I just remember as a kid longing desperately for a more normal name, and for people to spell it properly - wouldn't put a child through that.

There's also the "name that's cute at 3 or 4 but really won't suit a slightly dumpy, ungraceful teenager" issue as well - I wonder how well the really over the top cutesy contrived names are going to fit some of the little girls when they hit teenage years.

Of course after teaching for over a decade there are certain names that are scarred for life for you whatever happens! (Thomas has been responsible for a large number of grey hairs of mine in various guises)

BessieBoots: Just for info - lots of kids have names that include the word Bailey!

GiddyPickle, I read it that ampere's saying the same as you.

You've got to feel sorry for some of these kids living with these names.

There is a Tequila at my ds's school.

Now, I could be being mean - it may be an ancient Mexican family name.

But probably just what they were drinking at the time.

There's an Anakin at my son's nursery. My eldest, Star Wars mad, son thinks this is sooooo cool!

I grew up with an unusual name (although v common now) and couldn;t wait to give my son a top ten name,to go with our top ten surname. In combination, he has a very usual name, because of all the imaginative names other children have,

muppetgirl: Mmmm at nursery it probably does seem "cool". However, imagine that poor child when he goes for his first job interview or when he's 50!

Breton1900 -absolutely! Awful name!

Used to go to school with a kid called John Elliot Thackery.

Might have been something to do with the fact his Dad was in the RAF so he could sign his name as - JET.

But Bailey isn't necessarily after the drink, is it? Bailey is an actual (and very nice imo) name. I loved the name Stella but apparently people would think that I had named her after Artois...

I'm sure I read some article somewhere (cant be arsed googling, sorry) that kids with wacky names are marked down in exams compared to the Johns and Elizabeths of the world.

Wonder if the parents know this?

foreverastudent: Don't know about being marked down in exams but children with these, shall we say, "eccentric" names are quickly identified by teachers as possible trouble. Of course, it's not always borne out!

However, in his book, one teacher alleges to have found a register of unknown pupils and, to pass the time during a cover lesson, ranked them for behaviour and ability based solely on their names. He claims he was just about spot on!

Priam is actually an Indian name, I think. I've known two Priams (pre Troy film!). One of them did have a brother called Nirvana though.

Facebook is a real eye opener for some seriously wacky names. People I know/used to know who are normal people who have lumbered their children with names that cannot be prounounced when reading them and would have to be spelt out every time they are said aloud.

They are just a combination of letters put together they are not names.

Why oh why?

bytheMoonlight - I reckon some parents just pull random letters from the Scrabble bag!

In my sister's class at school there was a Flash Gordon and a James Bond!

This was over 30 years ago so not just a recent thing.

I'm still getting my head around the name of a child known to my DCs.

Minnie is fine, if you like that sort of name.

To call a child that when her surname is Cooper is perhaps a little less so!