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Original poster

Love or loathe your own RL name?

54 replies

stripeybumpsmum · 28/08/2007 20:05

Trying to choose a name for baby is doing my head in. DS1 btw has a first name in the top 40-50, a second name in the top 90-100 and a very unusual third name. Our surname is not that common but easy to say and spell.

I have a relatively unusual first name (which I love) with a very unusual spelling (which I hate). DH has the most common name of his year, so his generally known by nicknames by family/friends but 'named name' IYSWIM at work. Complicated by named name being second name so actually known officially as something else again. He hates his name.

Are we normal? We don't want our kids to have common names (not in the top 10 for instance) but we don't want them lumbered with Princess Timotei or whatever.

Did your name influence what you call your kids?

I am loosing inspiration so suggestions for baby names (either sex) please!

OP posts:
nightowl · 28/08/2007 20:18

i cant stand my name. boring, boring 80's name, lots in our class. it was never in fashion before and hasn't had a revival since. i am never called by my full name unless someone is angry with me!

MoosMa · 28/08/2007 20:21

I too have a boring 80s name which I hate. People often mispell it too (they miss out 2 letters). I have given my DDs shortenable 3 syllable names which sound posh but are shortened to nice childlike names IYSWIM. DD1 is spelt normally, DD2 has an unusual way.

rantinghousewife · 28/08/2007 20:22

I'm with Nightowl, hate my name but, then everyone I know has another friend that is named the same as me. Looking back I wish I'd insisted on being called the long version of it. Most people refer to me as the short version of my name, my family and anyone who knows me really well tends to shorten it even further.

Califrau · 28/08/2007 20:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ceebee74 · 28/08/2007 20:25

I actually really love my name - it is quite a classic (but not overly popular one and if it wasn't my name, then I would be quite likely to choose it if I ever had a girl (however, I have decided on the 'boy version' of it if my next baby is a boy).

ambercat · 28/08/2007 20:27

I don't hate my name but it is so common, there were 5 of us in my class at primary school.

Mhamai · 28/08/2007 20:30

I have a very unusual surname and really hated it as a child I got teased endlessly, now I'm quite proud to have a distinct and uncommon name.

Mhamai · 28/08/2007 20:32

Although my first name is up there in the halls of fame with Sharon and Tracey.

singyswife · 28/08/2007 20:36

Ambercat, there were 5 people with my name in my class too. We didnt go to the same school did we??? lol.

stressteddy · 28/08/2007 20:40

I have a very unusual name and I love it. I've never met another one
stripey - it's quite daunting naming another person isn't it?? I must admit I got a bit overwhelmed before ds was born about what I was going to call him anmd all the connotations of each name I could have given him

sweetkitty · 28/08/2007 20:41

Mine is very unusual in that it is made up of 2 very common 70's names and hyphenated. There was a common product also called by my name different spelling but the humber of jokes I used to get about it wasn't funny.

DD1 has a top 30 name and it's become v common up here

DD2 has a very unusual name and I absolutely love it it so suits her as well.

fawkeoff · 28/08/2007 20:41

i dont hate it but i dont love it.....does anybody actually really like their own name????

NotAnOtter · 28/08/2007 20:42

i love my name now - the rl name of an actress queen in blackadder

peoplw tell me how pretty it is and i do love it!

rantinghousewife · 28/08/2007 20:43

Ahh, loved her NAO. "Ohhh Melchie" (sigh), I miss Blackadder....

Troutpout · 28/08/2007 21:00

Loathe it
Very common...1960's till about 1980 and then everyone realised it was orrible so stopped calling their children it
It's up there with Sharon, Tracey ,Dawn and Debbie

FlameBatfink · 28/08/2007 21:04

I like mine, as long as people don't add "bel" to the end

Love yours Cali... so much so our DD has it (albeit spelled differently, we decided that dyslexic DH should chose the spelling that he found easiest - he got stroppy at the implication that he couldn't spell his own child's name, but then decided that it did make sense )

Othersideofthechannel · 28/08/2007 21:07

I now really like my name which is commonish in India but I was the only one in my school. I didn't like it at school because teachers either said it wrong or spelt it wrong.

MuffinMclay · 29/08/2007 13:15

I have a boring first name and surname, and I love it! Before marriage I had a very unusual surname, and I hated having to repeat it umpteen times and spell it out for people. I was most delighted to marry someone with a boring surname. My poor brother has a strange first name too, and his school years were a misery.

My experience was a factor in chosing to give ds a straightforward first name.

PersonalClown · 29/08/2007 13:19

Hate mine. It's got to be bad as Troutpout has mentioned it.

Why couldn't my mother have had a bit more inspiration?

claricebeansmum · 29/08/2007 13:21

Hate mine.
It is common and dates me to the 1970s.

Lovecat · 29/08/2007 14:34

My name was incredibly popular - there were 7 of us in my class at school alone. I hated the full version for many years and insisted on using a shortened version, but now I'm getting on in years (41! Lordy!) I find myself drawn back to the full version. But if feels v.weird if anyone other than my mother in a strop calls me by it, iyswim!

OH's name is also the most popular boy's name of the time. He's the same age as my older brother (same name) and pretty much every one of my friends has an older brother of that name too. It's not even his first name, but his first name is also his dad's name (bleddy weird family stuff) so he's called by his second. Which is insanely popular. Pretty much every tradesman over 35 who comes through our door is called it.

He did consider using his third name at one point, but then it's Gavin, so I don't blame him for choosing not to...

expatinscotland · 29/08/2007 14:35

Loathe it.

It doesn't suit me at all. I used a pen name to write.

MyTwopenceworth · 29/08/2007 14:36

Don't like mine. I like my sister's name, but she hates it.

However, together we are a 1960's Israeli born duo, one of whom entered the Eurovision Song Contest and won for five minutes.

People used to sing a novelty song at us a lot.

It got very dull.

TigerFeet · 29/08/2007 14:45

I'm completely indifferent to my name. It's fairly common amongst my age group and I shorten it to the first syllable to differentiate myself. DH has an incredibly common name from the 60's that no-one uses much these days, a name I have never liked I have to say but that's hardly his fault so I learned to live with it fairly early on.

DD has a top 10 name, it was the only name we both liked and it really suits her, but at 3 years old she is already known by her name and surname initial, just like I was at school.

maman4 · 29/08/2007 15:54

my parents gave me an irish name with weird spelling and difficult to pronounce.People say it phonetically and it s awful.Was named after Dylan Thomas's wife

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