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Original poster

Poncey Names?

306 replies

WinkyWinkola · 28/09/2006 19:11

I'm nearly 12 weeks pregnant with my second child.

DH and I have chosen names already but I'm starting to think they could be the source of mockery for the baby but I love these names. They're unusual (apart from my hearing lots of dog owners shouting, "Barnaby!," recently!) and dunno, I just like 'em.

What do you think? Am I going to subject my child to misery?

Boy
Atticus Elijah or Barnaby Elijah

Girl
Ophelia Pearl
Gretchen Violet

WinkyWinkola

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Mercedes519 · 02/10/2006 18:59

Sandy - she loved the name so much it didn't matter whether she had a boy or a girl.

I think its worse than Dylan as there are hundreds of Jacobs and I bet they are all boys.

Gem13 · 02/10/2006 19:03

Was in a baby class once with a child with a really unusual name (Greek god) and the teacher couldn't remember what it was.

So she called him... 'Little P' I would have been horrified if I'd been his mother.

Mine have unusual names but everyone can say them and spell them.

cyberminger · 02/10/2006 20:08

Not sure it's of any use, but I always found unusual names very handy as a secondary school teacher - much easier to remember. I saw 330 students a week, so I was actually always grateful for an unusual name on the register. After the first 6 weeks, I'd got most of the names anyway, but it was always those with more regularly occuring ones that seemed to cause me confusion. And those whose name I couldn't pronounce.
I agree with everyone who has said don't say what you're planning (as MIL screwed her face up at both DS1 and DS2...), but try some out for ease of pronouncing with different folk.
Medea's comment about fashions of names is very relevant too - there's a great chapter in a book called Freakonomics devoted to fashionability of names, and it boils down to them coming in cycles. So, do you want to be at the sharp end of the (inevitable?) name trend (with the older-style options), be completely different with an unusually-sourced one, or at ease with more mainstream options? Depends entirely on your outlook on life I suspect.

3catstoo · 02/10/2006 20:18

My DD2 (aged 2) has a friend called Barnaby. He's lovely and so is the name.

Not sure about your girls ones though.

What is your first child called? Will those names sound ok with it?

My neighbour has 2 sons with ordinary, plain names (nice ones) and then her daughter is called some weird name that's hard to spell and isn't in any book I've come across. The 3 just don't go together. If the boys had 'different' names it would seem a bit better.

arsenelupin · 02/10/2006 20:33

I love Pearl. I taught a Barnaby who was a huge rugby player - it didn't really suit him but no-one dared to say it!
DD today listed her friends at reception class: 'Milly, the other Milly, Lily, other Lily, my Molly, new Molly.' She also knows a Tilly. Oh dear(y)!

VoluptuaGoodshag · 02/10/2006 20:36

It's all down to personal taste but if friends and family are known to be opinionated DO NOT hint at what names you have chosen until the ink is dry on the birth certificate as they will try to put you off or foist their own preferences on you. I had a dreadful time with my FIL to the point that I almost walked out on DH I was so furious.

schneeblysteinsmonster · 02/10/2006 20:39

lockets - am loving Sonny Jim! That is cool!

bubble99 · 02/10/2006 20:39

I have an Elijah. So, of course, I think that's a fantastic name.

Not keen on Barnaby, TBH.

I'm not keen on Roman names, so Atticus is out, too.

Gretchen sounds too much like 'retching', IMO.

Pearl is nice. Not keen on Ophelia.

bottomburp · 02/10/2006 20:43

i think your boys names are fine, i like ophelia but i'm REALLY sorry when i read the girls name i immediately thought of 'violent retching'. i totally love Greta though as someone at top of thread suggested. My daughters name is very unusual and i bet masses of MNers wd think it was poncey, cant say as wd easily be id'd by it. anyway i have loved her name for years and knew no one wd like it initially so didnt say it until she was born.my sister said on the second day oh i wd have called her xxxxx or xxxxx and one of them went beautifully with her name so we used it as a middle name. i quite liked the idea of leaving one name until your child is born and seeing what suits them.
one thing i am going to teach my children, that my mum taught me, never make fun of someones first or surname, it has stood me very well as a piece of advice

bottomburp · 02/10/2006 20:46

by the way a rel of a friend has called child 'troy' and is causing much amusement, absolutely everyone assumes is after their fave film

allhallows · 02/10/2006 20:46

Gretchen, yah gut! maybe not. Atticus lovely but maybe too TKAM, even though great book. Ophelia pulse? Sorry. I desperately wanted Auberon for ds but was ridiculed by everyone (king of the fairies) and Imogen for dd but swedish step-father said "Imogen? ya, what kind of name is that?" So you have my sympathy.

Chattabox · 02/10/2006 20:53

Hi Guys,
I am a newbie. I have a son who is 9 weeks.
[Hmm] the name thing....it was sooo difficult that we didnt have a name for the first 2 days after he was born.
I dont know if the internet is a hinderance or a help. A help in some ways as you can have a quick check to see if the name you choose plus your surname isnt shared by some kind of axe-murderer.
In the end I was so fed up of hrs on net looking at top 100 names USA, Ireland, UK that I almost said - thats it I've had enough! He'll be called John. Thats my dads name, my brothers name and you cant get bored of it.
Well, to cut a long story short we chose Evan. My DH is Welsh and Evan is Welsh for John.
Anyways, this site is good fun for names
namevoyager

SnowBoo · 02/10/2006 21:05

My three ds's have (apparently) very unusual names and we got a hell of a lot of stick but stuck to our guns. Now ds1 is remembered at school and has made a load of friends!
Just go with what makes you happy, people will always stick their opinions in whether asked or not.

Bambamsmum · 02/10/2006 23:09

We had a similar problem when I was pregnant. We happened to mention to our parents the name we had chosen for our son. My Mum sort of smiled and the father in law pulled a right face and until our son was about 6 months old he refused to use his name.

You would think we had chosed something totally over the top. We called our little boy Ramsey. All our friends who are into football, absolutely loved the name. We named him after Sir Alf Ramsey who was the England Manager when England won the World Cup in 1966. Any uneducated person who wasn't into football thought we'd named him after the chef - bless em.

Choose the name you like and never mind what anyone else says. Ramsey is the perfect name for our little boy and no one can now imagine him being called anything else. Except for Bam Bam, when he bashes stuff lol

beegee · 03/10/2006 00:14

My friends called their son Otis...cooool.

Barnaby sounds like barmy to me - sorry.

Tallulah2002 · 03/10/2006 01:47

Hi. Interesting thread! I think that you have to spend some time with the baby first. It took me 3 days to name my daughter. Take your time! See what he/she looks like and what name suits. She may be a Gretchen. Or an Atticus.... or who knows maybe even a name thats not been shortlisted.

samx · 03/10/2006 07:54

i live in a small town in north nottinghamshire, where the most popular names are names like Callum,Connor and Finlay, but in the play park yesterday i heard a mother calling her son Atticus. i must admit to feeling sorry for him

Bucketsofbloodydinosaurs · 03/10/2006 09:47

I happen to think Philomena is a gorgeous name, less poncey, happier-meaning and easier to say than Ophelia. My name is Olivia and I hate saying the first syllable out loud, don't like it as an O or an 'Er.'
Elijah is a bit chavvy round here, like Cain.

SoMuchToBits · 03/10/2006 10:10

LOL at the "70s" names all listed, as when we were expecting ds, all the names dh liked were 60s/70s. For a girl he wanted Susan, Gillian, Marian or Fiona (whereas I liked Isabel, Juliet, Miranda and Rosamond.) For a boy he wanted Ian, or Andrew. I preferred names like Matthew or Adam. Fortunately we found a boy's name we both liked. If we had had a girl, we would probably still be arguing about it!

LieselVonTrappDoor · 03/10/2006 10:48

Sorry to offend anybody but what is Skylar all about?

peardon · 03/10/2006 11:32

We were going to call ours Ophelia but unfortunatly we'd named the dog that 2 years before. Love Atticus though. My stepsons middle name was Heathcliff until he reached 16 and changed it by deed pole so if the name's too poncy that's what they will do. His father was gutted.

belgo · 03/10/2006 11:33

I think Skyla or Skyler is a dutch name?

singersgirl · 03/10/2006 11:48

DS2's Y1 class is like ArseneLupin's one - there's Milly, Molly, Ellie, Ella and two Ollie's. (No Mandy, Billy or Tilly however....)

Don't like Barnaby - always think of Barney Rubble. Quite like Atticus but think it is a trifle pretentious (but then my boys have bloke's names).

Elijah is nice but DH would never have gone for something so religious sounding. My neice has just called her son Gabriel which I think is lovely!

Lolabelle · 03/10/2006 11:50

Well being a huge fan of Lolita which has dodgy connections i reckon if you love the name Ophelia then go for it as i think its beautiful. I LOVE Pearl (in fact i like Lolita Pearl but DH refuses!) and its a lovely middle name that goes with most 1st names!

What about Camelia Pearl? Its beauiful in that old fashioned way that is becoming very fashionable but is unusual enough not to be common in 10 years time??

I agree that these threads are SO helpful as not everyone is lucky enough to be sure on a name and when you need to whittle it down sometimes DH's are simply useless and you don't want to ask friends as they can be TOO polite so constructive feedback is helpful i think!

I love Atticus by the way and my ex was called Barnaby and he was a v.handsome model so it always makes me think of someone v.attractive!!

Tillyboo · 03/10/2006 12:12

My sister is called Heidi and my brother Aaron. Without sounding rude or offensive, I was very nearly Tracey. I'm very glad my parents chose an unusual name for me otherwise I'd have stuck out like a sore thumb compared to my siblings.
I have only come across one other person with the same name as me in 43 years - and that was a bloke !
So my point is, if you like an unusual name, go for it, it's all about the person not the name anyway.

If I'd had a ds I'd have liked Gabriel but dh likes more traditional names. I also liked Grey and Heath for a boy. But we had a dd and she has an old fashioned name, Tilly which we both adore.