Baby Name ? Controversial

[2021Mum]

I’ve just found out I’m expecting a baby girl. My partner and I plan on calling our little girl Rebel with the intention she will be Rebby for short after a very close friend. My family love the name and I was going to keep it a secret but my MIL found out my mum knew and pestered me to tell her. She hates the name (part of the reason I kind of didn’t want to tell her) and now I’m having second thoughts on a name we have loved for a long time. Is it such a bad name? She says people will just automatically assume ‘rebel’ as in troublemaker :(

German speaker here, Elend does mean misery. However parents name their children Tristan even though it literally says in the text of Tristan that he got his name from the French word for sad (triste) because he had such a sad start in life. So it wouldn’t be a new thing to call your child misery!

Eland is apparently the world’s largest antelope

@wowfudge
Where I used to live there were places named after Henry the 8ths wives lol.
Ann close, Catherine Road ect

@wowfudge

Eland just makes me think of Leeds United's ground, Elland Road.

There was a thread about a year ago where a parent was considering calling their child Rogue. The suggestion went down a storm as I recollect.

I see what you did there

[quote Sitchervice]@wowfudge
Where I used to live there were places named after Henry the 8ths wives lol.
Ann close, Catherine Road ect[/quote]
My point was that a lot of people will think the child has been named after the ground.

@wowfudge

I'm less fussed about that. I live very far south and I dont think it would be that much of a big deal.

I'm not a football fan but even if I was I think alot of boys in history have been named for their dad's favourite football teams/players. :D

Eland is much better than Elend already. (husbands still upset with the spelling change)

There are plenty of excellent names to choose from without having to try so hard to be different. Each to their own.

That poor child has to live with that name all its life. Different doesn't need to be silly.

I once met a bloke called Neil but he was standing up.

I don't really like 'virtue names'. Faith, Hope,Charity, Joy, Grace as you don't know what your child is going to be like. One of my daughters would probably live being called Rebel but the other is a great lover of conformity and following the rules

Have they got an asbo yet?

My name is Rebecca which I think is a nicer more normal name and you still get your nickname of Rebbie. I also like the name Reba which I think sounds mature and is very unique

Reba as in (ree-ba)

@Flippingnightmare
You are very over invested.

Imagine going to the extent to check the register of doctors.

I suggest you get a life.

@funnyrubberducky

My name is Rebecca which I think is a nicer more normal name and you still get your nickname of Rebbie. I also like the name Reba which I think sounds mature and is very unique

Nothing can be very unique. It's either unique or it's not.

@funnyrubberducky

My name is Rebecca which I think is a nicer more normal name and you still get your nickname of Rebbie. I also like the name Reba which I think sounds mature and is very unique

I think some people on this thread genuinely specifically dislike the name Rebel, which is reasonable. But others just can not fathom unusual names. They'd rather you name your child Charlotte, Poppy, Emma, Amelia, Rebecca, etc. like the thousands of other girls out there. They're probably the type of people who wince at ethnic names too, wondering why people can't just have "normal" names.

E.g. "My name is Rebecca which I think is a nicer more normal name."

@2021Mum and @Sitchervice don't listen to some of the out right nasty people on here, clearly have never heard the saying if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all!! All for giving an opinion if it is asked for, but a lot of these people are being unnecessarily rude/nasty with their opinions, just say "personally I don't like it"

Eland/Elend- I like it, I wouldn't go the trouble of googling what someone's name means in a different language so I would never have known the other meanings or the football one.

Think I'll leave this thread now, I like to be around kindness!

As a kid my Rebecca got shortened to Rebel sometimes and I hated it.

If you really are stuck on rebby then starting with Rebecca gives more options if your child ultimately doesn't like their ultimately quite odd nickname (which they have every right not to).

The kind of people who will use the personal information given out for nefarious purposes are not the kind of people who are going to post on the thread to say so! It is a salutary reminder to be very careful about the information that you give out on this totally public forum.

It's awful.

My friend is Rebecca and has always been know as Reb.

I think some people on this thread genuinely specifically dislike the name Rebel, which is reasonable. But others just can not fathom unusual names. They'd rather you name your child Charlotte, Poppy, Emma, Amelia, Rebecca, etc. like the thousands of other girls out there. They're probably the type of people who wince at ethnic names too, wondering why people can't just have "normal" names.

Hah. This.

How weird that someone would check the GMC for your name. Do people also not realise that not everyone on MN is not in the UK?

@LadyLazaruss

I think some people on this thread genuinely specifically dislike the name Rebel, which is reasonable. But others just can not fathom unusual names. They'd rather you name your child Charlotte, Poppy, Emma, Amelia, Rebecca, etc. like the thousands of other girls out there. They're probably the type of people who wince at ethnic names too, wondering why people can't just have "normal" names.

Hah. This.

Absolutely. There’s a strong undercurrent of ‘Ugh, those ethnic names with their strange pronunciations and general standing out from the crowd-ishness! Why can’t these people recognise that all children should be called Jack and Emma?’

@LadyLazaruss

I think some people on this thread genuinely specifically dislike the name Rebel, which is reasonable. But others just can not fathom unusual names. They'd rather you name your child Charlotte, Poppy, Emma, Amelia, Rebecca, etc. like the thousands of other girls out there. They're probably the type of people who wince at ethnic names too, wondering why people can't just have "normal" names.

Hah. This.

Not really.

I’m mixed race. I have an “ethnic” name .

I like genuine unusual names and couldn’t care less if I never taught another Charlotte or Amelia as it feels like I’ve already taught 1000.

I strongly dislike naming a child something that will subject them to cruelty and making a name into a statement based on what the parent desperately wants them to be. Like the Maverick story above, or the baby goth. I also hate it when parents name a baby after a deceased sibling, as if the newborn child is a replica of the deceased child.

My reasoning for hating the name Rebel is nothing to do with being a narrow minded, middle class, xenophobe and everything to do with concern for a the psychological welfare of a child being given such a loaded, troublesome burden of a name. And I’m sure the same can be said of the majority of posters on this thread.

@NameChange84 But I didn't make a sweeping statement did I? I said some people genuinely specifically don't like the name Rebel and others have problem with unusual names in general. I even gave an example of a quote from a PP.

Your response is implying that I'm accusing everyone of being Xenophobic for not liking the name Rebel, which isn't the case.

Did you know that a rebel person means a troublemaker ? 😬

@MSG92

Thanks I'm going with Eland after all this, but I actually didn't ask for an opinion anyway 🙄 I litterly mentioned that a friend had stopped talking to me because of my name choice. Your right though. Bullying someone's name says more about the bully than the person who's name it is.