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Baby names you hate

amc80

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There was a really fun post in the BWW about wedding trends you hate. Sort of a free for all to say what you really feel. It was really interesting to see how some things are so loved by some and hated by others. I thought it would be fun to do a similar post about baby names...since it's something about which we ALL have opinions.

What's the name you hear where your first response is "Ugh...that name sucks."? The only rule is you aren't allowed to be offended if someone hates a name you love (even if it's your name or your kid's name).

I'll start-

I have a friend whose kids' names are Scarlett, Eleanor, and Ezra. Ick. Definitely not my style.
 

Pandora II

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Dangerous post!

I admit to not being overly keen on a lot of what are 'upper middle-class' American baby names - probably because they get used by what are known in the UK as 'chavs'.

So things like Madison, Mackenzie, Taylor, Paige etc make me wince. I'm also not fussed on boy names that sound like surnames. But I very much admit that being British probably has a big impact on my opinion. My SIL who is from the USA has just had a baby and she and my BIL really struggled on names. Pretty much everything she suggested we all looked appalled at and she thinks we are all boring. They ended up with Madeleine which we all love - I think 'Shay' was the one that I just couldn't control my expression over.

Some names just translate badly - I recall someone here having a friend who was calling her daughter 'Burke'... poor kid should never visit the UK unless she wants everyone to fall about laughing everytime she mentions it. Over here a burke is a widely used term for someone being a complete idiot as in 'you total burke'.

Most celebrity name choices make me feel sorry for their kids.

My daughter is Daisy Xanthe Pandora and I'm sure lots of people don't care for any of those. We had Edward John picked for a boy that SIL thought was very boring (little did she know that I wanted Velociraptor as a third name and he would have been called 'Bear' :bigsmile: )

Anyway interested to see others views!
 

amc80

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Pandora|1310079902|2964198 said:
So things like Madison, Mackenzie, Taylor, Paige etc make me wince. I'm also not fussed on boy names that sound like surnames.

See? We are all so different. Mackenzie is #1 on our girl list :)
 

Pandora II

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:wavey: :lol:
 

fieryred33143

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When we were choosing names, we stayed away from unique names to include unique spelling of names. We also stayed away from trendy names. However, we loved the classic popular names. Of the top 10 2010 girl names, for example, I would have been happy with any of the first 6. My 3 choices came in at #1, 2, and 6.
 

nfowife

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I like classic names with classic spellings. My kids are Allison, Ethan, and Lauren. I just like names that stand the test of time and aren't super trendy, kwim?
I am not a big fan of masculine or surname sounding names for girls. I have a friend who has a Hudson and Presley (both girls). Gag. Not my cup of tea at all, but I do love her girls so it doesn't cloud my feelings for them! Just wonder what the heck my friend was thinking.

I also don't like weird spellings. I don't think anyone should have to go through life saying "Allison with 1 L" or whatever. When I was in the hospital having my oldest there was a boy born across the hall and they had a sign on the door. It said "Welcome baby Kristafer" :shock: :shock: I felt so sorry for that little boy....
 

swingirl

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Naming girls after American presidents is just odd to me.

And I don't care for the current trend of using surnames as a first name.

I also don't like unisex names or boy names given to girls and vice versa.
 

amc80

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nfowife|1310083508|2964247 said:
I also don't like weird spellings. I don't think anyone should have to go through life saying "Allison with 1 L" or whatever. .

This made me laugh. I'm Allyson. So almost every day I have to say "Allyson with 2 Ls and a Y." sigh.
 

charbie

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Very dangerous thread indeed. I think a name you hate is a bit more personal than a wedding trend you hate, but ill bite.

I dont like names that are trying too hard to be unique, and I just do not like the name Riley. I just always think it is a dogs name. It is too genderless, and I cannot imagine a middle aged successful businessman or woman named Riley.

But that's just me.
 

Puppmom

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I love surnames as first names! DS is named Nolan. There aren't really any names I hate but I'm not a big fan of nicknames so when I named my kids I chose names that aren't easily shortened...of course that hasn't prevented anyone from trying!


Oh, wait. I thought of a name I can't stand - Neveah. Really - heaven spelled backwards? Blech!
 

Lanie

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Extremely dangerous thread.

I love surnames too! I named my son Anderson, which is usually a surname.

Some names I hate are either names people here have or names people are considering or might possibly consider, so I think it's best to keep my mouth shut.

What I hate more than anything is having a name I really like, and it becomes the next great thing. I thought of the name Harper for a girl a long time ago. Like middle school. And what do you know....it's ALL over the place now.

ETA: One of the names the OP posted is a name of a LO on this forum, and I love it! So....dangerous thread.
 

mayachel

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I've been working at putting together a family tree and have been laughing hysterically at some of the family names that didn't get passed down. Sort of different than "names I hate" but thought I'd share any way.

Lars Larsen
Christian Christiansen
Niel Nielsen

Do you see a theme here? And among those 7-10 children were names like Niel Christian Christiansen, swap repeat ad nauseum.
 

diamondseeker2006

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I like surnames fine for boys, but I don't like boy-sounding surnames for girls at all. I hope I am not getting into dangerous territory by saying this one, but I know a family that named their daughter Crawford. I just don't like that and am sorry if I offended anyone! And that is my limit because I am sure if I list some others that I am thinking of, I will surely offend someone!

My kids names are old and classic...two are names of European royalty and the other is a name that is found in the Bible but still an ordinary traditional name.
 

packrat

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Ooo how do you not offend someone if you say you don't like certain names? I like names that are different..b/c I was Missi w/an i, there was a Missy in my class, a Melissa and Missy in my brother's class one grade below me. Blah. I played on a name thing just recently that told the popularity, and my daughters name is now soaring..thankfully the new batch will all be quite a bit younger so she won't have any in the classes closest to her. My son's name went up a bit too. My brother mentioned a girls name he'd thought about for a future child..Sandra Jane, I think it was..it's a fine name. But all I could think was Generic McPlainwrap. I'd never tell him that, ever. There are a lot of Tom Thompson's, John Johnson's, Michael Michaelson's in the world and I don't get that.
 

jcarlylew

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i laugh (at myself) when people say they hate the name neveah, because for the longest time i did not put two and two together. "oh, its heaven backwards". So I always thought the name was pretty (until i realized the fact).

I hate the nick name maddy and gabby, but i love the name gabrielle, so we will see how that goes.
I hate that some names that are lovely, but remind me of tv/reality/movie names i cannot stand, and thus ruin the name for me (camile, Heather, etc)

I will not name my child something that is hard to spell, because i transpose numbers and letters to easily.
 

FrekeChild

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Hmmm...well I don't like names that are super popular. And I don't like my own name...Elizabeth. My mom did NOT want me to be known as Liz...and I am. And I did not enjoy going through life as "Elizabet" on standardized tests.

Right now we are considering a off kilter spelling of a classic old-fashioned name for a girl (if we have a girl that is) but not to be cool or make her stand out from the crowd or anything--the spelling involves the last three letters of my mom's name and the last three letters of my husband's mom's name. We thought it was a nice tribute without singling one out from the other.
 

bee*

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Pandora|1310079902|2964198 said:
I admit to not being overly keen on a lot of what are 'upper middle-class' American baby names - probably because they get used by what are known in the UK as 'chavs'.

It's the same in Ireland.
I'm not a fan of surnames as first names either and also names after places/cities. I also really dislike Irish girl names- Ruth, Ailbhe, Aine etc. On the other hand, I adore a lot of Irish boy names.
 

janinegirly

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Dangerous thread indeed-but we all jump in! I'll keep my response vague since I don't want to offend anyone.

There was actually an article on this with a list of the 10 (or so) most hated name - I think Nevaeh was #1. I totally agree with that one. I had never heard of the name before that but have seen it on cups at BRU,etc. so it must be popular. The rest of the list was filed with very popular names so I can imagine the reaction it got.

I have a very unusual first name (Janine is not my first name). It is pretty and unique/classic (just not in the US/UK) but it meant a lifetime of hearing mispronunciations and having to spelll it out slowly. I ended up with a shortened version which is kinda blah, but it's how it happened! So I lean towards shorter and more recognizable names for that reason - plus my married names is long!!

DD#1 therefore has a name that met all the criteria but has become v/ popular too. I try to avoid names too popular but sometimes you can't predict trends! We are stuck on a name for #2 right now so this thread is timely.

Anyway, I don't like cutesy names that can fit strippers or dogs either. I don't like weird spellings of classic names either -these will go out of style fast. I'm not a fan of overly simplistic names but on the other hand am more likely to end up in this direction due to everything I listed above. I hate most names chosen by celebrities.

I actually do like last names used as first names (for boys only) if the name is suitable as a first name. I didn't know this was even a current trend, to me that has been a very traditional trend for sometime. We're not having a boy, so no issue there though!
 

princesss

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Lanie|1310089676|2964317 said:
Extremely dangerous thread.

I love surnames too! I named my son Anderson, which is usually a surname.

Some names I hate are either names people here have or names people are considering or might possibly consider, so I think it's best to keep my mouth shut.

What I hate more than anything is having a name I really like, and it becomes the next great thing. I thought of the name Harper for a girl a long time ago. Like middle school. And what do you know....it's ALL over the place now.

ETA: One of the names the OP posted is a name of a LO on this forum, and I love it! So....dangerous thread.

Bahahahaha. Oh man, this kind of cracks me up. My friend E tried really hard to come up with names for her girls that wouldn't be popular, and that would be just a little different. What did she end up with? Addison and Harper! Talk about trendy. Addison was the #1 name in her state the year her oldest was born, and it seems like Harper is going to hit that mark this year (#2 is due in August).

Okay, back to lurking...
 

Puppmom

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Lanie, you were ahead of your time. In middle school, my favorite girl names were Mercedes and Destiny. :lol:
 

Loves Vintage

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janinegirly|1310129964|2964573 said:
I don't like weird spellings of classic names either -these will go out of style fast.

While I can't say there are too many names that I HATE, I do agree with JG on the above. I have a friend who named her kid Jayson. I don't get the need for the extra "y", but as they say, to each his own!

FWIW, I love Eleanor and Ezra!

Puppmom - :lol:
 

kelpie

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I don't know about "hating" them, but it is pretty silly to name baby girls the last names of dead U.S. presidents. What is up with that? I'm gonna have a daughter and name her Garfield.
 

fieryred33143

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I love Eleanor too. Such a beautiful and classic name!

Pupp-Destiny was totally the name I wanted in middle school lol!

I think people react differently to having popular names. My name was popular the year I was born, it came in at #5 in 82. I ha a ton of people in my classes with the same name. Never, ever bothered me. I know a lot of Jessica's and Elizabeth's who hated their name for that reason (both names that I love!). Hopefully my daughter will feel as I did since almost every little girl in Miami is named Sophia :lol:
 

amc80

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I have a new name to add to the list. I was watching Toddlers and Tiaras last night and what was the girl's name? Syriniti. As in Serenity with the worst spelling ever.

And yes, I know this is a dangerous thread, but so far everyone is being respectful and understanding that we all have different tastes. I love a lot of the names that have been mentioned and I hate a lot of them as well. Like Harper, I just don't like the way it sounds. It reminds me of the sound a sea lion makes. But I know lots of people love it.
 

MustangGal

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Nevaeh really bugs me too, someone at my office has twin girls, Heaven and Nevaeh. Really?

The odd spelling gets to me also. My maiden name was a common word with an off spelling, and it was such a pain having to correct people all the time. I can't imagine having to do that on your first name. I get it enough with Michelle (one L or two?), which there really are two spellings for. And the city/place names bother me.
 

stephbolt

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I'm not a big fan of all the -aden/-ayden names for boys. Too many variants that sound so similar (and bitter that they stepped on Aidan, a name I used to love).

I also don't care for names that are intentionally misspelled for the sole purpose of being unique, or gender neutral/masculine names on girls.

My personal tastes run toward the classic - Eleanor and William are favorites right now.
 

Loves Vintage

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MustangGal|1310141858|2964729 said:
Nevaeh really bugs me too, someone at my office has twin girls, Heaven and Nevaeh. Really?

Goodness! This IS bizarre!!!!
 

amc80

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MustangGal|1310141858|2964729 said:
Nevaeh really bugs me too, someone at my office has twin girls, Heaven and Nevaeh. Really?

The odd spelling gets to me also. My maiden name was a common word with an off spelling, and it was such a pain having to correct people all the time. I can't imagine having to do that on your first name. I get it enough with Michelle (one L or two?), which there really are two spellings for. And the city/place names bother me.

Okay, that's terrible. Ick

And I totally get you with the name spelling. Since my first name is Allyson and my last name is a common girl's name spelled in a weird way...so whenever I say it I always get "that's your last name?". Um, yeah, I understood the question. I can't wait to get married and change my last name...although I'll even have to explain the spelling of that one, too...since it's similar to Marke...so it will be "Mark with an e."
 

Lanie

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OK another one. I strongly dislike the name Kai. I don't think anyone here used that name, but it's HUGE on another mom forum I browse.
 

Pandora II

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Lanie|1310146530|2964794 said:
OK another one. I strongly dislike the name Kai. I don't think anyone here used that name, but it's HUGE on another mom forum I browse.

Don't! When I was pregnant and sitting in the antenatal clinic there were a load of teen-moms all discussing the names they had chosen: Kai, Kaiden, Cayden, Jordan, Kyle and London-Jay for the boys and the three having girls had picked Nevaeh (yes it's here too) and Reece and Rai.

I shuddered at them all....
 
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