Do you like your name?

[Independent Gal]

Are you happy with your name? Why or why not? Too common? Too odd? Were you teased? I''m starting to think about names for the Cub, so I''m interested in peoples'' experiences.

 

[Cleopatra]

Ha! cute topic!

My name is Shaun. It is mostly a boys name - and I used to hate it growing up - I like my name now, even though when FI and I go out to eat and I treat, the waiter always hands my debit/credit card to FI since they assume that he is Shaun and not me...I get phone calls all the time asking for "Mr. Shaun"...free subscriptions to mens magazines....you know, all the fun stuff...

Although, now that i''m older, I find an appreciation for a unique name

 

[Delster]

Yes, I like my name. It's very specific to where I come from in Ireland, which I like, and I also like that my mother chose it after she met my godmother's friend with the name, and said friend was apparently "lots of fun" and "a bit wild" and just generally a fantastic person to be around

It causes me all sorts of trouble when I leave Ireland as no-one in other places has ever heard of it and they confuse it for several other 'similar but not quite the same' names. Add to that, that in some other languages it actually translates to some interesting things... obviously for anonymity reasons I won't explain further but it's entertaining when I go to a new place to find out what my name means there!

I guess I get the fun of an unusual name when I go abroad, without the hassle of having to explain it on a daily basis at home!

Cleopatra, my name is also listed on the male side in all the baby books and online name lists. But in Ireland it's most definitely a girl's name.

 

[smiles]

I think this is going to be an interesting thread!!!

My name is Samara and I love it. As a kid I didn''t love it because I didn''t know anyone else who had it and I didn''t want to be "different" but I am long over that. I get Sara and Samantha a lot and a lot of variations on pronunciation which is fine by me since I don''t really expect anyone in my city to pronounce it the way my parents from another city do.

I was supposed to be Maxine and I am glad that I got Samara instead!

Are you going to just going to be picking any name you like?!?

 

[arjunajane]

Yeah, cute topic! I didn't like my name when I was younger, as it was different (at least for my schools). And I have gone by a nick name forever, friends, family, coworkers - infact only after about 21 did I start to introduce myself by my proper name (now 24).
I now really like my name, and appreciate having something a lil different. I think I have met about 3 people with the same name as me, so I still think of it as a bit individual.

I really like to notice different or exotic names that I would like to have for my children one day

 

[justjulia]

Warning: about to age myself.
I went by Julie most of my school life, but met dh with Julia. I enjoyed the days when Bobby Sherman came out with his cereal box hit, "Julie, Julie, Julie do ya love me?" Does anyone remember cutting records off cereal boxes??

 

[Delster]

Date: 7/7/2008 8:47:28 AM
Author: justjulia

Does anyone remember cutting records off cereal boxes??

Yes, I do!!!

 

[gwendolyn]

Date: 7/7/2008 8:47:28 AM
Author: justjulia
Warning: about to age myself.

I went by Julie most of my school life, but met dh with Julia. I enjoyed the days when Bobby Sherman came out with his cereal box hit, ''Julie, Julie, Julie do ya love me?'' Does anyone remember cutting records off cereal boxes??

''Julie, Julie, Julie, do you care?'' Good song! I never knew it was distributed on cereal boxes, though. Cool.

My name is Kristin, which is fairly common in the US and apparently most befuddling to 99% of people I meet in the UK who assume it''s Kristine, or Kristina, or Christian, or Kirsten. My last name is long and Polish, so I usually become ridiculously excited when both my first AND last name are spelled correctly (never both pronounced correctly, but I''ve gotten used to it).

I always disliked my first name because it never seemed very feminine to me. If I hadn''t been Kristin, I''d have been Lauren, which is (in my opinion) a lovelier name. Because I don''t especially like my name, my family and J generally just call me ''Kris'' which caused a bit of confusion as well when J first told his parents about me--he said he was dating this amazing woman named ''Kris,'' but they kept thinking I was actually a dude because apparently it''s uncommon (to them? in the UK?) for women to go by ''Kris.'' Anyway, they thought J was easing into tell him that he was gay and dating a man, and so were rather surprised that I was in fact female when they met me.

 

[Maisie]

My name is Shelley. (its not short for Michelle) I used to hate it. The kids used to call me ''smelly shelley'' or ''shelley with a big fat belly'' (even though I was tiny!).

I like it now. Its not such a common name here. I have only met one other Shelley.

 

[Kismet]

My name is Amy, which was a fairly common name for girls born in the late ''60s. I think when I was younger I wished I had a more exotic name and I''m pretty sure I fiddled with the spelling of it. It was a good name for a kid because there isn''t much you can do to it to make it into something teasing. I also didn''t have to go through the change from child to adult form of the name (I''m grown up now, call me Susan not Susie thing) which my brothers all had to do.

 

[Deelight]

My sister named me growing up I kind of hated my name as I could never find any monogrammed products with my name on it, still can''t. As I have grown though I really like my name and never known another person to have my name I like that it is still fairly simple and pretty . Growing up teachers could never say it right how I have no idea so I would get teased about it and it does annoy me when people on the phone never get it right, but other then that I love it.

 

[VegasAngel]

I feel indifferent about my name. I dont hate it, but it is too old for my age. In school I used to get so embarrassed when teachers would sing a particular song that has my name in it, especially on the first day.

 

[robbie3982]

I HATED my name growing up (being named Robin will get you LOTS of bird jokes). I always used to wish that my middle name (Kimberly) was my first name, but now I kind of like having a name that's not too common.

ETA: I get lots of junk mail addressed to "Mr. Robin." It's weird to me because I've never actually met a man named Robin, but I guess the rest of the world thinks spelling it with an "i" makes it masculine.

 

[KimberlyH]

Another person named by her sister here. My sister is 2 years older than me and had an imaginary friend named Kim. My mom wanted to name me Amanda and call me Mandy, my dad said "No!" so Kimberly it was. My middle name is the same as my dad''s mom and his oldest sister. I love my whole name and my nickname, Kimi. My parents started calling me that, and spelling it that way, when I was born, and it''s just sorta stuck. I''ve had several people ask when I''ll start going by Kimberly or Kim but neither name suites me as well as my nickname, probably because I''ve always been referred to as such, but I wouldn''t change my name if I could.

IG, I know you''ll come up with a fantastic name for the cub. DH and I play the name game sometimes, and he always suggests the names of people he''s known that are either extremely intelligent or extremely successful; he goes so far as to throw their last names into the mix. It''s quite funny.

 

[Skippy123]

I really like my name, Stephanie; my name stemmed from the name Stephan (my dad's name). I don't know too many Stephanie's now but in high school I graduated with 10 Stephanies and in my middle school chorus class I was one of 5 Stephanie's in class. Talk about confusing!

I do like it now, when I was younger I wished my name was Ashley, Amanda, Bonnie or Elizabeth but I think all kids go through that.

How about you Indy?

 

[Miscka]

My name is Amanda-I like it ok. My Dad was reading a book with a character named Amanda. It is fairly common in my age group-but not as bad as some names.

My roommates name is Agatha, but she goes by Aggie. I love it. I am so jealous of her-she never has to say her last name, since she is always the only one that anyone knows!

 

[iwannaprettyone]

I really like my name, Kathryn.

I used to not as noone can figure out the spelling first off, and everyone wants to shorten it to Kat, Katie, Kathy...quickly corrected ofcourse!

Now I love it, it is not particulary common and it sounds classy to me (not to mention there are some pretty amazing Kathryn''s in the world, spelt different but Hepburn is one).

 

[Lynn B]

Yeah, I like my name. Although my parents named me (Lynn) as a newborn (obviously!

haha!), and we had a 3 syllable Italian last name. It flowed nicely and sounded lovely. But then I married DH and my last name changed to a rather short, clipped, one syllable German name. Have never been too crazy about how that sounds!

So when we had a daughter, I was careful to give her a two syllable first name, so that whether she married someone with a one syllable last name or 3 (or more) syllables, it would sound nice!

 

[Cleopatra]

On the subject of names, PEOPLE just reported that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban just had their baby girl and named her:

Sunday Rose Kidman Urban

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20203442,00.html

 

[Clio]

My name is Julia, and unlike 99% of the Julias my age, I don''t go by Julie.

I love my name. Although it is fairly common (especially among the under 10s these days), it''s just so lovely and dignified. Plus, my parents were silly hippie kids when they had me, so I could have ended up with something dreadful!

I also love my middle name, which is my grandmother''s maiden name. It''s a nice connection to my family.

 

[westjenn]

Date: 7/7/2008 11:29:26 AM
Author: Cleopatra
On the subject of names, PEOPLE just reported that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban just had their baby girl and named her:


Sunday Rose Kidman Urban


http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20203442,00.html

I kind of like the name Sunday. I expected her to pick something more traditional, but I think its kind of pretty!

 

[anchor31]

I love my name (Roxane). It comes from the persian word raokhshna meaning "brilliant as the dawn".

Older folks teasing me with that song from the Police (I'm sure you know wich one) bugs me

, but otherwise I wasn't teased much as a child. I always have to tell people I spell it with one "n" when they want to write it down, but I think it looks better with one "n" instead of two.

 

[wishful]

Date: 7/7/2008 10:35:04 AM
Author: robbie3982
I HATED my name growing up (being named Robin will get you LOTS of bird jokes). I always used to wish that my middle name (Kimberly) was my first name, but now I kind of like having a name that''s not too common.

ETA: I get lots of junk mail addressed to ''Mr. Robin.'' It''s weird to me because I''ve never actually met a man named Robin, but I guess the rest of the world thinks spelling it with an ''i'' makes it masculine.

I hear ya - as a Robin also...I got Batman and Robin all the time.
But for the bird jokes I got them more because my last name in another language means fricken BIRD!

What the Hell???? My parents were trying to sabotage me from birth! lol...

 

[westjenn]

I''m completely indifferent to my name because it''s got to be one of THE most common names: Jennifer.

 

[Elmorton]

I didn''t really think much about this until I changed my last name and started hearing it with a different surname...but yes, I do like my name. It''s very traditional - Catherine. My friends and family call me Katie though, and that did drive me a little crazy growing up. By college, I was so sick of having to tell my profs that I went by Katie, and that Katie was with a K not a C like Catherine (and every prof would say "Oh...that''s strange" - gee, thanks!), that I just started going by Catherine in class and got used to being called Catherine. Now that''s what my colleagues and students know me by and what I publish under. Sometimes it''s weird to do that (I can seriously never remember what name I''ve given when I have hair appointments or car appointments, etc), but I like having a name that is very "grown up" and a nickname that is a little less formal.

That said, we probably won''t do that for our children. DH has a name that is typically shortened but he goes by his full name (always has, even as a toddler he hated being called by the nickname), so he had a somewhat similar experience as I did. For baby names, we both like very traditional names that don''t have a common nickname associated with them or that you can''t shorten easily. DH''s sister''s name is Laurel and we love names like that - there''s really no shortening.

Also - have you read Freakenomics? There''s a really interesting chapter in there about what people name their children and the relationship that it will have with their future.

 

[westjenn]

Date: 7/7/2008 11:51:12 AM
Author: Elmorton



Also - have you read Freakenomics? There''s a really interesting chapter in there about what people name their children and the relationship that it will have with their future.

A friend of mine told me about this book. I''m going to have to check it out. We gave our first child a very uncommon name and our second a very traditional old-fashioned (but not common) name.

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 7/7/2008 11:40:39 AM
Author: wishful

Date: 7/7/2008 10:35:04 AM
Author: robbie3982
I HATED my name growing up (being named Robin will get you LOTS of bird jokes). I always used to wish that my middle name (Kimberly) was my first name, but now I kind of like having a name that''s not too common.

ETA: I get lots of junk mail addressed to ''Mr. Robin.'' It''s weird to me because I''ve never actually met a man named Robin, but I guess the rest of the world thinks spelling it with an ''i'' makes it masculine.

I hear ya - as a Robin also...I got Batman and Robin all the time.
But for the bird jokes I got them more because my last name in another language means fricken BIRD!

What the Hell???? My parents were trying to sabotage me from birth! lol...

I know a Robin whose fiance''s last name is Fish. She''s going to be Robin Fish, LOL.

 

[diamondfan]

I. HATED. IT. Now I LOVE it though.

When I was young, Caroline was too uncommon and spelling it with INE at the end but pronouncing it LYN was too beyond most people's abilities. Plus my last name was tough, why I do not know, with EI in it (it had a Y sound but people prounounced it EE so that just made it all peachy). I wanted to be named a happy cute name, like Beth, Lisa, Cindy, Candy, Stacy, Cami, Jenny, Susie, or something that sounded pretty like Heather or Nicole (Nicki). There were NO other Caroline's or Carolyn's in my school, which of course in not true now. There was a German girl named Karolina Kroon but she was big and athletic and a total tomboy so she was my polar opposite! I was a really girly girl, but I even would have loved a girly name that had a boy nickname (Samantha = Sammy or Charlotte =Charley) because I think that is cute too. I did not mind the full name like Cynthia and using the short version, but I just wanted something less serious sounding. I also loved exotic names like Gabriella and Francesca. I felt my name was too old lady sounding and I just hated it. Also, I was super skinny and they called me Caroline the string bean, making my name rhyme with bean. Just great.

Now I do love and appreciate it. It took quite a while though. I gave my kids simple, typical names that I loved but are not super original or different, which I think is fine, but nothing earth shattering in terms of originality. I love Cole, Cooper, Hunter, Tyler, Dylan, Morgan, Austin, etc, and for girls I love Chelsea, Mackenzie, Savannah, Sabrina, Sutton, Schuyler, Sheridan, Lilly, Emma, Olivia, but I only had boys and was not brave enough to try something more unusual...though none of those names are frankly unusual nowadays.

Just know that kids can make a tease out of any name. And my son is Dan the Man, which is not bad, but we only called him Daniel and suddenly he is Dan the Man...I had friends who were teased no matter what their name was, based on foods they liked or hated, or favorite music...kids are VERY creative when it comes to coming up with stinky names.

 

[LitigatorChick]

I love my name - Jordan. Not a lot of girls named Jordan (esp. 31 year olds), although the name is getting more common. I was born in 1976, and when my mom was pregnant, they went to see the Great Gatsby. They thought Jordan was beautiful, and so there you are (it was only when I read the book that I realized Jordan was kind of mean and snobby. But Robert Redford is just so beautiful in the movie and the book is so great). I also have the same initials as my dad, which is cool.

My son''s name is Miller. I love it because it is easy to say/spell, but not very common. It is manly, but different.

 

[Lorelei]

I have never liked my name, it is more of an unusual one, but I would far rather have been called something else.