Home Do your kids have unusual names?

[anchor31]

My son''s name, Jacob, was #15 in Québec in 2008. Apparently there''s a dude in Twilight called Jacob, so it might go up. DH and I are kind of bummed. We''re not into unusual names, but we didn''t want our son to be one of three in his class or something.

My name was #7 between 1985-1989, but I ended up not having other classmates with that name. The usual spelling is with two "n", but I spell it with one. It''s prettier (IMO), but it''s annoying to always have to mention it. It confuses people for some reason. It''s not as bad as my sister though. My parents completely changed the spelling of her name. She always has to spell it, people get confused and spell it wrong anyway... and she''s also had people mispronounce it. It''s annoying, but the result is often hilarious.

I also have to spell my last name, AND it''s hyphenated (mother''slastname-father''slastname), so my criteria for naming my kids are the following:
- Not too unusual
- Usual spelling
- No hyphenating
- DH''s last name, ''cause it''s common and they won''t have to spell it.

 

[upgrade]

Date: 2/10/2010 2:46:29 PM
Author: AprilBaby
A young girl I know just named her baby Jezebel. Parents and I were horrified. They call her Bella. Any thoughts?

Jezebel? Oh dear... Some people ought to do a little more research before giving a child the one thing that will be with the forever.

 

[Shoopy]

I have a really common name as well, very much like an "Elizabeth" "Sarah" "Julie" or in Hispanic communities "Maria." I too was one of several in each class but I like my name a lot. I always say that DD''s name is my second favorite girl name. My first is my own name

.

To bad "Jrs" are really only for boys

 

[Octavia]

Date: 2/10/2010 3:23:54 PM
Author: fiery
I have a really common name as well, very much like an ''Elizabeth'' ''Sarah'' ''Julie'' or in Hispanic communities ''Maria.'' I too was one of several in each class but I like my name a lot. I always say that DD''s name is my second favorite girl name. My first is my own name

.


To bad ''Jrs'' are really only for boys

When I was working, two of the organization''s donors were a mother and daughter. The daughter was named after the mother and goes by Jr. It''s funny to me because the name they share is kind of horrifying...must be a family name or something. Even though I don''t like the idea of "Jr." in general, I don''t see why it can''t be gender-neutral if that''s what people want. But in that particular situation, if I were the daughter, I''d have done anything within my power to escape both the name and the "Jr."!

 

[geckodani]

Date: 2/10/2010 2:46:29 PM
Author: AprilBaby
A young girl I know just named her baby Jezebel. Parents and I were horrified. They call her Bella. Any thoughts?

Where''s TGal''s avatar when I need it!?!?!

 

[geckodani]

Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.

Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

 

[upgrade]

Date: 2/10/2010 4:17:59 PM
Author: geckodani
Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.

Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

Oh God... it drives me nuts when people don''t consider the initials!!

 

[geckodani]

Date: 2/10/2010 4:20:49 PM
Author: upgrade

Date: 2/10/2010 4:17:59 PM
Author: geckodani
Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.

Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

Oh God... it drives me nuts when people don''t consider the initials!!

Me too! I ended up DNR when I got married and was not amused.

I have a friend with the last name Curry. They were going to name their son Tyler, but then realized he would be Ty Curry.

 

[zoebartlett]

Chandelier -- well, that''s a name I''ve never heard of before. It''s definitely different.

Tacori -- I really like your name!

Fiery -- I love your daughter''s name too! It''s beautiful. I have a relative with the same name, but it''s spelled differently.

PinkAsscher -- I think the name "Marley" is really pretty. It''s a little unusual, as you said, but I love it.

EBree -- I love your son''s name! One of our cats actually has the same name (we don''t have any human babies).

Trillionaire -- you could name your boy Avery. I love that name for either a girl or a boy.

My name was pretty common (I think) when I was born. I was one of four in my grade at a very small school. There are all sorts of ways to spell it, too, but I like to think that I spell it the "right" way.

 

[iheartscience]

I''m with the other posters who said that unusual names seem to be the way for parents to express themselves, and that a lot of times they don''t think about how the name will affect their child''s life. Chandelier is a ridiculous name...along the lines of the celebs who name their kid Apple or Audio Science. I mean, are there not enough actual names in the world to choose from?

I don''t have any kids (just kitty ones!

) but if I have any they''ll likely end up with classic but not overly popular names. I have a lot of great somewhat old-fashioned family names that we''ll probably use. (One of the benefits of having a huge family!

)

 

[softly softly]

Date: 2/10/2010 12:40:44 PM
Author: EBree

Date: 2/10/2010 11:52:35 AM

Author: monarch64

Date: 2/10/2010 10:15:36 AM


Author: waterlilly


I''m not sure why, but I really dislike unusual names. Not uncommon names, but unusual names. I have a couple of uncommon names picked out - sort of ''older'' names that aren''t used much anymore. But, when I see names that are spelled all wacky it makes no sense to me - seems like a way for the parents to grab on to some thread of individuality at the expense of poor child that is going to have to pronounce and spell their name to everyone for the rest of their life.


Trends come and go and it seems like there is this trend now for names that end in ''den'', I cringe every time I hear one!

Agree. Not only pronunciation and spelling, but also meaning in some cases.


I feel like by naming your child something really unconventional, the parent is thinking more of themselves than the child''s future. The name becomes more a reflection of the parent(s) rather than the child. Names precede one in life, they can set the tone for who the child will grow up to be, there have been studies done on this sort of thing. I come from a small rural community in the midwest where people name their girls things like Chastity, Charity, Hope, etc. I''ve yet to see a classmate of mine with a name like that go on to first of all leave the town (EVER), go to college, or do much of anything besides stay in the same town and reproduce. And name any offspring similarly.


Just saying as a parent I think there is a certain responsibility to think toward the future for your child and know that what name you choose will affect his/her life whether that is right or wrong. When employers see resumes, the FIRST THING on the resume is the name. Lots of assumptions can be made about names.

I absolutely agree, though I''m not as bothered by unique names (unless we''re talking ''Moon Unit,'' etc.) as I am unique spellings. It makes no sense to me to change a more common spelling, because it doesn''t make the child''s name spoken unique in any way- little Alyksis (Alexis?) is still uh-LEX-us, but now, it''s a PITA for everyone to have to spell, kiddo included.

Huge ditto - especially with regards to changing spelling. I deliberately gave my kids names that were short and simple to spell because our last name has an unusual spelling. However I find I am constantly being asked how to spell their names because it has gotten to the point where it is not safe to assume traditional spelling for any names now.

Probably the weirdest names I have ever heard are - Chili Dandelion (daughter of a friend of a friend) and Jupiter (name of a girl in my daughter''s preschool class), and I can''t help but wonder how these little girls are going to feel growing up with those names. Like waterlily and monarch I think it is a reflection of the parents'' vanity. I blame celebrities such as Gwynneth Paltrow and Nicole Richie with their apples and sparrows et al.

 

[yssie]

Depends what you consider "unusual", I suppose.


My traditional Indian name is very 'unusual' here in America - even more so in NZ/Australia where I grew up. When FI and his siblings - all of whom have top-10-baby-names names - go to my parents' hometowns in India, people will think their names very bizarre.


Our children will have either indian first names and biblical middle names or vice versa depending on what we happen to like at the time...so they may have 'unusual' names. We don't consider it disadvantaging them at all, and I certainly hope they won't see it that way.



Now deliberately choosing off-the-wall names for the sake of being 'different', or mangling the usual spellings..

 

[purrfectpear]

Bill Lear (of Learjet fame) named his daughter Shanda (born in 1944). Somehow you''d think people with money would have more taste

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/10/2010 5:21:28 PM
Author: yssie
Depends what you consider ''unusual'', I suppose.


My traditional Indian name is considered very ''unusual'' here in America - even more so in NZ/Australia where I grew up. If FI and his siblings - all of whom have top-10-baby-names names - went to my parents'' hometowns in India, people would think their names very bizarre.


Our children will have either Indian first names and biblical middle names or vice versa depending on what we happen to like at the time...so they may have ''unusual'' names. We don''t consider it disadvantaging them at all, and I certainly hope they won''t see it that way.

I don''t think that "ethnic" names are the same as "unusual". Sure, they''re different from typical American names, but I don''t think someone would look at a resume and say "Oh, this person has an Indian name. Must be stupid/weird/not good at XYZ" or whatever. They would just think "Oh, this person must be of Indian descent." I think it''s in a totally different ballpark than something like Chandelier

I think the difference is that Chandelier isn''t a common name in any culture - it''s just made up.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/10/2010 5:27:59 PM
Author: purrfectpear
Bill Lear (of Learjet fame) named his daughter Shanda (born in 1944). Somehow you'd think people with money would have more taste

eta: I remember an interview Jon Stewart did with Rob Morrow. Morrow had just had a baby girl and said her name was "Tu". Stewart says "Spelled T-u? Like the Spanish informal for 'you'?" Haha. I think he at least gave her a normal middle name like Sophie or something, but growing up with the name Tu Morrow is just awful.

 

[artdecogirl]

Frekechild, I love your name, like someone here said, it is funny how you feel about the name is influenced by a person you know! My great grandmothers name was Elisabeth and I loved her dearly and also there was Beth in Little Women and I always wanted to name my child Elisabeth and call her Beth but we used it as her middle name and I wish now we had used it but the name we did use fits her well! My name is a biblical name but the spelling is not as in the bible so everyone misspells it or does not pronounce it the proper way but it never bothered me, I never met anyone with the same name until I was in my twentys and now it is more popular with young people so I work with 2 others with the same name!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/10/2010 4:17:59 PM
Author: geckodani
Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.

Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

Lol!

 

[waterlilly]

Date: 2/10/2010 5:21:28 PM
Author: yssie
Depends what you consider ''unusual'', I suppose.



My traditional Indian name is very ''unusual'' here in America - even more so in NZ/Australia where I grew up. When FI and his siblings - all of whom have top-10-baby-names names - go to my parents'' hometowns in India, people will think their names very bizarre.



Our children will have either indian first names and biblical middle names or vice versa depending on what we happen to like at the time...so they may have ''unusual'' names. We don''t consider it disadvantaging them at all, and I certainly hope they won''t see it that way.




Now deliberately choosing off-the-wall names for the sake of being ''different'', or mangling the usual spellings..

For me - there''s a world of difference between names used in different cultures vs. made up names with wacky spellings - just for the sake of having a unique name. For instance, many of my asian friends have asian names - I certainly don''t think they are "unusual", just cultural and many are very beautiful. When someone just makes up a word or uses some random noun, adjective or verb commonly used in the english language to name their child (Chandelier) - ick.

You will give your children indian names - but they are actual names, right? Not just a collection of sounds and sylables thrown together that you think sound "cool" at the moment

 

[MonkeyPants]

Date: 2/10/2010 4:22:16 PM
Author: geckodani

Date: 2/10/2010 4:20:49 PM

Author: upgrade

Date: 2/10/2010 4:17:59 PM

Author: geckodani

Here''s one for you. DH''s cousins Seth and Jenny are having their second child. They are naming him Enosh. DH heard this and got this look on his face, and ran to grab a Bible.


Genesis 4:26 (New International Version)

26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.


And to make it worse, his last name starts with a W, so his initials are EW.

Oh God... it drives me nuts when people don''t consider the initials!!

Me too! I ended up DNR when I got married and was not amused.


I have a friend with the last name Curry. They were going to name their son Tyler, but then realized he would be Ty Curry.

These are so funny to read through! When I was growing up, I had class with a boy named Charlie Cole. We called him Char Cole...

 

[packrat]

My kids are London and Trapper. I like that they have "different" names and the chances of them having to tack their last initial on or something are pretty slim. I was one of 2 Missy''s, even tho I''ve always spelled it Missi. There were 2 Missy''s in my brother''s class-the one below mine.

I name my pets w/flair too, like MC. Used to drive my dad up the wall. 2 of my favorite kitties were Sir Didymous Ambrosious and Matahari Tnedicca.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 2/10/2010 3:23:54 PM
Author: fiery
I have a really common name as well, very much like an ''Elizabeth'' ''Sarah'' ''Julie'' or in Hispanic communities ''Maria.'' I too was one of several in each class but I like my name a lot. I always say that DD''s name is my second favorite girl name. My first is my own name

.

To bad ''Jrs'' are really only for boys

That is where middle names come in handy, Fiery! My SIL (my brother''s wife) has the same first name as me. We''re pretty close, she and my brother have been together for a long time, and married for almost 10 years. When they got pregnant with my niece, my mom asked me if I had a list of names as suggestions because they knew they were having a girl. I said, no, why don''t they just name her "mine and SIL''s name"? It was sort of a joke, but they actually named her that! So we now have 3 Heather''s. My SIL and I have always gone by H1 and H2, and now to differentiate we call the baby by her first and middle names. Yes, we get some strange looks when we explain the name thing, but for the most part people don''t make too big a deal of it. It''s common for men to do this, why not women? We''re in an age of all sorts of changes with last names (men taking women''s family names, women not taking men''s last names/hyphenating/combining) so why not break tradition a bit with female first names?

Btw, ethnic names=totally different from unconventional and the connotation that word has carried in this thread.

 

[monarch64]

Also, SO and I have a little thing we do when watching sports or random television. When we hear one of those off-the-wall Apple or hmm, I don''t know, Ocho Cinco or whatever, we look at each other and say simultaneously, "Ocho Cinco--NOT A NAME."

 

[jcrow]

Date: 2/10/2010 3:23:54 PM
Author: fiery
I have a really common name as well, very much like an ''Elizabeth'' ''Sarah'' ''Julie'' or in Hispanic communities ''Maria.'' I too was one of several in each class but I like my name a lot. I always say that DD''s name is my second favorite girl name. My first is my own name

.


To bad ''Jrs'' are really only for boys

funny you mention julie as being common. growing up i think i only knew 3 other julie''s and non of them were in my grade. i think 3 is a really low number. i loved that my name wasn''t weird but at the same wasn''t super popular either. i''m trying to find the same balance in naming our baby, but we''re definitely struggling to come up with something!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/10/2010 6:43:03 PM
Author: packrat
My kids are London and Trapper. I like that they have ''different'' names and the chances of them having to tack their last initial on or something are pretty slim. I was one of 2 Missy''s, even tho I''ve always spelled it Missi. There were 2 Missy''s in my brother''s class-the one below mine.

I name my pets w/flair too, like MC. Used to drive my dad up the wall. 2 of my favorite kitties were Sir Didymous Ambrosious and Matahari Tnedicca.

Can''t imagine Tnedicca for a kid. I wouldn''t even know how to pronounce it. lol One of my cats is named Bunni (that is right. . .with an "i" instead of a "y." Everyone spells her name wrong! lol)

 

[taovandel]

What''s the opinion of everyone on sibling names....Should they match or flow together or is it okay to name them something that doesn''t flow together?

Our lo is Evan Alexander----very normal.....but for our second one I wanted to use the middle name Phoenix or Cruz but I''m thinking we might not get to since Evan has a "normal" sounding name. (I''m trying to convince the husband to name the next boy--whenever that might be---Easton Cruz.)


Also, I agree with other posters who said that for some reason we (on average) lean toward more traditional names for Boys and go more off the wall for girls. Weird, right?

 

[Haven]

I tend to like ethnic or foreign names best.
I like classic names, as long as they aren''t very popular.
I dislike overused or very popular names.
I loathe trendy names.

My name is a nice mix of common yet not so popular, for my generation, at least. There was only one other "Laurie" in my high school, and I''m "Lori" so at least the spelling was different.
However, I''d say that one out of every five moms that I met growing up was named Laurie. The others were all named Linda.

So, I suppose I wouldn''t love my name so much had I been born a few generations earlier. My parents chose a good time to use it, as it''s not so popular for my age cohort.

If we have children, DH and I want to name a daughter Famke and a son Rafa.

Our current pets all have pretty common names--The cats are Vince, Manny, and Geddy. Okay, Geddy is not so common but DH picked that one, named after Geddy Lee. Our pup is named Bailee Faye, but she came named Bailee, already. We wouldn''t have picked such an overused name.

I named my childhood pups, who still live with my mom. They are Tallulah Mae and Killian Rae. Usually, though, we refer to them as "The Beasts."

 

[qtiekiki]

Date: 2/10/2010 11:50:14 AM
Author: PinkAsscher678
OK, the real reason I''m asking this is because one of my best friends is throwing a baby shower, and the mommy to be is having a girl. She''s planning on naming her...


Chandelier.


Yes, like the light fixture.

When I read this, all I can think about is that Friends episode where they misspelled Chandler name. LOL.

My kids'' names are not common, but I don''t think they are unusual.

Unusual and uncommon names are fine, but I don''t like made-up or special spellings.

On the other hand, my name is short and an older name, and most people mispronounce or misspell it.

 

[oddoneout]

Date: 2/10/2010 12:43:21 PM
Author: Lanie
This is so interesting. As a teacher, I see a lot of names and that''s what can really ruin a name for me. I like the name Harrison, for instance, for a boy, but I had a minion of the Anti-Christ in my class named Harrison, so he ruined it for me for forever.


I''m with those of you who are sick of the trendy names. However, I am liking the ones on the top 10 more and more (much to my chagrin). But they are classic (Sophia, Olivia, Ava, Emma, etc). I won''t name my daughter one of those, but they are still beautiful.


My idea for a daughter''s name is a common name with a more traditional spelling (Giuliana). It is an old family name that is pronounced the same as Juliana, so I hope she (if I ever have a daughter) isn''t scarred for life!!! Or that she isn''t called ''Ghoul-liana''.


If you had an uncommon name, was it a pain and/or something embarrassing for you??? I want to hear more ''sucess'' stories of people with uncommon names or names with unusual spelling!!!!

"I like the name Harrison, for instance, for a boy, but I had a minion of the Anti-Christ in my class named Harrison, so he ruined it for me for forever."

I can totally relate to this. You put it in such a funny way I laughed out loud.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 2/10/2010 7:14:28 PM
Author: taovandel
What''s the opinion of everyone on sibling names....Should they match or flow together or is it okay to name them something that doesn''t flow together?

Our lo is Evan Alexander----very normal.....but for our second one I wanted to use the middle name Phoenix or Cruz but I''m thinking we might not get to since Evan has a ''normal'' sounding name. (I''m trying to convince the husband to name the next boy--whenever that might be---Easton Cruz.)


Also, I agree with other posters who said that for some reason we (on average) lean toward more traditional names for Boys and go more off the wall for girls. Weird, right?

Personally, I don''t think they have to go together at all. I don''t like when people name kids "matchy" things (even using the same first initial for every kid, on purpose of course, bothers me for some reason). I think kids are individuals, so their names can be just as individual.

 

[oddoneout]

Another person here with an extremely common name. I hated it since there were a million others with the same name. I like less uncommon but not too unusual names too. I have to say I hate every kid being named the same name (all the top 100 names). Be creative parents! Sorry it''s my beef.