Fewer than 1576 for my first name, my sister, and four of my exes too.
Agreed. I have a normal name for the ethnicity it was picked from, as do my brothers, and yet they’re all novelty or “weird” names to WASPs.
My first name is mildly unusual, but my middle and last names stymie people all the time as they’re really unusual. I’m more annoyed at folks’ inability to look or listen closely when I give them my name than I ever wished for another name. It’s not that difficult to just pay attention when someone is telling you how they are called.
After playing around on that site for a few minutes, I found that in the US, there are…
774 people named Charlie Brown, 75 named Robin Hood, 71 named Justin Case, 37 named Paige Turner, 6 named Harry Arms, and 13 named Harry Back
Give it a go!
I did not add the poll question until the thread was already on the second page, and the responses made me refine the question.
OK, that teaches us that regardless of whether you like uncommon names, some parents are jerks.
Oh, and despite a fairly low number of votes the poll results are quite interesting. The odd name crowd seems evenly split while the common namers almost all like that they have a common name. So, common names are the safe bet while you are a taking a real risk with uncommon names, though it is not nearly the guaranteed condemnation people seem to think. I wonder if liking/disliking uncommon names has any correlation to being an extrovert/introvert.
There are 6 Clark Kents, so we have saving the day covered, except on Sunday.
My surname is the one that causes the problems, and I can’t blame my parents for that. When I say problems, I mean being constantly filed in the wrong place and then put down as either not attending (at college) or not having sent in forms when I have. It’s cost me a lot of money and hassle.
If it were an unusual name, then people would probably double check. But it’s an ordinary common noun, though as a name it’s surprisingly extremely uncommon, and there’s another version which is similar and a third very common name which looks very similar to mine when written down. This one is what causes all the problems.
People also often comically mishear my name over the phone. I have an extremely clear speaking voice with an RP accent - I get paid to speak, even - but Christ, receptionists find my name hard. The past year has had them hear Julie Andrews, Fenenaja Bills, Santa (my surname), and Alice Davies. It’s just bizarre.
Ditto, plus I have a somewhat uncommon Slavic first name as well. I used to dislike my full first name, but as with many I’ve grown to appreciate it over the years and now like it just fine.
However - I wouldn’t pass it on, if only because it has caused a lot of gender confusion in the U.S. over the years. Which isn’t a monstrously big deal, but is just low-grade annoying enough that I probably wouldn’t bother to inflict that on my kid. Especially since it has no particular family significance, really.
Mum’s cousin had an unusual name and berated her parents for it throughout her childhood. She then went on to give her children unusual names. I guess she made her peace with it.
Cool site, Onomatopoeia.
My unusual full first name comes up with less than 1576 people in the US with that name. I have always gone by a nickname that is easily misheard and misspelled by people. I shudder to think what people would do to my full name.
On top of that, my last name has a more common (or commonly thought of) misspelling…there are just under 8,000 people in the US with the same last name spelling.
I would not want to give my child the same style of name–I don’t think I’d want to go with the same popular name every other kid has, but I hate having to spell my name to people, sometimes 3 or 4 times until they get it right.
There are 165 Lois Lanes, so we have his love interest covered as well. There are also 191 Perry Whites, and 65 Jimmy Olsens so, with that, we have the crack Daily Planet news team.
There are 15 Bruce Waynes and 161 Richard Graysons so a Dynamic Duo is possible. There are even 887 Barbara Gordons to flesh out DC’s world a little more.
From the Marvel world there are 724 Peter Parkers, 8 Bruce Banners, 47 Tony Starks, 423 Steve Rogers, and 2 Nick Furys.
I have a normal name with a somewhat weird but not unheard of spelling. I hate it! Almost nobody spells my name correctly and some people never bother to learn which pisses me off. They also mispronounce it or call me by another name altogether, assuming that my name is a nickname for a longer, very common name (it’s not).
PandaKid has a normal name with a normal spelling.
It is odd, but it’d probably be pretty fun to have the name Mary Christmas, of which there are 80 in the US, but not so fun to have the name May Day, of which there are 17.