When DrJ was doing peds rotations in med school, one of his attendings told him there was often a direct correlation between the “cutesiness” of a name and the amount of time a kid had spent in the neonatal ICU. Names like Precious, Angel, Darling, and Cutesy-Wootsie Poopsie (okay, I made the last one up) are quite common for preemies, apparently.
As for Cash Money, I’ve seen a lot of pit bulls with such names, but never humans. Hmmm, I wonder if the puppies and this kid belong to the same people.
Parents definitely do experiment more with boys’ names than girls’, which is why we still have a fair few Michaels and Davids being born, but not many Sandras or Muriels. You also get ‘old-fashioned’ names repeating in cycles of about sixty years, as people realise that their Grandparents’ names are now uncommon, and they want to honour their Grandparents, so we get a fresh rash of Henrys and Mauds (and the names become common again). Guess in another twenty years or so we’ll see babies called Janet, Roger, Derek, and so on!
Naming a child requires a lot of detective work.
How popular is this name? Do you want a popular name or not?
Are there any tragic or embarrassing stories associated with this name?
Any famous people you might not want associated with your child?
How does it sound with the desired middle name and surname?
How does it sound with the surname alone?
Do the initials spell anything undesirable?
Do you or the father have a bad history with that name (heart broken by a Daniel, for example)?
Is the name so unusual that the kid might get picked on?
Is it easy to spell and pronounce?
How does it look written down?
What is the etymology of the name?
How about the nicknames, do you dislike any of them?
How does the nickname sound with your surname?
What do your friends and family think?
Does the name have any connection with your family history? (Do you want it to?)
Lastly, do the parents BOTH like it?
It’s not surprising so many people give up and go with what’s popular.
I ended up with a little Juliette Georgia. The middle name is after my Grandfather (it’s also a more common name if she decided that she hated Juliette when she was older). Juliette sounds good with my surname, and I was writing a thesis about Shakespeare at the time. It’s not common but it’s not weird either. If I’d had more time I might have chosen differently (she was ill at birth and I had to name her quickly), but it quite suits her. I had planned to give her a second middle name at a naming ceremony, and I might still do that.
The most common names among her friends are Sophie, Chloe and Emily for girls, and Jack and Joseph for boys. Harry’s also pretty popular, as is Alfie and Alex and Josh. Quite nice names really, this generation is faring better than the Tracys and Darrens of mine.
Btw, for a boy I liked the name Gabriel, but when I said that to a couple of my friends they burst out laughing. Would that really be such an odd name for a boy these days?
I think Gabriel is a sweet name. If I knew I was going to have three boys, they’d be Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. But I admit for a long time, Gabriel sounded like a girl’s name to me.
I love the name Gabriel. I’ve known two Gabe’s in my time, and both were great people. Use it. Gabrielle is a girl’s name - I guess it depends on how it is pronounced.
My grandmother was never named by her parents. Everyone always called her “Pet”. Note that this is not the same as being called “Blanket”. “Pet” was term of endearment back then. When she was old enough to go to school she had to have a name so she named herself Rachael. I don’t know if anyone ever called her that though.
My mother had the combination name Ruth Alice and was called that by all her relatives. Her sister had a combination name too. Because my mom hated it so much she didn’t give my three older sisters middle names.
I have the plainest name of all (Jane) and I like it fine. Some close friends call me Janie and that’s fine, too.
I don’t intend to have children but if I was doing any naming they’d be sensible names like John (Jack), David and Suzanne.
Tragic/embarrassing things that can happen after the fact. I know someone who changed her 5-month-old son’s name from Marc David to Shane after a person named Mark David something-or-other shot John Lennon. (In Colorado you can do this without too much paperwork in, I think, the first year.)
Ditto with people getting famous.
And I had one of the most common names in grade school, in fact there were three of us in a row on my street (some interesting kind of name tic-tac-toe) and it didn’t stop me from getting picked on!
Here’s the original (fabled) Lorelei. It’s not a Styx thing. Heck, they didn’t even invent Styx, just appropriated it. Hmm, maybe Charon would be a good boy’s name?
Worst one I’ve ever heard comes from the neonatal ward in the hospital where my stepmother works. I still can’t believe it … the name is pronounced sha-thee-id. How is that spelled, do you think? Give it some time. Then see below.
I hear what you’re saying, Achernar and I would never tell my friend I don’t like the name. I don’t think she posts here… If she does, I’m sorry. It’s not awful, just not a name I would choose.
Just a general question about names that has been irking me for awhile now. I understand when shortening names you usually take a derivative of the first syllable (Jonathan becomes Jon, Raymond, becomes ray, etc)
How come Elizabeth turns into Betty? And how does Richard turn into Dick?
Dick I’m not so sure, but Elizabeth—>Beth—>Bette—>Betty
also Eliza, Liz, Liza, etc.
For another “nickname” that seems completely out of the blue, how about “Penny” from Margaret? That’s one I’ve come across quite a few times in older women.
My parents managed to get four fairly good names four my siblings and I. Well, for my three siblings at least. I was named after my father, but rather than be called Junior, or Little Eric, they called me Hoss. (The origins of me being called this are lost, everyone I’ve asked has a differant reason.) I went by Hoss until I started elementary school, at which time my mother informed me that they would probably call me Eric at school, and asked if that was OK? I just thought it was really cool that I had a differant name, so, jumped on it, and wanted everyone to call me Eric. After a while I got sick of it, and wanted to go back to Hoss, but once someone has it in your midn that that’s your name, that’s what it is to them. The result, I pretty much go by both. However, at college the only people who call me Hoss are my friend from HS.
My siblings names, Bodie Shane, Jentre Jan, and Josey Leesa (the Leesa being a combination of two of my aunts names.)
Names I like: Abbigail, Gabbriella, and Jaqueline for girls, for boys, Cortland, Floyd, and Matterych.
Ive been trying to convince my wife to go with warlord/despot/dictator/conqueror names for our children. Ive suggested (and I am serious)
Alexander
Hussein (this ones getting tougher tosell every minute)
Evita (Madonna made her pretty!!!)
Hannibal (no chance)
and my personal favorite: Napoleon.
If I had my way, my children would be picked on for the rest of their lives. Makes um tougher.
That’s strange. My name is “Erin” and growing up everyone thought it was “Aaron”. I still get that. When someone is writing down my name they ask, “A-a-r-o-n?” and I have to correct them.
I have strange tastes in boys’ names. I like “Leif” , “Wolfgang”, or “Augustus”. If I had to pick more traditional I would pick “Alexander” or “Benjamin”. For girls I like “Clarice” or “Eleanor”.
As for nicknames, I always thought the nickname “Corky” for “Charles” was kind of bizarre. A neat nickname for a kid, but kind of odd for an adult.
I think Hannibal would be an awesome name, except of the new stamp of infamy it’s had for the past twelve years. You wouldn’t want your kid to be called a “Cannibal” on the schoolyard.
My aunt and uncle named their son Kadin. Our last name sucks too so he’s going to have to spell his whole name for everyone his entire life. Last year my step-grandfather died and the obituary listed all of his surviving relatives, including step-grandchildren. Kadin was listed as “Katie”. :rolleyes: They had another baby in January, and named her Marlies Jamena. Marlies is my aunt’s middle name so I’ll give them that but Jamena? Huh?
The little boy I take care of goes to some playschool thing with about 12 other kids. THREE of them are named Connor.
