# Soliciting baby name opinions - GETTY **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341 "2009-02-04T01:14:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/61 "2009-02-06T21:29:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > B is next to G on the keyboard. Your daughter will go through life with people “correcting” her name to Betty. Your son will have the same with more confusion. Good point. Just because a name is kind of made up doesn’t make it “androgynous”. It would be a lot harder for a chick to live with the name Getty than a dude. Maybe you guys should consider some of the traditional girl names that sound similar like…well, Betty…or Hedy, Hattie, Lettie, even Gladys with the nickname Gladdy. Or try changing your own name to Getty if you love it so much and see how well it works for ya. I always find it sort of funny when parents give their kids off the wall names, yet the parents’ names are 100% normal. Those lunatic parents who named their son after Adolf Hitler are named “Heath” and “Deborah” themselves. If I had the authority to rule on such matters, part of my punishment for ole Heath and Deborah would be to make them change their own names to something stupid and insulting. “In punishment for inflicting such a cruel name on a child, ‘Heath’, from now on your legal name is Idiot McDumbass. Have fun!” \*Now, I’m not saying that the name Getty is AS bad as the Adolf Hitler name; just that I think a lot of times parents think of their kid’s name as a chance to be “creative” in the same sense as designing a creative personalized license plate. Some of them don’t really think through how it will be for the child to live with a weird name as an actual person…who might end up wanting to pursue a career that requires a name that looks professional and respectable or so forth. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/62 "2009-02-06T23:02:00Z")
It’s a bit masculine for a girl, isn’t it? I’d lean against it, not being a fan of captains of 1800’s industry, but we can’t all name our kids the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/63 "2009-02-06T23:03:19Z")
Why do people like androgynous names for their kids? I don’t get that. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/64 "2009-02-06T23:06:23Z")
I vote for naming your child after an 80’s hit movie character: **Long Duk Dong** /Another vote for “No on Getty.” //Yes, on Quimby. \*\* Vote for Quimby\*\* ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/65 "2009-02-07T00:54:55Z")
Maybe as a nickname for something “Margaret”? “Gretchen”? For a girl. I don’t think it will work at all for a boy. I think of “Getty Images” or “Estelle” ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/66 "2009-02-07T13:12:24Z")
I grew up with a pretty unique name. In contrast, every class in my elementary school had several pupils with the same, super-popular names of the day, with maybe a dozen of each in my small school altogether. They’d have to be identified by their last name, people would mix the same-name kids regularly etc., while today, one can tell a person’s age with stunning accuracy if his/her name is one of the popular ones of the mid-late-70’s here, whereas my name could be the name of an 80-year-old man or a baby two months of age (it’s actually much more common today than when I was born). I really don’t see how giving one’s child a ‘common’ name’ of the day is supposed to be better than having a unique, non-goofy name. A good name is such that upon hearing it, you’ll think of the one person you know carrying it, not have to mentally go through a bunch of people, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/67 "2009-02-07T15:20:38Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > I grew up with a pretty unique name. … I really don’t see how giving one’s child a ‘common’ name’ of the day is supposed to be better than having a unique, non-goofy name. A good name is such that upon hearing it, you’ll think of the one person you know carrying it, not have to mentally go through a bunch of people, IMHO. I agree, actually - and I get a lot of spontanious compliments on my name. (I still don’t like “Getty”, though.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/68 "2009-02-07T15:25:53Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Very cool; I like unusual, but not ridiculous, names (I named my own son “Dashiell”). It’s a sure bet he/she’ll be the only “Getty” in a classroom of Jims, Bobbys, Lindas and Jennifers. Actually, names like Jim, Bobby, and Linda are quite rare among young children these days. I think Jennifer is still sort of popular, but not like it was in the 70s & 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/69 "2009-02-07T15:37:47Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > I grew up with a pretty unique name. In contrast, every class in my elementary school had several pupils with the same, super-popular names of the day, with maybe a dozen of each in my small school altogether. They’d have to be identified by their last name, people would mix the same-name kids regularly etc., while today, one can tell a person’s age with stunning accuracy if his/her name is one of the popular ones of the mid-late-70’s here, whereas my name could be the name of an 80-year-old man or a baby two months of age (it’s actually much more common today than when I was born). I really don’t see how giving one’s child a ‘common’ name’ of the day is supposed to be better than having a unique, non-goofy name. A good name is such that upon hearing it, you’ll think of the one person you know carrying it, not have to mentally go through a bunch of people, IMHO. Dissenting opinion here. I grew up with an unusual name (only one by that name in my schools K-12) and I **hated** it. No one ever teased me about it, but as a child I still wondered what was wrong with me that I didn’t deserve a nice normal name like the other kids … however, I’m sure that has a lot to do with one’s personality and family environment. I still don’t like my name, though. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/70 "2009-02-07T15:57:09Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > I really don’t see how giving one’s child a ‘common’ name’ of the day is supposed to be better than having a unique, non-goofy name. That’s the two extremes, though. It’s not a choice between “Dweezil/Moon Unit” and “John/Mary”. There’s a sweet spot somewhere in the middle, where names are “heard of” and “familiar”, but are not at all common. In any case, small kids these days with names as common as Peter, Anthony, Mary, or Patricia will almost invariably be the unique holder of that name in their cohort. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/71 "2009-02-07T17:29:51Z")
To each his own, but since you asked… The first thing I thought of upon seeing the name “Getty” was the gas station. On one hand, I doubt that many kids of your currently imaginary child’s age will be familiar with said gas stations (Are they even around anymore?). On the other, it’s a very unusual name, I’d think, to the point of being a bit odd. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341/72 "2009-02-07T18:19:30Z")
I don’t like it either. It has a hard sound, not feminine at all. Another reason not to like it is that the capital G is clumsy to write. If it’s printed, it can look like a C. If you go with the lower case and make it a capital (which a lot of G people do), it looks like a J. If your wife likes that time period, why not go with someone else born in 1892? [Corrie ten Boom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom)? Now **there’s** someone to emulate, and Corrie’s a nice feminine name. If you really like the androgynous thing, you could spell it Cory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soliciting-baby-name-opinions-getty/484341.md?page=3)