I don’t like it. But I’ve encountered worse.
Now that you’ve mentioned the gas station, I have Colonel Bogey’s March stuck in my head now. Good thing no one your kid’s age will remember those commercials or they’d be whistling it at her every time she walked by.
Just about every kid’s name is made fun of in one way or another though…
I’ve never heard of Getty being used as either name, let alone the first. Don’t give a child an unusual first name. Middle name, sure, fine, but I’m of the belief that one shouldn’t simply hand ammunition to bullies.
Hell no. Ugly and silly.
I thought of Estelle Getty too.
If you decide to bestow this abomination on your innocent child, please give him/her a very normal middle name that he/she could use instead if he/she so chooses.
like it. Not too weird. But different.
We don’t have Getty Oil around here. Might feel differently if that was my association.
I think Getty is a silly name. But then, I’ve always thought I’d like to name my son Ebenezer if I ever had one. I could call him Nezer for short.
Not a fan. Especially if it’s a girl. It’s a name that will get he or she made fun of all through school. Sorry. 
I’ve never been a fan of the ‘super unique’ naming thing. My sister likes relatively obscure names, though my nephew’s name has grown tremendously in popularity in the last few years (Grayson). My niece is named Aven, though, and while I think the name itself is kind of pretty, it’s just a little too unique for my taste. Most people have the same reaction when I say her name as we had: “Huh?” I’m completely over it now (it helps that she’s just a super darn cute baby). But hey, ultimately, it’s not my choice or anyone else here’s choice…it’s your choice, and that’s it. Pick what you like.
Don’t like it. I’m sure there are better options if your goal is to honor that period of history.
I don’t like it. In fact, I think it’s awful, and I’d forever refer to the child as “that poor little kid with the stupid name”. It seems like it’s different for the sake of being different, as it isn’t a particularly attractive sounding word, and that makes it seem pretentious. It’s more masculine than feminine - I’d hate it even more for a girl. I also have a hard time picturing a surname that it would work with. The general rule of thumb is common with uncommon, but Getty Smith still sounds strange to me. I also would quickly fall to saying “Geddy”, which is no better. Get over here, get it here, geddy up… these are the kind of things I’d imagine the half-witty to keep coming up with.
I have very plain, conventional taste in names, so it would be hard to find something a little unique that I wouldn’t hate. As long as you’re not bothered about the opinions of people like me, then it shouldn’t worry you. When I named my daughter I had a small number of people comment that they didn’t like the name, but I simply didn’t care if they liked it or not so it didn’t have the slightest influence on my choice. If I admired their taste it might have been different, but I couldn’t muster up the energy to care that people with what I thought was lousy taste thought my choice of name was bad - in fact, it made me feel like maybe I was doing something right. So you should probably take my feedback in the same spirit.
I would find it remarkable if you could find a classroom full of Bobbys, Lindas and Jennifers (Jim might have a shot - James is still very popular). Those names have mostly gone out of fashion, and are far less prevalent than they were in the 60s and 70s, and might actually qualify as unusual names amongst today’s kids.
IMO, it’s your kid and you can name it whatever you want and a bunch of anonymous posters shouldn’t affect your decision. That said, I personally do not like given names that end in “y.” It’s one thing to shorten a name to a “y” usage (Robert to Bobby, Loretta to Letty, whatever) but to start with what sounds like a shortened name is limiting. To me. I LOVE unusual names, but, to me, Getty for a girl is just not attractive, even as a shortened name. You asked. Have a nice day.
First get pregnant, then worry about names.
Seriously though, for some reason once the reality of “baby coming” occurs, finding a name just sort of happens. When it feels right you just know it. At least it did for us.
Read up on Jean Paul Getty Snr, founder (more or less) of the Getty dynasty, then ask yourself if you really want your kid to have the name of a man who installed a payphone in his multimillion dollar mansion to stop his guests running up his phone bill, and wouldn’t help pay a ransom for his kidnapped teenaged grandson until the family got the boy’s ear posted to them. And made his son, the boy’s dad, pay back the loan at 4% interest when he finally did help out.
In other words, FUCK no!
I don’t tend to like unusual or unconventional names, but I surprise myself by thinking Getty is sorta pleasant. Huh.
On the other hand, I think the prevalence of the accent that turns T into D is an important factor. I have a friend who thought her own brother’s name was Mardy until she was about 12 years old! Maybe this doesn’t bother you at all. But if it is the kind of thing that will annoy you, it’s going to be difficult to avoid.
I have the same prejudice against names that end in a ‘y’ sound. Unless they are multiple syllables - Stephanie is ok.
Now I do like old fashioned names - and Gettie for a girl is like Lettie, Lottie, Nellie, Dorrie. But its short for Gertrude (Lettie is usually Leticia, Lottie is Charlotte, Nellie is Eleanor, Dorrie is Dorcas - a favorite name of mine but one that can obviously not be used by American parents in 2009.)
Hate it, for all the reasons given – asshole billionaire, gas stations, spaghetti, “geddy up,” pretentious, etc.
That’s what I thought of immediately, too.
I think I’d like the name if the first thing that didn’t come to mind was “isn’t that a gas station name?”, but I don’t know how widespread the chain is.
I have to agree with this. It reminds me too much of Madison, Payton, Tyler, etc. It sounds like one of those names that, within a year, will be trendy. And I’m not at all a fan of trendy names.
I also agree with those who have said that your kid will have to explain their name all their life, which would be exceptionally difficult if no one has any idea who they’re talking about (your kid included, because if they’re taught about John Getty at all, it will probably be a blip on their scholastic radar and quickly forgotten). This may make me sound like a dolt, but this is the first time I’d ever heard of the man.
Also, why name your kid after someone who isn’t inspiring to you?
I don’t agree, however, that you should not give your kid a name because kids are going to make fun of it. We can’t all be named Jonathan or Billy or Lisa, and one gets tired of hearing the same five names anyway.
I would go more towards “we picked this name because we thought it was beautiful/had meaning” rather than “it was unusual” though.