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Do you think that having an unusual or unique name causes many problems for children? Do you think it makes a child more prone to teasing by their peers, or is it better to have a more distinguished and memorable name throughought their life? If you were going to name a child (or choose your own name) would you choose a popular or rare name?

2006-11-23 13:45:46 · 22 answers · asked by squidman 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting Newborn & Baby

So far, I think Jim H has the best answer. They could always change it.
Alison has a good point. I don't mean an embarrasing name or something easily contstrued to mean something else. No "Aryan" or "Weiner" or anything like that for my child, but hopefully a name that they will not find in their age group. One that people will remember.
I'm for it, My wife kinda leans to more common names.

Anyone out there have any more input on the subject? has anyone had any severe emotional damage suffered from a poorly picked name?

2006-11-23 14:50:45 · update #1

22 answers

My family says that I obsess about naming children. I look up the meaning, check for common spelling variations, and look at the monogram before I pick something (I know I pastor with a daughter whose initials are H.E.L.). I also like names that have formal versions and built in nicknames. My mom says you should stand on your porch and yell it to see if it would be difficult to hollar at a child.
I have 2 siblings that changed their name spellings to make them stand out, however, I have spent my whole life spelling out my name for people and I think it is a pain in the neck. We named 2 of our kids uncommon, but traditional names and it worked out fine. The other child was named a classic name that jumped to popularity as soon as we used it. Everytime we are in a store, we say his name and 8 kids turn their heads. I guess that we didn't do enough research that year.
We are expecting again and I am shooting for classic names again, but ones you don't hear in recent generations. I am thinking Charles (Charlie) or Lillian (Lilly). I also like Vivian, but not crazy about "Vi" as a nickname. I really hate names with no nicknames. Brandon is a charming guy, but his friends call him "B" or variation of his middle name because "Bran" just sounds too healthy I guess. I also like names that are obviously a specific sex. If you see names spelled out, you know if Erin is a boy, or a girl. If you heard the name, you don't know. Is Skylar a boy? I have seen it used both ways. I like clear names.

This may seem like a long soapbox rant, but when you have a husband who wanted to name your firstborn "Unique" you think about these things a lot.

2006-11-24 08:37:57 · answer #1 · answered by Love My Babies 3 · 0 0

I have an extremely unusual name. it is not harmful. I find it ten times more annoying now that im an adult then I ever did as a kid. First of all no one can pronounce it right when reading it....i get variations that are nothing like how it is spelled, it will go from geneve to genevieve, geneva, genene, and its extremely annoying.It is even more anoying when i tell people my name and they still say "genene? Geneva?" and i just want to jump on them cause its not that hard to get a name right is it. So now when people mispronounce my name and it happens all the time I just go with the flow and dont correct them unless im going to see them a lot more often.
Because my name is such a pain in the *** now I chose a common name for my daughter, emily is her name and I am glad she wont have problems with it, but on the same note not knowing how common it was when i named her i wish i would have chosen something a little more unique but not stupid complicated like geneve.

2006-11-24 12:58:08 · answer #2 · answered by jennyve25 4 · 0 0

The parents should choose the name THEY feel comfortable with - Talk to a genealogical researcher about 'strange' names and you will get an ear full - "Ima Hog" and "Ura Hog" are real names - just to pick a couple that stand out.

My wife and I chose "conventional" names for our children, names that honored one or more of our relatives. However some of OUR children (ten of them!) were quite creative, not only in changing THEIR names, but in naming THEIR children. How does "Candela Angelica" sound? Roughly translates it means "Angel of Light" - And the name describes her perfectly!

Consider the Johnny Cash song, "A boy named Sue" - Or how abut Souix? Or non-gender specific names like Mauriece? Or Adrian? - the latter can cause some confusion later in life, but I've never seen where a given name REMAINED a problem for long!

Children can be very adept at solving a problem assoicated with a name that is or becomes troublesome. For reasons associated with terms of use of this site, I cannot tell you my real LAST name, but all my life I have had people associate my name with an infamous gangster. I've learned to make a joke of it, and to use the association to ensure they remember my real name - it has been VERY useful - especially when job hunting or in other areas where it is important that people remember you.

One of my daughters was named "Dorothy" after my mother - but by the time she was in high school she had everybody calling her "Dolly" - she is now "thirty something" with children of her own and even the wife and I call her Dolly because that is the name she chose for herself. Conversly, one daughter was named Clarrisa. Yes, I misspelled it on the birth certificate! We called her "Clissie" (sounds like "sissy") as she was growing up. Today she is also a mother, and has everybody calling her Clarrisa - and she LIKES the misspelling as she says it makes her "unique".

A name is what the child makes of it - or changes it to! In some cultures it is common practice that a child pick his/her own name at a certain age - in other cultures it is quite common for a full grown adult to adapt another name - and here in the USA we even have a way to legally change our name if we so desire.

Give the baby any name YOU like - It's a gift. But don't expect him/her to KEEP it.

2006-11-23 22:13:12 · answer #3 · answered by Jim H 1 · 1 0

I think it's important to distinguish between names that are simply unusual or unique and names that are unusual because they are embarassing and ridiculous. There's a big difference between naming your kid an unusual name like Cyrus, Talbot, or Margo and between naming your kid Clamidia, Aryan, or Krysterferr (all names actually given to babies at a hospital I worked at). The former can be an asset to a child. The latter is a torment.

Personally, I would opt for the middle ground: names that are neither too common nor too unusual are best.

2006-11-23 21:58:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Unusual names are beautiful and unique. My name is Stephanie, and I remember confusion when I had a teacher by the same name in Elem. School. There were two Justins in our class, and two Jermaines. Every girl now is Britney (some spelling of it) or Hillary. I'm not sure why moms don't just go ahead and call them Madonna....Hmm. My kids are Skylar (not unusual but not exceptionally common) Cayman (only one I know, anyway) and Harmony (which I have heard once since, in a movie). I doubt any of them will have to go by first name and last initial in school. If they don't like it, the boys have more mainstream middle names: Adrian and Neil. My little girl, I hope she likes being unique because her middle name is Reign. If not, she can pick another name to go by- enough kids I went to school with did it.

2006-11-23 23:19:46 · answer #5 · answered by imjustasteph 4 · 1 0

I used to want to name my future daughter "Godiva"--and now that I am older, I laugh and am glad I never did. I wanted a unique name, but not one live "sunflower" or any hippee names, just one that was different but not too different. I have two sons and I ended up with pretty normal, but not too common, like Joe, or john. My first we named from the movie "fight club" his name is Tyler. Before my second son arrived we were going to name him from the movie "the crow" We were going to name him Draven, like the character Eric Draven. My husband and I are into the color black, but that doesn't mean we have to wear it on the outside everyday, we are the same inside. So maybe it doesn't matter what his name is because he will be the same person inside. Anyway, we ended up choosing the name Devon instead of Draven because we thought it to be a bit much on the vampire side. It will come to you...don't worry. You could choose one name, and by the end of the pregnancy you might end up changing it. E-mail me, I can give you a million name if you would like, I just went through this, my son is 2 months old. Good luck regardless.

2006-11-23 23:05:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Giving your child an unusual first name usually sets him/her up for a lifetime of having to spell it out. People do it to make their child stand out, but I think children already stand out; there's no other child exactly like yours. I would hate to be a celebrity child and go through life as an Apple or Pilot Inspektor. At this rate plain names will soon be the most unusual ones. ("Your name is John? FREAK.")

2006-11-23 21:57:20 · answer #7 · answered by Come on in, the water's lovely 5 · 1 0

There is a very interesting chapter in the book "Freakonomics" devoted to this issue. They found that there is an interestingly strong correlation between names and success. In many cases, unusual names COULD be economically harmful, or at least, certain names tended to show up far too often to be coincidence in groups of economically harmed people.

2006-11-23 21:57:43 · answer #8 · answered by Seth R 1 · 1 0

You know, my name is Emily, and I have 3 friends named Emily, and I think it's fun and would never change my name. But that's just my opinion. =)
One thing I would watch out for are names that are hard to spell and names that are hard to pronounce. I mean, if your kid has a name tag on, are people going to be able to say his/her name, or are they always going to ask, "How do you say that?" And are people always going to misspell it? I know a little girl who's name is Emmalee, and I feel so sorry for her because everyone is always going to spell her name wrong. That would drive me crazy!
Also, what may seem like a cute name for an infant may sound stupid for an adult. Will the name fit your child at age 50 as well as it fits him/her as a newborn?
Good luck!

2006-11-23 23:57:56 · answer #9 · answered by emily 2 · 1 0

If I could choose between having a unique name or a common name, I'd choose a unique name.

My name is Emily. Do you have any idea how many people are named Emily? Do you have any idea how many girls there were in my class named Emily? Do you have any idea how many times my parents would call out "Emily" and 10 other girls turned around? Do you have any idea how annoying that was? I rest my case. I'd rather have a unique name any day--even if it meant I was teased for it every once in awhile. Believe it or not, I was teased anyway for having a common name. Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess.

2006-11-23 21:47:05 · answer #10 · answered by CelebrateMeHome 6 · 2 2

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