Comments on: Friday Fun Thread: What’s in a Name?

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:03:05 +0000

@pilker – I am late late late to coming back and checking this thread but oddly, my grandmother’s name is Mildred and she FORBADE me from using it for any of my future kids, as did my mother. Personally I think “Millie” is such a cute nickname it almost redeems it, but since people with that actual name hate it so much I will respect their wishes.

By: emilyanne

emilyanne — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:12:34 +0000

I used to loathe my name which isn’t actually emily (a name I stole from my sister as I was alway envious of the fact that growing up there were no Emilys in our class but tons of kids with my name, oh how times change).

Anyway I so despised the name I was given that I really wanted to give my daughter a name that wouldn’t be common, unfortunately my husband and I also wanted to give her a name that had resonance for us and the name we ended up with is increasingly popular particularly in the UK so there’s a strong chance she’ll have exactly the same situation I had growing up.

My son on the other hand has an Irish name which while popular in Ireland is barely heard of in the US, where people constantly mispronounce it. I sometimes wonder if he’ll hate me for giving it to him.

As a side note I wanted to call him Oscar but my husband flatly refused, and yes it did make me think of Oscar the Grouch but I chose to um ignore that.

By: Rose

Rose — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:54:29 +0000

I’ve been having big problems with my name recently, because a discussion came up in my literature class how flowers are the symbol for anything that’s beautiful but without substance or doesn’t last very long. No one wants to feel like that’s who they are, though. I also grew up Catholic and my parents made an effort to name each of their children after saints, and while some of the saints have really kick-ass stories behind them, clothing homeless people and fighting dragons, St. Rose of Lima was (imagine this) famous for her beauty. My full name is “Rosemarie Eulalia,” which sounds obnoxiously Disney-princess-esque to me. I’ve been trying to decide whether I want to go by Rose or Rosemarie or throw it all out the window and go by Bobo, which is a family nickname.

By: craftydabbler

craftydabbler — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:33:22 +0000

@PhDork, Mackey – Brown hair names aren’t names that mean having a particular color hair, they are just names I associate with brown hair. The name I really wanted to give if I had a daughter was Athena. The others were Sophia, Genevieve, Ananda, and Catherine. My daughter was quite a surprise as she was born with red hair. We found out later that my husbands dad had red hair as a kid, an uncle of mine had red hair (he died young), and supposedly my grandmother had red hair, but she dyed it her whole life so I’m not sure that is true.

By: skara

skara — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:42:06 +0000

my name is pretty common, and in high school I got nicknamed “skara” which has stuck among a few people, but I wish it had spread more, since I love the unusualness of it. my middle name is Elizabeth, and ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to go by some nickname variation of that. even now, I like the idea of being “Liz.” I do really like my name though, and think it suits me. I think I just like the idea of nicknames.

By: Es

Es — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:01:42 +0000

Oh, middle names… Ehsan is my middle name, I have nothing against my first name but it’s very much not me. After my eldest sister digging her heels in aged 11 and changing her name from the Iranian one she had to a very English one, and my middle sister having a name that works for both nationalities, my parents wanted to give me a British name too so I could choose. Goodness knows why they put it first and then never called me by it, I think I found out I had it as a name when I went to school!
My mother (Edith Margaret) goes by her middle name, as did my aunt (Alwyn Jean) and their mum (Maud Marion). You’d think after that, she’d have put the name she inteded to use for her daughter first!

By: Ariel

Ariel — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:11:26 +0000

I’m a girl and my name is Ariel. It’s actual a male name but sounds female. I’ve only met 3 other Ariels in my lifetime. 2 were boys and 1 of them I just met in my bowling class a few months ago. I was the first other Ariel he had ever met!

I actually don’t think my name really fits me but I love my name anyway. It’s uncommon, but most people have heard of the name before.

The only thing is, people pronounce it wrong when they read it off a paper. It’s pronounced Air-E-Ohl, but most people pronounce it R-E-Al. I prefer the wrong pronunciation over the real one anyway so I never correct them! Which means only my friends and family pronounce it right and people who don’t know me well pronounce it wrong. It’s a great way to tell who is my real friend and who isn’t

By: waxghost

waxghost — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:47:13 +0000

The names I hear repeatedly here are boy-ish names for girls (Riley, Payton, Madison – once knew a soccer team of little girls where 3 or 4 of the 10 were Madisons) and ultramasculine for the boys (Gunnar, Hunter, Wolf). I live in Oklahoma and most of the kids I hang out with are my very suburban niece’s friends, though.

Personally, I’m torn between giving my kid a really weird name (I have one, and I’ve slowly come to love it) or a very traditional one – so traditional, in fact, that it’s been in my family for hundreds of years.

By: Brennan

Brennan — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:09:14 +0000

@Anka,
Cool! I’ll have to check those books out.

By: gogobooty

gogobooty — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:34:37 +0000

“Krispin” makes me think of double glazed donuts, not red hair. And i LIKE red hair!