Anyone who has given their child an unusual name ...

[arielsleepingbeauty]

My oldest DD 9, Emerson, is the only one in her school. It was more uncommon when she was first born. I love that she is the only one in her school with that name. When they say the name "Emerson", people know exactly who she is.
My youngest DD8 is Allison. Not an uncommon name or spelling.
I just really love both of their names. I didn't feel that just because one was different that the other one needed to be also. I picked what i wanted because i liked it. It sometimes gets to me that people will ask why i picked an uncommon name for my oldest and an "ordinary" name for my youngest. Some people will also ask why the Allison isn't spelled more dramatic. While the name may be "ordinary" she is definately not.

 

[blana]

I tend to like slightly unusual names. My name is kind of common (it's Rachel), but I only ever met one other person with my name until I came to college. Now, there are four people with my name, different spellings, though, on this tiny campus.

Out my DH's & my 6 nieces, 2 are Rachels.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Some recent names of babies born in my city:

Hennessy
Chiynya
Destanie
Jagger
Utsula
Che'nyiah
Ke'John
MarTavion
Eylina
Mastin
Ericel
Chretien
Makabron
Arian (I hope it is not pronounced as Aryan, and I hope it was unintentional)
Ziariah
Darwin
Gerson
December



* One of the moms was named Oralva and another Lil'Ann.

 

[puffkin]

My husband likes Jason. Maybe we'll name our next dog, Jason - as we are not interested in making babies.

I know we will be destined to have all boys...just the way my family works, so I used my good girls names on the cats Lilly and Riley. Love both names so much, and they really do fit the cats perfectly. At least I got to use them

One of the prettiest unusual names was a girl I met at camp one summer -- she was Scandanavian - her name was Astrid -- I thought it was just magical.

That name might become more popular as 2 TV shows have characters with that name (Fringe and The Office). I had never heard of it before that though.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

My husband likes Jason. Maybe we'll name our next dog, Jason - as we are not interested in making babies.

My DBF's name is Jason. One of my favorite "regular" names for a boy!

I have an old fashioned virtue name--and not one of the prettier ones like Grace. It's a good name, but I sound like I should be a buttoned down stern-faced teacher. (I used to be a fun teacher!)

Please don't say Constance! That was my dear grandmother's name and I think it's absolutely beautiful! Should I ever have a daughter, I'd love to name her Constance, but it wouldn't flow with DBF's last name.

I just saw a "Harlow" in this thread...that's pretty. I always liked Venice for a girl, too.

 

[mcco5543]

Not a fan of my name

Liza Ruth.


Liza ..pronounced like the famous Liza Minelli ... Liza with a Z


"Lie-Zuh"

NEVER EVER has anyone gotten it on the first try.

People hear and see what they want to hear and see...and it's never Liza

(It's not short for anything either, it really is "just" Liza)

I would like my name except everyone gets it wrong so often that all I ever do is correct people. Well actually, I stopped correcting people, now I'll answer to all sorts of mispronunciations even if I'm aware that someone else in the room has the name (I.E. Lisa, Linda, Elise). I just assume you mean me because I've given up hope that someone might actually pronounce my name right upon first reading or first meeting.

Ruth I just don't think sounds as pretty as i'd like but I was named after someone very special to my dad so I'll always keep it and use it.

 

[golfgal]

My DD(9)'s name is Shayde pronounced "shade". But people keep calling the poor girl "Sha day" lol

See, this is the whole point--why do you feel sorry for your daughter yet you are the one that chose to spell her name that way--why didn't you just spell it "Shade"?

 

[cheermom1]

I totally forgot about my friends sis, she named her baby Mister

also I know someone with the name Orie...

 

[aprilgail2]

I totally forgot about my friends sis, she named her baby Mister

also I know someone with the name Orie...

LOL--- Mr. Mister Brown...a little redundant!

 

[cheermom1]

LOL--- Mr. Mister Brown...a little redundant!

I know - this is why she did it - her bf's (father of the baby) mom named him Mister and then his name thinking that is what she was supposed to do. So Mister is his legal first name and she thought she would carry on his name????

 

[Tasmen]

We named our daughter, Eliska. It's the name of one of my Aunt's and it was the name of one of her Aunt's. So I guess you could say it's a family name. People mispronounce it all the time.

I did a little research and apparently it's a Czech name. Go figure. We have no Czech in our family history that I've found.

When I was picking out middle names, my mom suggested 'Claire'. I shot her down immediately, though, as I wasn't going to have a child that people could call E. Claire.

 

[pixiewings71]

Some recent names of babies born in my city:

Hennessy
Chiynya
Destanie
Jagger
Utsula
Che'nyiah
Ke'John
MarTavion
Eylina
Mastin
Ericel
Chretien
Makabron
Arian (I hope it is not pronounced as Aryan, and I hope it was unintentional)
Ziariah
Darwin
Gerson
December



* One of the moms was named Oralva and another Lil'Ann.

I work with someone named Erjan, pronounced Arian. It isn't a "new" name or made up in any way. Nor does it mean they have Aryan ties.

also found this...
The name Arian is a baby boy name. The name Arian comes from the Welsh origin. In Welsh The meaning of the name Arian is: Silver. Derived from Greek Arion, mythological magic horse born to Poseidon and Demeter.

 

[GlenbeulahGal]

Just shy of 10 years ago when I was thinking up a name for my soon to be born son my father-in-law suggested Kaegan (rhymes with wagon). I liked it instantly and it was, as far as I knew, unique. Now I hear it all the time. In fact, last year there was a boy in his class with the same name and only a couple of days apart in birth as well. We gave him Ryan for a middle name so that is a bit more common for him to fall back on.

My 4yo daughters name was a challenge. Dad is Italian, Irish and very conservative so he wanted something traditional. I finally came across a name under boys names that I liked and he did too. Britton (like Britain) with a middle name of Gianna to keep dad happy (it was supposed to be Gabriella but Grandma decided she didn't like Britton so she would call her Gabby - so I changed it). I have met 2 other people with her same first name. One was a woman my age who was named after a restaurant that her parents met at in Kansas City and the other was a boy about 6 yrs old.

I prefer more unusual names over extremely common. Naming trends tend to annoy me too. Madison and Mackenzie are adorable names but were severely overused.

I agree with a previous poster...the name has to match the child. Pick out a few names like 5 or 6 of each sex and figure it out after the baby is born and you get to know and see which is a better fit.

 

[clovergirl5]

I'm a 21-year-old Shannon and I'm sure my parents never imagined so many people would have spelling difficulties with my name. I constantly have to spell it out. Otherwise I've seen Shannen, Shannyn, Shannan, Shannin, and the most common, Shanon. And here I thought I had the most common spelling of my name!

My sisters name is Shanon with 1 "n". People don't get it right just like mine, Jenifer with 1 "n".

 

[CharityLynn]

That reminds me of when I was pregnant with my daughter. I liked the name Charity, but my husband said no - he thought it sounded like an exotic dancer's name We named her Tessa Raine.

LMAO I am no exotic dancer....my name is Charity, obviously and while I grew up with the "Money for Charity" stuff I like my name. If the only thing another kid can use to pick on you is your name I think you're going to okay. I like Koi, I am in minority obviously but really I don't think it is that big a deal.

Another funny thing about the quoted post...my daughter is Rayne Renee...we love the name. Yes its unusual and yes she will probably hear rain Rain go away someday but we prepared her for it and actually in kindergarten they sang the song for a concert and the kids in her class actually changed the words to Rayne Rayne come and play.

I do know a family with 3 daughters named Peaches, Goldie, and Evie.

Other unusual? names mentioned that i love include:
Eden
Willoughby (hope I spelled it right)
Finley (love Finn)
Ryleigh (common here now)
Ivy
Celeste (wanted to name Rayne this...husband won lol not really unusual either but an old under used name)

I know there are more but my brain just froze lol

 

[NikitaZee]

LMAO I am no exotic dancer....my name is Charity, obviously and while I grew up with the "Money for Charity" stuff I like my name. If the only thing another kid can use to pick on you is your name I think you're going to okay. I like Koi, I am in minority obviously but really I don't think it is that big a deal.

Another funny thing about the quoted post...my daughter is Rayne Renee...we love the name. Yes its unusual and yes she will probably hear rain Rain go away someday but we prepared her for it and actually in kindergarten they sang the song for a concert and the kids in her class actually changed the words to Rayne Rayne come and play.

I do know a family with 3 daughters named Peaches, Goldie, and Evie.

Other unusual? names mentioned that i love include:
Eden
Willoughby (hope I spelled it right)
Finley (love Finn)
Ryleigh (common here now)
Ivy
Celeste (wanted to name Rayne this...husband won lol not really unusual either but an old under used name)

I know there are more but my brain just froze lol

Haha - I'm so glad you have a good sense of humor! I saw the name Charity in the response column and I remembered my earlier post, and I thought, uh-oh - I'm going to hear it about that remark. BTW, I still love the name.

 

[CharityLynn]

Nah I thought it was funny, I have never heard that. It was too good I am actually telling my husband and mom about it lol. I always get "what a pretty name" now.
I work at a local zoo here and recently a mother yelled "CharityLynn!!" My head went right up and the guy I was workign with started to laugh...they weren't yelling at me..lol it was a girl around 9/10 who had my name.

 

[babytrees]

I have a fairly uncommon name (Theresa...with the h...the other way is just spelled wrong) and my girls do also....but I don't think they are weird and they like them.

Oldest DD is Cassidy Cheyenne....other than in preschool when there was another Cassidy in the building (same birthdate too...but he was a boy) she hasn't had any others in the school building. Now there are a lot of Cassidy's in the under 8 age group (she's 17).

Cassidy named her little sister, Abigail KateLynn (KateLynn is for her 2 grandmothers...Kate is what my mom always wanted to be called growing up and Lynn is dad's mom's middle name)....not all that common but not so unusual....until you get people to correctly spell her nickname....Abi. I am a firm believer in not adding letters to a name to make a nickname.

I have come across many odd names....most fit the kids....except Abbey....she is nothing like a nunnery.

 

[NikitaZee]

I have a fairly uncommon name (Theresa...with the h...the other way is just spelled wrong)

That's interesting - I grew up in New York, and the name Theresa was very common. We have 2 in our family. A PP said the same about the name Gianna - that it's unusual where she lives, but it's another very common name in NY.

 

[Briarmom]

I have a fairly uncommon name (Theresa...with the h...the other way is just spelled wrong) and my girls do also....but I don't think they are weird and they like them.

Oldest DD is Cassidy Cheyenne....other than in preschool when there was another Cassidy in the building (same birthdate too...but he was a boy) she hasn't had any others in the school building. Now there are a lot of Cassidy's in the under 8 age group (she's 17).

Cassidy named her little sister, Abigail KateLynn (KateLynn is for her 2 grandmothers...Kate is what my mom always wanted to be called growing up and Lynn is dad's mom's middle name)....not all that common but not so unusual....until you get people to correctly spell her nickname....Abi. I am a firm believer in not adding letters to a name to make a nickname.

I have come across many odd names....most fit the kids....except Abbey....she is nothing like a nunnery.

Theresa is the correct spelling, IMO.

Abigail is a very common name. It was ranked #8 in 2008. Love that name, and Cassidy, btw.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

My kids have uncommon names and they are spelled correctly as well. Growing up as Jessica made sure of that. I get called Jennifer all the time.