Do You Like Unique Baby Names?

[robinb]

Arg!!! Sorry TRIPLE post. Yikes, what was I doing????

 

[Pigeon]

I like names that are somewhat old fashioned, aren't horribly popular, but aren't "unique" in the sense of being invented for the occasion.

For example, I like:

Eleanor
Naomi
Jacqueline
Claire
Evelyn
Margaret
Lucy
Meredith

 

[palmtreegirl]

Love them.

 

[Aurora63]

I like names that are unique without being weird. My name, Noelle, is one of those. I hated it as a kid, due to the questions of "Were you born on Christmas?" (NO!) and kids always singing "The First Noel" to me around the holidays. Now I like it since it is unique but it is still a real name!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

I do!

I don't plan on having kids, but I do have names picked out. I'm not telling what they are though, because you'll steal them.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

I don't mind unique but I think names should be able to be spelled without too much difficulty and should be obvious first names. I like it when old names come back (some of my favorite names are Evangeline, Millie, Annabelle, and Cornelia) and names that have some literary or historical significance. But other than pets, I'm a long way off from having to worry about names.

 

[Castlebound]

A guy at my DH's office and his wife just had a baby and named her Finley Jane. They said that Finley is an older Irish name. My first thought when I heard it was that it would have been a good name for a charactor from Finding Nemo. They love it and that is what matters.

 

[Briarmom]

Unique means 'the ONLY one of it's kind' so I don't think there are any unique names. Someone somewhere will have the same name as your child.

In truth, what most people who are looking for 'unique' names end up naming their child something 'uneeek' or 'kre8ive.'
Misspelling a name does not make it unusual.
If there are 4 girls named Emily/EmmaLee/Emeleigh/Emelie in a class (for example) they will STILL be called by their first name and their last initial. Because there is no difference in pronuciation.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

If there are 4 girls named Emily/EmmaLee/Emeleigh/Emelie in a class (for example) they will STILL be called by their first name and their last initial. Because there is no difference in pronuciation.

That's a good point. Also, just because a name is in the top 10 nationwide does not mean it's popular in your area. For example, I've met only 2 Emilys under the age of 4 but know of 5 Brooklyns under the age of 2.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I hate names that the spelling and pronunciation don't match.

 

[Mandabella]

I prefer traditional and classic names that are either feminine or masculine. I detest "creative spellings." I don't quite understand the desire for a unique name, but then again I'm not a parent and have no current amibition to be one. So if that is what you want for your child, then go to it and have a blast!


Just remember, there are other ways for your child to stand out from a crowd of their peers than their unique name.

 

[lecach]

So I hope I dont get flamed, but you asked for opinions so here is mine:

Can't stand unique names. Especially those with madeup spellings. Now if its something not too weird (like Brooklyn or Harley) that's okay. But a child at daycare is named Melati and that is just too strange.

When we had our son we had several rules that we agreed to follow when picking out his name:

Had to be able to tell whether the child is a girl or boy

Had to be a no-brainer on the spelling - I am Leigh and it can be spelled so many ways, I get tired of spelling it out for people

And whatever his first name is must be the name we call him. DH goes by his middle name and its such a pain with legal forms and doctors, etc.


I once heard that when you are picking a name, put the title of Dr. in front of it. Because when the child grows up you dont want to predispose their occupation because of their name. For example the name Destiny sounds more like a stripper than a Dr. and names that are hard to pronounce are the worst. At my last job I had to help set up interviews. If I couldnt pronounce the name, I put them on the bottom of the pile. Dateline did a story - sent in people for interviews with the same exact qualifications but with either traditional names or unique hard to pronounce names. And the ones with the traditional names got hired far more often.

But you know - to each his own.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I like names that have meaning and significance. Our area is very diverse, and we have a lot of friends from different cultural backgrounds so I'm learning a lot of names that are new to me. Sometimes it's hard to get used to the pronunciation/spelling thing when they are not "English" names. We now know Lakiah, Bich (pronounced "bik"), Mylinh (really should be pronounced "mee-ling" but she lets people pronounce it "my-lynn"), Mei-mei, Anh, Marionna, Kanako, Nikhil, Raksha, Karthik, and Pep. I think it's fun to learn the meanings and history behind their names. It helps me appreciate that my world is bigger than just my own background.

 

[tripletsmama]

I like names that are given for a reason. I also think they should be able to be pronounced or the kid is going to be given a hard time. I was a kindergarten teacher for 4 years before becoming a stay at home mom. Kids are mean to other kids when their names are too strange. Some names I encountered in teaching were...Uniqua, Belilah, Adriella and Jakober. I didn't like those. I picked my girls' names because they all meant something to me. I don't know any other kids named Eva or Keira (know one other Amelia) and I like that about my girls' names. I guess I am saying they should be unique but not too unique.

 

[kpm76]

I'm not really a big fan of unique names for the most part, unless of course they have some sort of family or personal significance. But I don't like the idea of naming a kid something just to be different.

I like traditional names for the most part. I really don't like trendy names.....sorry, Aiden is a nice enough name but when these boys go to kindergarten there are going to be 5 others in the class with the same name.

 

[Stitch1404]

I'm not really a big fan of unique names for the most part, unless of course they have some sort of family or personal significance. But I don't like the idea of naming a kid something just to be different.

I like traditional names for the most part. I really don't like trendy names.....sorry, Aiden is a nice enough name but when these boys go to kindergarten there are going to be 5 others in the class with the same name.

Exactly! I too am a former teacher and it got so old having to address kids as Jacob B. Jacob F. and Jacob M. Yes, there were three Jacobs in one class! That is why I like unique names, I want my kids to stand out.

 

[jgmklmhem]

We are in the midst of the naming fun right now. Social Security has a great web site that breaks down the popular names even out to 1000 by year state etc. My wife and I listed about 25-30 names we likes and then vetoed some of each others and now we are trying to make a name that just sounds good together with each other and our last name. One thing we did is go back to our birth years on the site and look at those popular names. Some are the same as now but others have fallen way off, but we still like them. I am just not a big fan of the unique.

 

[pigletz]

I like unusual names to a point. What I can't stand are the creative spellings. All I can think about with some of my students names is "Wow these parents can't read". Last year I had a Kykyee pronounced like Casey and this summer I have a Murckaiydiez pronounce like Mercedes. Those are just two of them and I usually have about 20 out of 200 that are just completely made up. I also can't stand this trend of "If it's a word then it can be a name". I've had students named Flame, Dollar, Quarter, Princess, Queen, and Unique. I know these kids and know they are perfectly capable of suceeding in the future but I wonder what a potential boss is going to see when they see some of these names.

 

[Briarmom]

"Wow these parents can't read". Last year I had a Kykyee pronounced like Casey and this summer I have a Murckaiydiez pronounce like Mercedes.

Those parents CAN'T read.
Kykyee=Ky-Kee. Since when does ky='s'?


The other one...

 

[paigevz]

No........if there even is such a thing.