Curious- Do you want popular or unusal?

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Registered: 01-20-2007
Curious- Do you want popular or unusal?
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Mon, 02-19-2007 - 9:26am

I have a relatively semi-common name. If it falls in the 100s ever, it is usually at the bottom, but it is always close. My dh on the other hand has a VERY unusual name w/ an unusual spelling. My first boyfriend had an EXTREMELY unusual first name.

Both of these men hated their names. Had/have to constantly defend them and deal with stereotypes surrounding their names.

Now that we've had two kids, it is my dh aim not to "curse" his kids with an unusual name. I think that I go with the mainstay more often than not because I like the names.

(Our babes are Alexandra Estelle and Adam Ronald- both middles are family names.)

So why is it that you want names that our more popular or more unusual?

baby

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Registered: 09-29-2005
Mon, 02-19-2007 - 7:04pm

Per the subject line, my answer would be neither (or both, depending on how you look at it). ;)

I actually prefer established names that are either well-known but not too commonly-used (Gwyneth, Talulla, Matilda, Beatrix, etc.) or names that are a bit more unusual but still familiar. To use my actual children's names as examples:

Kaitlyn Abrielle -- obviously Kaitlyn is popular (but I'd loved it since I was a child when a close family friend named their dd this, same spelling), and while Abrielle is familiar (similar to the ever-popular Gabrielle), it's not that common

Devanie Rose -- Devanie isn't common in the least, but it is similar to Devin (which is what we tell people to shorten it to when they just don't get it ). I felt a simple, sweet mn would balance it out nicely, so Rose it was (also happens to be a family name, though not the only reason we loved it)

Abigail Fiora -- again, Abigail is quite popular, and I didn't feel comfortable using such a common name unless she also had a less-common nn option, so we call her Aila to avoid all the other Abbys. Like Devanie, Fiora is more unusual, but still familiar (technically a form of both Fiona and Flora, and Italians immediately recognize it as being similar to names like Fiorenza)

And if you were able to keep track through all that, you see that each has both a popular name and one that's not even in the SSA's top 1000, though all are valid names with traditional spellings. So for me I'd say it's all about options and a good balance. ;)

Hopefully that made sense. LOL

~Kelli (I've stopped signing my name to most posts, but figured I'd add it here so you can see where I'm coming from ... having grown up with arguably one of THE most common names of the 70s, with a kre8iv spelling to boot LOL)

ETA: After reading through all the posts (and seeing most have the same opinion on this ), I just had to say ITA agree with the prom dress analogy of another poster. Wonderful way to phrase it! LOL Also, I forgot to mention any masculine names, since we don't have any boys (yet), but some examples of my taste there would be Ewan, Finnian/Findlay, Lachlan, etc. All in my top five, but none in the SSA's top 1000 recently. ;)




Edited 2/19/2007 7:15 pm ET by mommyagain6124

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Registered: 08-26-2006
Mon, 02-19-2007 - 7:07pm

Hi Crystal, I did not write my post intending to insult anyone. Please note that I said, "I think it is important for someone to choose a name a name they love. If that name is Madison or Caden, then go for it." Jacob and Joshua are classic and I happen to adore the name Sydney. Just because a name dates someone isn't bad, my fn is Brooke - clearly someone with this name was born after 1975 and I like my name. If you check old posts I often recomend my name. The purpose of the post was to find out why someone choses a name - I was trying to give insight into my thought process on chosing names. I am sure that hopingforanother2008 would like to hear what criteria you used when you named your children.

Brooke

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Registered: 07-12-2006
Mon, 02-19-2007 - 8:54pm

I like UNCOMMON.

siggy
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2007
Mon, 02-19-2007 - 9:19pm
I prefer the traditional names because they are simply common and they seem to fit in perfectly with everyone else I don't want my kid to be tease because the have an unusual name. My daughter's full name is Crystan Sarah-Rose Parkerson. To me that's special because Crystan is a common name cut its spelled different so it's still different. Sarah was my grandmother's name and Rose is my husband's grandmother's name.
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Registered: 04-01-1999
Mon, 02-19-2007 - 11:02pm

My sons have very traditional names that are popular but I

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Registered: 04-04-2003
Tue, 02-20-2007 - 7:10pm
I would agree with a lot of pp's, balance btw popular and unusual is the key. I hated being one of a million Sarah's in school. FWIW, I'm still Sarah D, there are 3 other Sarah's doing Master's degrees in my department! I'd definately stay away from super popular and made up spellings - and made up names for that matter!

 


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Registered: 01-07-2004
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 2:47pm

So why is it that you want names that our more popular or more unusual?

hello!! i think i would like the names to be more in the middle-i grew up with a pretty mild first name and a 10 letter yugoslavic last name-and correcting people constantly on how to say it and spell it-OY VEY! i just imagine if i had to deal with it as my first name...so i wouldnt want my kids to constantly go through people mispronouncing their names and misspelling them. i like unique, but i wouldnt want my kids to be labeled as weird because their name is weird...BUT i also dont want my kids to be constantly known as name w. since theres 5 other kids with that name in their grade. but they also had to be a name that no one in either family had and one that both me and my hubby liked. we went with violet rose and isabelle grace.(the middle names were picked because they meant something to me-not because they "flowed" good or anything. i know they are becoming more common now as "filler" middle names, but oh well) i didnt really pick either based on popularity too much. yeah, it was a factor, but not the main one...im not sure if i answered your question fully or not-lol-but thats why i picked the names i did. take care!!
joanne
maman2goons@aol.com

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2007
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 3:25pm
Wow! that is EXACTLY the way I feel about it too... and I might I just say, I love the way you string words together...
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-14-2003
Wed, 02-21-2007 - 5:13pm

I like the middle ground as well, but I find it interesting as always on this boards how people judge what a popular name is - some feel that naything in the top 100 is too popular for them, for others it's the top 1000. My cut-off is nothing in the top 25 in my province, for girls anyway. For boys the type of names I tend to like are very traditional and classic and therefore very popular. But I try to stay out of the top 5.
I would much rather have a #1 name for my child than something made-up that nobody could spell or pronounce. Like some of the PPs, my children have a difficult last name to pronounce so I want them to have easily recognizeable, easily pronounceable first names.

Interesting topic! Thanks for posting this!

Steph

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

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Registered: 10-27-2006
Thu, 02-22-2007 - 6:48pm

I like more unusual I guess.My kids are Alexa Rene',Darius Jevon,Isaiha Reshon and Ty Amari.I like pretty unusual names but..am not brave enough to use them so I went with more unusual for the middle names.Some names I really like but..would never use.

Axel
Phoenix
Cruz

Lyric

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