Wild Card Names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do some people name their children really wild card names?

Just merely curious.

For example, my child has a friend in her class whose name is Chasity. Pretty enough, faith based perhaps. Then DD told me her sister's name is Voracity. Interesting, I think.

But besides that example, people name their children all sorts of names. My DD's name is in the top atleast 20-50 girl names.

I don't mean, wild card as in different based on someone's ethnic origin but perhaps just wild or different for that sake.

You've never spent time in Mormon country if you think those names are kooky. Whenever we visit family in Utah and go to places where there are parents and children, I always hear a new one that makes me gag. Like, "Kinterly" which is probably spelled "Kynntyrli."

Hysterical! There is a crazy youtube mormon family Not Enough Nelsons and all her kids have either dumb names, or normal names with dumb spellings- ElleCee, NayVee, etc., etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I once had in my house, for my daughter's seventh birthday:

Brooke Lynne
Brooklin
Brook Linn

It would have been fantastic if they had been sisters, but alas just classmates.

Haha- my DD has a Brookelynn and a Brooklyn on her sports team

[Anonymous]

Sophia is the Jennifer of today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, people can name their kids whatever they want. I absolutely did not want to name my kids some boring common name in the top 20 or 50. I didn’t want them to have to be Henry L. or Sophie T. or one of the 12 Jacks in the grade. Ask any Jennifer how she feels. I also didn’t do made up/inventive spelling names. I’ll be honest because this is anonymous — those seem uneducated to me. But I don’t care what other people choose.

I agree. There are several Olivias in my DD's grade, and one is misspelled, presumably because the parents realized Olivia was too basic and over-saturated. The misspelling makes it that much worse.

I consider there to be three main camps -- Basic names spelled right, quirky names spelled right + made up names spelled logically according to rules of English without unnecessary apostrophes/dashes/capitalizations, and then all manner of misspelled and confusingly spelled names. I don't look down on names in the second category because at some point in time every name in the first category was a "weird" name until it caught on. The name "Vanessa" was invented by Jonathan Swift as a tribute to his lover.

People dipping into the third category need their heads examined. There is no need for "Keightlynne" or "Vylitt" if you think Caitlin and Violet are too basic. Pick something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably veracity (meaning truthfulness) not voracity (meaning hunger). Is it Chasity, which isn't a word, or Chastity?

Ha ha This is probably correct? It seems to fit the pattern. It is spelled Chasity per a gift bag she wrote her name on.

So what you are really asking is why do people not give their kids white bread, mainstream names like you did?

I'm not the OP, but yes, I wonder the above. And I marvel that you (and others) view "mainstream" names in a negative light. And I marvel that you think unusual names are cool or interesting. My children's' lovely mainstream names have personal significance to our family and honored family members and their heritage. I have plenty of creative outlets, and so do they; their damn names don't need to be one.

But why, though? And stop the assumptions. One of my sons is named John. Can’t get more mainstream than that. He is named after DH’s dad and my grandmother.

Why do you care, truly, why people name their kids something different? How does it affect you? Why does it bother you if someone names their child something “extra”?

Note - nothing I said was negative.

It always seems to be the folks who gave their kids the "extra" names who are casting insults at the "mainstream" namers. "White bread" was clearly meant pejoratively above. We're the parents who are deemed "boring" and lacking in creativity. Talk about "assumptions" -- it's a name!!

When I hear a very "extra" or very unusual truly "wild card" name, I do wonder why the parents chose it. Do I "care", nah. But I do wonder ... and, I think it's a pretty safe assumption that those parents wanted me to.

And speaking of assumptions, why do parents assume that their kid would rather be named Poot than be Jennifer S in a class with four Jennifers. Like, is the former really a better fate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw the other day some idiot on tiktok who named her baby Poot. That -- POOT -- is this human being's actual, legal name. That is just objectively and unequivocally cruel.

The difficult spellings like you describe OP, that seem incorrect but are actually how the name is spelled, have to be a total PITA for a kid and as an adult too. I don't, and never will, get it.

Misspelling your child's name in a weird, unnecessary, non-standard, and uncommon way is worse than having an off-beat name. These are actual spellings of Violet that I have seen:

Vilet
Violett
Vyolet

These women will be correcting their legal and official paperwork their whole lives. I'd rather be named correctly spelled Tallahassee Serendipity Smith than any misspelled basic name.

Ick, your post has me feeling violeted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family who told their children that they were named for the cities in which they were conceived. Whether that's the truth or not, I don't know or care to know.

My friend's son's middle name is Diego. Guess where he was made?

I wouldn't assume he was conceived in San Diego Diego is a perfectly sensible and traditional name in Spanish-speaking countries. Could have been named after an ancestor.

DS had a classmate whose middle name was the name of a foreign airline. Like "Finnair" but not that one. Guess the conception behind that one.

[Anonymous]

The only time I give a second thought to someone's kid's name one way or another is if the parent makes a big stink about it. Whether it's William ("I would never consider anything but a CLASSIC name.") or Brunello ("I didn't want to call his name on the playground and have six kids turn around.") I truly don't care what you choose as long as you don't say something sanctimonious about it. Everyone has a name, a reason they have it whether arbitrary or intentional, and the same mundane minutiae and documentation to go along with it. I would much prefer someone who didn't feel the need to defend their choice, never mentioned it, or if pressed just shrugged and said, it means something to us.

Piping in with your rigid opinion on what constitutes a "real" name, what's an appropriate spelling, what's too common, or "trashy", speaks only to your own closed-mindedness. You think choosing certain names makes you sound more educated and elite, but there are cultures where people have one of just a few dozen names, you take your father's name, you're named after something in nature or what was happening the day you were born. Get out more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only time I give a second thought to someone's kid's name one way or another is if the parent makes a big stink about it. Whether it's William ("I would never consider anything but a CLASSIC name.") or Brunello ("I didn't want to call his name on the playground and have six kids turn around.") I truly don't care what you choose as long as you don't say something sanctimonious about it. Everyone has a name, a reason they have it whether arbitrary or intentional, and the same mundane minutiae and documentation to go along with it. I would much prefer someone who didn't feel the need to defend their choice, never mentioned it, or if pressed just shrugged and said, it means something to us.

Piping in with your rigid opinion on what constitutes a "real" name, what's an appropriate spelling, what's too common, or "trashy", speaks only to your own closed-mindedness. You think choosing certain names makes you sound more educated and elite, but there are cultures where people have one of just a few dozen names, you take your father's name, you're named after something in nature or what was happening the day you were born. Get out more.

Ha, it sounds like you care quite a lot!

And neither of your comment examples are sanctimonious. They just express the parents' naming preferences/reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's probably veracity (meaning truthfulness) not voracity (meaning hunger). Is it Chasity, which isn't a word, or Chastity?

This is what is going to embarrass these kids some day. The parents will tell them their names mean One who is Chaste and One who is Truthful, when really they are Two with Parents Who Failed Language Arts Class.

[Anonymous]

IIRC it was David Figlio that did research suggesting that giving children "creative" names was a bad idea, especially creative names with a lower-class bent. Vyvanse is going to have enough problems in his life without people knowing straight up that he has the sort of parents that would name him Vyvanse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I once had in my house, for my daughter's seventh birthday:

Brooke Lynne
Brooklin
Brook Linn

It would have been fantastic if they had been sisters, but alas just classmates.

And yet, I have never met anyone named Yonkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family who told their children that they were named for the cities in which they were conceived. Whether that's the truth or not, I don't know or care to know.

My friend's son's middle name is Diego. Guess where he was made?

I wouldn't assume he was conceived in San Diego Diego is a perfectly sensible and traditional name in Spanish-speaking countries. Could have been named after an ancestor.

DS had a classmate whose middle name was the name of a foreign airline. Like "Finnair" but not that one. Guess the conception behind that one.

A whales vagina

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably veracity (meaning truthfulness) not voracity (meaning hunger). Is it Chasity, which isn't a word, or Chastity?

Ha ha This is probably correct? It seems to fit the pattern. It is spelled Chasity per a gift bag she wrote her name on.

So what you are really asking is why do people not give their kids white bread, mainstream names like you did?

I'm not the OP, but yes, I wonder the above. And I marvel that you (and others) view "mainstream" names in a negative light. And I marvel that you think unusual names are cool or interesting. My children's' lovely mainstream names have personal significance to our family and honored family members and their heritage. I have plenty of creative outlets, and so do they; their damn names don't need to be one.

But why, though? And stop the assumptions. One of my sons is named John. Can’t get more mainstream than that. He is named after DH’s dad and my grandmother.

Why do you care, truly, why people name their kids something different? How does it affect you? Why does it bother you if someone names their child something “extra”?

Note - nothing I said was negative.

It always seems to be the folks who gave their kids the "extra" names who are casting insults at the "mainstream" namers. "White bread" was clearly meant pejoratively above. We're the parents who are deemed "boring" and lacking in creativity. Talk about "assumptions" -- it's a name!!

When I hear a very "extra" or very unusual truly "wild card" name, I do wonder why the parents chose it. Do I "care", nah. But I do wonder ... and, I think it's a pretty safe assumption that those parents wanted me to.

And speaking of assumptions, why do parents assume that their kid would rather be named Poot than be Jennifer S in a class with four Jennifers. Like, is the former really a better fate?

No one cares what you think of their child’s name. Someone named their kid Poot for the same reason I named my son (the ultimate, bland, white bread) John. They wanted to. No one is trying to make you think deeply about Kynnterli.

[Anonymous]

I am almost 40 and have an unusual name that I have always disliked. I named both my kids fairly typical names basically as a reaction to that (and we had a difficult to spell and unusual last name so that was enough!) I think lots of people are reacting to their own experience.