Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 09:42     Subject: Wild Card Names
Creative and what are traditionally non-names I am cool with (not that it matters) but the creative spellings get to me. It’s just asking for administrative hassle for the rest of that kids life.

My children have less common names because we wanted out of the top 20 (to avoid being Henry S. Or Henry D) but still known names. I loved naming my kids but its a lot of pressure.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 09:39     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
Anonymous wrote:My kid has a more popular (top 100) name and it did not occur to me to give her a very unusual name. Like I didn't think "I will give her a popular name", it's just when we made our name lists, they were all basically recognizable names of varying levels of popularity but nothing that someone would say "wait, I didn't know that was a name." I haven't looked, but I'd bet most of the names we considered were in the top 1000, probably more like top 300. I've also noticed that a few of what we considered to be more unusual names at the time (this was 2016) are now the names of kids I have encountered in my child's classes and activities. Names like June, Beatrice, Thea, and Josephine. These were names on our list in part because they were names we liked that we'd never known anyone to have, but now I know kids with all these names. So even when we thought we were branching out, we were still very much within the zeitgeist of what people were doing with names.

Having said that, over the years I've encountered kids with much more unusual names and while it felt out there at first, I've come to really like and enjoy them. Some are names that if you'd suggested them to me when I was pregnant, I would have though "oh, awful", it turns out are pretty great names once you experience them as assigned to a child you actually know. I've also realized that a lot of names that sound unusual are actually very similar to names that sound "normal" to me. Like I met a little girl name Beauty and thought "really?" and then realized that I know people named Hope and Grace and those names seem downright basic to me, so why not Beauty (she was a very pretty child, for the record). I met a kid named Indiana and that felt out there, and then realized that he could be named for the state or the movie character, so actually it's kind of normal. And so on.

The process of naming a kid is weird an I found it intimidating -- I didn't want to screw it up. Which is probably why we defaulted to a narrower universe of known names. And I have no regrets -- I love my DD's name and so does she. But what I've learned is that naming kids isn't as hard as I think I made it out to be. Kids really do just kind of make their names their own, and as long as the name is normalized and embraced by the family and the broader community (we live in a very diverse community where criticizing an unusual name would be considered pretty bad), it works out. I probably could have loosened up about our name process a little bit, and if we have another, I will.


I agree with this 99% (only difference is I didn't find naming intimidating, I really wanted to honor particular family members). I used to think that less common names were too "look at me", teen mom, etc. But the longer I'm a parent the more I appreciate the breadth of names my kid is exposed to, the cute kids with fun names that are easy to remember, and the fact that my kid won't have to go by her last initial because there aren't several of the same name in her class. As a bonus I see people on these boards issuing dire warnings about teasing to pregnant women looking at names but I genuinely believe kids now don't look at names the same way - it's not "that's different; different is wrong; attack!" like it was in the 80s.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 09:29     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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.


This has been explained on these boards a million times but there's no equivalent to Jennifer today. The top names are not anywhere close to as popular as the top names of the 70s or 80s. Which doesn't mean you should name your kids Henry and Sophia, but just to say that the fear many Gen X and older Millenial parents have about this issue is unfounded -- your chances of encountering even a top 10 or top 5 name is actually relatively low these days when compared to your odds of encountering a Jennifer in pretty much any classroom in America in 1985.

I just took a look at the top 10 names on the SSN site out of curiosity, and while I know kids under age 18 with 7 of the 20 top ten names (5 boys and 2 girls), I only know one of each -- no duplicates. I have two kids in elementary school (grades 1 and 5) so I've encountered a lot of kids in the last decade or so, plus all my nieces and nephews, friends kids, etc. With girls in particular, there is just a lot of variety and you could easily give your kid a top 20 or 50 name and never have to go by a nickname or be Henry L. or whatever.

I'd also think this should decrease the appeal of the creative spelling names because you don't need to alter the spelling of even a popular name in order to make it more unique (which is why I assume people do this) -- your kid's name is likely to be fairly unique even with the most common spelling.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 09:17     Subject: Wild Card Names
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 08:24     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 06:39     Subject: Wild Card Names
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?


+1 NP
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2022 01:37     Subject: Wild Card Names
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2022 22:44     Subject: Wild Card Names
Anonymous wrote:I know a woman whose name is Ericka. Born in 1964, white, etc. And her name was a total PITA because in the 1960s, 70s and 80s (our college years), Erica is spelled Erica. Not Erika, Ericka, Eryka, etc - her parents wanted to be different, so they spelled her name differently, and she HATES it, because it gets mispelled 100% of the time.

If you want to name your child Bennett, Apple, Crosby, that's great - I love those names.. But don't spell Susan like Susyn, etc!


Eh. My name is Katherine and you wouldn't believe how it's been spelled. Not just the standard other variants (Kathryn, Catherine) but Kathlin, Kathryne, Catheryn, etc. To say nothing of the gazillion nicknames people try to apply, none of which I use. You can misspell almost anything if you try hard enough.
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2022 22:19     Subject: Wild Card Names
I know a woman whose name is Ericka. Born in 1964, white, etc. And her name was a total PITA because in the 1960s, 70s and 80s (our college years), Erica is spelled Erica. Not Erika, Ericka, Eryka, etc - her parents wanted to be different, so they spelled her name differently, and she HATES it, because it gets mispelled 100% of the time.

If you want to name your child Bennett, Apple, Crosby, that's great - I love those names.. But don't spell Susan like Susyn, etc!
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2022 13:38     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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.


I'm 40 years old with a misspelled basic name and agree with this completely. My name is misspelled at least 90% of the time. I can imagine with an off-beat name, people would notice it enough to pay attention to the spelling.
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2022 12:52     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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.


I think that’s what former Real Housewife of Orange County Peggy Tanous did. Kids are named London and Capri.

Lol, I wrote the previous post, too. Can you tell I watch too much reality TV??


We considered Capri for a sec bc we loved Capri Italy but then realize the drinks and said nahhh. lol
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2022 12:04     Subject: Wild Card Names
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2022 18:45     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2022 17:36     Subject: Wild Card Names
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?
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2022 17:16     Subject: Re:Wild Card Names
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?