<p>I think Moon Unit’s name was the least of her concerns!</p>
<p>We gave our daughter a classic name, conventional spelling. We used a great book called Beyond Jennifer and Jason: An Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby which was the predecessor to nameberry. We were intentional about this. We wanted her name to be appropriate no matter where life would take her, and one that would not mark her for life as a child of the early 90s. “A name that works whether she becomes a stay at home mom or a Supreme Court Justice” was how we thought about it.</p>
<p>My parents gave my sister and me French first names to match our French last name. Given that my parents aren’t actually French (we’re black), the names are also not uncommon in America. My sister and I have lived in America and briefly in France, so we’re lucky to have our names sound “normal” in either context.</p>
<p>I once saw an interview with a woman who I guess was from a British “Housewives” sort of show, about how she only allowed her children to be friends with kids who had the right type of name. It was so ridiculous. I found it especially funny as one of the names she cited as “low type” was a name I had only heard when at Cambridge University.</p>
<p>Harper is common little girls name here. We have at least I had 2 little Harpers at ,our church. </p>
<p>I knew a Kevin that was a girl 30 years ago in high school. Her real name, too.</p>
<p>After working with historical demography records, I don’t think I’ll ever think a first name is weird again.
Those families with a dozen+ children ran out of “traditional” names very quickly. Ours are pretty tame compared to those IMO. Even going back to the 30s and 40s exposes some really strange ones… going back further makes you wonder if you thought their kids were going to make it to adulthood. </p>
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<p>Do people think that you are from Haiti or French Guiana or some such place where there are lots of black people and where French is commonly spoken?
<a href=“List of Haitians - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Haitians</a>
<a href=“http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/frenchguiana/gffamous.htm”>http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/frenchguiana/gffamous.htm</a></p>
<p>^^^
or Louisiana…where there are AA’s with french names.</p>
<p>My parents gave me a common first name, with an unusual spelling. People might think I’m trying to be different, but I can’t help it, it’s Finnish, not my choice. Hasn’t given me grief, but I just expect that it will always be misspelled, and don’t care a bit.</p>
<p>I have a common nickname as a first name.
I have made peace with the fact that even though it is what it is, people are always going to change it into something else or ask me what my “real” name is. </p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>My mom did the same with 3 of my siblings. When they were in grade school, teachers always wanted them to use the formal names, which werent their names.</p>
<p>My last name started with S. My mother once told me she was concerned about my future monogram. Eg, if she had named me Ann and then I married someone with a last name that also started with S, my initials would be ASS. Imagine that on the towels, I guess. </p>
<p>My parents gave me a very ethnic first name and it wasn’t from their birth country (my parents were immigrants). It never made sense to me–my middle name is a fairly common name. I always hated my first name and started using my middle name when I went away to college. </p>
<p>I have a name that does not have nicknames. It is fairly uncommon and old fashioned, but common in my parents’ culture. As a kid, I always wished it came with nicknames.</p>
<p>And then there are those really bizarre research findings, like people named Dennis are more likely to become dentists. There’s a flute professor at BU named Linda Toote.</p>
<p>I once knew a female Kevin, too. I wonder if we all know the same Kevin. </p>
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<p>Our thinking exactly…that’s why our kids’ names sound like characters in a Jane Austen novel. </p>
<p>I hated having a first name that firmly positions me as a baby-boomer girl from the midwest. When I was a young professional, I felt like it was “cheerleader” name. Now, I can’t lie about my age (even if I could get away with it) because anyone with my first name was obviously born in a very narrow span of years. I see a lot of little girls named Bella and Katniss and (potentially) Hazel or Beatrice having the same problem 50 years from now. </p>
<p>@busdriver11 My extremely unusual last name is Finnish. 
People have a terrible time with it, even though it is pronounced exactly as spelled.</p>
<p>@Consolation, I feel your pain. My maiden name is also very unusual, also Finnish. It can be mocked pretty easily, so it was a no brainer taking my husbands simple last name!</p>
<p>EllieMom, never thought about it that way, but D definitely does have a Jane Austen-type name. </p>
<p>Our other criteria were: feminine but not frilly, easy to spell and pronounce, and a name that doesn’t lend itself to obnoxious nicknames. </p>