<p>As far as I know the bear is true one namer. She is the only young woman with her first name in the US. There is one young woman with it as a middle name. Both are top students in college.</p>
<p>Never caused her any problems in any professional meetings. But it isn’t cutsey either.</p>
<p>My name is one or two letters away from common names so I enjoy a very unusual name that still is fairly familiar to people, best of both worlds.</p>
<p>My poor DD was named normal traditional name that unbeknownst to me was the name of a nighttime soap character in the 80s, I met a ton of little girls with her name in the ensuing months. I was more careful with the next two to go a bit more unusual without being weird.</p>
<p>According to an Irish friend who is fluent in the Irish (Gaelic) language, she cringes every time she hears Americans pronounce Caitlin as “Kate-lin.” She said Caitlin is the Irish form of the name Kathleen and even when spelled as Caitlin is pronounced something very similar to Kathleen. She said it was properly pronounced something like “Kuchleen.”</p>
<p>^ So Americans should have to conform to ancient Gaelic names rather than have variations of traditional names? Sorry, but I would cringe every time I heard “Kuchleen”</p>
<p>I like these names for a girl: Alaina, Katelyn, Victoria, Lilah, Madelyn. </p>
<p>I know it’s traditionally Madeline, but my friend’s named that and people often call her Mad-uh-LINE, plus “lyn” looks prettier. I don’t think any of those names are weird. Growing up, I hated having to spell out my name to everyone, so I want my kid to not have a weird name.</p>
<p>I just googled my kid’s and yes - the only ones !</p>
<p>We have named our kids very traditionaly( read old fashion) . One of the most important concerns was spelling and pronunciation - had to be very similar here in the US and where I come from.
Funny story - Our kids do not have middle names. When my daughter was taking some kind of a standardized test in second grade, instead of leaving the “middle name” space blank, she filled it in with her nickname. I almost died from laughter when I received her “official score” 
My name is very classical, very biblical and not at all weird or strange. Yet it seems to be missing from my generation. Funny when elderly patients of mine tell me frequently “what a beautiful name you have, it is my mother’s name”
My little pet peeve is when I can’t tell a gender by the first name. Hate it!</p>
<p>On another note, my husband has my favorite male name, a favorite since I was a child because of a character from a famous children’s book. If he had been named George or Roger, there’s a good chance we would not be together today (my apologies to any Georges/Rogers out there). A friend of mine recently told me that her husband’s name was also a childhood favorite. I think it would be very hard to be romantically attracted to someone with a name one dislikes. Very shallow, I know, but names are very powerful.</p>
<p>Speaking of not being able to tell someone’s gender by their name, remember those Pat sketches from Saturday Night Live? Hilarious. Cannot take the name Pat seriously anymore.</p>
<p>I feel very strongly about names. I was named a very uncommon but formal sounding name with no apparent nick name. When I was about 12 I got a nick name that was a derivative
of my last name, I still use it today. So when it came time to name my kids, I looked to family names, the criteria was tradition and easily understood versions, then the kids can pick what works best for them at whatever time of life, and they have. Unusual or tricky names is not the way to go.</p>
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<p>Why some parents lack the foresight is confusing? Why do so many people choose names that, due to their relative uncommonness, are not practical? I understand ethnic and traditional motives, but in the end, a name is simply a name. </p>
<p>Names are really just arbitrary communication devices. They have nothing to do with the individual person. Thus, the primary intention should be a familiar, common choice that is easily remembered and used and not easily mocked.</p>
<p>I always feel a little embarrassed when meeting the parents and little girls who share the same name as my dog…
Goods point donto. You have to wonder what parents are thinking sometimes…
As far as the Irish pronounciation of “Caitlyn”…same thing with the Swedish pronounciation of “Kirsten”…it is closer to " Shahstin ".
My youngest daughter’s name was chosern partly so that my MIL could pronounce and spell it…my in-laws cannot do either with my name, but then most people in this country mispronounce it too</p>
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<p>I’m pretty sure that’s not an “ancient” Gaelic name, but one that is contemporary. Perhaps you think that Gaelic is a dead, rather than a living, language? (“Molly” is also from Gaelic, BTW.)</p>
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<p>If your goal is to have your daughter not have to spell out her name each time, pick “Victoria.” I can guarantee that your daughter would have a lifetime of having to spell out her name each time should she be named any of the other names you list. (Not that there’s anything wrong with the names you listed, mind you, but they would definitely require being spelled out. Each and every time.)</p>
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<p>Two of them will also be mispronounced constantly: Lilah (Li-lah or Lye-Lah) and Alaina (not sure if it’s Allah-na or Alay-na).</p>
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<p>Of course not. Americans are free to (mis)pronounce any name however they like. But it is a name of Irish origin still in use today, and to <em>Irish</em> listeners “Kate-lin” will legitimately sound badly butchered.</p>
<p>I really found this thread to be fascinating. I have a very Irish name, which is somewhat uncommon in the US, but very common in Ireland and Scotland…(Gaelic name). I was born over there, and it wasn’t at all unusual for my parents to choose the names they did for my brother and me. I’ve never minded having such an unusual name…it isn’t impossible to pronounce…but can be difficult for people the first time they hear it. My dad goes crazy when people invent ways to spell Sean, lol. Shawn…etc. Just something that he’s always made a big such a fuss about.</p>
<p>I love and still love alot of the “older” names, like Emma, Emily, Madeline…and so on. They are feminine, but still strong to me. I picked fairly common names for my kids…biblical and will work professionally.</p>
<p>I do have a freind that named his son “Oak”. He said it was because he wants him to grow up strong and solid. I still think its odd, lol.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not it’s contemporary, I like the name Caitlin and prefer it to Kuchleen (just personal preference). I don’t consider it mispronouncing or “butchered” because all names are made up…Kuch-leen and Kate-lin sound very different. </p>
<p>Alaina is the same as Elena, I just hate the “E” spelling. I’ve seen it spelled both ways several times - I think you’re mixing it up with Alanna? Lilah is pronounced Lye-la, I’ve never heard of it as Leela lol. But I don’t like it that much. I like Madeline a lot. </p>
<p>Haha my friend and I were picking baby names yesterday in lecture, and that’s how I came up with these! We’re ridiculous, I know :D. but that class is damn boring.</p>
<p>dontno - What’s wrong with ethnic names? I agree names like “Tree” sound ridiculous, but you’re kind of saying it’s ok for white Americans to give their kids ethnically european names, but when african/asian/arab/hispanics do, it’s not “professional”? </p>
<p>Owlice - my name isn’t Molly When I created an account on CC, it was cause I wanted to ask 1 question, I thought it would stop there. The first random name that popped into my head was Molly! 4190 is my birthday lol.</p>
<p>Ah - another April Fool’s baby! My oldest is one as well. :)</p>
<p>We have friends with sons named both Ian and Owen, which I always thought was a bit odd, because aren’t they both variations of John?? John, Sean, Ian, Owen, Ewan, Jan, Johan…?</p>
<p>Come to think of it, P-Diddy’s Sean John signature line doesn’t make sense either.</p>
<p>My mother is from the “old country” and her English is still not good. My SIL had the misfortune to share the same name as our neighbor’s dog and was introduced to my mother shortly after mom met the neighbor’s dog. Mom asked me, “Why would someone give a girl a dog’s name?”. We still laugh about this.</p>
<p>S1’s name is the same as a rabbit I had as a child. But H chose his name, and at the time, I’d sort of forgotten about the rabbit, so didn’t really make the connection.</p>
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<p>No it’s simply not practical. Basically the only intention of choosing a name should be how pragmatic it is. If one can also choose a name that has familial or traditional significance and also qualify as practical, then that’s all the better. </p>
<p>Ethnic European names are extremely common in America becuase this coutnry was founded by Europeans. Some ethnic names from other cultures have also become common and thus it’s acceptable to choose them, such as Jose, Jesus, Manuel (ok those are all hispanic, but you get the point). If one has to constantly spell the name, have people mispronounce the name, have people mishear the name, have people struggle to remember the name, have people mock the name, have people form an initial perspective on the person upon hearing the name, then the name is not suitable for America.</p>
<p>It’s perfectly reasonable to name your child Meng-Xin if you wish to live in China, but that name won’t be easy to use in America. As an aside, many Europeans also changed their names upon moving to America (especially Italians truncating their names).</p>