<p>Cameliasinensis, I love old-fashioned names on young people. I went to school with a girl from Holland named Esther and she changed any dowdy association with that name to a very classy and stylish one. I imagine you would do the same with Agnes. I don’t think it’s anything to be embarrassed about.</p>
<p>I thought that was Kwashdad, with the “k” being silent.</p>
<p>My first name is okay. I don’t love it, but I’ve learned to live with it. My biggest hangup is that it has two slightly different pronunciations, and of course my parents used the less common one. So I go through life being called something I don’t really think of as my name.</p>
<p>My middle name is a surname dating back to my Colonial ancestors. It is also the middle name of my grandfather, mother, uncle, cousin, brother, cousin’s son, and my daughter. I hated it when I was growing up, but then decided it was cool, and saddled my D with it, who luckily also thinks it’s cool.</p>
<p>My D has my favorite first name. It’s not common and not uncommon, just enough to never be represented in those racks of objects like mugs or magnets that have names on them . </p>
<p>My S has a classic guy name. I liked more unusual ones but my H and I couldn’t agree. It was a compromise name and worked out very well. He has my dad’s name as his middle name and doesn’t think it is cool at all. Oh well.</p>
<p>I would change my name to match the initial HRH, haha.</p>
<p>TRFA, I finesse that one by suggesting that people call me simply, “Your eminence.”</p>
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<p>Actually, the original Finnish spelling was “Wash3Dad,” but the silent “3” confused people.</p>
<p>(A bonus point to anyone recognizing the clever literary reference to the silent 3.)</p>
<p>My name is fine. It is a Biblical name, but not one that sounds particuarly old-fashioned. I am named for one of my great-grandfathers and my son is named for two of his great-grandfathers. So far, nobody, including the great-grandfathers, has complained.</p>
<p>Our neighbor has a hard to spell and pronounce Italian last name. One of his sibs decided to change the last name a few years ago–changed it something quite British sounding and with a British spelling. </p>
<p>Boy does that mess with the genealogy…</p>
<p>I agree with another poster–used up all the good names on the daughters and the dog…</p>
<p>I always tell my D that she picked her name. It came to me in a dream when I was about five months pregnant. Very vivid. I am convinced she sent it to me; it had not been on our radar screen at all. I woke up and said to my H, what do you think about XX? As soon as I said the name, we both had mental images of this little person, and KNEW it was a girl (I hadn’t had any tests). And sure enough… As far as I can tell, she likes it. It’s rather old-fashioned but another one that has recently become “fashionable.”</p>
<p>WashDad: Hen3ry. The three was silent. c. 1962 or so. You-know-who (not to be confused with he-who-must-not-be-named).
And oddly enough, the inspiration behind Kwashdad. We have come full circle.</p>
<p>I like my name…</p>
<p>last name is a little long but who cares, just less results on google when my roommates parents search for me :O</p>
<p>I’ve been reading a certain thread…</p>
<p>This week I have been (finally) making a scrapbook of her life for D to take to school. In the bottom of a box of pictures I ran across the list of names her then kindergarten sister chose from the baby names book: Barbie, Charlotte (as in 's Web), Ramona, Clifford, Kirk (as in Captain), Rudolph, Sylvester (and the Magic Pebble if your kids read that one), and Xerxes.
We did not pick from the list.</p>
<p>When I was pregnant with my younger s, we let our older s (who couldnt yet read) flip pages in a baby-namig book and point to a name- claiming that we’d use the 2 names he picked for younger s. I think younger s is quite glad we did not choose to follow through with that little game, or his first and middle names would be Guido Obidiah :eek: (true story)</p>
<p>I love my first name, because very few people spell it the way I do. My middle name is Ann, and when I was younger I secretly thought it would sound much more glamorous spelled with an “e” at the end. </p>
<p>I’m going to be changing my last name in a few weeks. 
How long do you think it will take before I remember to introduce myself with my new last name? Does it ever look right in your signature?</p>
<p>dragonmom: SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE? William Stieg. Still love it.</p>
<p>One of S’s friends has older brother named Tommy. He was given the opportunity to name his brother. He chose Timmy. When a little girl came along, you guessed it, they named her Tammy. We were hoping there wouldn’t be a fourth (Tummy?)</p>
<p>dragonmom: SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE? William Stieg. Still love it.</p>
<p>One of S’s friends has older brother named Tommy. He was given the opportunity to name his brother. He chose Timmy. When a little girl came along, you guessed it, they named her Tammy. We were hoping there wouldn’t be a fourth (Tummy?)</p>
<p>My first name needs a serious updating–like a kitchen with harvest gold or avocado appliances! Don’t know what name I’d choose, though…</p>
<p>I have a name that’s always mispronounced and misspelled so I’d probably opt for Jane or Mary or something simple. I gave my kids basic, not weirdly spelled names, that could be shortened or kept at their full length. Of course, now, my daughter hates hates hates her full name, but fortunately loves the shorter nicknames that go with it. She wants to name her future daughter Gabrielle – payback would be for “Gaby” to refuse to answer to her full name!</p>
<p>PS – Sylvester and the Magic Pebble – one of our favorites!!!</p>
<p>molliebatmit, you’ll get used to your new last name faster than you think. </p>
<p>My maiden name was slightly unusual but not hard to pronounce. My married name is so long and complex that my son’s gym teacher nicknamed him “Alphabet.” It’s been misspelled and mispronounced more ways than I can count. </p>
<p>While we were engaged, future hubby took a job in another state, so as soon as we were married I moved with him to a new state where I knew no one. Everyone I met only knew me by my married name, so I never had a problem with people referring to me by my maiden name.</p>
<p>After my son was born and named, I was looking through a book and came across the name Kevin. I decided if I had another son that Kevin would be his name. When I was pregnant again, hubby and I went thru 5 or 6 girl names, while I stubbornly clung to Kevin for a boy. When my daughter was born, people asked my 2 year old son what his sister’s name was, and he would say, “Kevin!” because he’d heard it for so long.</p>
<p>I love unusual or hippie names…maybe Luna, Aquinnah, Leilani, Willow or Shenoah. I used some of my favs on my kids and dogs. :)</p>