I don’t like names that imply a title, such as Duke, Prince, or Dean. I knew a Senator, and the name did seem to help him though.
I hate names w “creative” spellings. And I hate “last names” used for first names.
Both will doom your kids to the same clarification dialogue.
Blame the Scots for surnames becoming first names. They had a tradition of using the maternal surname as a middle name. Inevitably, some folks preferred going by their middle name so they came to be acceptable as personal names. This happened so much that these days, most people probably don’t even know that “Bruce”, “Graham”, and “Gordon” started as surnames.
I’ve noticed that there are several really popular baby names here in Britain that haven’t jumped the pond yet: Poppy, Daisy, Imogen, Freya, Maisie (for girls) and Oliver, Oscar, Alfie, Archie, Sebastian (for boys). Top five boys names here - Oliver, Jack, Charlie, Harry, Oscar. Top five girls - Olivia, Emily, Sophia, Lily, Isabella.
Tastes also change and evolve. There is a name my brother named his daughter to be original twelve years ago and now I know lots of them. My son has a middle name that is very ethnic and he hated it when young. He gave that same middle name to his firstborn. Another son named his first what I consider a weird name and she will forever have to tell people how to pronounce it. It’s growing on me though. And he’s white so weird spellings is not necessarily racist.
Someone posted that they wanted a last name people could spell. We have a last name that is a common, everyday word. Think something like “Green.” And yes, I am asked to spell it every single time. It’s like people think there must be a trick to it.
Our last name is spelled one way ( there is an accent over one of the vowels, but not the same vowel in the first syllable ) It looks like it should be pronounced simply as it appears, but it isn’t . My husband and I just let it go because it is easier than explaining it. Our daughter on the other hand gets offended when it is mispronounced
“My whole point is that just because some names seem “different” doesn’t mean they’re not “traditional” to the people that use them. They’re just not “traditional” to our Euro-American ears.”
Good grief, we aren’t talking about names that are native to other cultures. We are talking about made-up names.
Take the name Mackenzie. If you change it to Myckkynzeigh, you are not “honoring some cultural heritage.” You’re just misspelling a perfectly fine word.
“Yusuf, Ibrahim, Issa, Dawud, Musa, Suleiman, Ayoub, Idris are the English renderings of Arabic versions of Joseph, Abraham, Jesus, David, Moses, Solomon, Job, and Enoch.”
Yes, those seem classic and traditional to me, since they are the classic versions of names within another culture. That’s different from made-up spellings.
If I like the name Sophie, I might decide to name my kid Sofia or Zofia to honor my Eastern European heritage. But If I change it to Sofeigh, I’m misspelling because I think it’s cutesy. Romani, you know darn well what the difference is here.
My son went to school with a boy named Jihad. I wonder if he’s going by a nickname or middle name now.
“For whatever reason, the name Evelyn has shot up in the popularity charts in the last couple of years.”
My Nana was Evelyn but my 30 something niece who was named for her is Elizabeth. Last summer I was walking my dog and met a women & her baby who had just moved into the neighborhood. Baby is Evelyn. I told her I would never forget child’s name because of my Nana.
Since I am Jewish it’s customary to name someone after a deceased relative. Consequently, we end up with everyone having names starting with the same few letters. It can be difficult when so many names are already taken.
There are very few name I really dislike but Tiffany would be top on that list.
“Top five boys names here - Oliver, Jack, Charlie, Harry, Oscar.”
Seem this is where I get old-school - Charles is the name, Charlie is a nickname - I couldn’t put Charlie on a birth certificate any more than I could put Danny or Jenny or Bobby - I’d have to name them Charles, Daniel, Jennifer, Robert.
Emilybee, re the deceased relative - we often do that via the Hebrew name vs the “real” name, fwiw. For example, my son’s Hebrew name is Palti, after a deceased Paul, but his real name doesn’t begin with a P.
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I don’t like names that imply a title, such as Duke, Prince, or Dean. I knew a Senator, and the name did seem to help him though.
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I don’t either…they sound like the parents are being pretentious. Earl, Princess, Queen, and similar…and Royal and Precious
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And I hate “last names” used for first names.
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While it’s been popular to name boys last names for first names, since moving to the south, I see a huge trend to do this with girls…I have now met young females named: Collins, Greeley, Bonner, Battle, Traylor, Harper, Wellon, and several more that I can’t think of right now.
Someone mentioned Shakespeare. He is credited with inventing the name Miranda. Pretty good job there!
Should we really name our children Titania, Oberon, Lysander, Desdemona, or Othello? They seem to come with too much baggage.
I had a great great grandfather named Lysander! I wonder if they called him Sandy or Li? The name never got used again.
greenwitch–you left out Iago. 
I’ve heard of a man named “Romeo”. That would be hard to live up to.
And as to those self-aggrandizing names, I knew a man named “Napoleon”. He wasn’t short and had no ambitions to take over Europe.
" names, since moving to the south, I see a huge trend to do this with girls…I have now met young females named: Collins, Greeley, Bonner, Battle, Traylor, Harper, Wellon, and several more that I can’t think of right now."
I think those kinds of first names are very old-school Southern, not trendy at all.
TatinG,
What nickname could be used for Napoleon. Nappy?? [-X