What does your child's name say about YOU?

[chanel]

Celebrities aren't the only ones giving their babies unusual names. Compared with decades ago, parents are choosing less common names for kids, which could suggest an emphasis on uniqueness and individualism, according to new research.

Essentially, today's kids (and later adults) will stand out from classmates. For instance, in the 1950s, the average first-grade class of 30 children would have had at least one boy named James (top name in 1950), while in 2013, six classes will be necessary to find only one Jacob, even though that was the most common boys' name in 2007.

The researchers suspect the uptick of unusual baby names could be a sign of a change in culture from one that applauded fitting in to today's emphasis on being unique and standing out. When taken too far, however, this individualism could also lead to narcissism, according to study researcher Jean Twenge, of San Diego State University.

I think it is an indication of our culture becoming more narcissistic," Twenge said.

Past research has shown that back in the 1950s parents placed a lot of importance on a child being obedient, which has gone way down. "Parenting has become more permissive and more child-focused and [parents] are much more reluctant to be authority figures," Twenge said.

Parents Choosing More Unusual Baby Names Now - Yahoo! News

This is one of my pet peeves. It annoys me to no end when people stick apostrophes in the middle of a first name.

Anyone disagree with this?

 

[California Girl]

While I don't have an apostrophe (thanks Dad), I do have a weird name. I get tired of people constantly asking 'how do you pronounce your name again?' But.... I am not alone, my brothers all say the same thing about their names.

 

[chanel]

One of my kids has a fairly unusual name but its very easy to spell.The problem I have is that many kids in special ed have non-phonetic spelling of their names, and leads to sloppy record keeping.

In fact we have many "cousins" who spell their LAST names differently.

In these situations - "special" equals "special ed"

 

[goldcatt]

My daughter has a tradtitional but unusual name, one you definitely know when you hear it but isn't "popular". My son has a somewhat common name, but he uses a more uncommon nickname.

I grew up with one of the most common first names and last names, and I've had some problems with everything from getting the right mail to keeping other people's listings off my credit. There's something to be said for not using the most popular name, especially when their last name isn't quite as bad but still takes up a few pages in the phone book. I wanted them to be just unique enough to avoid confusion without being flat out weird.

 

[mudwhistle]

While I don't have an apostrophe (thanks Dad), I do have a weird name. I get tired of people constantly asking 'how do you pronounce your name again?' But.... I am not alone, my brothers all say the same thing about their names.

People have problems pronouncing California?

They must be from Austria or something.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I named my son after My Grandfather and my Daughter after my Mother in Law. And no I am not rich nor were any of them.

My daughter has 2 middle names because in Filipino custom one takes the last name of the Mother as their middle name. We compromised and I gave her my Grandmothers name and my wife's last name as her middle names.

 

[Ringel05]

I have an easy to pronounce, common name - where I come from:
Mr. Mxyztplk

Named my three boys with common names also:
Larry, Darryl and his other brother Darryl.

 

[mudwhistle]

I don't have kids...but if it was a boy I'd be 'Rush', 'Zack', or 'Seth' and if it was a girl it would be 'Bond' or something sexy like 'Bambi' my niece's name.

I believe in giving my kids good sounding names that roll off the tongue or sound popular. Gotta give them a leg up any way I can.

 

[chanel]

We had a set of twins with the same names and different middle initials. We now have a set of twins whose names sound alike but have two different letters in the middle. I call that idiocy.

In "Freakonomics" they suggest that weird names can damage job opportunities.

 

[goldcatt]

I have twins and they have completely different names. No same first letter, no rhyming, no dressing alike (although with a boy and a girl that would be freaky anyway). Never could understand that whole thing. Although I used to be on a board for parents of multiples, and the whole dressing them alike, rhyming names thing was guaranteed to start trouble. Some people really believe in it. Whatever works for them, I guess.

 

[Zoom-boing]

I prefer normal but less popular names. Julie, Kevin, Amy, etc. Regular enough (and normally spelled) that no one is questioning them but not overly common so there aren't many in a class, etc. Yep, works for me.

From the article: "Parenting has become more permissive and more child-focused and [parents] are much more reluctant to be authority figures." Pretty much in a nutshell.

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't have kids...but if it was a boy I'd be 'Rush', 'Zack', or 'Seth' and if it was a girl it would be 'Bond' or something sexy like 'Bambi' my niece's name.

I believe in giving my kids good sounding names that roll off the tongue or sound popular. Gotta give them a leg up any way I can.

Well those names will certainly give them a leg up in the adult entertainment industry.

You should see some of the names our child welfare clients saddle their kids with. One family named their girls "Phelony" and "Miranda". They changed Phelony's name after their CW worker told them it was tantamount to child abuse and effectively limited any success that child would have in life.

Just yesterday someone in the office was on the phone with a CW client who COULD NOT PRONOUNCE HER OWN CHILD'S NAME. Brilliant.

 

[masquerade]

When it came time to name my children, we decided on uncommon names. Not unusual names, but just ones that at the time weren't common. Today, my first born's name is quite common and I'm not liking it!

I hated my name when I was growing up. A common name? Hell no! But pronouncable. lol As a girl, I loved all things novelty. You know ... the crap with names imprinted. Like keychains and the such. Anyway, I could never find anything with my name on it. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the beauty in my name and I thank my parents for it. They did good.

 

[AllieBaba]

I stuck with biblical and family names for my kids.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

My family name is very unusual. We were the only listing in the phone book.

There were six of us with my first name at one time in my 5th grade class out of 35 kids.

I had my kids late, and I saw lots of kids not enjoying names that their parents thought cute. We chose our kids names thinking they should be euphonious and dignified. They like them.

As for the other style....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1BJfDvSITY"]A boy named soon[/ame]

 

[AllieBaba]

When I said family name I meant first names that were used in the family.

As well as last names, used as first names.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Now I want to know all of your first names!

 

[Nosmo King]

I know a mother who had twin girls. She named them "Silk" and "Satin". But she could not spell very well. She misspelled "Satin". "Satan"!

I was named for an old pre-Cronkite CBS news anchor. My brother was named for an actor who played Peter Gunn on a late 50's TV show. Both our names contain five letters in the first name and seven in the middle name. Not unusual names as we both can easily find a mug with our names in any gift shop. I pity Satan!

 

[Terry]

I failed my first two boys with their names. I was very young and fearful to stick them with a bad name so I passed that responsibility on to my first husband and my mother. Oh boy did I fuck that up. First husband on the 3rd day in hospital wrote down on a paper and handed to me saying "Don't read it until I am gone and YOU WILL name him that" He was abusive and I feared him so I did what he said. *sigh*

After that 10 months later I had my second child, fearful I called my mother and said I have no idea what to name him help. She gave me a name, I was like "What is that"? she said it means peaceful one so I said, I like that meaning and named him. STUPID ASS ME!

Names?

Casanova
Shanti

 

[Terry]

My grandparents on my father's side named all their children after US Presidents, well long story short for generations my grandfathers, parents etc did this:

They named my dad Harden but the hospital made a typo and on his birth Certificate it reads Hardon! He said while in the Army he had a hell of a time with that name