Children's names

My GG Aunt was called Hepzibah; all the names in their family were very biblical including my mother's middle name which she hated. However, my mother's middle name is back in favour and was in the top 10 of girls' names last year!

hildajenniJ They all had Old Testament names, but in their case were Huguenots!

My young neighbours have a newborn girl called Elsie. There was a young lady on something the other day and she was called Jezebel.

My GD's middle name is Ophelia which I love, despite its unfortunate Shakespearean connotations. I'm glad it isn't Desdemona though.

Our SiL has a nephew whose surname is Gordon so his parents called him Flash! Only in America! He actually seems to have grown up surprisingly normal!

Cyn(thia) and Hel(en) were my friends at school

When I worked in a school we used to love it when the list if new year 7a came in - looking at some of the weird names - Nefferteetee being my favourite ever. Also it was always the case that the wackier the name the worse the behaviour. It was as if the parents had put all their efforts into choosing the name and then given up!

There is a theory that children from the most deprived areas are given the most unusual names and conversely that those with the more traditional names turn out to be the most intelligent. A wild generalisation obviously but may contain a glimmer of truth.

I hate my name and have done since I was a small child growing up in the fifties it was old fashioned and dated even then. When I started work I got tired of people saying ' oh we thought you would be a lot older' I yearned to be called something like Anne or Elizabeth which are so pretty. My name always made me feel somehow clumpy and dumpy and frumpy! My husband has never called me by my full name but has shortened it to a rather masculine form. My mother was the last person to ever call me by my full name now she has gone I never hear it nowadays. When I had my children I was determined call them something more acceptable and unfortunately chose rather run of the mill names for them. The only small advantage that my name has given me is that people never ever forget it. Amazed that I still feel strongly about this after all these years.

I was growing up during the reign of Hilda Ogden on Coronation Street. You can imagine what I was called, and the comments I got from the other children.
I never liked my old fashioned name either chloe1984. I was named after my Grandfather's late sister.
A few years ago I read that no girl had been christened Hilda since 1961.
I wonder if there have been any recently.

Absent two of my GS's are named Thomas and John!
I have always hated my first name and for some strange reason have always been known, since birth, by my second which in turn has evolved into its derivative. It leaves a lot of people very confused - including me
My DD's seem to be happy with our choice of names for them and in turn, I love their choice for their children.
I can't stand it when names are spelt peculiarly, just for the sake of it e.g. Rebbekar/ Rebekkar/Ribekkah although I suppose if the parent likes it, why not?!

I sometimes think there are just too many names out there. Growing up in the 60s I knew what most of the names in the class would be, as I moved through a total of four schools I would meet the same names over and again. It made it far easier to remember. Now poor DBH, as a teacher, is confronted with boys and girls both with the same names, and also surnames and first names in reverse, so that in one year he had Avison Turner and Turner Avison. What a coincidence that was! You would think... but no, it has happened again at this school.

And Safronn. He is still up in arms over that one four years later.

With the weird names, and admissions not taking it down over the phone correctly, then the staff trying to work out what it should be, then someone typing it into the system incorrectly, it can sometimes be half-term before the poor child is fully in possession of their correct name.

Although everyone is free to call their children what they wish, within reason of course, I do wish they would research the proper spelling of them, especially Gaelic and Irish names. Siobhan is not spelt Shervawn or Shevaun and Sian is not spelt Sharn.

My dd works for education dept and says there is actually a Chardonnay in school along with a child called J...that's it...and a little one from a fishing community called Prayer. My DS teaches in a school very near to an alternative community so he has Storm, Rainbow, Sky, Willow, Peace etc, some of whom only come into school for senior years. He was actually told by one of these children that they hadn't done the work he'd set as they "hadn't been in the zone"! It would appear that names do reflect the parental ethos.

GillT57 - one of the worst I saw was Makayla. What's wrong with Michaela? I always use the pensioner test....imagine the name being called out in a hospital clinic, post office or other public place. If it doesn't fit a senior citizen then don't give the child the name. What's cute (perhaps) at 5 can be positively embarrassing at 65. It's like tattoos.

Someone mentioned the Beckham"s choice of name for one of their boys.
I don"t think the name they picked for their girl is all that great either.
Harper Seven,

It was quite gratifying to hear that Peter Andre has said that the daughter he has with Katie Price named "Princess" hates her name. This is obviously quite an astute child, not only does she hate the name, which is indeed shite, but also the colour pink. Like David Bowie's son, maybe in time she will choose her own name, hopefully one that really grates with Katie Price. At which time she could reinvent herself to be the antithesis of her mother, a sort of serious bluestocking type called Prudence or Clarissa would be good!

Just watching Pointless. There's a girl on there called Chev - short for Chevonne!

Obviously her parents didn't want her friends calling her Syo-bann.

I saw that name as well merlot and had a quiet titter to myself. Katek my test for a name is always could I imagine this person being introduced as a foreign correspondent on BBC news.....not many Chardonnays or Chevonnes there.

One of my granddaughters has a girl called Pebbles in her class

Pebbles sounds like a Flintstone name!

Nonu I always think that the Beckham's choice of Harper Seven sounds as though someone has asked what the time is

I always think of Pebbles Flintstone when l hear her name!

I have the commonest of first names but a middle name which nobody's ever heard of. It was made up by the parents of a Victorian music hall star, so made up names are nothing new.

My mother was named Clarissa as is my GD and we have traced the name back through several generations, the earliest being a marriage in 1785, we would like to go further but it means church records and no-one in the family who is interested ie me is able to travel to research.

I've always felt sorry for Katie Price's daughter Princess, particularly as she isn't the prettiest child in the world. As she looks so much like her father she probably will grow up to be rather attractive - but not a "pretty" princess. It reminds me of the way Dirty Den would always call Sharon Princess and I can't imagine anyone wanting to sound as if they came from that family!