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What would your name be?

(125 Posts)
rizlett Sun 09-Dec-18 19:50:19

Following on from the legal name thread earlier - if your name could be anything you wanted - what would you choose - or do you like the one you have already?

Lilyflower Tue 11-Dec-18 06:27:11

I have a name which was bizarrely prolifically bestowed in 1956 and then as abruptly went out of fashion. Most classes I was in had another two or three girls with the same name so we call all be dated as 62 years old.

I do not like the name much per set but have always identified with it and am used to it and its shortened form.

Perhaps if I had been an Elizabeth or an Emma I would have been a nicer person. I would have been more middle class and would have had a less chaotic childhood. Bootless to speculate.

morethan2 Tue 11-Dec-18 04:11:09

I’m not overly keen on my first name,it’s very plain and dull. I do like both my married and maiden surnames even though I have to spell them out almost every day.

Marmight Tue 11-Dec-18 02:58:02

I've always been known by the derivative of my 2nd name and it doesn't half cause problems, particularly with the bank! I hate my first name. I was to be called Judith but then my aunt came up with ****, so that was it. Its crazy. I have 2 names and am not known by either of them confused. I love the 2nd name, Sara, but too late and too complicated now to change to it.

callgirl1 Tue 11-Dec-18 00:16:27

Interesting that some think my name is lovely, I always wished it was Louise instead.

Nanah67 Mon 10-Dec-18 23:27:34

My name I have struggled with all my life..I cannot even pronounce it proberly..all my siblings have family names but not me. My gds and gdd have 3 letter names and can not be changed.

Jalima1108 Mon 10-Dec-18 23:21:39

My friend's DD is called Angharad
Some people used to think her name was Anne Harrad.

Chewbacca Mon 10-Dec-18 23:15:39

I would like to be called Angharradh. Beautiful name and not many of them about, even in Wales. Instead, I got a common Welsh name.

grannyactivist Mon 10-Dec-18 23:06:46

My daughters, were given names that were unusual at the time, but twenty years later a character in Eastenders popularised one of the names. My sons names were more traditional, but still uncommon - although one of them has become rather trendy now. Fortunately all my children love their names and have gone on to give their own daughters slightly unusual names and their sons more traditional ones.

lemongrove Mon 10-Dec-18 22:53:22

Am very happy with my name so wouldn’t change it.
It was different from all the girls I grew up with, several Susans and Catherines/Katherines/Kathryns in fact if a teacher said a name several heads would look up.
Strangely, all the boys at primary school with me had very different ( to each other) names.
Other popular names were Karen, Mary, Linda, Jean, Gillian.
A new boy arrived in our class when we were about ten years old, good looking ( yes, we noticed!) and called Darren
Which was exotic to us and we all fawned over him.grin

Legs55 Mon 10-Dec-18 21:31:36

I am known by my middle name which causes confusion with Doctor, Hospital & anything officialthlgrin, I have to remember where I am & answer to the name used but after 62 years I'm used to itthlgrin

I am still known my late DH's surname which is very unusual, much better than my maiden name & previous married surnames, only problem it's often mis-spelledthlgrin

My DD always wanted a middle name, when she left home she inserted a middle name which most of here friends use, I'm probably the only person to call DD by her given apart from my DMthlsmile

Blue45Sapphire Mon 10-Dec-18 20:26:56

I have always disliked my name (and surname), but at least I could change my surname when I married. My name is now for ever linked with a notorious woman. My DH though, loved my name! I wish I had been a Miranda; I also like Rosalind and Rosamund.

EllanVannin Mon 10-Dec-18 19:29:28

I loved my grandmother's name even though I never knew her. It was Catherine Elizabeth.

LittlePinkPiggy Mon 10-Dec-18 19:14:08

When I was born in the mid 60s my mum put me up for adoption but I was eventually raised by my maternal grandparents. Thinking that she would not keep me in her life she gave me her first name but when I ended up staying in the family I was given another first name, but my birth certificate was not changed. When I started school at the age of 4 the teachers said that I had to be called the name on my birth certificate. Therefore, I grew up with two first names. My family know me as one name - school friends and work colleagues know me as another. I like both of my names very much which is why I've never been able to keep one and let the other go.

jools1903 Mon 10-Dec-18 19:10:17

I hated my name when I was young, I always wanted to be called Susan. That soon wore off when I was in my early 20’s and wouldn’t change my name (Julia) for anything!

Grannyanna12345 Mon 10-Dec-18 19:09:59

I always hated my name and decided, at age 50, to change it to somthng I liked. So I did. Mowt people have got used to it and I almost can’t remember what it was like to be the ‘old’ me, my new name suits me much better.

Grandmama Mon 10-Dec-18 19:09:52

I love my name, couldn't be better. I object when people shorten it. However I turn a deaf ear when my really long term friends (school, youth club, college) shorten it. I didn't mind the shortening in those days so wouldn't dream of correcting them now.

My mother said I was supposed to have a second Christian name but blamed my father for being so euphoric over my birth that he forgot to add it.

Phoebes Mon 10-Dec-18 19:08:38

My parents called me after my two grandmothers and I absolutely hated both names as they were so old-fashioned and I didn’t know anyone else who had either of them However, what goes around, comes around, and both my names are incredibly trendy now! We didn’t give our daughter either of my names and she wishes I had! She’s just told me that she’s pregnant, so she can use one, or both, of my names, if it’s a girl!

GabriellaG54 Mon 10-Dec-18 18:41:07

I think I went a bit mad when I had my last child. Her names wouldn't all fit on the certificate but she loves them...although a couple are a bit unusual 'though not ridiculous. hmm

GreenGran78 Mon 10-Dec-18 18:09:25

My daughter was born in 1972 and has Susan as her second name.
My neighbour swore that if she had thought it through, she would never have called her daughter Lynsey. She hadn't thought about how many variations there are. The poor girl has to constantly spell out her name to people.

Jalima1108 Mon 10-Dec-18 17:32:45

I always liked the name Lindsey

SueLindsey Mon 10-Dec-18 17:20:45

Agree with the other Sue/Susans that our name dates us rather. It was the most popular girls name from 1948-1955
and seems to have completly disappeared since then. I was in a class of 20 at senior school and there were 3 other Susan's. I always wanted to be something more uncommon like Frances.

NfkDumpling Mon 10-Dec-18 16:59:49

I once job shared with a woman with the same name as me. I had to change my name or be known as Big L. (She was very petite.) It was only after I’d left after eight years with the firm that I discovered she was using her second name.

Beejo Mon 10-Dec-18 16:44:06

Never liked any of my names so, like others, was glad to marry and change, at least, my surname.
My mother told me that she wanted to call me Josephine but didn't because it was too posh!
Oh, what a different person I would have been if only I'd been Josephine! I know in my teens and twenties, I would have been Jo but by now I would have softened it to Josie.....Oh well, still stuck with my less-than-posh name!

GreenGran78 Mon 10-Dec-18 15:33:31

My mother told me that they couldn't decide on a name, so asked my aunt to choose one. I wasn't very pleased about that!
She picked the name Brenda, which seemed to have a very short spell of popularity. If anyone knows of a Brenda under the age of 70, I would be very surprised. I have never really thought about whether I like my name, or not. It's just something I've always been.
For some strange reason people often seem to get confused, and call me Barbara.
I remember, as a child, we played a game called "letters in your name" and I pretended that my (non-existent) middle name was Veronica, so that I could claim extra steps forward!

Esspee Mon 10-Dec-18 15:28:19

I always hated my name. Wish I had changed it but too late now.