Babies being given unusual names.

I was given an unusual first name and we also had an unusual surname, so I was often having to spell both. Also, the two names did not really run together. I was teased at school about both my names and dreaded the first day of a new school year when the teacher went round the room asking our names. When I said my name the whole class tittered and, as a shy little girl, I was so embarrassed. My parents were lovely and I'm sure had I told them they would have done something about it. When I left school I changed to using my second name which helped me but now my parents are gone I sometimes wonder if they were upset about that as I never asked them. When I had my own babies I gave them simple (but nice) names that no-one could tease them about. I think children are not so cruel these days as many of them have unusual names and (hopefully) no-one laughs at them.

My DGS has a name which is quite a common boys name in Ireland, but a girls name in the US.

There's a thread running on mumsnet at the moment about the name Shay, and some posters are dismissing it as chavvy and common.
This is seriously annoying Irish posters who are pointing out that names like Shay, short for Séamus, and Liam and Conor, also regularly regarded as 'common' on mumsnet, are actually perfectly respectable and traditional Irish names.

I have to admit, as an Irish person, it does rile me when our lovely old names such as Kevin and the ones I've mentioned become really popular in England and then seem to acquire a chavvy reputation.

I find that great-grandparents names are coming back in style. We used to tease that my MIL's sisters sounded so old fashioned; Mary, Millie and Nellie. Now those names are very popular again.

Grandparents will have to wait a generation I think. No babies with Susan, Debbie, Cathy, Linda or Pam that I have heard of recently!

My family is mixture of French/British, so my parents tried to pick names that could be pronounced in both. My sister Martine always hated her name because she was the only one around, always had to spell it, and my parents berated her for not rolling her r's properly. Granted it does sound much nicer with a french accent, but it is more common now, and she has grown to accept it.

I knew of a lady who was the youngest daughter in a huge family, and her parents had run out of ideas, so she was registered and Christened 'Girl'.

? Yes

I expect someone somewhere has spelt it Kweeva.
Neeve and Shivawn are not that uncommon!

Caoimhe is an Irish name and reasonably popular in Ireland at the moment. It's pronounced Kweeva.

I do know a Sheelagh - perhaps her mother wanted to make sure people knew it was Sheela

I know two women called Eira too, it's Welsh, but I haven't come across any little Eiras so far.

Caoimhe anyone?

As 'sheila' is a name of Irish origin. Shelagh is probably nearer to the original spelling.

This happened a lot in the late 19th century in England. Caitlin became Kathleen; Mairin became Maureen, Noirin became Noreen, Sile became Sheila.

The Anglicisation of foreign names, which we do to this day.

I do feel a bit sorry for the teachers in reception who have to remember all the children's names really quickly. Must have been easier when you had a couple of James, a couple of Katies, Emmas Gemmas Jacks. The newest babies all seem to have names that haven't been used before so Ardens & Eiras & Navys & Aliunas & Nevas & Kalia-Raes & Treys. However do they remember them all? I would have struggled even with the traditional names.Do like unusual names though & wish I'd been more imaginative naming my own.

? a better class of sheilas; were they ozzie ?

My S had a girlfriend many years ago whose name was Sheila, I suppose it still is.
One of my friends who always thought herself a cut above everyone else announced one day that her Son had a new girlfriend whose name was Shelagh, NOT the common spelling as my S’s girlfriend had.

Actually it’s not just unusual names that need spelling!
Think of Lindsey.

With an ‘a’ or an ‘e’?
With or without a ‘d’?
An ‘s’ or a ‘z’ with perhaps a ‘y’ or an ‘i’ at the end?

Urmstongran

I always think of Lindsey with an e is female, Lindsay with an a is male (I have met both)
I also met a Linsey and a Linzi!

My DD's name is not unheard of, but not common place. I specifically chose it because it fitted both of the cultures she came from.

I was out and about once, when she was a toddler, and there was another girl with the same name. The mother asked me anxiously how I spelled my DD's name and was relieved when I gave the obvious spelling, saying 'My DD's name is spelled in a really unusual way. No one else has one the same.' Which I thought was a bit silly really.

My friend has a friend named Imelda, I love it and wish it were my name.
You can’t get much plainer than Ann, without an “e” and no middle name.

Petera

MayBeMaw Apparent,y there were no “ Nigels” - I wonder why?

Yes, according to R4 'Lucifer' was more popular than 'Nigel'

I heard that. It’s hard to imagine a couple looking down at a new baby and thinking ‘I know, let’s call him Lucifer’, isn’t it?

Ah thanks MOnica that was kind of you to let me know.
Curiosity dealt with.
?

I think a lot of people given way out names as babies, often change them to something more usual when they become adults.

There have been a number of the offspring of pop stars lumbered with strange 1960s psychedelic names who have quietly changed them in adulthood.

MayBeMaw Apparent,y there were no “ Nigels” - I wonder why?

Yes, according to R4 'Lucifer' was more popular than 'Nigel'

lemongrove

When naming our children we tried to give them names which would suit them at whatever age they were.
A lot of names suit cute young children but may sound daft on an older person, and extremely daft on an elderly person.?

Yes - this. There are no such things as 'baby names'. You are naming someone who will, in most cases, be an adult for the largest part of their life.

i am 58 and still have to correct people, my name is not unusual but it ends in lyn not ine, when people read it out and still call me the ine and i have to correct them, and if they still won't say it properly then i ask them to call me mrs nexus. i just find it annoying when they are reading from a bit of paper. i do feel sorry for the children who have or are given some of the unusual names that i have been reading about lately such as bear, cricket, dune, horizon and ridge, these are some of the predictions for next year, some non- binary names are holland, juniper, lux and scout, they are prediciting some of the old victorian names will make a comeback due to some of the tv series like bridgerton.

Urmston It was 'Imelda' at a time decades before Mrs Marcos. At the time a name known in the Irish catholic community, but not much used.

She got called Amalda Amelda, Amanda, Amolda, Melanie, you name a variation she got it.

Sadly she died when the name was becoming known, with Imelda Marcos and since then we have, of course, had the actress Imelda Staughton, but not in my sisters lifetime.

M0nica

My sister had an unusual name. Quite simple, spelt as pronounced, but she got so many other versions of it she started telling people her name and spelling it (it only had 6 letters, until, she said, the felt the spelling was becoming part of her name.

Then someone with her first name hit the headlines and all her problems vanished!

You’ve piqued my curiosity now MOnica ‼️

Actually it’s not just unusual names that need spelling!
Think of Lindsey.

With an ‘a’ or an ‘e’?
With or without a ‘d’?
An ‘s’ or a ‘z’ with perhaps a ‘y’ or an ‘i’ at the end?

A nightmare name isn’t it‼️

Hetty58

Elusivebutterfly, because popular names are 'safe', reliable, uncontroversial - parents with little imagination?

I think nowadays a lot of people try to 'prove' their creativity by giving their children outlandish names.

The most creative person I know called her children Jane and Edward. Her artist daughter has children called Niamh (very standard name here in Ireland) and Alice.

I gave each of my sons one slightly unusual (though traditional) name, and a very standard middle name (one is James, one Philip) in case they preferred that. They have not chosen to use the middle names, and are happily known by the more unusual ones.