The only two boy names that we can agree on, and both really love, have bad people associations. [name]One[/name] is an acquaintance that we never see, and will probably never see again, but my sister is close to. The other is family member, again that we only see a few times a year, but is still a family member. I’m trying not to let it bother me, and DH says it doesn’t bother him. But I don’t want either of these people to think we named the baby after them. The thing is I really love both names, and it’s hard enough choosing between the two, let alone coming up with an alternative. We came up with a different one for my first son, and while I like his name, I don’t like it as much as either of these.
[name]Reading[/name] what I’ve just written I guess my advice to a stranger would be just use the name and who cares if the people think that the baby is named after them. What do you think?
The names are [name]Julian[/name] and [name]Jahan[/name], I’ve posted about them before. We still have some time before we find out if its a boy or girl, so we might not even have this problem to deal with!
I really like [name]Julian[/name]!
I wouldn’t exactly tell people to just go for it, who cares what other people think… I think it’s good that you’re thinking about this, especially if there’s bad blood between your family and these people, or at least one of them.
I’ve always been worried about using the name [name]Joshua[/name], even though I love it… it has a lot of religious significance to me and I just love the name, but it’s the name of a family member who hurt me years ago… we get along better now, but my close family still knows what he did, so I’m hesitant about using it. I thought about it for a while, though, and the religious significance, for me, trumps the bad blood between my cousin and I, so I’ve decided to use it as a MN, where it won’t be seen as much ([name]Everett[/name] [name]Joshua[/name] [name]Charles[/name]). I guess you don’t really have that option with either [name]Julian[/name] or [name]Jahan[/name], but I think once you weigh your options, you can decide if it’s worth going for it or not. If I ever get to use [name]Everett[/name] [name]Joshua[/name] [name]Charles[/name], I’ll probably get a few questions like, “Oh, like after [name]Josh[/name]?” And I’ll probably have to explain, “No, it’s in honor of [name]Jesus[/name], since [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Jesus[/name] come from the same name. And [name]Joshua[/name] means “God saves,” which is a message I want to pass onto my son.” or whatever. If you get to use either name, you’ll probably have to explain, “No, it’s not after [name]Julian[/name]/[name]Jahan[/name],” or whatever, but if you love it enough, I think you should use it anyway. 
Good luck!
Hm, that’s a tough choice. I think [name]Julian[/name] might be fine since it’s a somewhat common name. I’ve never heard of [name]Jahan[/name], so that might give the impression it’s “after” this guy even if it’s not. I think I’d feel weird giving my kid the same name as a family member regardless of my relationship with them, unless they were a distant relative or something. But that’s just me.
[name]One[/name] of my favorite names also has a bad association for me. The name is [name]Bridget[/name]. I had a boss with that name who was absolutely terrible. I only worked for her for a couple months but I just couldn’t stand her. I’ve thought a lot about whether or not the association is strong enough. When you say the name, does it bring up bad memories? Does it make you cringe, get angry or feel sad? Are these people the only associations you have with the names? If yes, I’d probably pick something else or maybe use it as a middle.
If you go with [name]Jahan[/name] you could always have the positive connection to Shah [name]Jahan[/name], the emperor of [name]India[/name] that built the [name]Taj[/name] Mahal I have always found [name]Julian[/name] to be very feminine so its NMS but I think you should go for the name you love
I like [name]Julian[/name], but definitely not [name]Jahan[/name]. [name]Just[/name] nms. It depends on how bad the association is. I can overlook a lot if I love a name. My husband, however, can have a tiny bad association and the name is out for life.