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This is gonna be contrary to a lot of people on here, but probably my biggest pet peeve is when people name their child one thing and then never ever refer to them as that, all because they wanted a ‘real’ name for the birth certificate. All names are real. Name your child what you want them to be called
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I personally don’t like first names that used to be or are more commonly used as surnames, they just come across as overly preppy to me
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I don’t like overly gendered names - like ‘[name_u]Jet[/name_u]’ for a boy or ‘[name_f]Mirabella[/name_f]’ for a girl
Like most people who have responded, surnames used as first names, is my greatest complaint
There are so many nice strong & or feminine names out there & parents choose names like :
[name_u]Logan[/name_u], [name_u]Rowan[/name_u], [name_m]Cannon[/name_m], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_m]Caiden[/name_m], [name_u]Bailey[/name_u], Cooper, [name_u]Riley[/name_u], [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_m]Ryker[/name_m], [name_u]Monroe[/name_u], [name_u]Sloane[/name_u] or [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u].
Some boy’s names don’t convert to acceptable girl’s names in my book. I don’t like :
[name_f]Henrietta[/name_f], Wilheimina, [name_f]Persephone[/name_f], [name_f]Thomasina[/name_f], Robertine, Jonica, [name_u]Damiane[/name_u], [name_f]Odile[/name_f], [name_f]Ottoline[/name_f].
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t try so hard to make a male name into a female one.
Some botanical names also push the limits too far. For instance:
[name_f]Apple[/name_f], [name_f]Wisteria[/name_f], [name_f]Magnolia[/name_f], [name_f]Primrose[/name_f], [name_f]Meadow[/name_f], [name_f]Eartha[/name_f], [name_f]Marigold[/name_f], [name_f]Posey[/name_f], [name_f]Petunia[/name_f]
I’m fine with [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f] & [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] but we don’t need a full list of flowers represented.
There are also names that are more like a nickname such as:
[name_f]Mimi[/name_f], [name_f]Lulu[/name_f], [name_f]Mayme[/name_f], [name_f]Hattie[/name_f], [name_f]Lux[/name_f], [name_f]Etta[/name_f].
aldabellaxwulfe, if only nameberry had a rep system… because you’re my new hero haha.
It’s wise to proceed very carefully there. My family is friends with a family in which the mother is of European ancestry and the father is Vietnamese. Their oldest daughter looks exactly like her mother - long blond hair, fair complexion, blue eyes. She has zero of her father visible in her features. Another of their sons has his father’s eyes, but otherwise looks all European. Their other two children are a mix, physically, but there’s only one of four that you could glance at and say: “Yup, he’s got Vietnamese heritage.” Of course they all have the exact same background, but anyone looking at the oldest would never know it - she just looks like your typical Midwest girl. There’s a tendency to think that physical features are an infallible barometer of heritage, but the reality is often far more complex. If you don’t know the child and the child’s parents well - for that matter even if you do - it’s impossible to say with certainty which cultures they are related to based solely off of how white or “suburban” they might look.
Of course everyone has the right to an opinion, and I’m not trying to step on that; I’m just saying it’s best to be cautious and not jump to conclusions about the parents’ naming motivations just based on the way the child looks. You may not be getting the whole story. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if they aren’t genetically related to the culture the name comes from, one or both parents might have deeply personal reasons for choosing the name which aren’t readily apparent at first glance. There’s no way to know for sure which parents are jumping on a trend and which aren’t.
Anyway - back to the topic at hand. There isn’t much about names that really bothers me. My philosophy is that it’s the parents’ child and therefore their decision. I have a few peeves, though.
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The Kreeativ spellings we’re all endlessly complaining of. Spelling it [name_f]Emmaleigh[/name_f] doesn’t automatically make it more sparkly. I’m still going to pronounce it just like plain old [name_f]Emily[/name_f], so you may as well make it easier on the child and be sensible. If in your heart of hearts you really want a unique name, find one. There are endless options outside the top 100 and more outside the top 1000. No need to butcher an existing name.
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Parents who choose a super popular name - [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_f]Ava[/name_f], [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] - and then act like they discovered it and it’s the most unique thing anyone’s ever heard. Or get indignant because the name became so popular “after” they picked it.
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Anything that’s likely to date-stamp the child in forty years. Brayleigh, [name_f]Brynlee[/name_f], [name_f]Everleigh[/name_f], Alyvvia, etc.
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Anything with a potentially negative connotation. I absolutely don’t comprehend some people’s love of [name_m]Lemon[/name_m], for example. It’s sour and no one actually eats it. It’s also a term for a junky car. I just don’t understand it.
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I’m really not a fan of the boys’ names on girls thing. Most proponents of this trend probably wouldn’t name their sons [name_f]Rachel[/name_f] or [name_f]Alexa[/name_f]. There’s such a double standard.
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I agree with an earlier poster’s dislike of unnecessarily Anglicizing spellings. If you love [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] and [name_f]Niamh[/name_f], that’s wonderful. They’re gorgeous names. But give them the respect they deserve and spell them properly; don’t turn them into Seersha and [name_f]Neve[/name_f] just to make the masses a little more comfortable. Yes, there will be spelling and pronunciation issues, but that’s the price you pay. You can’t have it both ways.
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Insanely long, complex names. I mean names like [name_f]Abigail[/name_f] [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] [name_f]Diamond[/name_f] [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f]. Sure, you can put all of that on the birth certificate if you really want to, but…why? [name_m]Aren[/name_m]'t two names plenty?
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This is more of an annoyance with people than names, but I hate it when people use a particular name they dislike to make value judgments about the parents or the child. If you don’t like [name_f]Khaleesi[/name_f] or [name_u]Jayden[/name_u], that’s peachy. No one’s forcing you to put them on the birth certificate. But that’s absolutely no reason to call the parents or prospective parents of a [name_f]Khaleesi[/name_f] or [name_u]Jayden[/name_u] stupid, ignorant, uneducated, trashy, etc. etc. People who behave this way only succeed in painting themselves with all those unfortunate brushes.
I think that’s all I have for now. More may occur to me later.
I think I’m relatively open minded, that being said there are somethings that bug me so much I almost get pissed about it.
1.) If there’s a name that super popular, and has been popular for several years, why the flip would you want to make you child another, lets say [name_f]Emma[/name_f], in the already huge horde of [name_f]Emma[/name_f]'s. To date I have met at LEAST 7 of them. Its like, their name is the first thing the world sees of your child so why not put a little more effort into picking out a name that helps them form their individuality and unique identity. Giving them a over used name just… i don’t know, it just feels lazy or like your conforming to whats “hot”. It also takes away the surprise factor that happens when you meet someone who shares your name. I’ve only met two people who have the same name as me and with each of them it was a fun surprise and gave us an excuse to talk and become friends. If for what ever reason you [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] the over popular name, maybe its a family name or you discovered it years ago, I totally get it. But why not consider using it as a middle? Or why not try finding a new, fresher variation? Having to be Identified my your last name initial takes way form the actually name.
Examples:
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] - in the number one spot for LITERALLY decades upon centers. Same thing with [name_m]John[/name_m].
[name_f]Emma[/name_f]- This one really bothers me because its my own generation that’s crawling with them.
I’m afraid I rather agree there. I try not to be too critical because it is the parents’ decision and nothing to do with me, and what if the mother really did fall in love with [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] when she was seven years old and it was a freak accident that it became so popular? But I do groan inwardly a little when yet another mother introduces me to her newborn [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], or [name_f]Emma[/name_f] because you know it’s very likely she’ll wind up being [name_u]Madison[/name_u] E. or [name_u]Harper[/name_u] B. at some point in her educational career. I realize not everyone is a popularity phobe, and that’s fine; to each their own. But I don’t personally see the appeal of adding yet another [name_f]Emma[/name_f] or [name_f]Lily[/name_f] to the world when preschool teachers are already going to be drowning in a sea of them in a few years. Especially when there are so many beautiful, neglected options waiting to be discovered.
To Mirimouse - I see you are from Australia too ( I’m from [name_u]Sydney[/name_u], which is a great city but I’m not mad about it as a baby name, if you know what I mean)
I think we need to see Australia’s top 1000. I think we are losing something in the translation.
I’m from [name_u]Sydney[/name_u] too. Totally not naming any of my children that. 
If you ever stumble upon Australia’s top 1000 shoot me a link, because I’ve searched, and the best I’ve seen is top 100.
I think we’re losing something in translation too. [name_f]Every[/name_f] time someone posts about how “fresh” and “unheard of” [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] and [name_m]Lachlan[/name_m] are, I die laughing.
I think my husband is [name_m]WAY[/name_m] more picky than I am - but now I’m thinking he only has a few criteria which really don’t match mine.
I don’t want to reuse the name of a living family member unless intentionally to honour that person (which due to large family size is actually quite restrictive).
Plus, as all you teachers know, I want to strike names of certain children - which also tends to be restricting.
My only other rule is not to end names in an ‘s’ sound - but this is because of how it sounds with out last name. And unfortunately has bumped [name_f]Elyse[/name_f] off our list - even though it is my #1 name.
[name_f]Persephone[/name_f] and [name_m]Perseus[/name_m] probably have similar meanings, but can you really know which came first?
[name_f]Ottoline[/name_f] and [name_m]Otto[/name_m] have different origins and I’m not sure what male name [name_f]Odile[/name_f] is supposed to come from?
But yeah, Jonica, [name_f]Thomasina[/name_f], and Robertine are terrible!!!
The only thing I have a problem with when naming a baby is horrible spelling and their initials. I always made sure they don’t have initials that spell a crazy word. That being said…I have a [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_u]Jameson[/name_u], and Vanellope. The only child with a knickname is Vanellope…I call her [name_u]Nelly[/name_u] most of the time. She also gets called little Vanilla [name_m]Bean[/name_m]. But it’s all good :).
Honestly, I can’t stand 90% of popular/common names. I find it quite odd that it’s considered normal to name their kid something that has already been used a thousand times or more. [name_f]Every[/name_f] person born is a different person, so shouldn’t they each have a different name? I love unique names or mashing names together and tweaking it. As long as the spelling makes sense with the English language, who cares? People say that common/popular names have “real” meaning, but how do you think that happened? It happened because a human made it up and attached a meaning to it at some point. Besides, a name is always meaningful if it speaks to the parent. I’m also not a fan of first and last names that match with the first letter or rhyme. It also grinds my gears when someone gets lazy and butchers a name by calling someone by a nickname without even asking that person’s permission. If someone’s name is [name_m]Vincent[/name_m], don’t call them [name_m]Vince[/name_m] unless they ask you to. I think I’m done. 
I think everything that annoys me has already been said, so I’ll try to keep this reasonable.
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When people call names from other cultures or languages ridiculous. To be fair, I know a lot of people throwing around the name [name_f]Aviva[/name_f] here on Nameberry probably have no ties to anything Hebrew at all, but it just strikes me as ignorant and arrogant to say it’s a ridiculous name simply because it sounds silly to you personally. That’s just one example I’ve found, but it annoys me all the same when I see people asking, “[name_m]How[/name_m] is this even a name?” about names that are legitimate and usable for other people and in other places. Maybe Addisyne sounds dumb to people in other countries, but does that stop people from naming their kid that? No.
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Kr8tiv spellings, of course, but I also hate when people take a name and spell it phonetically. [name_f]Michaela[/name_f] is a beautiful name. Why do you have to spell it [name_f]Mikayla[/name_f]?
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The name [name_u]Wren[/name_u]. If I could delete it from every name database in the world, I would do so gladly.
Confession: The first time I ever heard [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Madison[/name_u], and [name_f]Alison[/name_f], they were all on girls, and I didn’t know they were masculine until much, much later in life. I wish I could say I hate the unisex name trend, but the more I think about it, the more I realise it doesn’t bother me that much (This is a slippery slope, because if I meet a little girl named [name_f]Ryanne[/name_f] [name_m]Jaymes[/name_m], I will feel pity. Some names I just think sound more feminine than others. shrugs) I really like [name_u]Brennan[/name_u] for a girl. It reminds me of Dr. [name_f]Temperance[/name_f] [name_u]Brennan[/name_u] from the show BONES. For that matter, I quite like [name_f]Temperance[/name_f] too. I think it has a pretty sound. I don’t really understand why so many people on Nameberry have such a fiery hatred for virtue names.
[name_u]Allison[/name_u] is not masculine. It never has been. It is a diminutive of [name_f]Alice[/name_f].
okay i may get backlash for this but i have so much pent up name hate ive gotta let it out and see if im alone in this world:
[name_u]Monroe[/name_u]- I hate it! Its a last name. Your daughter will not magically embody marilyn. i just hate the sound of it. I honestly would prefer marilyn even though it screams tragedy and/or old lady. If you want to honor marilyn monroe how about MN [name_f]Jeane[/name_f] or a character name from one of her many roles ([name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] is very usable, [name_f]Cherie[/name_f] is kind of a sweet middle name)
[name_u]Marlowe[/name_u]-I could possibly stomach [name_u]Marlow[/name_u] for a boy, i hate that too but not as much, and I hate harlow, it sounds like harlot.
[name_f]Brynlee[/name_f] and [name_u]Brinley[/name_u] [name_f]Bryna[/name_f] etc
[name_u]Addison[/name_u]- i know people like it but i just dont, maybe someone agrees…
[name_f]Anniston[/name_f]- WHY…does anyone like jennifer aniston THAT much?? While I’m at it here are my daughters Cox and Kudrow and my sons LeBlanc and Schwimmer. Maybe you just like the way it sounds similar to anna and has the trendy surname thing but i just dont get it.
[name_u]Bristol[/name_u]- it doesnt sound terrible but after the associated with [name_u]Palin[/name_u] i don’t know how anyone in [name_u]America[/name_u] can continue to use it. Unless you like the Palins, but thats another level of baffling.
[name_m]Ryker[/name_m]- island, enough said. If you live in the US and have ever watched an episode of law and order then you know this is a prison name…
[name_f]Primrose[/name_f]- sounds like a stuck up prep school girl whose mother has a stick up her ass. I’m sorry…
And first names that end in a vowel next to middle names that start with the same vowel sound or other choppy sound ex:
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Ava[/name_f]- both nice names but do not work as neighbors, even worse if they almost rhyme or repeat sounds like [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] or [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] or [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] [name_f]Ava[/name_f] (again all nice names but there are some pairing suggestions that just baffle me…say it out loud its just wrong)
Thats all for now thanks for listening dont hate me.
I often hear it getting paraded around with the rest of the -son names that are so popular now. Thanks for correcting me!