Admittedly, most of my favorite names are a bit outrageous. However, some of them are just not usable What are your faves that you’d like to use… but won’t?
[name_f]Clementine[/name_f],[name_f]Gabrielle[/name_f],
[name_m]Leo[/name_m],[name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m],[name_u]Lee[/name_u]
That is all I can think of for now.
Mostly names already in use by well-known characters. (I’m answering this from the perspective of a writer, not in regards to naming real people.)
[name_f]Desdemona[/name_f] immediately comes to mind for me. I have a lot of love I can’t explain for this one.
[name_m]Thorin[/name_m], not that that’s stopped me from finding a way to use it.
[name_f]Daenerys[/name_f], which I think is gorgeous but too tied up in ASoIaF/GoT, which I don’t read/watch, to use. I was able to make use of [name_f]Sansa[/name_f] because of its Sanskrit origins and the fact that I was aware of it years before I ever heard about ASoIaF/GoT, though, so there’s that.
Like [name_m]Thorin[/name_m], I’ve managed to find uses for [name_m]Oberon[/name_m], [name_f]Isolde[/name_f], [name_f]Circe[/name_f], and [name_f]Eurydice[/name_f] as well.
[name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] is a name I think is gorgeous but haven’t used yet.
I’ve heard people call [name_f]Zelda[/name_f] unusable, though I think it’s lovely and perfectly fine as a name, but I thought I’d throw it up here anyway.
Other names: [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] (too connected to [name_m]Granger[/name_m] for me), [name_f]Amidala[/name_f] (so pretty as a LN, but too connected to [name_f]Star[/name_f] Wars).
I’m sure there are others I’m missing, but these are the ones I can think of atm.
This reminds me of my favorite Biblical trio: [name_m]Shadrach[/name_m], [name_m]Meshach[/name_m], and [name_m]Abednego[/name_m]. This was back when I was 12-15, when I was still going to church; I would sit there and roll their names around in my mouth, they just flow so smoothly. I can’t imagine ever using them, but I still love saying them.
I loooove the name [name_m]Nehemiah[/name_m], but I don’t think I would ever use it. I am a [name_m]Christian[/name_m], so the religious connection doesn’t make it unusable for me. I just think it’s too out there. [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] is another name I adore, but like [name_m]Nehemiah[/name_m], I think it’s too out there. My family would look at me like I have three heads if I used either of these names. lol.
Oh! I almost forgot [name_f]Leonie[/name_f] and [name_m]Caledon[/name_m]. I love them, but I KNOW my family would butcher the pronunciations no matter how many times I corrected them.
[name_f]Zoe[/name_f] (too popular and my parents’ cat)
[name_u]Piper[/name_u] (my daughter has a [name_f]Poppy[/name_f] and a Pappy…a sibling named [name_u]Piper[/name_u] would be complete insanity.)
[name_f]Annabel[/name_f]/[name_f]Stella[/name_f] (clash with last name)
[name_m]Miles[/name_m] (too popular where I live)
[name_m]Levi[/name_m] (someone I know used it for her son)
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] | I think this name is gorgeous but I can’t truly imagine my daughter having it.
[name_f]Zara[/name_f] | [name_u]Love[/name_u] it. But at one point my husband worked at a [name_f]Zara[/name_f] so there’s no cutting that association.
[name_f]Blanca[/name_f] | means ‘white’. Family would definitely look at me weird if I told them I liked this as an actual name for a child. I love it so much though!
What are your faves that you’d like to use… but won’t?