Favourite/Least favourite names by association

General Name Discussion
1

Which are some of the names you personally feel have been ruined for you by association. Names you might have loved but won’t want to use now.
Likewise, are there names you didn’t think much of before but have now fallen in love with by association? (These don’t necessarily have to be celebrities)

For me, the name [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] seems to have lost its appeal (Kardashian connection :-?). [name_f]Lolita[/name_f] is another one. I love the sound of it and would have loved to be able to use it. [name_m]Alas[/name_m]!

On the other hand, I’m certain I wouldn’t have loved the name [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] as much as I do if it wasn’t for To Kill A Mockingbird.
[name_f]Meryl[/name_f] is another one of those names ([name_f]Meryl[/name_f] Streep) — which in turn has got me recently obsessing over [name_f]Beryl[/name_f]!

2

I can relate!
I’m a huge bookworm, and growing up in Greece the first time I heard foreign names was in books, so book character associations mean a lot to me. For example, the first time I heard [name_f]Constance[/name_f] was on an annoying little girl in a book, so I could never like it. On the other hand, I like [name_f]Prue[/name_f] and [name_m]Klaus[/name_m] because of books I read as a kid.
Of course there are the real life associations as well, they’re what keep me from liking [name_f]Lydia[/name_f], [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] and Iason but make me have a soft spot for [name_m]Cosmo[/name_m], [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] etc

3

[name_f]Ginevra[/name_f] is one that I love by association - I’d never really considered it before reading [name_f]Villette[/name_f] and now I love it.

[name_m]Ethan[/name_m] is one I think I could have loved - it begins with E (I like a lot of e names), it’s got a kind of softness to it that I like - but it’s the name of a character that I cannot stand

4

[name_f]Matilda[/name_f] is my favourite girls’ name, and the association to [name_m]Roald[/name_m] Dahl’s [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] (and the fact that my mum calls me her “very own [name_f]Matilda[/name_f]”) makes me love it even more.

The vast majority of my favourite names ([name_m]Arthur[/name_m], [name_m]Caspian[/name_m], [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_m]Frank[/name_m], [name_m]Frederic[/name_m], [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], [name_m]Jack[/name_m]/[name_m]Jacques[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], Lupin, [name_u]Percy[/name_u], [name_m]Peregrine[/name_m], [name_m]Remus[/name_m], [name_m]Sirius[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m], [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Alma[/name_f], [name_f]Lilo[/name_f], [name_f]Lucy[/name_f], [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f], [name_f]Nala[/name_f], [name_f]Pandora[/name_f] and [name_f]Violet[/name_f]) are all inspired by - or a nod to - my favourite fictional characters.

[name_u]Remy[/name_u] ([name_u]Remington[/name_u] [name_u]Leith[/name_u]), Skandar (Skandar Keynes), [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] ([name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] [name_m]Stan[/name_m]), [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] ([name_m]Tom[/name_m] Hiddleston), [name_f]Helena[/name_f] ([name_f]Helena[/name_f] Bonham [name_u]Carter[/name_u]) and [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] ([name_f]Emilia[/name_f] [name_m]Clarke[/name_m]) are a few of the names I love even more due to the celebrity association.

[name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_m]Richard[/name_m], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f], [name_m]George[/name_m], [name_m]Steve[/name_m], [name_m]Albus[/name_m], etc. have all been ruined by personal or character associations.

5

[name_f]Alice[/name_f] is a name that has been ruined for me by a personal association, even though it is the kind of name I would typically like a lot. I’m afraid [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] falls into that category for me as well. A name that has really grown on me by a personal association is [name_f]Muriel[/name_f].

6

[name_u]Tristan[/name_u] was my favorite name forever, however my sister started dating a guy with that name and it became an abusive relationship, so I’ve has to nix it. [name_f]Alia[/name_f] is another name I love but cannot used to do its my fiance’s ex girlfriends name.

On the opposite spectrum, though not a name I can use, [name_f]Emily[/name_f] has a sweet spot in my heart. I’ve never met an [name_f]Emily[/name_f] that isn’t a complete sweetheart. [name_u]Francis[/name_u] is another name I wouldn’t personally use but has a sweet spot for it do to it being my bestfriends child’s name. I met a little [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] and fell in love too. Its now on my list!

7

[name_m]How[/name_m] about names that YOU love the association of, but EVERYONE [name_f]ELSE[/name_f] hates? :stuck_out_tongue: My favorite character from Game of Thrones is Cersei (yeah yeah I know). I absolutely adore her, and I think her name is perfect! So soft and feminine but with a sort of power all the same. Buuuuut I’m about the only fan who likes her; most people consider her the last “big bad villain” standing and want her gone. So that’s a no on that name, unfortunately.

HOWEVER.

Cersei’s twin brother [name_u]Jaime[/name_u] has a name that happens to be a traditional Spanish name as well (pronounced [name_m]HY[/name_m]-may [name_m]IRL[/name_m]; [name_u]JAY[/name_u]-mee on the show/in the books). So I was able to add it as a middle to a name on my shortlist for any sons I may have. (It’s not entirely because of the character - I do truly like the name! But that it belongs to a character I like did help it pop up on my radar.)

8

Two that I hate by association are [name_u]Connie[/name_u] and [name_f]Sheila[/name_f], [name_u]Connie[/name_u] because of a girl I knew in college who was a snob and liked to make cutting remarks to me and everyone around her, and [name_f]Sheila[/name_f] was a little girl that stole my brothers’ and my money for the public swimming pool.

On the flip side, names that I love by association are [name_u]Taliesin[/name_u], from some of the [name_m]Merlin[/name_m] stories, [name_m]Bodhi[/name_m], for it’s meaning of enlightenment and a character in a movie.

If I think of any more I’ll add them later.

9

When I was young I was bulled by girls named [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_f]Maria[/name_f], & [name_f]Marie[/name_f], so I dislike all of those names intensely. [name_f]Eva[/name_f], [name_u]Carmen[/name_u], & [name_f]Katrina[/name_f] were bullies I encountered at various times & thus other names I feel negatively about. Names that have been tarnished because of family/ex-family members are Raeshel/[name_u]Shelley[/name_u], [name_f]Joanne[/name_f], [name_f]Paula[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_f]Sandi[/name_f], & [name_f]Eileen[/name_f].

On the other hand, I love the name [name_u]Ren[/name_u]ée because it reminds me of a favorite babysitter from my youth. [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f] is my favorite aunt.

10

[name_m]Kenneth[/name_m] is a name I normally wouldn’t like, but personal association has made me (secretly) love it.

[name_u]Merritt[/name_u] just became unusable because of person association, which I’m disappointed about because it is in one of my combos and I’ll have to change it.

Can’t think of others atm!

11

I went to elementary school with a terrible [name_f]Madelyn[/name_f] so now I can’t stand all forms of that one. There was also an awful [name_f]Gladys[/name_f], but I suspect I’d dislike [name_f]Gladys[/name_f] anyway.

A name with the opposite trajectory is [name_f]Megan[/name_f]/[name_f]Meghan[/name_f]—I used to dislike it until I made a really spectacular friend with that name.