Hot Takes? 🤭

Yes! When I see something like hannah beatrice, my mind automatically reads it as two words and it doesn’t feel like a “real” name to me, even though it obviously is!

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You’re not alone, this has been bugging me for ages :sweat_smile:

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I completely agree! I really don’t like all lower case in general, but especially with names. I find it so hard to read and process :sweat_smile:.

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Especially with how much people on NB like uncommon word/nature names, something like “tundra lark” absolutely reads as a random bird species, not a human name.

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The way my dyslexia manifests, I just straight up can’t read text that’s all lower case because it’ll just blur together into nonsense (I very much rely on proper capitalisation and punctuation to get my bearings). I know this is very much a me problem so don’t think people necessarily need to adjust their writing style to accommodate me but I feel very validated by this hot take, haha.

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What’s worse is when someone writes a paragraph that includes names in lowercase. [name_f]My[/name_f] eyes scan right past the names since the capital letters aren’t there as a callout :bowing_woman:t2:

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Bridget is such a fab name and deserves the same love that Charlotte, Juliet, and Violet get. :heartbeat: :heartbeat: :heartbeat:

My other hot take is I hate when people make fun of unique spellings. It’s just seems smug to make fun of people for trying to be creative, even if it doesn’t always land. It also verges very easily into classy v. trashy dialogue and becomes mean.

That said, I think name forums should allow for a wide variety of opinions and we aren’t here to just say nice things about names. We’re here to share our opinions, bad included. I’m just saying I personally don’t agree with the sentiment behind those who mock unique spellings (although I can understand the argument that it complicates things for the child at times).

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[name_f]My[/name_f] hot take of the day - the “if you had a son today” thread deserves just as much attention as the “if you had a daughter today” thread!!

I didn’t even know we had one until recently, and it makes me sad that the sweet boy names get so much less attention!!

Plus I absolutely love the creativity on those threads, and would love to see some more in the boy’s realm!!

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Summary

i didn’t know about that thread until recently either! i 100% agree :white_heart:

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I always want to post in that thread, but my answer never changes! :joy: I would just say [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m] [name_m]Pax[/name_m] :rainbow::rainbow::rainbow: every single day, haha.

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cordelia is one of my all-time least favourite names and i truly feel bad about it because so many people on NB absolutely adore it :sob: i just think of electrical power cords (so i really dislike the nn cordie too) which apparently no one else thinks about haha! & to me it sounds a bit overly princessy, – i just can’t picture it on a real-life little girl but the meaning is absolutely gorgeous, so i really do wish i liked it more or at least didn’t dislike it!

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[name_m]Blake[/name_m] [name_f]Lively[/name_f] and [name_m]Ryan[/name_m] Reynolds’s kids’ names aren’t that mismatched. :face_with_peeking_eye:

I saw someone on Reddit say “I can’t imagine them being in the same classroom let alone siblings.” Huh? They’re definitely eclectic but all four have unexpected vintage names. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if they weren’t, there are plenty of families who pick names that ‘don’t go together.’

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I always feel as though [name_m]James[/name_m] (g) is the outlier. They aren’t that mismatched because the set is perfectly quirky, vintage-inspired, sentimental, and eclectic, but [name_f]Betty[/name_f], [name_f]Inez[/name_f], and [name_m]Olin[/name_m] sound like siblings to me, whereas [name_m]James[/name_m] for a girl feels a bit more modern and edgy in a different way.

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This is definitely a hot take, but I think it’s kind of weird when people do the surname as given name thing, but have no connection to the surname.

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I have so many questions. :joy:

Does it bother you if it’s an occupation or word that’s a surname, like [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m]? [name_m]Or[/name_m] a surname that is commonly a first name, like [name_f]Riley[/name_f]? What about something like [name_m]Hudson[/name_m] or [name_m]Carson[/name_m], which are surnames but also sound quite name-y? [name_m]Or[/name_m] is it just ultra-surnamey names like [name_m]Catesby[/name_m] and [name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m]?

Please feel free to invite me! :joy:

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I told my father-in-law once that I liked the name Carter, and he said that it was a last name :laughing: Which, fair to him, it is a last name, but it’s also a commonly recognized first name too, so I was surprised! His own name is also that same kind of name where it’s both a first name and a last name, and he even named his son the same name, so I thought his comment was funny. Then I realized that his other two sons have names like that too (so names like Ryan). But then I got thinking that a good chunk of boy names are both first names and last names, but are just established enough as first names too. Austin, George, Clark, Frank, Austin, Thomas, Grant, Bailey, Franklin, Bradley, etc. all fit that

Anyway, all that to say that I assume you are talking about names more like Anderson, Jensen, and Jones that are not established first names, which I can totally understand why you feel that way!

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For sure the super surnamey ones are the worst, but even stuff like Collins, Wilde, Shepherd are weird to me.
Some have been in common use as first names for hundreds of years, so they get a pass, but there are a bunch more that while they do have some history of use as given names, it was mostly to honor the mother’s family or some such situation, so they weren’t wide spread. There are just so many that I immediately recognize as a surname, and when I find out that the family has no connection to the name and they just liked how it sounded I’m just kinda confused I guess.

Edit: Just realized that I didn’t really answer your questions very well :face_with_peeking_eye:
It doesn’t specifically bother me if they are occupations, it’s more about whether my first association is that it is a surname, because when it is, I always assume that there is some family connection to the surname, and when there isn’t I just kinda find it weird.

It’s probably just because of how I think about names, which I suppose is in categories. There are word names, place names, name names, and surnames. In my own naming, I need a reason to use word, place, and surnames, but no reason beyond liking it to use name names, so I guess I just assumed that most people only used word, place, and surnames if they had some specific connection to them, and I’ve never really recovered from learning that that isn’t the case :woozy_face:

Is my autism showing? :joy:

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[name_m]Ah[/name_m] yes, I think I can relate! [name_f]My[/name_f] cousin named his son [name_m]Jenson[/name_m], and I was mega confused when they didn’t have a family connection to the name!

Although, we named our baby Ell.is, and I thought at the time that it was more of a first name that also happens to be a last name (like [name_m]Ryan[/name_m], but less popular), so fitting into your name names category. Now that he’s here, I’ve noticed a lot more of Ell.is as a last name, and I’m wondering if others around us think of his name as a surname as first name, especially because it’s not a very common name where I live… Idk haha. But we have no significance with the name other than liking it, so I may have done the same thing as my cousin that I was shocked about haha!

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I don’t really see the appeal of names like [name_f]Honeysuckle[/name_f] or [name_f]Meadowlark[/name_f], though most of the berries here seem to enjoy them. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m not from an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking country, and most of the names discussed here are already unusual to me. But this category of names, though it does sound pretty, doesn’t feel like a name at all, just beautiful nouns :sweat_smile:

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The best kind of names! :joy::wink:

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