Is it weird to name your kid after this?

hi, so i’ve been seeing some articles about characters people name their kid after, and i also saw something no on quora about it being a bad idea, and i wanted to see what you berries though. i personally think it’s a cool idea, but it depends on the name (like is it a name that people will automatically assume it’s from that certain show or movie or not).

here’s some links if anyone wants to read abt it:

lmk what you think! :))

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In general, it’s absolutely fine to name a baby after a fictional character you adore. It could be a special character you grew up with, for example, in which case it would basically be a honour name in honour of that character you love.
I’d still be careful though, it can always happen that either 1. The name just looses its sparkle after a while, or you’re not the biggest fan of the character anymore (think Khaleesi) or 2. The associations with that character may cause issues, such as presumptions (like [name_m]Anakin[/name_m] = [name_f]Star[/name_f] Wars fan) … so personally, I’d go for a more subtle character honour, like [name_u]Jo[/name_u], that nobody will completely tie to anything, unlike [name_f]Elsa[/name_f] or [name_f]Katniss[/name_f].

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This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I personally don’t think you should name your kids after your favourite character.

Okay, maybe you love the character [name_f]Eowyn[/name_f] or [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] or [name_u]Loki[/name_u], but that doesn’t mean that your child will. Your children are not guaranteed to share your interests, and they are the ones who have to live with the name, deal with comments on the name, and forge an identity for themselves out of that name. They may grow up to hate that book/film/character/series. It’s different for a dog or a cat, but in my view a baby is a person and not a display board for your fandoms.

That only applies to extreme and obvious examples really. I don’t think it’s wrong to tie stuff in if it’s really important to you, for me it’s just about how you do it. If you can honour something you love in a subtle manner, it’s less of a problem, as long as it still leaves room for your kid to make their own identity. Like if you happen to love a character’s name and aren’t naming the child AFTER the character, and aren’t going to impose those expectations onto your child. [name_u]Or[/name_u] the name is one that’s common or not obviously fiction-related, or it’s in the middle spot or something.

All in all that’s just how I feel. I know a lot of Berries feel differently and I respect that as well - we all make our own choices after all :heart:

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I don’t think it’s weird to name your kid after a character but I would be careful with names that are (almost) unique to that character, because such a strong association might be difficult for your kid.

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I think it’s cool! I love Beauty and the Beast, and I’d totally name my daughter Belle. I wouldn’t name my kid after any character I didn’t deeply love, like, not after a TV show I like at the time, because those are come-and-go! And nothing glaringly obvious and only known for being that one character’s name, like Katniss or Daenerys or or Hermione or Homer… ya know?

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I don’t think it’s weird to use the name of a character. People have always been inspired by names from fiction. Think of names that were invented by [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m], like [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] and [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f].

There are certain, very distinctive names I would recommend against (like [name_f]Katniss[/name_f], Gandalf or Sherlock)… But the vast majority of character names are fine in my book.

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I mean… Whatever the parents want? Not really up to us.

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I feel like this brings up an important point: our children are their own people and not walking billboards.

Tying them to a character, especially an obvious one, may strike a different chord with them than was intended. It isn’t quite the same thing but I was named after an actress because the show she was on evoked some of the few good moments my mom had from that time of her life. I can appreciate that to a small extent but the association has only gotten more problematic for me as time has gone on.

All that to say, I don’t totally dislike the idea. Some of the names on my list are from books or were inspired by the authors who wrote them. I’m not sure I’ll actually use them but I think I can still incorporate them into my child’s life:

I may not name them [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] or [name_f]Luna[/name_f] but I can raise them to know that intelligence, kindness and being different are all forms of bravery and have value.

I may not name him [name_m]Ebenezer[/name_m] but I can raise him to know that people can change and that kindness can soften a hard heart.

I may not name her [name_u]Scout[/name_u] or [name_f]Katniss[/name_f] but I can raise her to stand, to fight, to notice injustice and to call it out.

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I definitely feel its ok to do this, mainly because I have…four times :joy:

I have a daughter named Hermione Elise (after the Harry Potter character but mainly because I loved the name, in fact Molly Weasley was my favourite female character and I have loved the name Molly for decades but DH vetoed it :frowning:)

I have a son named Ferris Jay (after Ferris Bueller’s day off - If he was a girl he would’ve had Sloane as a middle name and we also debating Cameron as a middle)

I have a daughter named Evangeline (after Nanny McPhee - A more obscure choice as this is more commonly known among Brits but it was a brilliant film and I loved the name)

I have a daughter named Sophie (after Mamma Mia although this is quite a popular name now and most people wouldn’t think to link Sophie to the character and rather someone they know)

Both Hermione & Evangeline go by Mimi & Eva respectively and even when they do use their full names, we don’t usually get that many comments about it (although we have had a few rude words)

So to sum up I do think its ok to name a child after a character! (although for me it was more because I loved the name rather than because I wanted to honour the character)

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It’s not my personal choice to name a kid after a character, but I don’t really care if others do, so long as the child isn’t harmed in some way.

As a teacher, I’ve had so many kids named after tv and movie characters, book characters, musical characters, etc. Some of the names do make me do internal eye rolls, and I’ve known a few kids who didn’t like their names…

I choose names because of a wide variety of reasons. If there happens to be a connection to a character that has interesting qualities, great. But I’d never name my child “after a character.”

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I can see it in some cases. Some of my personal favorites include: [name_f]Temperance[/name_f] (Bones), [name_m]Booth[/name_m] (Bones), [name_m]Seely[/name_m] (Bones), [name_f]Henrietta[/name_f] (NCIS LA), [name_m]Frasier[/name_m] (Due South), [name_m]Benton[/name_m] (Due South), [name_u]Remington[/name_u] (Remington Steele). I could see myself using any of these pretty easily. I think the great thing about TV shows, books, and movies is that it makes under the radar names suddenly more accessible in real life. It is however a double-edged sword because as stated by others sometimes our tastes change or the character that we started out loving changes and then it is easy to be stuck a name that suddenly is not as appealing to us.

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Lol this is how I feel sometimes too. Im glad parents can choose whatever they like and Im glad that I can have my own opinion about it that I will try not to display publicly. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I think it’s perfectly fine!! As long as the character isn’t a terrible person, such as naming your child [name_m]Tom[/name_m] after [name_m]Tom[/name_m] Riddle or the likes, then it’s just a bit of special meaning behind a name!
Fictional characters often have huge impacts on us, and it’s only natural to want to honour it.

I think it’s it’s fine even if it’s a name strongly associated with the character. Take [name_f]Katniss[/name_f], she could go by nini, kit, kitty, [name_f]Kat[/name_f], [name_f]Kate[/name_f], or any number of nicknames so even if she ended up hating Hunger Games no one would have to know.