Would you consider names like [name]Summer[/name] and [name]Sienna[/name] to be legitimate names?
I think of them as word names. [name]Sienna[/name] reminds me of color names [name]Indigo[/name], [name]Scarlet[/name]. I don’t see any differences other then [name]Summer[/name] is used more then say [name]Winter[/name] and [name]Spring[/name] etc.
ETA: I think any name on an actual person is “legit” once it’s been used on a person. Some people don’t think so but I don’t see how some like [name]Summer[/name] would be legit but say [name]Spring[/name] wouldn’t. They all had to start somewhere.
At this point, yes. Though it would certainly depend on the particular name.
I am pretty likely to think a name of recent vintage is legit if it
(a) has been in fairly common use for well over a decade ([name]Summer[/name] is fine, [name]Spring[/name] would not be) – eventually, you have to bow to the inevitable!
(b) is a correct spelling of an actual word, place, or surname (Cienna would not cut it for me)
© is not, as a given name, primarily associated with a single fictional character (I still can’t embrace [name]Trinity[/name] because I just can’t get past The Matrix)
(d) does not have a meaning that makes it somehow inappropriate for use by a person ([name]Trinity[/name] also falls into this category, as do brand names, etc.)
I probably have other criteria too, but those are the big ones off the top of my head.
Yes, I would 100% say they are names. Not my style, but names nevertheless.
I think they are legitimate, beautiful names! I actually know a [name]Sierra[/name] and it seems very usable!
If [name]Autumn[/name] and [name]Scarlett[/name] are legitimate names, why not [name]Summer[/name] and [name]Sienna[/name]?
See, I am different, I find names like [name]Genesis[/name] and [name]Trinity[/name] legit because they are used for religious reasons. I’ve known a few Trinitys who were born 20 years before the Matrix and they were given those names because they came from very devout homes.
Interesting! It’s a name that always seems vaguely blasphemous to me, I suppose. Like [name]Kyrie[/name] – it just strikes me as presumptuous to go around calling yourself that. 
It doesn’t bother me on a deep level, personally, but I would worry about it being offensive to someone, so it’s off the table for me. [name]Genesis[/name], not a problem in the same way, though it’s not particularly my style either.
It’s funny how our personal associations change names for us. I have an Aunt [name]Summer[/name] who is in her early 50’s, so I’ve never thought of it as a trendy or young person’s name even though I know in my head that most people named [name]Summer[/name] are much younger than my aunt. I think [name]Summer[/name] and [name]Sienna[/name] (and [name]Trinity[/name], for that matter - I also happen to have a young cousin [name]Trinity[/name] who was born a couple years pre-The Matrix) are legit names.
That is so interesting. I started to research the earliest usage of [name]Summer[/name] and it is usually traced back to 1971. I am a bit pleased that there is a 50 year old [name]Summer[/name] out there.
I am asking because I write a blog about “legitimate” names. I don’t usually post surnames as first names, (unless they have a religious connotation like [name]Chantal[/name], [name]Xavier[/name], [name]Brigham[/name] and Vianney) female names that were originally male, and yes, even in some cases, male names that were originally female! The ultimate example of a non-legit name to me is [name]Nevaeh[/name] or even [name]Madison[/name] (don’t want to offend anyone here). My criteria usually requires a name to have had some sort of history and to have always been used by the same gender. That said, I wanted to add [name]Summer[/name] and [name]Sienna[/name] but I am a bit iffy, I don’t want some purist complaining that these are not legit names because they have only been used within the last few years, etc, but again, [name]Summer[/name]'s cognates as a word has been used as female names in other cultures for centuries, so I don’t see why [name]Summer[/name] would not be legit.
Maybe I should put this to a poll.
Now you got me interested, so I started looking through the SSA statistics. [name]Summer[/name] appeared on the list in 1949 and was given to five baby girls that year - it dropped off for a couple years and came back in 1952, and seems to have been on the list consistently since then. It was still quite rare in 1960, when my aunt was born (27 little [name]Summers[/name] that year), but it was there!
I’ll have to go on the SSA site 
That makes it sound like a legit name to me.
Well I guess that every name has to have had a first usage. It sounds like you are coming at this from a religious angle so I will follow along those lines. My understanding of a lot of hebrew names in the OT was that they were used for a descriptive reason - therefore we have [name]Isaac[/name] named because of his parent’s laughter. I don’t see a difference between that and calling a child [name]Summer[/name] because of when they were born. I have often wondered whether Cephas (or rock) was actually in use as a name when [name]Jesus[/name] gave [name]Simon[/name] his new name ([name]Simon[/name] [name]Peter[/name] that is). I don’t have the answers to this and probably someone who is a better Biblical scholar is howling at their computer in frustration but my thought is that nicknames both descriptive of the person and of time and place are riddled throughout the bible and therefore there is less reason to be prescriptive about what name is legitimate.
I would also add since you seem to be avoiding unisex names that I think there are examples of uni-sex names in the bible or at least names which appear to have been held by both men and women (I think one example is [name]Noah[/name]).
There is also a history of words as names in religious history such as [name]Dolores[/name], [name]Grace[/name] and the less fashionable Dust or Penitence. At some point each of these names was used for the first time yet they are still legitimate names.
So in answer to your question I think [name]Summer[/name] and [name]Sierra[/name] are ‘legit’ names but I don’t really like either of them.
In my opinion [name]Trinity[/name], [name]Kyrie[/name], [name]Jesus[/name], [name]Immanuel[/name] are all inappropriate as names but I understand that there are legitimate cultural reasons to use all of them and they are accepted in other parts of the world.
Definitely! I actually really like [name]Sienna[/name]. I don’t know any [name]Summer[/name]'s but think it could work just fine.
Yes.
[name]Summer[/name] is an “annoying” name to me though. I love [name]Sienna[/name].
[name]How[/name] long would a name need to be used to be considered legit?