I’m curious about everyones guilty pleasure names, but especially why they’re GP’s, why you’d never use them despite loving them. To me, being ‘out there’ isn’t a reason not to use a name but I’m also incredibly fussy about names.
[name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] is one of my main GP names, I absolutely love it but where my nn is [name_f]Lottie[/name_f] and my boyfriends is [name_u]Ollie[/name_u], it sounds too much like we’ve combined our names together (the [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] [name_f]Iphigenia[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] in my signature is my reborn baby).
I also adore Lasairfhíona but I’m not Irish and as well as it not going with my preference of traditional, old fashioned names, I’d also worry about the inevitable misspelling and mispronounciation she’d be dealing with for the rest of her life.
[name_u]Vesper[/name_u] is my third GP, the main reason I’d never use it is because I’m a huge [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Bond[/name_m] fan and it would be ridiculously obvious to everyone I know, but also because I want to be ‘consistent’ if I have multiple children. I want to use quite traditional, old fashioned names. I’m saving [name_u]Vesper[/name_u] for a cat instead.
I quite like a lot of names I would never use; here are a few.
[name_f]Peaches[/name_f] - wouldn’t age well but I just think it’s so cute.
Disney - same as above, a little inmature and I’ve been told it’s ‘tacky’ as well.
[name_f]Daisy[/name_f] - I just think of a cow…
[name_f]Eilidh[/name_f] - I’m Scottish, and in [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] you can explain that it’s just ‘ceilidh without the c.’ Elsewhere, I worry about the pronunciation and I just don’t like Aylie/Ayley.
Sweetheart - someone ([name_u]Tobey[/name_u] [name_m]Maguire[/name_m]?) has a daughter with this name and I think it’s adorable but I don’t think I would like to be called Sweetheart/don’t think it would suit a variety of people.
And for boys I like :
[name_f]Afternoon[/name_f] - it’s just ridiculous but I like the sound!
Torran - I like but everyone else seems to hate, I have had feedback of it sounding made up.
[name_m]Jesus[/name_m] - We have a family friend named this, I met him when I was eight and thought his name was Hazeus, and loved it - it’s not very popular in the UK so I didn’t associate it with [name_m]Jesus[/name_m]. Still love it now but wouldn’t use it.
[name_u]Kalani[/name_u] - I think it’s a boy name, everyone else thinks it’s a girl name.
For what it’s worth I love [name_u]Vesper[/name_u]. I find it such a quiet, peaceful name.
Not all of my GP names are GP because they are too out there or anything. They are mainly on my GP list because my husband doesn’t like them.
[name_m]Benedict[/name_m]: husband isn’t sold on it, but I could maybe sway it as a middle name. However, I’ve been dished quite a bit of crap on here about it because it is “too religious”, which is slightly ironic because that isn’t an issue for us. We are religious, although not Catholic, which is the religion probably most associated with [name_m]Benedict[/name_m]…but half of my family is Catholic, so…I don’t know. I worry it would be too controversial. So GP it is.
[name_m]Cove[/name_m]: I love it, my husband doesn’t, and it is a bit “out there.”
[name_f]Lux[/name_f]: I worry about peoples’ reactions to it.
Brevity: the meaning did this one it…plus it isn’t really a name
[name_f]Clover[/name_f]: actually husband’s GP name…people say it is a cow’s name
My guilty pleasure names are [name_f]Magnolia[/name_f] and [name_f]Pearl[/name_f]. I love both so much, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the guts to use them.
In my opinion being ‘out there’ can definitely be a reason not to use a name. The name you choose for your child will be with them, hopefully, for 70/80+ years. The name is actually not the parents’ name, it is the child’s. We can not predict our children’s tastes, especially before they are born or are only a few hours/days old. I personally would rather have a familiar name I do not care for, rather than an ‘out there’ name I do not care for. So I would rather err on that side when naming children.
Besides that. I feel it is important to more than love/adore a name you choose. You need to feel a deeper attachment. It is a very difficult task for two people to find The One but it is very well worth the time, energy, roller coaster ride to do so.
My GP names are special and honor (as do all my combos), I adore them, but I do not feel them. They are not The One. Some are also too ‘out there’, on top of not being The One. The combos in my signature are all names that have that extra special feel, they all feel like The One.
I have a list of names that I just find too popular (where I live) to comfortably use. The exact criteria is names given to more than 1000 babies in the latest popularity list. I just really dislike the idea of using a popular name. I’d also be open to using GPS as middles, and I have for some of them. I have more specific reasons:
Arsinoë: The ‘arse’ syllable is the biggest problem, plus general pronunciation issues
Cadmium: Element name, and super weird to a lot of people. I’m thinking about removing the GP status maybe.
Belladonna: Poison. I find them very interesting, but I doubt it would go down well.
[name_f]Medeia[/name_f]: I’m dubious about the myth, plus I have [name_f]Amadea[/name_f] on my non-GP list, so there’s a usable but similar alternative.
Evangelise (with the ending like [name_f]Elise[/name_f]): Has very religious connotations, and I’m not very religious.
Pompeia: I love the sound and imagery. I think of ancient civilisations and life, not how Pompeii is today, although there is a good deal of beauty in that, but with that does come some pretty hefty baggage.
[name_m]Sherlock[/name_m]: I don’t really think my family/friends would be surprised if I used this, but I’m keeping him firmly in the middle.
[name_m]Icarus[/name_m]: I’ve really come to love this, but again, the tragedy, and how well known the myth is makes me unsure.
[name_m]Benedict[/name_m]: Crush name. I have a rule about not using the first names of crushes.
[name_f]Alchemy[/name_f]: [name_m]Even[/name_m] I think this is a bit much. But I like it"
Mordred: I do have [name_f]Morgana[/name_f] on the usable list, but I don’t think Mordred’s sound makes the most persuasive argument for it to most.
My GPs are those which I think it would be too difficult/frustrating to go through life with - like @lovemysweeties said, it’s the child’s name and the child who has to live with it for 70+ years ultimately, and I know I wouldn’t want my child to be faced with constant issues or even prejudice arising from their name.
Examples are things like [name_f]Tigerlily[/name_f], [name_m]Bear[/name_m], [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m], [name_f]Bellatrix[/name_f] (not “serious” enough and too in-your-face), [name_f]Sappho[/name_f], [name_f]Lilith[/name_f], [name_f]Jezebel[/name_f], [name_f]Salome[/name_f] (negative connotations for many), [name_u]Tobin[/name_u] (well-known serial killer here in the UK), and anything overly elaborate and unfamiliar to most people like [name_f]Endellion[/name_f], [name_m]Endymion[/name_m], [name_m]Ignatius[/name_m], Ozymandias, Oskaras…
There are also some names which I adore but which come from a different country/culture/religion and I wonder if it would be weird or even disrespectful to use them on a white, British, non-religious child, e.g. [name_f]Shoshana[/name_f], [name_f]Noor[/name_f], [name_f]Lakshmi[/name_f]… [name_m]Plenty[/name_m] of names of foreign origin do feel acceptable though, so I’m not sure exactly where I draw the line on this one.
Almost all of the names I like would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that we have two cultures and two languages to consider. So my ‘guilty pleasure’ names are either English names that would not fit in well in Iceland or Icelandic names that my English family would struggle with. I only seriously consider names that I think could work reasonably well in both contexts.
My GP names are usually ones S/O dislikes or ones that are generally not perceived well, or “misspellings”.
Names like Destiny, Bristol, Kaleigha, etc.
I don’t think I would use a name that S/O hates (naming a baby is supposed to be teamwork, isn’t it?) as it wouldn’t be overly fair, and names that aren’t perceived well (like Bristol) may set us up for negative feedback constantly that I really just don’t want to put up with LOL. As for “misspellings” I love a lot of them, but I constantly have to correct both my first and middle name everywhere I go, so much so that I just automatically spell it out now. Something easy to correct like “Allison with two Ls” or “Savanna with no H” is fine by me, but something like Kaleigha or Addilyn would end up much like my name. It’s not the end of the world, but I grew tired of it pretty fast and I want to avoid that for my children if possible.
For me, depending on where I end up in the world, many of my favourites would become GP names as I only like them in certain languages.
For example, if I raise my children in Germany, most of the English names in my signature would be put in the middle or disappear completely and vice-versa.
At the moment, I’d put these in the GP category:
[name_u]Auguste[/name_u] - with the [name_m]French[/name_m] pronounciation this would be a pain to use (and expect others to pronounce correctly) in non [name_m]French[/name_m]-speaking countries
[name_f]Dot[/name_f] / [name_f]Dottie[/name_f] - insubstatial on it’s own and I’m not yet completely sold on [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f], however, I think this would be usable as a pet name for almost any name (maybe not so much one-syllable ones)
[name_f]Kitty[/name_f] - see abobe
[name_f]Eulalia[/name_f] - gorgeous in Spanish, in other languages not so much
[name_f]Leonor[/name_f] - as above
[name_f]Maude[/name_f] - sounds too close to a negative word in [name_m]German[/name_m]
My ultimate GP sibset is [name_f]Cricket[/name_f] and [name_f]Sparrow[/name_f], which are both names I love but I think they are way too matchy for real life use. Only in my dreams do they work as a sibset! I would use [name_f]Sparrow[/name_f] in real life, definitely as a MN and possibly as a first, but I still vacillate on [name_f]Cricket[/name_f]. Part of me thinks it’s too cutesy, but it would make a great nickname–not necessarily one related to a given name, just a cute thing to call a kid. My other word-name GP is [name_f]Remember[/name_f], which I found reading about Puritans and absolutely adore. Honestly, the only thing stopping me from using it is that it really is…out there.
The other type of GP that I have are names like [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] and [name_f]Nadezhda[/name_f], both in my signature, which are Irish and Russian respectively. I love both names to death but I worry that they would be too difficult for Americans to pronounce or spell. [name_f]Nadezhda[/name_f] would be [name_f]Nadia[/name_f] for short, but I might just go with [name_f]Nadia[/name_f] as the full name.
Guilty Pleasures for me tend to be ones that are too popular or more trendy than my normal preferences. I’m not overly worried about too out there, I’m more conscious of being culturally aware and sensitive.
My ultimate GP name is [name_f]Rapunzel[/name_f]. I love the harmonic flow, the fairy tale essence of it but it truly is a one person name. I love the name so much but I don’t think i’ll ever have the guts to use it. I doubt my future husband will ever be sold on the name anyways…Plus having everyone tell her to “let down her hair” will get old rather fast. And even despite my best efforts to convince myself how inane it would be to name my daughter [name_f]Rapunzel[/name_f] I still dream of it lol.
[name_f]Zelda[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] - I would love to use [name_f]Zelda[/name_f], but it’s his cousin’s dog name, so… alas. Can’t have an [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] and a [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], and I’m more attached to [name_f]Adeline[/name_f].
[name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] [name_u]Juniper[/name_u] - We distantly know of somebody (brother of a former friend) who named their daughter MMadeleine. [name_u]Juniper[/name_u] is out because surname ends in -er.
[name_u]Aubrey[/name_u] [name_m]Shepard[/name_m] - Couldn’t sell OH on [name_u]Aubrey[/name_u] but I still love the combo. Also strikes me as a bit more Southern than I am.
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_u]Dorian[/name_u] - That pesky surname eliminates another favorite combo.
[name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m] - OH has an association with [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] that he couldn’t shake, and as much as I love [name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m] (after F. [name_m]Scott[/name_m], of course), I’m just not at all brave enough for it.
Otherwise, my GPs tend to be from languages or cultures that I don’t have connection to and would feel weird using names from ([name_f]Esmeralda[/name_f], for example). Or that OH has vetoed ([name_m]Simon[/name_m]). Or that have negative meanings ([name_f]Cecelia[/name_f], [name_m]Calvin[/name_m]). Or that are already used by family.
My GP’s. I came up with the combos before I started using double middles and since I’m not using any of these names I didn’t see the point in expanding them:
Abcde [name_u]River[/name_u] ([name_m]Ab[/name_m]-sid-ee) - Pretty sure this one is self explanatory.
[name_f]Lucretia[/name_f]/[name_f]Lucrezia[/name_f] [name_f]Ruth[/name_f]- Kind of sounds like a not-nice bodily function to my sister’s and after hearing them I don’t disagree.
[name_f]Renesmee[/name_f] (with the middle [name_u]Ryan[/name_u]) - 1. My SO really hates Twilight (I don’t completely disagree with that opinion though I read the books three times, considering most of my favourites were the “baddies” [[name_m]Alec[/name_m], [name_m]Demetri[/name_m], [name_m]Felix[/name_m], and [name_f]Jane[/name_f] on my signature/more names list were from the Volturi Guard, and I also used to like [name_m]Santiago[/name_m] and [name_m]Caius[/name_m].Shhh…] and I liked very little of the characters, anyway that’s irrelevant) I really love the sound of this name though. [name_u]Ren[/name_u]-ez-may. So melodic. I also like the spelling Renezmae.
[name_f]Katniss[/name_f]- Maybe once I get around to the kids stage, the Hunger Games books/movies won’t be relevant.
Datesina- Created this name for a fanfiction character as a 13-year-old. Still like it.
[name_f]Ivanka[/name_f] - I really love the names that end with a kuh sound, but this one is too associated with a business woman I’d rather not look like I’m naming my kid after.
Despina [name_f]Irene[/name_f]- I loved this name, and then my sister relayed to me that it sounds like an animal disease, iirc.
[name_f]Alouette[/name_f] - This one is recently added. I think it took me less than a day to decide that it was unusable even if I thought it was a way prettier alternative to [name_f]Lark[/name_f]. The lyrics of the song [name_f]Alouette[/name_f] are both too well known and too creepy.
[name_m]Cohen[/name_m] - I love this name, but I really don’t like the fact it’s potentially offensive.
[name_m]Crispin[/name_m] - I love this name, but it sounds too much like Crisp.
Agheksandr (uh-gek-sen-der)- I can find so little on this name, but when I first found it it was supposedly a Romanian variant of [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]. It just looks like a garbled mess of letters though.
The GP list in my signature is not exhaustive… So here are the ones from the signature and then some!
(Assume an added extra reason to all of these which is ‘I could never convince my S/O!’)
So, Girls:
Orinthea - I think it’s super pretty but I’m not that brave!
Astatine - nn [name_f]Asti[/name_f]. Sort of feminine, but solid. Also a poisonous element.
[name_f]Crescent[/name_f] - I like the nn Cress, also I like the character in the Lunar Chronicles Series. Too much of a word.
[name_f]Solstice[/name_f] - I just think it sounds so pretty. But I’m not brave enough and it doesn’t have any nicknames I like.
Therapy - [name_m]Bear[/name_m] with me here. [name_m]Just[/name_m] sound out the word, imagining it without the meaning. It sounds really great. Now add the meaning back in, that’s why it’s a GP. ([name_f]Thessaly[/name_f] is my compromise).
[name_u]Artemis[/name_u] - I like the nn [name_f]Missy[/name_f]. I don’t like it enough to use it.
[name_u]Cassidy[/name_u] - [name_u]Love[/name_u] the nn [name_f]Cassie[/name_f]. It’s also the surname of someone I had a massive crush on for most of high school, so it’s out.
Boys:
Cavalier - I think the meaning is so cool. I don’t think it’s a name to be forced on a human.
Antimony - Cooler full name for [name_m]Tim[/name_m] than [name_m]Timothy[/name_m]. Also a poisonous element.
Ruislip ([name_m]Ry[/name_m]-slip) - I just think it looks and sounds cool. It’s a tube stop.
[name_m]Quest[/name_m] - it sounds so cool!! I might make this a middle name if I’m feeling wild and it’s my last child…
[name_u]Jericho[/name_u] - Sounds cool. I’m just not confident that my kids/family would ever be the right level of cool to pull it off.
[name_u]Hunter[/name_u] - A fine name, just too American (same for [name_m]Wyatt[/name_m]).
My top GP name for a boy is [name_m]Cassius[/name_m], which I consider a GP because of its meaning “hollow” that I find highly depressing, while a top GP for a girl is [name_f]Narcissa[/name_f], because of the obvious connotation.
I consider names my GP because of various reasons:
Negative meaning or association.
2a. Language-related problem. For example [name_f]Cressida[/name_f] is unusable to me because I just can’t unsee the “sida” part, which reminds me too much of SIDA, a french word for AIDS. So I can’t have anything with bad connotation in any languages I speak.
2b. Does not work internationally or can’t be pronounced by people around me. This rule applies solely to first name and unfortunately it eliminates so many names I love (due to accent, unusual pronunciation, etc).
I know waaayy too many people with that name till it loses its charm in my eyes.
