Teenberries- Reactions from friends/family about loving names?

General Name Discussion
1

I was wondering what your (teenberries and basically any nameberry) friends/family think of you being on a baby name forum? [name]Do[/name] they even know you’re on the forum? Also, are your friends/family at all interested in names, and if so, how different are their naming tastes than yours?

My response:

Personally, my friends and family don’t all know that I am on nameberry. The one family member that knows was a bit freaked out when I told her. It was quite humorous :stuck_out_tongue:

Other friends and family that know of my slight naming obsession (OK, it’s more than a slight obsession, but I like to at least sound sane) sort of just brush it off as a phase or something.

My friends are only slightly interested in names. When I ask them they get sort of freaked out, but answer none the less. These are my results:

a guy friend: I really like the name [name]Boris[/name]. (after that, I stopped asking, no offense to any lovers of [name]Boris[/name])
A close girl friend: [name]Aiden[/name] and [name]Penelope[/name]
Another close girl fiend: [name]Xavier[/name], [name]Eden[/name] and [name]Luna[/name]

Also, one of my teachers came across an article on 2013 naming predictions while we were in class, and decided to read aloud to us. As she read, I looked around, for reactions to names that I know are loved on Nameberry. About half the class, I could tell, thought some of the names were a little too out there. (Such as the ancient names and meaningful place names) However, the other half seemed as if they actually liked the names. It was interesting to see who was right on trend, and who liked a bit more common names.

2

I’m not a teenberry, but in my early 20’s. My friend’s and family don’t know that I am on here and I think they would think I was a little weird, lol, considering I’m not close to having children.

My friends and I always have name discussions and in general we have quite different styles but we share a love of the more uncommon names.

[name]Friend[/name] 1: [name]Arianne[/name], [name]Blair[/name], [name]Maxwell[/name] and [name]Sebastian[/name]
[name]Friend[/name] 2: [name]Dorothy[/name], [name]Hattie[/name], [name]Martha[/name], [name]Xander[/name] and [name]Eli[/name]
[name]Friend[/name] 3: [name]Lola[/name], [name]Isla[/name], [name]Violet[/name], [name]Noah[/name], [name]Jack[/name] and [name]Finn[/name]
[name]Friend[/name] 4: [name]Rowan[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Lucas[/name], [name]Elliot[/name] and [name]Jack[/name]
[name]Friend[/name] 5: [name]Esme[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Yasmin[/name], [name]Joel[/name], [name]Cian[/name] and [name]Maddox[/name]
[name]Friend[/name] 6: [name]Adelaide[/name], [name]Madeleine[/name], [name]Elliot[/name] and [name]Zachary[/name]

The only ones that really cross over are [name]Jack[/name] and [name]Elliot[/name].

3

I’m in my early 20s as well and everyone knows I’m on nameberry. I don’t think they’re freaked out by it, more so annoyed because I’m constantly talking about names (not so much my friends, but more my boyfriend and family.) A few of my friends think it is really cool and fascinating and love to look through the forums with me. But like I said, my family and boyfriend get tired of me talking about this name and that name and what do you think of this name all the time, haha.

4

I am 19, and pretty much everyone i know knows i am obsessed with names and i always have been, before Nameberry, i used to just look in dictionarys or troll the internet on obscure websites…
I don’t hide the fact i am on nameberry, but i dont exactly tell everyone.
I just like names! In school i used to have books filled with names that i’d come up with in the middle of nowhere.
My friends are always rolling their eyes at me when i tell them a new one ive found, they never seem to like them, and thus have told me that they;d never share their names with me because i’d just say they where not good. (which is not true! I would tell them if they where awful)

5

My brother’s reaction:
Brother: (peering over my shoulder as I typed) Nameberry?
Me: Yeah…
Brother: So you like names?
Me: Sure.
Brother: Like some kind of…stalker?

Well, that tells you something about my brother: Firstly, he isn’t real knowledgeable about names. And secondly, maybe he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer :wink:
I haven’t really told much other people about my name obsession. Because the few people I’ve told don’t understand it. And they definitely don’t understand names like [name]Maeve[/name], [name]Andromeda[/name], and [name]Ivy[/name]. ("[name]Ivy[/name]?? Like the plant??")

6

My family knows and they think it’s oddly eccentrically cute. They don’t understand names like a berry does, but they are willing to talk about names if I ask for opinions. I’ve only told my closest friend, and I’m pretty sure she thinks I am insane now. To my friends, it’s almost like loving numbers instead of names. And if I ask, on the rare occasion when the subject arises, what they will name their children, it’s always normal names, [name]Lauren[/name] and [name]Lily[/name] and [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]James[/name]. Nothing interesting.

7

I haven’t actually told anyone properly yet. I’m slightly worried that a) they think I’m some kind of freak or b) they think I’m pregnant (I’m 14…) so um…yeah. My little sister knows I love names, but I try not to dump it on her too much in case she blurts it out in front of a bunch of family members or something. If anyone asked me, I wouldn’t hide it, but I don’t go around announcing it to everyone.

I’ve asked a few friends what their favourite names are and mostly it’s stuff like [name]Joshua[/name], [name]Lily[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]James[/name], that kind of thing, although my best friend likes [name]Guinevere[/name] and [name]Marceline[/name] (I did mention the fact that I love names to her once and she just kind of looked at me…so I didn’t mention it after that). But again, I don’t want to talk about it too much (as much as I’d love to) because I don’t want people to get the wrong ideas.

8

My mom knows I love names, and she agreed to get me K. M. Sheard’s Complete Book of Names for [name]Christmas[/name] with no questions asked. She just sees names as another interest, same as genealogy or writing.

9

Okay, some I’m not a teenberry, per se. (I’m in my mid 20s) However, I don’t try to hide my love of names, or that fact I post on Nameberry about them. The only people who really know about it are my BF and my brother. It’s kind of nice to talk about names every once in a while with them. My BF sometimes comes home from work with some interesting names he overheard. My brother and I also once had a discussion about what we would name any future children. His were… interesting, and some I like as well. Not so sure I’d name my daughter Galadriel, though.

10

When I was a teen I started compiling a list of names I liked, which got up to almost 1000 each, but I also wrote a lot so it was a good source for character names. Once I became an adult and started thinking about names in more of a baby-naming frame of mind, there were obvious stand outs and my list is more like 3 each.

11

My family doesn’t really know about nameberry, they would just think it’s weird. They get annoyed whenever I bring up names, they are just not interested. I don’t talk about names with my friends, they think I’m weird enough as it is. =)

12

My family doesn’t really know (if they do, they don’t say anything) The only family member that I know knows is my sister, who once told me to buy a name book at a garage sale. My friends know big time. I would say I’ve influenced them a bit to like names as well. [name]One[/name] friend is in love with every name I come up with, and another has me help her find girl names that she likes to go along with her boy names. To my friends, I’m the go-to person for names :slight_smile:

[name]Friend[/name] 1: Most of my names with a different middle or with a new first; usually Middle Eastern names to honor family. I wish I could remember some of them…

[name]Friend[/name] 2: [name]Ivan[/name], [name]Cedric[/name], Fawnlyn, [name]Kathleen[/name]

13

A few friends know, one of my friends is aware and she thinks its weird, but prefers to make jokes rather than get annoyed by it. I don’t talk to my friends about it much at all, only my SO is fully aware of my actual infatuation with names.

I have his suggestions and likes in my signature.

14

I few of my friends know…they quite like names too!! We actually had a random discussion in my Home Ec. class (about 10 people and a teacher) about names and such. It was quite interesting.

Anyway, my mum doesn’t really care, my brothers don’t take any notice.

[name]Friend[/name]'s faves:

1: [name]Ellie[/name], [name]Brianna[/name], [name]Rose[/name], Briah, Beset, I can’t remember the boys names.
2: Sherridyn, Kherrington, [name]Kendall[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Farrah[/name], [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Malachi[/name].

Yeah. :slight_smile:

~[name]Rory[/name]

15

I am in my mid-teens and only three people know: my boyfriend, who thinks its cute and loves and approves of all my names so far, and my two best girlfriends.
My boyfriend and I see pretty eye-to-eye on names, while my girlfriend’s and I have different tastes. My second best girlfriend has a very…offbeat and abstract taste for names, to put it nicely.
Boyfriend’s favorite boys’ name: [name]Noah[/name].
Mine: [name]Sebastian[/name]. (He hates [name]Sebastian[/name], and I dislike [name]Noah[/name]. Especially since I got bullied by a [name]Noah[/name] all throughout grade and parts of middle school.)
His only request: [name]Della[/name]. (After his great-grandmother, which I also love, so I came up with [name]Peri[/name] [name]Della[/name] [name]Jeanne[/name].
[name]Jeanne[/name] after my grandmother, whom I am very close with, only spelt slightly different from hers: [name]Jean[/name].)

Best girlfriend #1: [name]Evangeline[/name], [name]Avril[/name], [name]Sophie[/name], [name]Elise[/name], [name]Byron[/name] and [name]Dominic[/name].

Best girlfriend #2: (girls) Reckless [name]Skye[/name], [name]Storm[/name] [name]Blue[/name] and (boy) Vans Wake.

16

ola! getting names is not easy so when my daughter-in-law gave birth to her three boys we came up by naming them as SMOLHAUZ, NEARTHELAKE AND SILENTDWELLING. Their nicknames are Hauz, [name]Lake[/name] and Sigh. Why these names? because Smolhauz was born in a small house, Nearthelake was born near the lake and Silentdwelling was born in a silent and quiet subdivision. i think naming them to a particular situation and place is also nice, it gives you a beautiful memory of their childhood.

17

ola! getting names is not easy so when my daughter-in-law gave birth to her three boys we came up by naming them as SMOLHAUZ, NEARTHELAKE AND SILENTDWELLING. Their nicknames are Hauz, [name]Lake[/name] and Sigh. Why these names? because Smolhauz was born in a small house, Nearthelake was born near the lake and Silentdwelling was born in a silent and quiet subdivision. i think naming them to a particular situation and place is also nice, it gives you a beautiful memory of their childhood.

18

I’m not a teen, I’m 20. I haven’t told anyone that I like names, or that I’m on Nameberry. I don’t try to hide it, I just haven’t told anyone that I’m on Nameberry, or that I like names. I don’t care if anyone finds out on their own, but I’m not just going to tell them out of the blue. My friends and I are part of the geek/nerd crowd, and everyone loves different things. I doubt they’d be freaked out by it if they found out. I’m not close to anyone in my family except my mom. She knows that I have an interest in names, but not that I’m on name websites and such. In any case, she probably wouldn’t be surprised.

19

My two older brothers tease me about being a name nerd but it’s all lighthearted.

My parents don’t care. They happily handover my allowance, knowing I’ll spend it on name books some of the time. [name]How[/name] my dad sees it is, I don’t smoke or take drugs, so if my only addiction is names, then he’s happy!

My twin sister doesn’t have any interest in names, but she does ask me stuff about names now and again, for example, if she’s reading a book and comes across a name she hasn’t seen before, she’ll ask me about it.

None of my friends are really into names, but they all know I am, and they think it’s cool. We all have our own interests and names is mine.

There are a handful of girls in my year, who found out about my name thing, and they think it’s “pathetic”. I don’t care. I think putting partying before schoolwork is “pathetic”, but hey, if that’s how they want to live their lives, who am I to judge?!

My boyfriend is cool about my name nerd thing He has known about it since our second date. Completely by accident. I had asked him if he liked his name, and he said he didn’t, as people assume he’s an arrogant jock type and he isn’t. He then said, “I’d have much rather my parents called me <name>, which is the name that <his name> is short for.”

Well anyway, he incorrectly thought his name was a short form of the name he said he wished his parents had gone for, so I went on this spiel about “oh no, it isn’t a short form of <name>, it’s an English form of an Anglo-[name]Saxon[/name]/Old English name, it’s been around for centuries.” I then proceeded to tell him what it means. Then I suddenly realized what I was doing and suddenly went completely silent.

I was waiting for him to make his excuses and get away as fast as possible.

But he didn’t.

He smiled and said, “no go on, I’m starting to slightly like my name, I thought it was a modern name. I didn’t know it was so old.”

And well, two years later, we’re still together, so it didn’t put him off. Phew!

20

Dear Teenberries, I’m kind of surprised to hear how many of you feel you have to keep your name enthusiasm a secret. I certainly did – but that was in the days before the internet and I thought I was the ONLY person in the world who loved names! My family knew because I started to write down names before I was old enough to realize I needed to hide it. I didn’t dare tell any friends until I was really old – it was an early bond between me and [name]Linda[/name]! She was one of the first other name nerds I ever met. I wish Nameberry had been around before we invented it! I think I would have felt a lot better about myself…