I’ve long wondered if when parents name their kids they apply the, “Would I want to be named this?” test.
Unfortunately I have not gotten to name children who got to be born. Our unborn children, [name_u]Owen[/name_u] and [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], I would definitely love to be named were I a boy or girl respectively. I’m not saying anyone else would want to be named those, but I would.
And then there are scads of names I adore that I would HATE to be named.
[name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] for example or [name_m]Morris[/name_m].
And yet when it comes down to it, I probably would never have chosen those names ultimately anyway.
I wonder this a lot about names that I can’t fathom, like [name_m]Wrecker[/name_m], Sport, [name_f]Bloodrayne[/name_f], [name_m]Lucifer[/name_m], [name_f]Gwendela[/name_f].
Are there adults out there who wish they had been called [name_m]Craven[/name_m] or [name_m]Ulick[/name_m]? [name_m]Just[/name_m] curious.
I never even thought about doing this! I don’t have any children yet, and won’t for years, but it is an interesting idea. The only thing is that people (even parents and children) can have very different personalities, and therefore like having different names. Plus, at different ages, people tend to like different names. (That’s my experience anyway.)
Some names from my signature that I love but would not really want to be named:
[name_f]Rowena[/name_f]
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f]
[name_f]Athena[/name_f]
[name_f]Araluen[/name_f]
[name_f]Demetria[/name_f]
[name_f]Claire[/name_f]
[name_f]Arabella[/name_f]
[name_m]Cedric[/name_m]
[name_u]Quinn[/name_u]
[name_u]Bryn[/name_u]
[name_m]Liev[/name_m]
[name_m]Caius[/name_m]
[name_m]Marcus[/name_m]
[name_m]Adrian[/name_m]
Some of these are guilty pleasures that I like but wouldn’t ever use on a child (or myself), like [name_m]Liev[/name_m], [name_f]Araluen[/name_f], and [name_f]Arabella[/name_f]. The rest I simply feel would not fit me. I think I would use the majority of these names on a real child, however, except for a select few.
I do think about it when putting my lists together. I used to adore the name [name_f]Saffron[/name_f], but do I want to be named that or nicknamed Saffy? Absolutely not. I went off of the name because I just wouldn’t want to be called that myself. It might sound silly, because I have names like [name_f]Bluebell[/name_f], [name_f]Petal[/name_f], [name_f]Clover[/name_f], [name_f]Honey[/name_f], [name_f]Clarabelle[/name_f], etc. on my list, but in all honesty, I’d totally be ok with introducing myself as [name_f]Petal[/name_f] or [name_f]Bluebell[/name_f]. I have a very frilly personality, I love anything pink, princessy, overly feminine, sparkly, etc. I’ve always thought my name was too unisex for my personality (it suited me during my phase of “I want to be the next star second baseman/woman for Team [name_f]Canada[/name_f]'s softball team” but that lasted for about 2 years).
I totally realise that my daughter might not be super feminine and girly like I am though, so I’m slightly hesitant to use those, because, she might have the same problem as I do and feel that her name doesn’t suit her personality, but overall, yes, I do consider this for girls names.
When it comes to boys names, it’s harder for me to picture myself as a 20 year old male with the name, but I was going to be [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] if I had been a boy (which I can picture), and that might be why I have a lot more unisex names on my boys list than most people. In actuality, [name_u]Addison[/name_u] and [name_u]Hadley[/name_u] might not be so wearable for my future sons, but, if my parents thought I could pull off [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] as a boy, I’m sure a boy named [name_u]Addison[/name_u] will do just fine.
Like @thatonegirl said, parents and children have different personalities and different names they would like. I feel like a lot of kids might go through stages of liking their name, not liking their name, or wanting a different name.
It is a little bit different for me because my daughter is (and future kids will be) half Mexican. The names I choose for them may sound strange for myself to be called.
“Would I want to be named this?”
This kind of tests are only useful if you plan to give up on name. As someone said, people like different things, have different personalities, and like different things during a lifetime.
I like [name_u]Baby[/name_u] name genie test. You say a name out loud in different common sentences and you imagine yourself how it seems. Is it too ridiculous or not.
I have very normal name and I love very outlandish girls names. Would I like to be named [name_f]Sunniva[/name_f] [name_f]Blossom[/name_f]… Probably not. But my childhood was very specific. Also, I neutral on my own name.
All children and adults have very different personalities and very different tastes, even adults who raise said children. And there are some names that people like but would never use on a kid and/or rename themselves. For instance, My mother is big on family names and named all but one of her three kids family names. I do not typically like family names (at least most of the ones in my family.) and I actually would prefer my name to be [name_f]Bloodrayne[/name_f] over the name I was given, but that’s just because I have a dark taste in names and also dislike my name that much. I would never actually name a child [name_f]Bloodrayne[/name_f] or maybe even a pet. I would go for the more subtle [name_f]Morgana[/name_f] (which is also a rare family name that I like) or Nightshade. I also really like the names Abcde and [name_f]Renesmee[/name_f], and wouldn’t mind being called those over my real name, but I’d never use them either because of the alphabet association or Twilight, respectively.