What defines "guilty pleasure" to you?

[name_m]How[/name_m] do you know whether to put something on your regular list or gp list?
Is a gp anything you wouldn’t name your child? Or anything that doesn’t fit your style?
Under what circumstances would you use a gp name for your child?

I just think it’s so interesting that some people would use Pernella or Mellisandre at the drop of a hat, but others think Melanie is too out there.

For me, I think it’s about how seriously I would consider using a name. For example, Thisbe and Hadassah started out on my gp list. A lot of the names on my gp list have a lot to do with nationality. Maybe I’ll marry an Italian and get to use Beniamino or Vicenza. Or I could move to Ireland and use Caoimhe, but they just don’t work in the States.

My guilty pleasures are all names that I am unsure on their usability on future children, so they usually go in “pet name” or mn category

  1. Any names that are too similar to other family member names: I adore [name_f]Viviana[/name_f], but I have one family member that has a name like [name_f]Lilliana[/name_f] and another one with a name like [name_f]Gianna[/name_f]. They are on different sides of my family, so they rarely interact, but for me to have a kid that matches two older kids in the family is a no go for me.
  2. Anything that gets a really weird or bad reaction outside the naming community: I love [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f], but I have never gotten a positive reaction for it irl.
  3. Similar to #2, if my mom doesn’t like it: Having a mom that was a teacher means she has very strong opinions on names. I know many on here don’t agree with giving other people, besides the parents, power over names. A wonderful person doesn’t change my mom’s opinion (or mine) of a name, so I want my mom to at least like what I pick for her grandkids.
  4. J names (usually passed to the middle spot): There are too many ways for J’s to be pronounced for me to like it in the first spot.
  5. Unisex names: The only one I think I have on my list is [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], which I love on a boy. I just don’t want to deal with the issues that come up.
  6. The names I would consider more unique (ex. [name_f]Araceli[/name_f], Antares, Circini, [name_u]Orion[/name_u]): These usually break #2 in my area. Usually I’m just unsure about how usable the name is long-term. A name like [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] could basically fit on any guy no matter his occupation, while I’d be afraid that a small, thin professor named [name_m]Titan[/name_m] would seem silly.
  7. If it doesn’t fit with a surname. I don’t know if future kids would have my surname or not. [name_m]Ronan[/name_m] sounds okay with mine. But if I got married and the surname was Rodgers, [name_m]Ronan[/name_m] would become a gp because it’s too superhero-y for me.

That was probably more in-depth than you wanted to know, and I sound excessively picky. It does explain why my list of usable names is so short :smiley:

I have a 3 main categories:

  1. Names I think are too popular. I.e. Names given to more than one thousand babies in England/Wales or the UK. E.g. Evie, Elsie, Lola.
  2. Names I just think are too out there, or have some rather obvious pitfalls. E.g. Arsinoë (because of that doomed 1st syllable), Cadmium, Mordred, Alchemy (b), Sherlock.
  3. First names of my crushes. At the moment, the only name in that category is Benedict, just because I happen not to like my other/previous crushes’ names as much.

But the list will probably grow when I come to having kids, as whether or not I’m with someone, surname will become another factor, and my own does not go well at all with the majority of my favourites.

I’d probably only use names from the 1st one, if they got significantly less popular leading up to when I actually have kids (a long while away). The 2nd lot maybe if I got an overwhelming degree of love for a name from my friends and family.

a guilty pleasure is a name that I love, but shouldn’t! Mainly for me they are trendy names for girls: [name_f]Kinley[/name_f], [name_u]Ellison[/name_u], [name_u]Bellamy[/name_u], [name_m]Hanley[/name_m], [name_u]Yardley[/name_u] etc. I think they look pretty cool written down but honestly if I heard a child with the name theres a chance I would scrunch up my nose!

Trendy names or names that I wouldn’t give as firsts because they don’t age well or are too much of a title.

Names that really strike a chord with me, but for whatever reason they are not actually able to be used. [name_m]Reason[/name_m] could span just about anything.

For me, it’s a name I think is stunning but that I could never see myself using, usually because it’s too unusual or I’d be worried about reactions from other people. It’s not a long list because my naming style is already a bit ‘out there’ (especially for girls, for some reason), so I guess you could think of it as names that go too far even for me.
Sometimes a name I would use ends up on the GP list because of a recent pop culture reference, but might make its way back onto the main list if/when that reference fades from memory, e.g. a Game of Thrones name that I might use once I stop associating the name with the character.

Names on my GP list at the moment include [name_m]Gaius[/name_m], [name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m], [name_f]Arwen[/name_f], [name_f]Calliope[/name_f] and [name_f]Morrigan[/name_f] (Dragon Age games).

My guilty pleasure names are names I love, but I doubt I’ll be able to use. I end up using them for character names.

My gp’s are mostly names I love, but I can simply not imagine on my child. Like, if I can’t imagine calling a little human being by it one day, it’s just… no. For example I can’t see myself using [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] or [name_f]Isadora[/name_f], they just feel too frilly to me despite how beautiful they are. Also, this site has made me so love so many names that wouldn’t work in my native language at all, which all go on the gp list as well… [name_f]Isla[/name_f], [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], [name_m]Lachlan[/name_m] and [name_m]Evander[/name_m] being on top of it. oh, and my extensive list of Basque name loves… it’s such a beautiful language, but most of those names wouldn’t work in my country at all! [name_f]Nerea[/name_f], Lorea, [name_f]Amaia[/name_f] I can see working for girls and for boys, [name_m]Jon[/name_m] and [name_m]Aitor[/name_m]… that’s about it. I’m secretly hoping a little that I might fall in love with a Basque man one day just so I can use those names sometime in my life, oh dear (I’m going to Spain for a year in two months, not to that region but pretty close, fingers crossed hahahahaha)

I consider my guilty pleasures names I find either too out there, just a name of a character (from a book, show, movie), a name I’d be afraid to tell my family I love for my child, or anything I would just say it could work as a middle! If I say I love a name, but know I wouldn’t use it, its most likely a guilty pleasure.

My gp list consists of names that I love but will probably cause my future children a LOT of difficulty. I’m a pretty adventurous namer, but these are names I think my child would actually hate me for -

Girls:
[name_u]Echo[/name_u] (I love this soooo much, but it has a lot of teasing potential. Maybe a middle name?)
[name_f]Busy[/name_f] / Bizzi (kinda like [name_f]Busy[/name_f] [name_m]Phillips[/name_m]? I just love the sound of it)
[name_f]Buffy[/name_f] (too vampire slayer)
[name_f]Posy[/name_f] (too cutesy. I can’t see this on an adult)

Boys:
[name_m]Jedi[/name_m] (waaaay too star wars, I’ve never even seen it. I just love the sound)
[name_m]Lynx[/name_m] (This one has less teasing potential but I’ve only ever gotten negative feedback. I think I can be talked into putting this one on my real list with positive feedback)
Skeeter (like the girl from the help)
[name_m]Cotton[/name_m] (too… fluffy?)

Honestly, my guilty pleasures are all names that are either relatively uncommon or “quirky”-sounding–usually a lot of overlap in those categories. I think I’m a lot more conservative in my taste than many here. For instance, [name_m]Quentin[/name_m] and [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] are (or at least seem) uncommon enough that they’re verging on GPs for me, while I imagine most berries wouldn’t bat an eye.

@ziggywiggy I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] [name_m]Jedi[/name_m] too! And [name_m]Cotton[/name_m] is kinda cute.

To me, guilty pleasures are simply names I feel guilty about liking but still like nonetheless. There are lots of different reasons for it.

  • Gwynonwen is much too over-the-top in sound. Think of her telling somebody her name, more child. “What?” “Come again?” “Bless you!” would probably be the most common replies.
  • Kilmeny sounds like “kill many”.
  • Poor [name_m]Dick[/name_m] has so many bad associations that I could never use it.
  • I would hesitate before using a name with a meaning such as “warlike” or “warrior”. I am thinking of [name_m]Mark[/name_m] and [name_m]Clovis[/name_m], which I both really love. I probably wouldn’t let it stop me, though.
  • And strangely enough, I literally love the name [name_m]Grisha[/name_m] because it sounds unpleasant to my English ears.

My guilty pleasure list consists of names I love but wouldn’t use on an actual child.

Great question. My answer will echo a lot of what’s already been said. For me, guilty pleasures are:

  1. Names I love but are too popular to use. [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]William[/name_m], [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_u]Ruby[/name_u]…

  2. Names I love but are too unpopular to use. I don’t mean unpopular as in rarely-used, but wacky, outdated, misunderstood, with significant teasing potential and/or an image problem. [name_m]Waldo[/name_m], [name_f]Aster[/name_f], [name_m]Ferdinand[/name_m], [name_m]Oswin[/name_m], [name_u]Marlowe[/name_u] (for a boy), [name_m]Darwin[/name_m], [name_f]Elektra[/name_f], [name_f]Coco[/name_f], [name_f]Mercy[/name_f], [name_f]Allouette[/name_f]…

  3. Names I love but are too trendy to use. Popular doesn’t necessarily equal trendy: [name_m]William[/name_m] is a popular name, but it has been for centuries. [name_m]Archer[/name_m], on the other hand, appeared very recently and rocketed up the charts. Trendy? Absolutely. But a name I love nonetheless. [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] is another name in this category.

  4. Names I love but aren’t my style. This category overlaps with the previous two. I tend to like unusual-but-not-unheard-of literary names in the “quirky retro” category. Sometimes, however, I fall for a name that’s outside my wheelhouse. [name_f]Giovanna[/name_f], [name_f]Solange[/name_f], [name_m]Oisin[/name_m], [name_f]Suri[/name_f], [name_f]Tatiana[/name_f], [name_f]Vashti[/name_f], [name_f]Saga[/name_f], [name_u]Sailor[/name_u]…

  5. Names I love but no one else does, which makes me think maybe they all know something I don’t! [name_f]Valerie[/name_f], Jemina, [name_f]Octavia[/name_f], [name_f]Faye[/name_f], [name_u]Roscoe[/name_u], [name_m]Thaddeus[/name_m], [name_f]Ramona[/name_f], [name_f]Quintana[/name_f]…

  6. Names I love but am worried are too, well, pretentious. [name_f]Cressida[/name_f], [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m], [name_f]Persephone[/name_f], [name_m]Florin[/name_m], [name_m]Alistair[/name_m], [name_m]Artemas[/name_m], [name_m]Caspian[/name_m], [name_f]Antigone[/name_f], [name_m]Balthazar[/name_m], [name_m]Amadeus[/name_m], [name_m]Atlas[/name_m]…

  7. Names I love but rhyme with my name, which is pronounced [name_m]LAY[/name_m]-ah. Farewell [name_f]Mattea[/name_f], [name_f]Galilea[/name_f], [name_f]Freya[/name_f], [name_f]Dulcinea[/name_f], and [name_f]Linnea[/name_f]…

There are also names that fall into some of the categories but which I would still use.

Names that…

  1. Are too popular where we live: [name_f]Thea[/name_f], [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_f]Nora[/name_f], [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_m]Lucas[/name_m], [name_u]Noah[/name_u].
  2. Are already used by family or friends: [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], [name_m]Liam[/name_m], [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f].
  3. SO doesn’t like (cries): [name_m]Dimitri[/name_m], [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m], [name_u]Emmett[/name_u], [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_f]Sienna[/name_f] (this list could go on forever).
  4. Sound strange in my or SO’s native languages: Tends to be names with strange letters that both of us love…

If I would feel kind of embarrassed to have the name myself, I’ve had to let [name_m]Rufus[/name_m] leave my list after considering how much I would appreciate having it if I were a teenage boy

My guilty pleasures are names I love - even if my DH doesn’t, or if they don’t work with our LN, or if they are just a little too “out-there” for me

Good question! A GUILTY Pleasure, to me, is something I wouldn’t use on a real kid because it’s just too “out there.”

Now, for ME, I would seriously use a lot of names a lot of people consider GPs–[name_f]Amarantha[/name_f] and [name_m]Lysander[/name_m], for instance.

But, I, too, still have GPs! I do draw the line somewhere!

Some of my GPs:

[name_f]Jonquil[/name_f]
[name_f]Strawberry[/name_f]
[name_f]Mariposa[/name_f] (maybe? haha)
[name_f]Sincerity[/name_f]
[name_f]Eowyn[/name_f]
[name_f]Eglantine[/name_f]
[name_f]Ceridwen[/name_f]
[name_f]Iolanthe[/name_f] (but I might actually use that!)