What it's like to be named..

General Name Discussion
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] berries!

I’ve been thinking about posting this, and then @greyblue’s wonderful “[name_f]Do[/name_f] you like your own name” thread appeared so I hesitated to do one, because I felt it might be quite similar. Therefore, PLEASE tell me if you think the two posts are too similar! I will delete all the words here and write “Too similar with other thread”.

I wondered what it’s like to be named OO, such as your name is [name_u]Sage[/name_u] and you love it because it’s very unique and everyone told you it’s beautiful. I like names in my signature, but I don’t know if a real [name_f]Kaia[/name_f] hated her name because everyone teased her Kayak, so I wanted to hear from people who actually have the name.

I’ll start mine first although I won’t reveal my real name. (Afraid my penpals will recognize me) My real name is same as the very popular actress in my country. [name_m]Just[/name_m] imagine your name is [name_f]Angelina[/name_f] but your surname is [name_f]Jolie[/name_f]. It’s really hard to be named [name_f]Angelina[/name_f] [name_f]Jolie[/name_f], because everyone will stare at your face. You might like that you’re the first one that your teacher remembers the name, but the actress association always follows you. Boys will tease you because you’re not ‘pretty enough’ like the actress. I once watched a talk show with the guest named same as my name, and she talked about how she later changed her name because everyone didn’t stop staring her face after she tells her name which was so stressful.

[name_f]Edit[/name_f] : If you think it’s unfair that I didn’t reveal my name although the thread is “What it’s like to be named…”, please tell me! I’ll tell my name (But @ instead of a, like this.) (I didn’t reveal my name because I’m sure no one ever heard of my name so it won’t be useful to berries.)

2

Interesting idea! :slight_smile:

My name is [name_f]Alyssa[/name_f]. My name is pretty benign…not really controversial, not really tied to anyone too famous anymore, and not overly popular. I have had people think that I am either a snob, a cheerleader, or athletic, just because of my name. Others have complemented my name, saying it is beautiful…still, others think my name is dated. A definite negative of name is the teasing I received for most of my school years. Kids discovered that my name backwards starts with “ass”, so that became a nickname of mine :confused: I still get people commenting on it, even though I’m a grown adult now.

I don’t think it is unfair that you didn’t reveal your own name. I totally get privacy concerns, especially since you are a teenager.

3

My name is [name_f]Naomi[/name_f]. For all my life, people have butchered the spelling and pronunciation of my name. The actual pronunciation my parents chose is nay-oh-mee, but so many people call me nye-oh-mee.

Growing up, I was teased a little bit because of my name. Backwards it spells imoan, so of course I got teased about that. People would be like “really, that’s your name?” It sounds a bit made up sometimes.

What I do like about my name is that not many people have it. It’s unique enough, but most people recognize it when they see it. My last name is short and quite common, so it’s nice to not have a super common first name.

I also don’t think it’s unfair that you didn’t reveal your name. It’s better for privacy reasons anyways :slight_smile:

4

My name is [name_u]Hayden[/name_u], and I’m always getting called [name_m]Cayden[/name_m], [name_u]Jayden[/name_u], [name_u]Aiden[/name_u], etc. :frowning:

6

Being a [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] has been fine. Like most well known names it’s almost always spelled and said correctly (though every now and then someone will call me [name_f]Carolyn[/name_f]). Like [name_f]Alice[/name_f] it’s well known but not that common - or at least it was when I was growing up. I’ve still never met another [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] my age. My name backwards is Enilorac so no problems with teasing there. Generally it’s been very easy to have the name [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] except for the fact that I don’t love it, I go by Caz pretty exclusively (unless I’m with family) and then people spell it incorrectly - [name_u]Cass[/name_u], Kaz, Kas etc. But that’s not really been too bad.

@livelaughlove/[name_f]Naomi[/name_f] I’m surprised how many people get your name wrong! I’ve known at least five Naomis (one being my mum) and I’ve never seen any of them have issues except for a small bit of amusement and finding out that it’s ‘I moan’ backwards - and that was only in the case of one of the five(ish, there’s probably more than that). But perhaps that’s because I grew up in Jewish circles where the name is much more common?

7

Honestly, I’ve always disliked my name for various reasons. When I was really little, I didn’t like it because I didn’t think it sounded “girly” enough. My younger sister’s name is [name_f]Leah[/name_f] and I was jealous because I thought it was more of a girl’s name because it ended in “uh” (I also thought the boy [name_m]Elijah[/name_m] in my class had a girl’s name so my thoughts on this are completely different).

When I was in middle school, I thought my name was boring and old fashioned. I had friends named [name_f]Caylee[/name_f] and [name_u]Laken[/name_u], and I thought their names were so much cooler than mine.

Now, I hate how common my name is. Last year, my tap class had 7 girls in it and 3 of them were named [name_u]Abby[/name_u] (including me). Not only was it annoying, it was confusing. I think my name fits me but I wish I didn’t know so many. I wish that I was the only person people thought of when they heard my name. It’s just not a special or memorable name and I hate that about it.

I was never teased for my name so that was nice. It’s just I’ve never heard someone say they love having a common name, but I’ve heard a lot of people say they like having a unique one.

8

[name_u]Love[/name_u] this thread idea!!

Being named [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is alright. I’ve found that it’s a name people easily remember and they often comment that it 's a nice name, which i find odd, since it’s fairly well known and well used.
I was also born just before it got popular, so while I don’t meet many Graces my age or older, I do hear the name [name_f]Grace[/name_f] being called at little girls which sometimes feels a little strange for some reason.

One thing you’ll definitely hear as a [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is the song Amazing [name_f]Grace[/name_f]. That becomes annoying but it definitely could be worse. People will also call you [name_f]Gracie[/name_f] - often automatically - which is fine if you dont mind the nickname, but irritating if you don’t like it. You’ll also probably hear someone say Great! and turn round thinking its your name being called.

My surname is a word so when it’s combined with [name_f]Grace[/name_f] it does sound a bit like a title, kind of cool but also a bit pretentious!

In all, it’s not a bad name to be called. I’ve often disliked it, but reading over these answers and the answers to my thread, I’ve don’t think I mind it :slight_smile:

9

My name is [name_f]Heather[/name_f].

It was super common in the decades before I was born, so there’s a lot more women older than me who have my name. Among my own age group, there was usually only one or two of us per grade level, and occasionally I’d have a class with another [name_f]Heather[/name_f]. It was a minor annoyance sometimes, but honestly I never thought it was a big deal having to figure out which [name_f]Heather[/name_f]'s name came first during roll call or having to write down [name_f]Heather[/name_f] LN on my papers.

The biggest cons I can think of for my name is that it’s considered pretty dated these days, and it’s also still attached to the preppy, cheerleader, mean girl type character in movies. Neither of those things really bother me though.

For the pros, it’s familiar. A lot of people I meet have a sister/cousin/friend/mom whose name is [name_f]Heather[/name_f]. It’s usually a fun coincidence. I’ve never had any spelling or pronunciation issues with it (sometimes kids have a hard time with the ‘th’ sound though, but that’s more cute than annoying). Most of the rhyming words I can think of off the top of my head are pretty benign ([name_f]Heather[/name_f] [name_f]Feather[/name_f] was one), so I was never really teased for my name.

Overall, I like my name and I think it suits me. I can’t imagine being named anything else.

10

Haha, I always enjoy these threads. My name is [name_u]Hillary[/name_u].

I live in the U.S. [name_f]Every[/name_f] time I introduce myself I get either a [name_u]Hillary[/name_u] [name_m]Clinton[/name_m] comment, a generic compliment (“such a pretty name!”), or no reaction at all. A lot of people do seem to like the name, since I think it also carries positive connotations for some people. After the election I had to change my name on my [name_m]Uber[/name_m] profile because every time I got in the car the driver would start lamenting about “ah [name_u]Hillary[/name_u], I voted for you! Why did you have to lose?” and I had to say “I know, it sucks!” every single time, which got old after a while. I did vote for her so I don’t mind the association, but it certainly has affected me a lot. People tell me I should run for office weirdly frequently, probably because of the subconscious association.

I think a lot of people consider my name quite dated, which it is. It peaked around the years I was born and then faded out pretty quickly because of the [name_m]Clinton[/name_m] presidency in the 2000s. I was named before they became known at all at the federal level, so that was just a coincidence.

I’ve noticed that my name is sort of hated on Nameberry. I always wonder if that’s because no one on the site likes it aesthetically, or if the [name_m]Clinton[/name_m] thing is just too strong to ignore and so they think naming a baby [name_u]Hillary[/name_u] is a bad idea. I’m actually a bit saddened by that, because even though a politician has that name, regardless of your feelings about her, I think it’s a nice name overall. There are many that are much worse in my opinion!

That being said, I did always feel like it sounded sort of “young” because of the “ee” sound at the end. I was always a bit jealous of girls whose names end in the letter “A,” which I think is why my favorite names so often do (as you can see in my signature). They feel more grown up and pretty to me for some reason, I don’t know why.

Anyway, the biggest advantage of having my name is that no one ever mispronounces it. Everyone’s heard it, and even though people frequently spell it with the wrong number of Ls, they can always say it easily when reading it. Overall I think I’m glad it’s my name, even if it took a while to really appreciate it.

11

I’m [name_u]Stacy[/name_u].

Growing up I knew quite a few other [name_u]Stacy[/name_u]'s but it was never really an issue. People can always pronounce it but it is often spelled as [name_u]Stacey[/name_u], which bugs me. People also get [name_u]Stacy[/name_u] confused with the name [name_u]Tracy[/name_u], which has been on my Starbucks cup more times than I can count. I was in high school when the song '[name_u]Stacy[/name_u]‘s Mom’ came out and that was rouuugh. People sang to me non-stop for over a year and to this day when I meet people for the first time they make a joke asking about my mom. Why didn’t Fountains of [name_m]Wayne[/name_m] think of all the poor [name_u]Stacy[/name_u]'s and their moms when they released that song?! Other than that I wasn’t ever teased for being named [name_u]Stacy[/name_u]. I do remember that my interest in names began when I was like 8 and read The Babysitter’s Club books for the first time and I realized the character [name_u]Stacy[/name_u]'s full name was [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]. I was shocked, intrigued, and super jealous. There was also a time briefly where people would bring up [name_u]Stacy[/name_u] [name_u]London[/name_u] to me.

Anyway, [name_u]Stacy[/name_u] is nice to wear. I like it. It’s familiar but not overdone. It’s definitely dated to the 70’s/80’s and I just looked and saw it hasn’t made the top 1000 since 2011! My time has passed, lol.

12

@silversky109/[name_u]Hillary[/name_u], I totally understand you! Like [name_u]Hillary[/name_u], my first name reminds me of the certain actress so the situation becomes worse when people realize my surname is exactly same as her. I get numerous jokes about my name. The actress recently got married so I got a loooooots of comments about that, too. Having names like [name_u]Hillary[/name_u], people expects me to have the same personality as the famous person. I hope you didn’t tease for being a [name_u]Hillary[/name_u]! [name_f]Every[/name_f] name is beautiful and should be respected, NOT be teased.

13

I’m Angharad and although it’s a Welsh name and I live in Wales, it’s often met with one of two reactions: “Huh?”, “How do you say it?”, “That’s unusual.” or “Aw, how lovely!”, “A proper Welsh name!”, “I’ve always liked that name!”.

Basically, in other words, it’s either loved or loathed. As I was growing up, I was teased relentlessly. I always got comments like: “Why are you called that?”, “Didn’t your parents know of any English names?”, “Oh, it’s ugly! I bet you can’t wait to change it.”

I’ve only ever met two other Angharad’s in my life, but there’s also the famous Welsh actress who I share both my first and last name with as well as the Welsh TV presenter with whom I share the same first name and my middle name (Mair) is her last name. Both connections were a total coincidence since neither of my parents knew of either woman and instead, I was named after my baby cousin who died just before I was born.

Despite hating my name for the vast majority of my life, I do love it now. It may be a bit of an annoyance when I have to spell it out or can’t find a personalised souvenir but it’s a meaningful name to my family and I think as I grew older, I began to value that. I’m also so thankful that I was never a part of the four Emily’s, two Emma’s and three Georgia’s I shared a class with.

14

I’m not going to post my full name either, I’ll just say it was a top name in the sixties and had left the charts by the time I was born.
I didn’t have a nickname through most of my childhood, there is a go-to nickname but it never stuck (and I don’t think it suits me anyway). In middle school, some friends came up with a variation nickname, and that one stuck, though only with friends, never with family or at work.
It had some good sides having an “old” name. Everyone knew it, I was never asked to spell it, but I didn’t have to share it with any classmates either. When I met someone with the same name it was almost always either a teacher or a friend’s parent. Once I even got a “Nice, something normal!” when stating my name (I was following up a [name_f]Polina[/name_f] and a [name_f]Fanny[/name_f]).
Confusion with other names does happen, but rarely.
Teasing - not really. My name rhymes with a lot of things (and names), but with nothing bad. Once I overheard a dumb comment about my initials, but that was it.

15

I’ve got a name that was #1 the year I was born.

I absolutely love it for itself. The sound is beautiful, and it would probably be on my own list if it wasn’t my own name. The history of it, the many namesakes…it’s obvious why it became #1!

Is it a pain to have to be ___ M. all the time? A little. It didn’t cross my mind until my college payment almost got lost because it was logged under a person with my same fn/ln combo. However, I was super proud of it as a kid. “My name is #1!” and all that :slight_smile:

16

@sansavesper - I love the name [name_f]Heather[/name_f]! So evocative of the heathery moors. :slight_smile:

I’m in an intereresting position because my name is quite close to being unique where I live, although it does exist here in a different spelling and has different meanings around the world. It can be considered a nickname for a longer, rather old-fashioned name, but you don’t immediately connect it to the long form: think “[name_u]Jory[/name_u]” for [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f]. It shares sounds with some of the most popular names here, so it will always both fit in and stand out.
I treasure my name for its meanings and the stories behind it, and while I sometimes hanker after its long form, I can’t truly picture myself being named anything else.

17

My birth name was [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f] J. [name_m]Hardy[/name_m]. I grew up with people assuming I went by [name_u]Alex[/name_u] and I HATED it. There’s nothing original about [name_u]Alex[/name_u]. I liked [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f] because I had an obsession over [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f], [name_u]Egypt[/name_u]. But I’m sick of people calling me [name_u]Alex[/name_u].

Im legally changing my name to [name_f]Dahlia[/name_f] [name_f]Eris[/name_f] [name_f]Olivi[/name_f]. ([name_m]Doll[/name_m]-ee-uh) ([name_f]Olive[/name_f]-ee)
People pronounce [name_f]Dahlia[/name_f] weird sometimes but I like the name regardless.

18

My name has different reactions, depending on how people first encounter it. If they hear it, I get a lot of “such a beautiful name” comments… but if they see it, I often get asked how its said (and once they know, I usually get “oh how pretty and unique!”)

My name gets attention due to its rarity and unique spelling. I’ve never had issues with negative connotations because of it.

I have long curly red hair, blue eyes, and an ivory complexion… and I think my name suits me well. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though it’s Greek, I feel it suits me, and looks the part of my Irish/Dutch self.

19

My name is [name_f]Alicia[/name_f] (uh-lee-sha), and if you can’t tell I’ve had some difficulty with people pronouncing my name in my lifetime. I have always hated my name, I cannot remember a time when I haven’t. I’ve never felt like it suited me, plus I’ve run into very few people who say it or spell it correctly on the first try. Some of the time I can just say, like [name_f]Alicia[/name_f] [name_m]Keys[/name_m] and people get it. I get called [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_u]Allison[/name_u], [name_f]Alyssa[/name_f], [name_f]Alysha[/name_f] (uh-lih-shuh), and uh-lee-see-ah(which isn’t incorrect, it’s just not the pronunciation my parents chose.) and pretty much anything else that starts with an A, to which I’ve learned to respond. Most common misspellings include: [name_f]Alisha[/name_f], [name_f]Alesha[/name_f], Aleighsha (There was a girl in my class in middle school who spelled her name this way and she was pretty popular, making it more difficult for me having a name pronounce the same way.) It gets frustrating having to correct new teachers, and numerous substitutes every single year, some never get it right. My name was pretty much always misspelled on group projects unless I wrote it or made sure to tell whoever was in advance. Having worked in retail and wearing a nametag I’ve often heard, “Oh, that’s my sister’s name, how do you pronounce yours?” or “I know someone who has the same name as you, but it’s spelled differently” So I know others with the name have the same issues. I still really dislike my name, but I feel like I’ve lived with it too long to change it.

All that being said, when people do hear it or see it written down and it’s not what they expected, I usually do get compliments. And I understand I really could be worse off with another name.

20

I’ve had the experience of being three names for extensive periods of time. My full name is [name_u]Lyndsey[/name_u] [name_f]Rose[/name_f] LN, and I went by [name_u]Lyndsey[/name_u] through elementary, middle, high school. That experience was fine, there was only one [name_u]Lindsay[/name_u] in the grade below me, a few in grades above me, and none in my grade. I was always the only [name_u]Lyndsey[/name_u]. I didn’t especially like my name but I didn’t hate it. What annoyed me was that no one ever spelled it right, even if I literally spelled it out loud to them, they would automatically put an i. People also often confused me with other L names like [name_u]Leslie[/name_u] or [name_u]Lisa[/name_u] or misheard it as [name_f]Lizzy[/name_f], [name_f]Lacey[/name_f], [name_f]Lucy[/name_f], or [name_u]Leslie[/name_u].

In college I started to go by [name_u]Lyn[/name_u] after having the experience of having three other Lindseys in my dorm hall and eventually four Lindseys all in one class. I liked being called [name_u]Lyn[/name_u] at the time, I was trying to feel adult and it felt like a more adult name. No one spelled it right but I was used to that. I never had anyone mishear it and people seemed to remember it.

In grad school and up til the present, I realized that I really liked my middle name, [name_f]Rose[/name_f], best of my names and it was a shame not to use a name I loved instead of one I was just okay with. So I now go by [name_f]Rose[/name_f]. I love the name and have not met another [name_f]Rose[/name_f] since I started going by it, so I am always the only one. I often get comments about how pretty it is or people tell me it is also their middle name. I tend to have people have trouble remembering it though until I tell them it’s like the flower. I also have people often mishear it as [name_f]Ruth[/name_f].

21

I am [name_f]Carrie[/name_f], which was outside the top 100 when I was born, but still common enough that everyone pronounced it correctly and I could always find knick-knacks with my name on them. I’ve gotten used to spelling my name regularly, because there are so many spelling variations.

The only potential issue is that [name_f]Carrie[/name_f] rhymes with everything, so there’s plenty of teasing potential (hairy, fairy, etc.). I didn’t encounter this personally, though people did enjoy rhyming my name with things. I had fun listing all the words it could rhyme with!

Rhyming with lots of other names and words means that I frequently think my name is called when it’s not—like when somebody hollers for [name_u]Gary[/name_u], [name_f]Sherry[/name_f], [name_m]Larry[/name_m], [name_u]Barry[/name_u], [name_f]Mary[/name_f]… And when I introduce myself to someone, over the phone especially, they often think my name is [name_u]Terry[/name_u] or [name_f]Karen[/name_f].

The verdict: Despite having to spell it all the time, I love my name and wouldn’t change it for the world. I think it can work on many personality types, as it’s not too short or long or frilly or tailored.