What You Would Have Been Named

Some of us know what our parents would have named us if they had the choice or of we were the opposite gender. For example, my mom wanted
[name_u]Kadence[/name_u] ‘[name_f]Kady[/name_f]’
[name_f]Isabella[/name_f]
[name_f]Maggie[/name_f]
[name_f]Sofia[/name_f]
While my father wanted
[name_u]Sydney[/name_u]
Nashina
[name_f]Shaniqua[/name_f]
Shaquena
Well, my father won the name war (I had the more normal name on his list). [name_f]My[/name_f] parents always knew I was a girl, so they didn’t have any boy names for me. So, what would you have been named if you were the opposite gender or if you other parent had the choice?

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Hartley [name_u]Spencer[/name_u] ([name_u]Hartley[/name_u] was my mom’s maiden name) was their boy name. However, [name_u]Hartley[/name_u] offended my grandma (her parents were divorced), so they changed it to [name_u]Spencer[/name_u] [name_u]Hartley[/name_u]. I don’t mind [name_u]Spencer[/name_u], but I’m really not into [name_u]Hartley[/name_u].

My dad has extremely old-fashioned taste–he pushed for names like [name_f]Martha[/name_f] and [name_f]Thelma[/name_f] which he “always liked” and remains completely unaware of how uncommon they would have been for a kid born in the 1990s. [name_m]Just[/name_m] recently he was acting all surprised that I didn’t go to school with any girls named [name_f]Susan[/name_f] because there were “tons” in his elementary school and I had to explain to him that names go in and out of style.

My mom, on the other hand, was more aware of and in line with name trends of the period. She really wanted me to be named [name_f]Lily[/name_f]. [name_f]Julia[/name_f] was the only name they both really liked because their styles were so different. I’m glad, because I like it better than any of their other alternatives. ([name_f]My[/name_f] mom later named my first baby doll [name_f]Lily[/name_f], because she couldn’t use it on me).

If I was a boy, I would have been either [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Robert[/name_m], or [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] [name_m]Jr[/name_m]. after my dad, but on that front they were pretty united. It was the girl names where they really had a stylistic mismatch.

If I were a boy, I would be Caleb (thank heavens I’m female because blurgh) :confounded:

My sister was going to be Nathaniel if she was a boy, and Mum really wanted Esther for a girl, but Dad vetoed it. So she’s H@nnah instead. Kinda wish they went with Esther, which is much less common. 🤷

Edit: okay, I just had a weird epiphany… all these names are super Biblical - as in, they are major people in the Bible and most people recognise them as such. However, my name is not and if anything has ties to Norse mythology instead! I’ve not noticed this before, and it’s super amusing :joy:

If I had been a boy, I would have been [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u]. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom breathed a sigh of relief when I turned out to be a girl after finding out I would have been essentially named for my cousin, [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Michael[/name_u].

If my grandmother had had her say, I would have been [name_u]Kimberly[/name_u] [name_f]Ann[/name_f]. Thankfully she didn’t get a chance to have her say, though my mom would have put her foot down in opposition to giving me that name.

If I was a boy, I would have been name [name_m]Kier[/name_m]. I remember telling my friends this not so long ago and one of them asked “like the car?” So I’m thankful I was a girl or I may have been teased about my name growing up

I would have been named [name_m]Justin[/name_m]. [name_f]My[/name_f] parents chose our names based on initials to honour family members. In honour of my great grandmother [name_u]Joan[/name_u] they chose J. I’m not a huge fan of the name [name_m]Justin[/name_m] so I’m very happy I’m a girl lol!

If I were a boy, I would have been named [name_u]Spencer[/name_u] [name_m]Mark[/name_m] (which is my brother’s name, but I was born first so I would have gotten it). I think my parents other boy name was [name_m]Simon[/name_m] or [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Matthew[/name_m].

I’m gonna do this a little differently, here’s what my foster parents said they would have named me if I was their biological child (and they couldn’t use the names they already picked for their biological kids) I would have been [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_u]Ezra[/name_u]
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] was the name of my foster moms [name_u]Nana[/name_u] and [name_u]Ezra[/name_u] for her favorite band Better Than [name_u]Ezra[/name_u]

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I would have been [name_m]Stuart[/name_m] [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], though she also considered [name_m]Tybalt[/name_m] and [name_m]Etienne[/name_m]. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom has excellent taste in names, imo. Backups for me as a girl were [name_f]Clothilde[/name_f] and [name_f]Imogen[/name_f]. I’d have loved to be any of those, I think.

My mom was single at the time, so didn’t have to contend with another naming partner.

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I would have been [name_u]Timothy[/name_u].

Well, my I know that my mom liked [name_m]Brian[/name_m] for a boy. Which now 36 years later she’s pretty meh on. I don’t care much for it either. Not even sure who it was honoring?

[name_f]My[/name_f] great grandpa [name_u]Sol[/name_u] (love his name!) died a few days before I was born. [name_f]My[/name_f] parents were set to name me [name_f]Stephanie[/name_f], but my mom loved [name_f]Michelle[/name_f]. She’s a huge Beatles fan, so that was most of the reason. Somehow when I was born, she justified MicheLLe being named after SoL. Close enough, right? :wink:

Mom’s pick for a boy was [name_m]Johnathan[/name_m], but she also really liked [name_m]Alec[/name_m]. Both liked [name_m]Brendan[/name_m], so that would have been my name had I been a boy. (I’m glad I was a girl! [name_m]Brendan[/name_m] means “smelly hair”, which has always bothered me!

For girls, my mom loved [name_f]Sarah[/name_f], [name_f]Rachel[/name_f] and [name_f]Hannah[/name_f]. (I ended up as a [name_f]Megan[/name_f] btw)

I have no idea what I would have been named if I was a boy. But my dad had no say in the name after my first brother. Though an option that was considering for me was [name_f]Kate[/name_f], which I adore. I ended up being [name_f]Emily[/name_f], which I loathe.

My eldest brother my dad wanted name him Racen if he was a boy, or Raceen if he was a girl. But my mom shot him down. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom wanted [name_m]Damien[/name_m] or another name that I don’t remember. But ultimately then went with a family name for him.

For my second eldest brother, they thought he was going be a girl bc that’s what the doctor told them. And chose [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] and no boy names as a back up. But surprise, he ended up being a boy and they had to choose a name out of a hat.

With my sister, they didn’t find out the gender until she was born. For a boy name they considered [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] bc her due date was around St. [name_m]Patrick[/name_m]’s [name_u]Day[/name_u]. And for a girl, my mom wanted [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] but at the time, ahe heard [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] a lot while being pregnant. So she chose a different name.

[name_f]My[/name_f] mom’s dream name was [name_f]Ashleigh[/name_f], until she got married and it sort of clashed with the surname. So that might have been my name. The boy name she had for me was [name_u]Micah[/name_u]. ([name_f]My[/name_f] dad, luckily for my mom, was not opinionated at all when it came to naming, so it was always entirely up to her.)

I asked her not too long ago what she’d name me and my siblings now because her taste has definitely changed after twenty-some years. I’d be [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] now, which I think is beautiful and would actually suit me fairly well. :slight_smile:

My parents agreed Mum would name a girl, Dad would name a boy - ‘loser’ would name second child.
Sucks for my Dad, there was no second child.

If he’d won I’d have been [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] (no middle). Mum would have then given me a middle since she’s worked in immigration and knows the practical perspective of having to work out who’s who without a middle. It would probably have been [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] or [name_m]Luke[/name_m].

So [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] or [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] [name_m]Luke[/name_m]. Either way, we’d have sounded very religious for an atheist family.

If Mum had got her first choice of girls’ names I would have been [name_f]Claire[/name_f] (‘stolen’ by one of her best friends a few months before me) or [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] (she hated all nicknames).

My mom wanted [name_m]Faraday[/name_m] and my dad wanted [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], they compromised and went with a much worse name. If I was a boy though I would have been [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] which is actually kind of nice.

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If I wasn’t [name_f]Elena[/name_f] I would have been

Fiona or [name_m]Hans[/name_m].

i would have actually really liked the name [name_f]Fiona[/name_f] but [name_m]Hans[/name_m], I’m not so sure about

oh my gosh. i have a male twin, so it wasn’t like they were ever considering boys’ names for me, because my name would’ve just been my twin’s name, right? but my parents’ top choices were

Amelia
and… SALLY-CURTIS

(for reference, my name is elizabeth, nicknamed and mostly called eliza)

i am so, so glad i did not end up as a sally-curtis, but amelia is actually one of my favorite names!

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If I was a boy I would’ve been [name_m]Christopher[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] (so glad I wasn’t as [name_m]Christopher[/name_m] isn’t really a name for a 15 year old imo). The other girl name my parents had was [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] which I don’t like either - but I don’t like mine or my sister’s name either so maybe I just don’t like their style.