Would you give your child a name you wouldn't give yourself?

This may be a strange question but how different are the names you would consider for your child compared to the names you would consider for yourself if you had to change your name?

Would you give your child a name you wouldn’t give yourself?

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Nope! I legitimately would love to be called any of the names in my UC!

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This is interesting. I’ve only had boys so naturally I gave them names I wouldn’t give myself (although I wouldn’t mind being a female [name_u]Jasper[/name_u] honestly).
I did think about if the men in our families could pull off the names I was giving them. If their dad, uncle, and grandpas could wear the names reasonably well then I figured they could too.

However, I think names can be very generational so I don’t think it’s necessarily a big deal to give your kid a name you couldn’t see on yourself. I have a name that’s common for my generation but if I have a daughter I’m sure I’ll give her a name that’s more common for hers.

I don’t think I would give my kid a name I would feel embarrassed having though. That’s why I think things like the “Starbucks test” are a good idea.

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I think since I already know myself and have associations with the name I have now, it would change my opinion; I might choose a name that isn’t my objective favorite because I think it suits me. Additionally, I might also choose names connected to the name I have now. I like [name_f]Nora[/name_f], but my full name isn’t something I would choose for a child. However, I would keep it for myself or find something connected.

Additionally, I’m from a different generation than my children would be. I might consider names dated to my generation for myself but not my children, or choose a more adventurous name for them that would have been strange when I was growing up.

[name_f]My[/name_f] children might also have different heritage than me! That opens up names that I wouldn’t consider for myself.

Generally, any name I like for myself is a name I like in general, so there’s more similarities than differences.

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Totally agree with a lot of names being generational.

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Yes and no? I wouldn’t name a child something that I hated… but I’m not a [name_f]Lucienne[/name_f]. If my name were [name_f]Lucienne[/name_f] I wouldn’t hate the name, it just wouldn’t “fit” me. If I named myself I would go with something solid and mature (trying to think of an example maybe [name_f]Elspeth[/name_f]? I’m not sure). When naming you don’t know who they are so you can give them all of your favorite qualities. I don’t really think “would I like to be _____?” But I do try to think “would I be embarrassed to be ______?”

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Personally I would. Obviously not something embarrassing but maybe something a bit trendy that would fit with their generation but not mine. Also maybe something that feels a bit more outgoing than what I might choose for myself since they could grow into it.

In both cases I would choose something easy to say and spell.

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Yes and no.

Yes, because I love the names, in a general sense.

No, because if I use the name for myself, I can’t give it to my child :sweat_smile: As a female, I’m not into the idea of my children having the same name as me. I met a woman who gave her daughter her first name, but a different middle name. She regretted it so much due to the confusion and paperwork issues.

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Oh haha yes I can see that causing problems! Boys often share a name with their fathers. :woman_shrugging: Not very common for girls though.

This wasn’t exactly what I meant by the question. I mean assuming you won’t actually be changing your name and naming your child at the same time.

No, I try to imagine myself with my favorite names since it wouldn’t be fair otherwise imo :slight_smile:

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If I wouldn’t use it on myself because it’s teasable/clunky/have a negative or heavy association, no.
If it’s just because it doesn’t fit me, yes.

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Maybe after I’m 100% sure that naming children is complete for my lifetime, THEN I would use one of them for myself :sweat_smile:

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I love all the names I would give my child but as some people have been saying, a lot of my names might not suit me in particular. So while I would be happy to have that name, I probably wouldn’t purposefully give it to myself!

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Just to elaborate: I choose neutral names so they can fit anyone (or at least names I think are “neutral” enough).

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After thinking about it, I think many of my favorite names could suit me. I just don’t know if I would make the same choice for myself as for someone else.

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Yup. I don’t really like any other names on me, but I like a lot of them on other people.

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Yes and no but also yes? I’ll walk you through my thoughts.

My name is [name_u]Abby[/name_u] and I would never change my name. I hate how popular it is but it fits me and I love that it’s a name my parents loved enough to give to their first daughter. So in that regard, yes.

I wouldn’t want to give my kid a name that they could feel embarrassed about though. There are some awesome word names that I love but I recognize that it might not be easy to wear the name [name_u]Everglade[/name_u] or [name_u]Halcyon[/name_u]. So in this case, no.

However, I can’t imagine introducing myself as [name_u]Fable[/name_u] or [name_f]Marvel[/name_f]. Not because I would be embarrassed to but because I’m not used to getting the reactions one would get from [name_u]Fable[/name_u] or [name_f]Marvel[/name_f] when I introduce myself, and it would be weird lol. So we’re back to yes. If I got those reactions from day 1, I wouldn’t find them to be weird. I’m not sure if this brings me back to no?

Either way, here’s my mind vomit!

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I can’t imagine renaming myself, so by extension yes. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though some of my choices are most likely to be classics, it still feels like it’s my ‘gift’ to them, so I can’t give it to myself if that makes sense. I mean obviously not in a conceited ‘well you should be happy your ma was on nameberry, my dear’ way. They’re a new person and a blank slate, so I want their name to reflect that and I don’t want to associate it with myself.

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I wouldn’t, but I think that’s probably because when I consider a name one of my first questions is: How would I feel if this were my name?
For example, [name_u]Drew[/name_u] on a girl is really cute. However, I would never use it because when I imagine introducing myself as [name_u]Drew[/name_u] or writing on top of a resume, I know I’d be annoyed if someone assumed I were a male [name_u]Drew[/name_u]. For some people, that wouldn’t bother them. For me, it means that if I wouldn’t want to wear it, I also wouldn’t give it to my child.

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I can’t think of any names on my list for a future daughter that I wouldn’t be proud to have myself, too!

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