Names you might have chosen

Mr absent and I had great difficulty agreeing on a name for our only child. If the child had been a boy, he would have ended up as the equivalent of Baby Absent, probably for the rest of his life! After a lot of disagreement, we settled on Grace for a daughter. My mother was shocked and said, "That's an old woman's name", as if old women had never been babies. However, said baby had other ideas as she grew up and eventually legally changed her name to something I think is really rather boring. Well, you can't always get things right!

My answer: No, I wouldn't. Am happy with their names, but two of them curse us for giving them their second name as the one they are known by. It makes filling in forms very awkward
DH has that problem too. He has never understood why his mother did that.
It's even more difficult now he's older with hospital appointments etc. He's given in and answers to both now, although he dislikes his first name intensely. I prefer it!

We have the same name running down thefemale line. I am known by the full name and DD has always been known by a dimmunitive, which she loves, and has respelt, but she does complain about having to remember to put her full name when dealing with officil forms.

My DH had the same name as his father which he hated, so we definitely avoided that!

I have just realised that the OP's question was "would you choose different names for your offspring today "

My answer: No, I wouldn't. Am happy with their names, but two of them curse us for giving them their second name as the one they are known by. It makes filling in forms very awkward.

E.g. We christened them John Edward Smith, but wanted to use Edward and always have. Because of the single syllable surname, we thought it scanned better. So on forms and official documents the name is John, but they identify with the Edward. (That's neither of their names of course, as they have a German surname - and I would never have chosen Edward!)

watermeadow My paternal grandparents gave their eldest children their names, but as they then had another 9 they had plenty of opportunity to exercise their imagination.

I had to choose carefully with one of the most common of surnames,nothi g too exotic,or flowery the surnamme would render it very plain.
I chose strong traditional names that went with the surname.
My maiden name had the same sound as my first name,it sounded like I was twanging guitar when asked my name,I was quite happy to ditch my maiden name for a plain simple,not unable to prounounce or spell name.

Poor kids.

My great grandfather managed a brick pit in Essex and my grandmother told me that one of the brick makers had the surname Waters and called his three daughters: Lavender, Virginia and Mineral, generally known as Minnie.

I quite wanted to call my younger daughter Alice. But realised it would make her surname sound like Speckett if said fast.

Aldom

Thinking of flower names, my mother was at school with a little girl whose first name was Easter, her surname Primrose.

🙂

I had a friend who lived nearby when I was a child, her first name was Marie, which her family pronounced Marry, and her surname was Gold (may have been Gould, I don't know). 🌼

Thinking of flower names, my mother was at school with a little girl whose first name was Easter, her surname Primrose.

watermeadow

I had an uncle and aunt whose boy and girl were given their parents’ names. I think that’s awful, so egotistical and unimaginative.

I think it was traditional in some areas and cultures, although usually they were named for their grandparents.

The first son named after his paternal grandfather
The second son after his maternal grandfather
The first daughter after maternal grandmother
The second daughter after paternal grandmother.

That's perhaps why it gets confusing tracing family history - there are so many generations of James's, Johns and Jonathans in my family tree, for instance.

I had an uncle and aunt whose boy and girl were given their parents’ names. I think that’s awful, so egotistical and unimaginative.

Primrose, Violet, Rose, Lily, Iris, Jasmine, Poppy, Daisy, Heather, Holly, Ivy have all been quite common girls names over the years and a Poppy, Daisy, Jasmins and Iris are currently quite popular.

The name Jonquil has been mentioned. I remember the writer of Mrs Dale’s Diary, my mother’s favourite radio serial, was called Jonquil Antony. It’s one of many flower names - and yet you never hear of a Daffodil! I did once know a Dahlia, though.

We gave our DD my name which was probably a mistake as she shortened it as soon as she started school.
I chose three names for DS but DH told me to forget one of them and he switched the other two round so that DS has a very common first name which he too shortened.
Had I had another child I would have given them an unusual name that was not in the family already. My father loved everything Norwegian and had suggested I called DD Solveig but I thought she might get questioned about her origins.

One GD has her GGM's name and the other is named after an island.

Magrithea - why couldn't you use Veronica at confirmation?
Just wondering.
I thought Veronica was the woman who gave Jesus her veil to wipe his face when carrying the cross?

I liked Rebecca and Rachel when expecting number 3 - he ended up as Andrew, a name we'd chosen for child #1, who was a girl!

I wanted Veronica as a confirmation name but was told I couldn't so ended up with Elizabeth, not that I use it!

We chose family names, quite traditional and they seem to come in and go out of fashion but I still love both names. If second daughter had been a boy, he would have been called Felix, dd1 was relieved as she said she didn't want a brother names after cat food!

My husband and I had rather different choices about the name for our potential daughter for quite a long time during my pregnancy. We never agreed on any name for a possible son. We finally agreed on what I still think was a lovely name for our girl, but she hated it and legally changed it when an adult into something that I feel is dull. Still, it's her life, her name and her choice.

paddyann54 .

I would have kept 2 of my 3 children’s names. If I had another I would have chosen Rafael and Genevieve. My grand mother was one of 4 sisters …. Lizzie, May, Lily and Daisy …. This was in the 1890s.

Our first daughter was Barbara Faye ,she only lived 4 days and would have been 46 last Sunday .her registration and death certificate were issued on the same day .
I was friends with a Barbara in primary school and met her again as an adult I'd like to think our Barbara would have been the same lovely woman as her namesake

watermeadow

I only had girls but two boy names lined up were Benjamin and Samuel. These later became the commonest dog names and calling Ben or Sam would have had you surrounded by Labradors.

😂😂😂
Benjamin was one possible I picked for DS but we decided against it for other reasons.

I only had girls but two boy names lined up were Benjamin and Samuel. These later became the commonest dog names and calling Ben or Sam would have had you surrounded by Labradors.