I’m all for unique and clear identifiers for everything, including people, but jesus christ, imagine yourself in elementary school having a weird name. Why would parents choose a hard mode for their progeny?
I’m a big proponent of normal/semi obscure normal first name, weird middle name. John W Smith if you work in sales, J Wolfgang Smith if you’re an author. Perfect compromise.
We gave our daughter a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant. We just wanted a name that wasn’t religious but still normal enough that she wouldn’t get bullied for it (she got bullied anyway). We realized later that it actually made sense in terms of her ancestry because her mother has a plant name, her grandmother has a plant name and her great-grandmother had a plant name. One long lineage of plant names.
Dude I see you around here on the regular, so I’ll mention that this is ironic for me to read this, because we also named our daughter an old, obscure but “real” name that is also a plant (a flower, specifically).
It’s from France, so I asked a French friend before using it if it was ok to use and not a weird name, and they said “sure it’s ok, but it’s like an old grandma’s name no one uses anymore.” And that’s when I knew it was the one!
Honestly being bullied for a weird name just feels like victim blaming. It’s just someone else’s shitty behaviour we’re expected to dance around? That was the one problem with the name.
I don’t disagree, but it’s also a parental responsibility, in my opinion, to help your child avoid bullying. It’s not possible to avoid entirely, but there are definitely ways to make it worse. And a weird name is one of them.
It’s a pretty common practice where I live for a kid to be named after someone for their first name, but go by their middle name. So I think it’s perfectly fine to have one normal name and one weird name in any order.
A. John Smith is an accountant. Atreyu J. Smith is a musician who wears leather pants and some sort of studded headband.
In the fall of 2019, Vandyck sponsored the Marijuana Pepsi Scholarship for first-generation African-American students at UW–Whitewater.
If someone with a brand name… name… starts a same-industry business in their name, or offers a scholarship for nazis, I wonder what kind of recourse the original brand has.
I guess if everyone has a weird name, that doesn’t matter. Maybe kids don’t make fun of weird names anymore. Who knows, maybe it’s the Johns and Marys who get made fun of for having uninteresting names.
My name is a standard name, but super uncommon here. It’s not that bad, since I got picked on about as much as anyone else. It’s not like they won’t just because your name is unremarkable.
I’m all for unique and clear identifiers for everything, including people, but jesus christ, imagine yourself in elementary school having a weird name. Why would parents choose a hard mode for their progeny?
I’m a big proponent of normal/semi obscure normal first name, weird middle name. John W Smith if you work in sales, J Wolfgang Smith if you’re an author. Perfect compromise.
We gave our daughter a somewhat disused but normal and formerly not uncommon name which was the name of a plant. We just wanted a name that wasn’t religious but still normal enough that she wouldn’t get bullied for it (she got bullied anyway). We realized later that it actually made sense in terms of her ancestry because her mother has a plant name, her grandmother has a plant name and her great-grandmother had a plant name. One long lineage of plant names.
Dude I see you around here on the regular, so I’ll mention that this is ironic for me to read this, because we also named our daughter an old, obscure but “real” name that is also a plant (a flower, specifically).
It’s from France, so I asked a French friend before using it if it was ok to use and not a weird name, and they said “sure it’s ok, but it’s like an old grandma’s name no one uses anymore.” And that’s when I knew it was the one!
Yep, that was basically our reasoning. Vintage name, so it’s memorable, but not a weird one and spelled normally.
And absolutely not religious.
Wait, it’s all bullying?
She was bullied for other reasons. Most significantly being as eccentric as her parents.
That does tend to happen to children that are half human and half flying squid
Honestly being bullied for a weird name just feels like victim blaming. It’s just someone else’s shitty behaviour we’re expected to dance around? That was the one problem with the name.
I don’t disagree, but it’s also a parental responsibility, in my opinion, to help your child avoid bullying. It’s not possible to avoid entirely, but there are definitely ways to make it worse. And a weird name is one of them.
Give a kid a weird name and the bully will pick on them but set a bully on fire… no… wait, I think I got that wrong.
It may be someone else’s problem, but as a parent , you should consider your child’s well being when naming them, and try to avoid obvious pitfalls
I mean yes obviously, but still. Just angering me we have to fight human shittiness with something like this
Always has been.
Describing it like that makes it really tempting to try and guess the name. Out of respect for your and her privacy, I won’t, though.
Okay, I admit it. Her name is Cannabis Indica.
Ngl having “Wolfgang” as an example for a weird name was really strange to read for me… but I’m German.
It’s a pretty common practice where I live for a kid to be named after someone for their first name, but go by their middle name. So I think it’s perfectly fine to have one normal name and one weird name in any order.
A. John Smith is an accountant. Atreyu J. Smith is a musician who wears leather pants and some sort of studded headband.
Let me introduce you to Marijuana Pepsi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana_Pepsi_Vandyck
The kicker is her parents and siblings have normal names.
If someone with a brand name… name… starts a same-industry business in their name, or offers a scholarship for nazis, I wonder what kind of recourse the original brand has.
Imagine you’re a seven years old little fat kid and your name is Leviathan
That one I actually like. It’s easy to short it to Levi in public, but still be able to flex among friends.
I guess if everyone has a weird name, that doesn’t matter. Maybe kids don’t make fun of weird names anymore. Who knows, maybe it’s the Johns and Marys who get made fun of for having uninteresting names.
My name is a standard name, but super uncommon here. It’s not that bad, since I got picked on about as much as anyone else. It’s not like they won’t just because your name is unremarkable.
Narcissism