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The amusing thing about this thread is the lengths to which poster's will go in order to invent reasons that no one else should pick names that the poster dislikes. On some level, they know that it's very self-absorbed to insist that names they don't like should be avoided.
"But that name is made up!"
All names are made up. The aversion to names recently made up in favor of names made up long ago is irrational.
"But kids will make fun of someone with that name!"
Kids make fun of everyone. And stop using a supposed 'concern for the kids' as an excuse for your own preferences.
"But that's not how it should be spelled! And I'm the one who gets to decide!"
Here come the conformists, who can't stand it when people refuse to kowtow to convention.
A glance as SSI's records of issued names shows a great deal more diversity in names today than, for example, a century ago. And that's a good thing. While my three children all had fairly common, long-established names, I prefer living in a society where people do not feel bound by mindless convention to pander to the name-scolds. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Braden, Jayden, Zayden, Kayden. Hate that they’ve ruined the name Aidan, while all apparently feeling they’re doing something “different.”
Stupid mispellings of last-name-as-first-names like Ryleigh or Kennedee.
You see some really ghastly name ideas on the pregnant mama boards.
Skye, Brielle, Hunter, Tristan, Hayden, Tyler, Taylor, the list of silly, trendy-impress-my-friends names is endless.
You think people name their children to try and impress YOU? I think people (especially girls) have the names they like picked out when they're still children. I know that I did by the time I was 8 or 9 yrs. old.
What I named MY children had NOTHING to do with whatever my friends thought of it.
The amusing thing about this thread is the lengths to which poster's will go in order to invent reasons that no one else should pick names that the poster dislikes. On some level, they know that it's very self-absorbed to insist that names they don't like should be avoided.
"But that name is made up!"
All names are made up. The aversion to names recently made up in favor of names made up long ago is irrational.
"But kids will make fun of someone with that name!"
Kids make fun of everyone. And stop using a supposed 'concern for the kids' as an excuse for your own preferences.
"But that's not how it should be spelled! And I'm the one who gets to decide!"
Here come the conformists, who can't stand it when people refuse to kowtow to convention.
A glance as SSI's records of issued names shows a great deal more diversity in names today than, for example, a century ago. And that's a good thing. While my three children all had fairly common, long-established names, I prefer living in a society where people do not feel bound by mindless convention to pander to the name-scolds. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Calm down cowboy. It's a forum. People have opinions. PERHAPS people should start with "MY PREFERENCE would be XY and Z", but I think most of us understand it's IMPLIED we're speaking about our preferences. Not that we're the Emperor of the world laying down the law for everyone.
Aidan (only with the -an ending) is such a lovely, traditional Irish name- shame it gets lumped in with the rest of the -aden names, which I agree are quite unfortunate.
I'm partial to the "Aidan" spelling because a young friend of mine is named that, and so I have a pleasant association with the name. But no, the trendy people of the world couldn't leave well enough alone, they had to invent Aiden and Aidin and Aidyn and Aydan and Ayden and Aydin and Aydyn and I'm sure I'm missing some more variants. And then came Brayden and Caiden and Hayden (which actually preceded Aidan in popularity in this country, I think, but still) and Jayden and the numerous variant spellings of each of these, and on and on and on and on.
If I were still in the naming game, I might possibly consider Aidan (though probably not, because it's gotten too trendy), but all the rest of the ones I named are definitely not in contention.
Saoirse is a traditional Irish name. It is pronounced Sheer see. It is uncommon in the US, but it is not uncommon in Ireland and people know how to pronounce it and spell it there. If you are in the US of Irish heritage, then there is no reason not to use it as a name for your child.
It would be embarrassing to be an American Saoirse who says "Sheer-see" on a visit to Ireland. This is a very good example of why you should double- and triple-check that you are pronouncing that exotic name correctly before you give it to your baby.
What is it with the Irish? For some reason, they seem to want to spell some of their words with as little regard for phonetic pronunciation as possible. If you want to name someone "Shawn," then spell it Shawn (or maybe Shaun), not Sean (which looks like it should be pronounced like the past tense of "see.") If you want to name someone "SEER-sha," then spell it Seersha or maybe Seirsha. Saoirse should be pronounced "Say-WOIR-see" or something like that.
As for this name's usage on American babies . . . well, all I can say is, the poor kid who gets saddled with that name should either move to Ireland or expect a lifetime of misspellings, mispronunciations, and "My name is SEER-sha, it's spelled S-A-O-I-R-S-E."
What is it with the Irish? For some reason, they seem to want to spell some of their words with as little regard for phonetic pronunciation as possible. If you want to name someone "Shawn," then spell it Shawn (or maybe Shaun), not Sean (which looks like it should be pronounced like the past tense of "see.") If you want to name someone "SEER-sha," then spell it Seersha or maybe Seirsha. Saoirse should be pronounced "Say-WOIR-see" or something like that.
As for this name's usage on American babies . . . well, all I can say is, the poor kid who gets saddled with that name should either move to Ireland or expect a lifetime of misspellings, mispronunciations, and "My name is SEER-sha, it's spelled S-A-O-I-R-S-E."
Believe it or not, Irish spelling is phonetic and logical in Gaelic no matter how clumsy it looks to us. It all makes sense in the original language just like French spellings (Jean, Guillaume, Margot) make sense in French.
However, I couldn't agree more that those Irish spellings DON'T work in English and should mostly be avoided. We're all pretty used to Sean, but beyond that, not so much. I don't understand why monolingual English-speakers would insist on naming a child, say, Niamh instead of Neve.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 23 days ago)
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This is really such a hurtful thread.
I named my boys classic, time honored names that everyone recognizes and have been among the top 30 names for men for the last century.
Two of those names appear in this list of rants.
Really? I get complaining when you read a person's name is "Felon" (yes, that was a real name) but what's the point of making fun of people's names that are common?
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I really dislike Nevaeh ("heaven" backwards). Yuck.
I have a friend who named her son brennan, but used the Irish spelling. Problem is she spelled it wrong...in both languages. It is quite funny because we live in a large Irish area.
My children were named after family members who had a particular attribute I wanted my children to have. All of their names originated centuries ago. One name is unusual, but it has a great story.
According to my husband, I almost made a bad name choice: I was due around Christmas and, if the baby was a girl, I was insistent on naming her Holly Noelle. Best name ever. I'm just sorry I didn't get to use it (had a boy).
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