What happened to normal conventional names?

[VelvetLace]

An acquaintance who is due slightly after me has just announced on Facebook that she will be naming her baby girl Charm. I originally thought it was short for something else but no. It's just the word Charm. I'm not saying that everyone should name their baby something incredibly dull, but why have full-blown dog names become so common for human beings? Has naming babies just become a creativity contest? I see a lot of conventional names being asked about and considered on MN, but I'm seeing the opposite with people that I know offline. DH and I were discussing this last night.

I assume that was a typo given the pairing with Jenna, also perhaps invoking a little unconscious snobbery about the kind of chav parents who name their kids after vacuous celebrities! Although, I have never met anyone under the age of thirty called Kyle either, if that helps. As far as I am aware, the fashion for 'old lady' names for baby girls has been going strong for about three decades now so the idea that most people give their babies 'wacky' names these days, unlike in the good old days, seems pretty bizarre to me. If you looked at a class register taken from any point in the last twenty years I think you would see a plethora of Olivias, Lilys, Mabels, Amelias and graces but very few Princess Glitter Unicorns or whatever certain posters on MN seem to think these thoughtless modern mums are all naming their babies now!

Interesting. I’m 25 and went to school with a lot of Kyle’s.
I don’t think I’ve met a Kyle OVER the age of 30 though

Never has a truer comment been posted. I’m genuinely shocked to see so many people saying they prefer charm to George or Charlotte.

Anyone who frequents the name board knows that saying you’d name your child something like charm is usually met with horror on here

To be fair, I have only ever met two Kyles, both over thirty. There does seem to be considerably less variety in boys names than in girls names. I would say that most of the men I know are called either David, Matthew, Joshua, Adam, James, Patrick, Stephen, Michael or John. There is a bit more diversity in the baby groups I attend, but James is still by some way the most popular, , as it was in my class at school too. I would have thought it might have changed in the intervening years but, at least in our area, apparently not.

I’m all for unusual names. I can’t think of anything worse then naming my child Jack, Oliver, Charlotte or something equally boring

Thanks, yes I did mean Kyle. I haven't met a Kyle in person, I am sure a Kyle can be a lovely person..It's just not a traditional English man's name to my mind.

I didn't say Kylie.

Well, not really. The child needs to like it too eventually!

Slightly off topic but I don't think I have met a Kylie under the age of 50. It's a pretty common name for Australian women of a certain age. I have met quite a few. My neighbour in the UK fits the demographic perfectly.

You clearly aren’t up with current names, no. Kyle was extremely popular throughout the 90s (inside the top 40) before dropping sharply in popularity in the early 2000s, so there are enormous numbers of adult Kyles around, but vanishingly few babies. Jenna has never been a popular name.

I was very surprised to meet an 8 month old Peter last week. It's never been a name I gave much consideration to, but it was really lovely! His mum joked she wanted to guarantee he'd be the only one in the class- except for teachers!

When my DCs were born everyone seemed to be called Josh, or Hugo or Isla. All lovely names and while I thought 'Isla' was out there at the time, it's pretty mainstream now.

I think I would raise my eyebrows at 'Charm' but it would grow on me.

I went to school with names like Hannah, Gemma, Rebecca, Louise, Sarah, Kate. You hardly hear these now! I agree with you op- it has got a bit ridiculous.

I have a total soft spot for the honour names. I wanted Clemency if DS1 was a girl.

I like them too. Or some of them. A doleful character called Mercy Dulbottle in Ruby Ferguson’s Jill books notwithstanding.

Oh poor old Mercy! The others were quite unkind about her- and she managed to get them a field for their riding club too!

Yes, they were foul to her!

I grew up wanting to be Jill (and Jinny). But reading those books from an adult perspective- they could be quite mean.

My all-time favourite honour name is Deliverance. But - well- no. DH said if I did that it would be called 'justifiable parenticide'.

Know a couple of brothers gorgeous little boys Jim & John

You’re judging the names by the standard of the 20th century, which we’re no longer in. Unusual names are super common now because we have greater visibility than ever before of other people and of different name options. A natural consequence of that is that people feel less constrained by the judgement of their local community, and instead pick names that reflect their own tastes and preferences. Names that were common in the 1700s would also seem unusual, it’s just a different time.

A lot of unusual names are unusual/uncommon for a reason, though. So many are incredibly tacky and/or ridiculous. A lot have absolutely zero real history or meaning. If a name doesn’t have much appeal to a wide variety of people, it’ll be less common (generally speaking).

I think there’s a middle ground between naming your child Oliver or some other overused name (which I also hate) and naming your child Huntleigh or Taylinn (actual ‘unusual’ names that I’ve seen).

How could this be made to happen, though? If the parents are not psychic, how are they supposed to know which names their child would and would not like to be called before birth? I know adults with common names that hate their names, and I also know adults with uncommon names that hate their names. It’s not really something that you can predict. Most people won’t go through the hassle and social taboo of changing their name either.

(I’m not being sarcastic because tone is hard to convey through writing. This is a genuine question.)

You could name them something unusual that becomes associated with an horrific news story.

If the murderer was a Jack then there are so many Jacks that nobody would associate the name with the murdet.

If you look at threads on names to avoid, you'll get Myra listed but not Ian.

My kids have conventional names and so do 95% of the kids in their school.

And if you look at lists of the top 100 names each year the vast majority of kids have normal conventional names too.

I knew a 'Beauty' and she really, really was. That was a lot of pressure from the parents though. Yes, yes, they may have meant on the inside, but still.
She was almost ridiculously attractive, thankfully.

Thanks larthar. I stand corrected. I wasn't so much talking about those specific names, more the practice of giving any non-traditional English names, and often giiving American- sounding names. Anyway, no matter, I realise I was taking a chance making any comment at all.