Happy Sunday! After talking about Abcde last week, I was determined to be upbeat this week and avoid headline-grabbing controversy.
Except.
There’s a story circulating about a mom-to-be who cancelled her baby shower because her friends and family are mocking her baby-to-be’s name.
It’s Squire. Squire Sebastian Senator. And if the post is to be believed, the mom insists that her son will be known by all seven syllables, no nicknames.
And so, while I don’t why to dissect the expectant mom’s social media rant, I do want to offer a few thoughts about naming your child something truly unusual.
- Some people will like the name immediately. (I think Squire is all kinds of awesome.) Others will warm to it over time, and forget they ever found it weird. And some will still be commenting about how awful the name is, years and years later. It so happens this applies, to some degree, no matter what you name your child, but it’s far more pronounced when the name is rare.
- No matter how much you love the name, you need to be comfortable with questions about the name, too. If you don’t like explaining why you chose Antares or explaining that Sublime is a family name, well … then move a little higher up the popularity list.
- Not everyone will like the name. This is true whether you choose a popular name, traditional one, or something less common. People should be polite, but YMMV.
- Your child may or many not like his name. That’s completely out of your control. It’s likely his attitude towards his name may change over the years.
- Speaking of things out of your control, your kiddo may very well have a nickname. At some point, their identities become their own. That nickname might make things so much easier, allowing a shy kid to avoid having to answer questions about his unusual name, or maybe giving him some space to carve his own identity.
I’ve shared some more thoughts here.
In general, unusual names can be great. But, as with any name, it’s important to be thoughtful about how that decision will play out over time. And much of that? It will be out of your control, and sometimes beyond your knowledge.
Elsewhere online:
- Oh, I like Lilinoe. It’s my new favorite Hawaiian name. Do you think they’ll catch on? I’m hearing more and more of them, and Laura Wattenberg is right – “liquid grace” describes them perfectly.
- Nancy uncovers the backstory on Tierney.
- Cillian is so handsome! And I’ll admit – I like it better with a C than a K, because, well, Kill seems like an inauspicious first syllable for a child’s name. But it’s Killian that is climbing in the US, thanks to the Once Upon a Time character.
- Erm … where did I find Olivier? I put it in the title of this post because I wanted to write about it this week. But now I can’t find a place where I read it? Still like this name. It’s romantic and intriguing, but is it wearable?
- Duana has great guidance here: you don’t have to get every single thing into your child’s name.
- Have you ever changed your mind about a child’s name midway through your pregnancy? There’s an interesting story here about a couple who did just that.
- This story keeps surfacing: new parents who chose their children’s names based on available Twitter handles. I don’t get it. It does feel like we want our kids’ names to lead to great hashtags. Bold middle names help here – #avarose is one in a million, but #avablue or #avaromilly? That’s distinctive. But did you check to see if your child’s first and last name – or first and middle – could be reserved on social media or gmail in advance?
- Some downright amazing birth announcements on Nameberry for November. Denholm, nickname Holmes!
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
