About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

8 Comments

  1. Dawson is my son’s name. He was born in 1999. I didn’t know until now that 1999 was the year the name peaked. I don’t believe I picked the name because of the show Dawson’s Creek – at the time, I didn’t even watch that show. And Titanic WAS my favorite movie for a while, so I could have had it in the back of my mind from that movie when I got pregnant a year later. Who knows? What I do know is that I still love the name to this day! Dawson and I both get compliments on it quite frequently (“Dawson? Hey, cool name!”), but yes, we both do hear the Dawson’s Creek reference quite regularly as well, although never in a bad way. 🙂

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  2. I really dislike this name. I’m not sure why, I just do. It’s sound is not at all pleasant to my ears, and yes, it makes me think of Dawson’s Creek (which I never saw, but I’m not a fan of either Joshua Jackson or Katie Holmes). I honestly think the name’s rather distinguished as a surname, but it entirely fails to please me when up in front.

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  3. Yep – Dawson’s Creek… despite never having seen a single episode… it was just so darn popular. The name is fine, but I’d guess the average mom these days would wonder if you might a giant fan of the show.

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  4. The name is strongly linked with the TV show in my mind. I actually liked the show a lot – it was on in the UK too – so it’s not a bad association: just a strong one and linked to the idea of ‘teenage crushes’ – which is not really what I’d go for when married and picking out a baby name with my husband.

    I guess another issue is that the “aw” sound is pronounced slightly differently between the UK and the USA. So I’d say the first syllable more like “door” and my husband would have more of an ‘American twang’ when he said it.

    Not really my style of name, but it would be cute to meet a little Dawson – especially if there was some kind of family connection with the name.

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  5. I LOVE Dawson & have for awhile, though I do completely get why others might not. I have it as Dawson Alexander on my list & it hops between 4th & 5th in ranking. It’s very much a ‘first’ name to me as when I think of surnames where I live, it’s stuff like Burger,Labuschagne,Tshabala,Du Plessis,Du Toit etc, so you can see why it’s ‘namey’ to me.I’ve actually come across a Burger first name, which I thought was cool, considering it’s a VERY popular surname.

    Overall, I really like it as a name & could seriously imagine having a son by that name.It’s one the few SON names that I actually like. Also, I have a lot of first-named turned surname names on my list – it’s not on purpose, just a bizarre coincidence; so it’s possible that if I only ever have boys, that they’ll have an unintentional surname theme.

    Some of my relatives LOVED Dawson’s Creek, so it’d be interesting to see how they’d react. They’d probably just view it as a name – I know two of them do.

    Thanks for doing this as NOTD !

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  6. Dawson definitely makes me think of Dawson’s Creek. I can’t really picture it as a first name. Its a bit too surnamey for my liking.

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