s/o for fun - how do you like YOUR first name?

[LostSurprise]

I hate mine.

 

I don't know what my mother was thinking. She named me after a stupid, insipid song. And, she delighted in playing it and pointing out that it was her inspiration. Ugh!  Oh, and you don't know how many times I had to watch that stupid movie when I was growing up. Every time it was on late night tv, I had to stay up and watch with her. Double ugh! (Probably should be triple ugh because there were at least two stupid movies - evil Debbie Reynolds spawn!

 

Ha! 

 

Did you have random teachers and other adults sing it to you out of the blue? "Taaaaammmmmy...Tammmmmeeeey, Tammmmy's in looooooove..."

 

:lol:

 

Sorry to laugh at your pain, your pain is my pain, only I guess I found it funnier than you did. Crazy adults. There were like 5 of those movies so if you've only seen 2 count yourself a little luckier. 

 

Oh, and if you're near 40 there were always 2-4 Tammy/Tammi/Tammie/Tami's in every class, so you ended up being Tammy LastInitial no matter what.

 

I wonder who our modern equivalent is to Debbie Reynalds' girl-next-door attractions? 

[unsinkable]

I hate mine.

 

I don't know what my mother was thinking. She named me after a stupid, insipid song. And, she delighted in playing it and pointing out that it was her inspiration. Ugh! Oh, and you don't know how many times I had to watch that stupid movie when I was growing up. Every time it was on late night tv, I had to stay up and watch with her. Double ugh! (Probably should be triple ugh because there were at least two stupid movies - evil Debbie Reynolds spawn!

I like the name Tammi or Tammy!

 

When I think of stupid insipid song names, I think Windy.

 

 

Who's peekin' out from under a stairway

Calling a name that's lighter than air

Who's bending down to give me a rainbow

Everyone knows it's Windy

 

Who's tripping down the streets of the city

Smilin' at everybody she sees

Who's reachin' out to capture a moment

Everyone knows it's Windy

 

And Windy has stormy eyes

That flash at the sound of lies

And Windy has wings to fly

Above the clouds

(Above the clouds)

Above the clouds

(Above the clouds)

[happypamama]

I like my first name just fine.  I share an initial with my father (and his mother).  It's a very common Biblical name with two common spellings; mine has the slightly less common spelling.  The only thing I decided was that I was not going to give my children the less common spellings of any of their names, since people do misspell mine fairly often.  For instance, I love the name Elisabeth, with the "s," but I'd never use it because I wouldn't want people to misspell it all the time.  (Not that it mattered; we only ever had one little girl, and her name is easy to spell.)  My sister has a common name but an uncommon spelling, and people never get it right.  (Fwiw, DH also has a fairly common Biblical name, and his and mine are both of Hebrew origin.  Of our children, all have classic names, and only DD's is not directly Biblical, although it's a nice Latin name.  Of the boys, three of their names are of Hebrew origin, one of Greek.)

 

Now, my middle name.  My middle name is beautiful.  I love it!  My dad chose it, and since he has no middle name himself, when I was a kid, I felt sorry for him and "gave" him my middle name.  I refused to drop my middle name when I got married because I like it so much.  DD got my grandmother's middle name for her middle name, but if we had ever had a second daughter, I was absolutely insisting upon using my middle name for her middle name.

[lynn]

I prefer my middle name.  For my age group my first  name is not uncommon but is not very common  I  have heard one child have my name recently.

[lynn]

DP

[lynn]

triple post

[lynn]

well good golly, #4 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Lynn, you must really really really really prefer your middle name!

[DawnM]

She does.  I have heard her say it more than once.

 

 

Lynn, you must really really really really prefer your middle name!

 

[Upward Journey]

I love my first name.  It's an old fashioned name and  was very uncommon when I was growing up.  I didn't meet someone with my same name until I was in college!  However, there's been a bit of a resurgence, and I've met quite a few little girls with my same name.  It's feels weird.

[GSOchristie]

Meh, that's how I feel.  I went to school with a LOT of Christie/Christy/Kristie/Kristy's, I graduate with four Christie Lynne's in my class of 369.  In my facebook feed I have at least five Christie's commenting on most of my posts, I have 21 fb friends with some variation of the name Christie  :lol: .  

 

I named two of my kids more unusual names, Asher and Piper, but Jackson was the number one name the year he was born.

[peachskittles]

I want to change my first name badly.  It was a source of teasing when I was young.  As I've gotten older, people shorten it, which makes it seem so childish.  My mother should have just named me Butterfly like she wanted to do.  I actually had a Christmas card mailed to me with the name I have considered using, and I loved that my SO's 2nd (or is she the 3rd?) mom did it.  Of course, people would roll their eyes at the name, but I really do hate my current name.

[Jenny in Florida]

I was a Jennifer at birth, and I spent the first 30+ years of my life telling people I preferred to be called Jenny. I never felt connected to "Jennifer," and I resented it every time I was forced to claim it for official purposes.

 

I kept my maiden name when I got married and then, six or seven years later, changed my mind and wanted to take my husband's last name. Since, at that point, making the change required filing the legal papers, I figured I might as well go all in. I am no legally Jenny, rather than Jennifer, and I got rid of the middle name I never liked, either.

 

Absolutely one of the best things I've ever done for myself. I hated dragging around those names that never did feel like "me."

[DawnM]

I don't mind it.  

 

I like my middle name because it is Chinese and named after my Grandmother.  My father and grandmother were both born and raised in China.  

[GSOchristie]

Asher's name is pretty unusual, though we do hear it on occasion.  Today at the Natural Science Center they were playing with two little boys, one said "Asher grab the wheel!"  So Asher tried to take the wheel.  The little boy looked offended and said, "No, I want Asher to have the wheel."  Asher looked confused and said, "I AM Asher!"  The little boy said, "Oh, he's Asher," pointing to his brother.  My Asher looked at him and said, "No, I'm Asher."  He was totally confused by sharing his name (and the wheel) :).

 

[mom2att]

I've gone by a nickname my whole life--Barbie.  Of course it's kind of a bubble-head name, or Barbie doll, or whatever, and I'm not any of those things, but I'm definitely not my given name either, which is Barbara.  I don't see me growing into that name--I'll be an 80-year-old Barbie.  I'm okay with it.

 

And then I named my daughter a name that we immediately shortened to a nickname, thinking she would have the option to use the longer form when she was older (like I did--ha!).  Of course she hates her given name and goes only by her nickname.  I imagine she probably always will. 

 

My boys have more unusual names, no nicknames.

[Peaceful Isle]

My name is Lindsay. It's ok. Kinda boring. My girls will never complain about having a boring name. They were all named for book, comic, movie , tv show characters. So they have visuals for whom they were named after.

 

Thirty years from now they'll probably be complaint about their unusual names. They like them now though!

You spell yours, like I spell mine. :) Most people spell it with an ey, instead of ay. Do you get that too?

 

 

I kinda like my first name. My middle name, ....sheesh, it's King. Yes, King. Talk about being made fun of in school.

[Carrie12345]

Meh. It's not horrible, and it's not foo-foo, so I'm good with it.

My (married) last name drives me nuts b/c few people recognize the 'ei' as a long i and pronounce it with a long e which makes me cringe.

 

My goal was to give my kids not horrible, not foo-foo names. Most of them wound up fairly trendy sounding anyway. :confused1:

[Rhonda in TX]

No, I don't like my name. I never really have. My kids have normal, but not incredibly common, names. Everyone's heard of them, but you don't find many kids with their names.

[trulycrabby]

My parents blessed me with a lovely and short first name. :)

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

I've always love my first name. It's only somewhat unusual and I've only ever met two other people named Shawna in my life (lots of boys named Shawn though!) One if the Shawna's I know is actually my husband's aunt but her's  is spelled "Shannah" which is pretty cool I think. My great grandparents hated it because it was.......the wrong.... ethnicity....but I never cared. I like my middle name too. I always thought Shawna Renee sounded nice together. When I got married I dropped my last name and kept the middle. I even shared my middle name with my third daughter but for some reason we decided to spell it differently and now I can never remember what the correct spelling is!

[HS Mom in NC]

I was born in 1973 at the tail end of the Lisa fad.  In a history class in Jr. High we were seated alphabetically by last name.  I was #3 out of 4 Lisas in a row. There were plenty of others at every school I went to.  I would've much preferred my middle name, Collette, but as we never moved, I graduated from high school with people I went to kindergarten with, so making a name switch in childhood was impractical. 

 

My kids are named Faith (18) Mercy (16) and Hope (8.)

 

I tell parents to read the lists of the 10 most common names for the last 5-10 years and avoid like the plague picking any of them.

[Mergath]

I went to school with 27 Jennifers.... at least!

 

Mergath.... you look way too youthful to have this name. :)

 

I was born in the early eighties, so I caught the tail end of the craze. ;)  But thank you for the compliment!

[Tmhearn]

Oh dear, say it isn't so..... Taryn is my daughter's name and I love it.

 

Perhaps it doesn't fit you as well as it fits her. In that case I am sorry your tagged with it for life. My daughter is a strawberry haired Irish girl so it fits her well.

 

Wouldn't it be better if we just gave our kids a number or a rank until they reached an age where we could make a joint decision. I suspect we would have happier kids - with names of this generations famous icons.

 

 

I think the name isn't totally uncommon now. My dh actually worked with a lady who had children with the same names as dh and I. :-)

 

When I was growing up in the 80's, it was much less common. So, no one could pronounce it or spell it.

 

My mom did a double whammy by giving me the middle name "Maree", which is pronounced like the traditional "Marie", but clearly spelled incorrectly. ;-)

 

On another note, before I read this thread, I did not realize that I was supposed to give my kids middle names that they could substitute for first names later in life. They are totally screwed.

[GSOchristie]

We call Piper "Livvie" because her middle name is Olivia.  Almost everyone calls her Livvie.  I LOVED the name Piper forever, but when she was born she didn't look like a Piper.  Too bad, I had already had too much monogramming done :).  I pictured her looking like my 4 yo, dark curly hair, dark skin and black eyes.  She is blond and had blue eyes when she was born.  So I guess as she gets older she can call herself Piper or Olivia or Livvie, whatever fits her fancy.  

[Guest]

I like my name a lot now: Monica. When I was in 2nd grade, I constantly wrote a different name on my school papers, to the point that the teacher had to sit down and have a talk with my mom. I also remember a little "Stacey" nametag pin that I wore around school.

[Guest]

We call Piper "Livvie" because her middle name is Olivia.  Almost everyone calls her Livvie.  I LOVED the name Piper forever, but when she was born she didn't look like a Piper.  Too bad, I had already had too much monogramming done :).  I pictured her looking like my 4 yo, dark curly hair, dark skin and black eyes.  She is blond and had blue eyes when she was born.  So I guess as she gets older she can call herself Piper or Olivia or Livvie, whatever fits her fancy.  

 

I LOVE the name Piper. I wanted to have another baby just so I could name her Piper. (Hasn't happened, lol.) Love Livvie, too.

[Jenn121]

I am a Jennifer born in the early 70's. It is not the name itself I did not like as a kid. It was the lack of individuality in school that bothered me. In each class I would have no less than 3 and in third grade there were 6 of us in a 20 person class. We were military so it not the same Jennifers each year either.

 

I have run into all manner of spelling, Jenifer, Jennifer, Jeniffer, Genefere, Genifer, Gennifer, I could go on and on.

 

I have gone by Jenn (always with 2 n-not sure why) since college. Dorm manager I worked for called me that and wrote it like that and it stuck.

 

I DO NOT like being called Jenny.  Not that I mind anyone else being called Jenny is has always just rubbed me the wrong way when used for me.

[Julie Smith]

Anyone know why Jennifer was such a popular name?

[Chris in VA]

I like mine--Christine, but I obviously go by Chris. I never hear anyone else named the same--I had one bank teller recently tell me Chris was a man's name and he was suspicious of my driver's license...I was offended!

 

My son's name is a male version of mine, and my other son's is biblical, as is my dd's. Middles came from family.

 

It cracks me up to think of my husband's father's family. HIs grandfather was a Don, and his kids were Don, Dawn, David and Donna. Kind of the George Foreman Syndrome.

 

(and Dawn is NOT pronounced like Don--it's the AWWWW sound in Pennsylvania's accent! lol)

[GSOchristie]

I LOVE the name Piper. I wanted to have another baby just so I could name her Piper. (Hasn't happened, lol.) Love Livvie, too.

 

 Me, too, I pictured her like Piper on Charmed :).  DH says she has the same coloring as Piper Perabo and thinks she does look like a Piper.

[Guest]

I always loved my first name; i'm glad I'm named Danielle. I loved my maiden last name and took it for my middle name when I married. Growing up, I never liked my given middle name, because it was overly identified as a Grandma name. But now, it has come into fashion and I think it is rather pretty, but I don't " need" it anymore because I use my maiden name. (The name is Lillian).

 

Eta my name was rather rare growing up. I have sought names for my kids that were uncommon but not "weird". My youngest's name has become very popular, though.

[twoxcell]

I like my name it has a nice meaning and it was not common when I was growing up. In the last 10 year though it has become rather popular for baby girls. :) As far as my kids, my two oldest have old fashion always in the top 100 names. My 3rd has an old fashion uncommon name and my youngest has a popular modern name with an old spelling. ;)

[ladydusk]

(and Dawn is NOT pronounced like Don--it's the AWWWW sound in Pennsylvania's accent! lol)

 

Trust me, for 41 years it's sounded like Don. 

 

When I was in High School, I worked at a Sister's Chicken and Biscuits.  I had a manager named Don and an Assistant Manager named Ron.  It was very confusing all the time.

[Loowit]

My name is okay.  I like the spelling that my parents picked.  I never ran into anyone with my name until I was an adult.

 

My children all have fairly classical names, but not overly common.  My sister being a Jennifer, I wanted to avoid names that were too popular.  My youngest son's name is not common in the US and especially in our geographic area, but so far he really likes his name.  I tell him that if he ever goes to visit his relatives in Ireland he will fit right in.

[Carrie12345]

 

I tell parents to read the lists of the 10 most common names for the last 5-10 years and avoid like the plague picking any of them.

 

Except 10 years before he was born, my one son's name was #79.  The year he was born, it was #70.  And then it's shot up lik crazy every single year since.

Maybe it won't hit the top 10, but I suspect it's going to break the top 20, and it's REALLY going to annoy me, because I thought I finally broke my track record, lol!

[Wildcat]

I like my first name. As a child/teen, I was annoyed it couldn't be made into a nickname and it was difficult to find personalized stuff for a while. I managed to get all the way to 12th grade being the only one with 'my name' and suddenly found myself one of three in a class of 16. All three of us were flummoxed!

 

My dad used to call me Gwendalyn as a nickname.  I don't know why my parents didn't pick that name instead.  It's way more interesting than Wendy.  Well actually I can imagine why.  My mother was a terrible speller so she picked very short and easy to spell names for her 2 children.

 

I always liked the name Wendy. So much so, that as a kid I named my most favorite and precious baby doll "Wendy".

 

Meh, that's how I feel.  I went to school with a LOT of Christie/Christy/Kristie/Kristy's, I graduate with four Christie Lynne's in my class of 369.  In my facebook feed I have at least five Christie's commenting on most of my posts, I have 21 fb friends with some variation of the name Christie  :lol: .  

 

I named two of my kids more unusual names, Asher and Piper, but Jackson was the number one name the year he was born.

 

I remember a lot of Christie/Kirstie/Kirsten/etc, and at one time, I had two Christie/Kristy girls in a class at school and I worked with three others!

 

Anyone know why Jennifer was such a popular name?

 

Can you believe that as a mid-40 something, I have only ever personally known TWO Jennifers?
 

[meena]

I like my name, but I don't feel like it fits me that well. I've always felt that it's a girly/diva name and I'm more tomboyish. My husband and close friends often shorten it to Steph and that feels better. I like that it's not overly common or unusual. I appreciate that my first and middle names are derived from my parents' names but I wish they had been a little more original than that.

 

I couldn't wait to get rid of my maiden name. It's a common name that sounds kind of abrupt and harsh. I felt it was too plain to fit with my first name. I like my married name. It's ethnic so it's simultaneously unusual (to most Americans) and common (among the group from which it came) . It's pronounced two different ways depending on the language of the speaker, which I think is pretty cool.

 

We gave our sons Biblical names that are not the most common but not obscure either. We chose them because we liked the way they sounded but also because of their meanings. We gave our daughter an ethnic name with a special meaning. At times people say or spell it wrong. I know that frustrates her, but she ultimately she loves its meaning and uniqueness. If she chooses to change the spelling later in life to fit English phonetics, I would understand.

[kitten18]

My name is super boring, Amy.

My middle name has 3 letters and my maiden name had 4 letters. There were only 10 letters in my WHOLE name.

 

I gave my children classic, traditional names but they are names with OPTIONS. They can use their full names or a number of different nicknames.

[Cammie]

Love my name.  It is Camaron.  My parents changed the spelling from the traditional Cameron.  I have always felt it was sophisticated and distinctive.  For most of my life I went by Cammie but when I went to law school and started working I went to the full form.  On the other hand...hated my middle name.  It was a typical old lady name. I dropped it as soon as I got married and used my maiden name for a middle name ever since.

[KungFuPanda]

I like my name. It's one that most people can recognize, pronounce, and spell easily yet it's uncommon enough that I rarely meet anyone who has it. I never had anyone with the same name in any school I attended. It's been rather handy.

 

I didn't care for it as a child because I could never buy things with my name on them.

[PeacefulChaos]

Meh. It's not horrible, and it's not foo-foo, so I'm good with it.

My (married) last name drives me nuts b/c few people recognize the 'ei' as a long i and pronounce it with a long e which makes me cringe.

 

My goal was to give my kids not horrible, not foo-foo names. Most of them wound up fairly trendy sounding anyway. :confused1:

SAME HERE!!!

Do we have the same last name?  Lol jk.  :D

[Mommyof4ks]

I was named after a friend of my mom's daughter who died, and she was named after a Disney character, so it would not have been my first choice, but I have learned to be content with it. We did not name our kids after anything, but they do have different spellings, so they may be annoyed at some point too lol.

[Jen in NY]

Anyone know why Jennifer was such a popular name?

Not completely sure but I always heard that the craze was fueled by the novel/movie Love Story.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066011/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

 

From Wikipedia:

In the United States, the name Jennifer first entered the annual government-derived list of the 1000 most commonly used names for newborn baby girls in 1938, when it ranked at #987. Thereafter, the name steadily gained popularity, entering the top 100 most commonly given girls names in 1956, and breaking through into the top 10 in 1966.

 

It gained even more popularity in the 1970s—Jennifer was the single most popular name for newborn American girls every single year from 1970 to 1984, inclusive.[4] Though its popularity is often attributed to the use of the name in the novel and film Love Story, Jennifer was already the number three name given to baby girls in the United States in 1969, the year before the book and movie were released.

 

 

 

Spoiler Alert:

Uh, Jennifer *dies* in the movie!?

 

Tragic character = everyone wants to name their sweet baby girl after her. Never really understood that......

[ChemMommy]

Hate it!  It's dull, gets shortened, and very common for my age group in the south.

 

And it is just not "me".

[Lady Florida.]

It's okay. I didn't like it when I was a kid because it was so very, very common back then. I liked my full name even less than my nickname, but now I think Kathleen is beautiful. My nickname isn't common anymore, but my full name is becoming popular again. I've often wished I could re-introduce myself to everyone as Kathleen, but it's much too late for that now. Like it or not, I'll always be Kathy.

[lynn]

This thread reminds me of the time a friend's son came home from school and asked his mom why she had given him such a weird name.

 

....................

 

His name is Peter..............

 

:huh:

 

Anne

My ds asked if I made up his name....his name is Gregory which I love but of course he prefers  Greg.

[mytwomonkeys]

Eh. I don't dislike it. But I would not have picked it. It's Amy. And it's spelled super plain. When I was little, I never spelled it correctly (Aimee. Amie. Amey). In the 70's there was like fifty Amy's at my school too, which drove me nuts. To set myself apart, I signed EVERYTHING "Amy the Great". lol. I guess I had an ego in elementary school. I still sign cards to my parents that way, just for fun.

 

In middle school, I tried to change it to Elizabeth & I wouldn't talk to my friends if they didn't address me as such, lol. That didn't last long.

[Soror]

My name is fairly common, although I don't know a lot of people with the same name. I like it ok. I used to think it was boring but now it is just me. My kids have fairly traditional names, mostly somewhat common, although not super trendy. DD2 is fairly high up on the list- we didn't realize it at the time but we just couldn't figure out a name for her, it suits her well though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Ds's name is common in it's shortened form.  It is uncommon (other than on birth certificates) in it's long form.  He chose from a young age to keep it long.  If someone tries to shorten it, he simply says "I'm a purist." with a smile and asks them to use the long form.  

 

Dd's first name, which is only used by doctor's and government employees, is my mom's name and her mom's name and her mother's name before her.  We always planned to call her by her middle name, just as I go by mine.  Her middle name is unusual but because it is similar in theme to another more common name, she sometimes has people calling her by this other name.  She hates that but likes her (middle) name.  I don't think she really likes her first name but since we don't use it other than sometimes when she's in big big trouble, it isn't an issue.