What's In a Name?

[kris31280]

So what constitutes a name as being "normal" anyway?? Popularity? Spelling? With all the "Vote for My Kid" threads, a few times now it's come up where people are slamming a kid's name which is why I'm wondering. And I wonder why anyone would do that? I mean, obviously, the parents liked that name!!

When I was pregnant with my daughter and told my mother what we were planning to name her, she got this look of disgust on her face "Bianca??" I was mortified that she would've said that to me and today I get more compliments on her name. . . . But I'm sure someone here won't like it (and that's okay). But then, that was coming from a woman who mis-spelled Jennifer (to me, any other spelling is wrong - and mine is mis-spelled!)

Bianca makes me think of rich old white women smoking cigarettes with holders.

My son is Rowan, after my favorite character in an Anne Rice novel, and because it means "Little Red Haired One" in Irish. Since I knew I was having a red head, it fit.

 

[Sonsie]

Both my kids have names they shouldn't have to spell out for everyone they meet the rest of their lives. What is funny is I ran across this article after my youngest was born and named. They both are very high up on the list of "whitest" girl and boy names.

 

[godsbutterfly]

Bianca makes me think of rich old white women smoking cigarettes with holders.

My son is Rowan, after my favorite character in an Anne Rice novel, and because it means "Little Red Haired One" in Irish. Since I knew I was having a red head, it fit.

You might have gotten a "surprise" on the baby's hair color! You never know when genetics will throw in a twist or a throwback from somewhere. My first husband and I are both blond and all 3 of our children are blond but now one of my grandchildren is a strawberry blond throwing back to my ex-husband's father who was a red-head even though my son married another blond.

 

[molly_21]

Names really do make a difference | Science | The Observer

This is a good article and I think very true, esp this paragraph:

"He also showed how harmful giving your child a 'chav' or lower-status name can be. In a study of 55,000 children, the exam marks of those with 'lower-status' names - often spelled in an unusual way or including punctuation - were on average 3 to 5 percentage points lower than siblings with more traditional names. One of the reasons was that teachers had lower expectations of them."

I could not find the article, but it backs up this statement that is highlighted. I have noticed this even before this subject came up.

Plus, maybe I am old fashioned, but I prefer names like Cathrine, Rachel, or Sarah over trendy names for the reason that they are nice names when the kid is 5 or when they are 45 or 80.

Who wants a grandma named Tiffany anyway...... (sorry for anyone named Tiffany). Grandmas are suppose to have grandma names like Rose or Sarah or Grandpa's named Bob or Steve not Riley or Dylan (which alot of girls are named that now) or Grandmas with odd spellings like Khrystina (which does not look too professional, which alot of people do not think about when naming their kids).

 

[ocean733]

My first name is "Nanci". I usually go by Rae (middle name is Rachel), but my mom didn't misspell Nancy, she just liked that better.

I kinda prefer it with an "i"

 

[ocean733]

My last name? I guess you can't help that.

But my father was a boxer in his day. He said that his last name helped him train his boxing ability.

 

[Sonsie]

My first name is "Nanci". I usually go by Rae (middle name is Rachel), but my mom didn't misspell Nancy, she just liked that better.

I kinda prefer it with an "i"

That reminds me of this lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ocean733]

That reminds me of this lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sonsie]

 

[ocean733]

\
I'd give you green, but I can't.

 

[godsbutterfly]

When I got married the first time I was "Mrs. Beasley" and yes I do have blonde hair and glasses and yes the whole blasted world must have seen "Family Affair" and asked me about that stupid doll!

 

[kris31280]

You might have gotten a "surprise" on the baby's hair color! You never know when genetics will throw in a twist or a throwback from somewhere. My first husband and I are both blond and all 3 of our children are blond but now one of my grandchildren is a strawberry blond throwing back to my ex-husband's father who was a red-head even though my son married another blond.

Rowan's father is a red head.
I'm a red head (strawberry blonde, officially)
It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to have anything but a red head. Red hair is a recessive gene, and the only way it can be expressed is when two recessive genes are present...

My mom has black hair, my dad had black hair... they both have red heads in their family... they had a 1 in 4 chance of having a red head. It kind of looks like this:
Br Br
BB rr

Because Kevin and I both have red hair, all we could make are:
rr rr
rr rr

 

[BS Gal]

All I can say is I'm glad I got to name the kid. Phlegm was just gonna lead to bad times for him.

 

[Dymphna]

Both my kids have names they shouldn't have to spell out for everyone they meet the rest of their lives. What is funny is I ran across this article after my youngest was born and named. They both are very high up on the list of "whitest" girl and boy names.

Some of those "black" girl names mean "black" in some form, like Ebony and Raven...I know a little girl named Raven who has blond hair and blue eyes.

 

[Dymphna]

It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to have anything but a red head. Red hair is a recessive gene, and the only way it can be expressed is when two recessive genes are present...

Don't count on that... My green eyed mother is the daughter of two blue eyed people. What's recessive and what's not is not a fixed rule, despite what I (and probably you) were taught in school. More recent studies have shown that it can vary with different ethnic groups...for example, Scandinavian people then to carry blonde/blue-eyed genes as dominant, even though in the overall population in the world blonde/blue is recessive. And red-headed Celtic people can sometimes carry that gene as dominant.

 

[RareBreed]

I learned early on in my 1st pregnancy to never discuss name options with anyone because the ones you'll like the most, everyone else will tell you it's stupid or they hate it. Personally, name your kid what you want but I do feel sorry for the teachers that will destroy it every first day of school until they graduate. Oh... and my two boys have last names for first names and the oldest's is spelled with an "or" at then end but everyone else spell it "er" (personally, I'd never seen it with 'er at the end) and my youngest, people think I named him after a large fish because when you say his name fast, it sounds similar.

 

[kris31280]

Don't count on that... My green eyed mother is the daughter of two blue eyed people. What's recessive and what's not is not a fixed rule, despite what I (and probably you) were taught in school. More recent studies have shown that it can vary with different ethnic groups...for example, Scandinavian people then to carry blonde/blue-eyed genes as dominant, even though in the overall population in the world blonde/blue is recessive. And red-headed Celtic people can sometimes carry that gene as dominant.

Well, my son is a red head, so it worked for me that time.

I'm not with his father any more, so I don't need to worry about the potential of having another red head... although I joke that, since natural red heads make up approximately 5% of the population (according to this week's People magazine), I've done my part in keeping the red head population alive and thriving.

Truth be told, my son has strawberry blonde hair like I do, and not the coppery red his father has. It's one of a million little things my mini-me has that I do, but he got his father's hazel eyes instead of my blue eyes.

 

[Mojo]

Rowan's father is a red head.
I'm a red head (strawberry blonde, officially)
It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to have anything but a red head. Red hair is a recessive gene, and the only way it can be expressed is when two recessive genes are present...

My mom has black hair, my dad had black hair... they both have red heads in their family... they had a 1 in 4 chance of having a red head. It kind of looks like this:
Br Br
BB rr

Because Kevin and I both have red hair, all we could make are:
rr rr
rr rr

Is this who you named your son after

 

[kris31280]

Is this who you named your son after

My son was named Rowan for the following reasons:
#1 My best friend/ex-boyfriend/soulmate was my birth coach. He used to use the name "Rowan" while working in a call center because he liked it better than his own name. To honor him and his willingness to be there for me, I named my child after him.
#2 My favorite literary character is Rowan Mayfair.
#3 The rowan tree is known as a spiritual tree in Celtic traditions. Many Irish homes keep a branch from a rowan tree over their doorway to ward off "the evil eye".
#4 I grew up on Rowan Ave.
#5 Rowan means "Little Red Haired One" in Irish

 

[Dymphna]

Why are you justifying the name of your child to a total stranger?