People Are Sharing The Baby Names They Tried To Talk Friends And Relatives Out Of
We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the baby names they tried to talk someone out of. Here are some of the most memorable stories (and a few baby names you might want to avoid yourself):
1."I had a friend who thought the name Harry was adorable. Their last name was Cox, which is bad as it is, but they wanted to name their kid Harry Cox. It didn't occur to them how bad that name sounded when you said it. When the kid turned 18, the first thing he did was legally change his first name to his middle name (which was Luke), and when he got married he took his wife's last name."
2."I got a lot of flack when pregnant with my son because I chose the name Chancellor. I thought it was unique and loved it. Everyone kept saying it was such a big name for a baby which irked me. Kids grow. Now he's 6’2” and grew into it."
3."Every few months, my church does a celebration service where they announce all the newborn babies. One of the names was Charlotte Amazing Grace Neil. I understand giving your child a biblical name but the 'Amazing' seems too much."
4."Someone I knew was trying to stop their family member from naming their kid Rudolf."
5."My cousin wanted to name her baby girl Rosacea. Yes, like the skin condition. She thought it sounded pretty and could be a play on the name Rose. We all talked her out of it. My Dad won by telling her, 'Please don't jinx your baby with that name.' Out of fear of accidentally pre-diagnosing her baby with rosacea, she opted for Rosa."
6."A friend named her daughter Flor, which is very pretty and means flower in Spanish. But most people in the US will say, 'Floor?' and have no clue about the meaning behind the name."
7."Brooklyn or Harper as options for their firstborn boy and girl. Do you have any ideas that didn't come from Posh Spice!?"
8."Lulabelle Lois Ann. They changed it one month after the birth."
9."My niece wanted to name her daughter Myracle'honesty. I sent her texts for six months with hundreds of other names. I was not successful. She is now 14."
10."My next-door neighbor's mom is a maternity nurse. There was a young girl who wanted to name her daughter Latrina. And once she was told what a latrine was, she went in a different direction."
—Anonymous, Ohio
11."My friends named their son Colin Oliver Campbell, or as his initials spell COC."
12."My ex-stepmom talked about naming her potential offspring Diamanda (pronounced dee-uh-mawn-duh) for a girl and Sebastian for a boy. I was a kid so I said, 'Don't name your baby after a crab.' Thankfully, she never ended up having kids with my dad because she was an awful woman in addition to having poor taste in names."
13."Not me, but my parents. My aunt wanted to name her son Owen. However, my grandmother whose first language is not English always mispronounced it as 'Oven,' like a kitchen appliance! My parents and grandfather tried to convince my aunt that he would be called 'Oven' his whole life and to pick a different name. It didn't work. Owen will graduate from high school next year, and my grandmother did eventually learn how to pronounce his name."
14."Kayleighlee. That exact spelling, pronounced Kay-lay-lee. My sister was so attached to it, but I could not live with the idea of having to write birthday cards to 'Kayleighlee' for the rest of my life!"
—Sarah, Idaho
15."I know a girl whose last name is Cash, and her dad wanted to name her Penny. Luckily for her, mom vetoed it so she wouldn't get bullied."
16."I successfully talked my sister out of naming her son Benjamin. It's a great name, but she can't pronounce it correctly and says 'Ben-German.' Don't name your kid something you can't pronounce!"
—Anonymous
17."My brother's friend and his wife wanted to name their son Green, the friend’s childhood nickname. When they announced the name, my brother tried to talk them out of it. He said that no one would ever take such a name seriously and the kid would always be asked what their real name was. He ended his text chain by saying that they'd be better off naming the kid Arson. My brother says this is a reference to a baseball meme. They ended up ditching the idea of naming the kid Green. When they announced their son's birth we discovered they had named him Arson."
18."Senna. It's the brand name of a very commonly used over-the-counter laxative. My friend likes the name because it means flower or some kind of flower in his native language, so the name stayed."
—Anonymous
19."I had a pregnant coworker proudly tell me that she was going to name her daughter Claire. I asked what her middle name would be and she replied, 'Annette.' I gasped and said, 'You can't name her that!' Puzzled, she asked me why, and I answered, 'Her name will be CLARINET!' Her response was, 'Oh goodness! I didn't think of that!' How the heck did she not think of that?! They ended up naming the baby Olivia Annette. Thank god she listened to me."
Which baby name(s) would you add to this list? Share your suggestions in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.