What assumptions do people make about the name(s) you gave your child(ren)? [Archive]

kijip

07-08-2009, 11:21 PM

So, people are always asking me about F's name. His full name is Phineas.

No, I did not name him after some tv show named Phineas and Ferb (?). I don't have a TV that would even let me see what that show is.

No, I did not name him after a painting of a rather bigoted/bitter headmaster in the Harry Potter books. Though, kudos to ya for catching that in the books, LOL.

No, I am not particularly interested in obscure (or even popular!) Greek mythology and history. I have about as much (little) knowledge of Greek history and mythology as any other high school and college graduate, though on reflection I think I have not studied anything close on the subject, besides a couple of opera librettos, since 11th grade AP literature.

So what references do people (correctly or incorrectly) draw from your child's name(s)?

hellokitty

07-08-2009, 11:27 PM

They think we are religious. Both names for our boys happen to be biblical names. However, we are NOT religious. DS1's name, my DH insisted on it, I wasn't crazy about the name, b/c it's very popular, but my DH would not budge, so we went with it. DS2's name is the name of a character from a movie that my DH and I love, and the name JUST happened to be a bibilical one. DS3's name is going to throw ppl for a loop, b/c it is just a totally different style of name. Not to mention, DS1 and DS2 have names that start with the same first letter. Not intentional at all, a total fluke, but ppl keep assuming that we will follow the same first letter and bilibical name pattern with DS3... no way! Although, my DH wanted to consider a name that fit those criteria, but I practically shot laser beams out of my eyes when he suggested it.

gatorsmom

07-08-2009, 11:33 PM

Two of my kids have old names (well, they did sound old until they started becoming popular again) so people just assume they were named after family members, which they all are.

A friend of mine has 4 kids and gave three of them names that she loved that just happened to all start with E. When the 4th baby came along she named her Kathryn after her grandmother. She says she is CONSTANTLY asked why the 4th one didn't get an "E" name. It drives her nuts.

Carrots

07-08-2009, 11:46 PM

DD's name is Ava and I assume everyone thinks I named her that because it is a "trendy" name. It is not the case at all, in fact, we almost didn't name her Ava because the name had become so trendy!

I have a very long and very Italian last name, so I wanted something short and sweet. Ava fit perfectly.

Happy 2B mommy

07-09-2009, 12:23 AM

No one made any assumptions about DD's name (well, one friend asked if she was named after the heroine in the "Outlander" books - which I love, so a fair question)

DS's name is getting a pretty strong negative reaction, especially from family- to the point where I'm starting to feel that maybe we made a mistake. MIL won't use the name and a friend told us he'll get beat up on the playground because everyone will assume he's "a sissy". Ummm, yeah, we proposely gave our son a name in hopes he'll get beat up. Sigh.

MontrealMum

07-09-2009, 12:30 AM

Many people assume we named DS after one of any number of rather popular, 30/40ish actors [I can think of three off the top of my head]. Um, no. DH and I share a Scottish heritage, and it's a Scottish name. It's also a family name. It's not my fault a bunch of British/Australian men are big in Hollywood right now!

elektra

07-09-2009, 12:34 AM

Some people assume we are Jewish (we aren't), based on DH's name, my name and DD's name. They also assume DD is a boy. One lady even asked me seriously, "are you sure you are not Jewish?"

stillplayswithbarbies

07-09-2009, 01:14 AM

people assume my older daughter is a boy, if they see the name without seeing her first. Like, she always gets Spiderman stickers at the dentist because that is what they bring based on the name.

I expected that when I gave her a boy's name.

I am guessing that people will assume that my younger daughter is adopted from China since we gave her a flower name. That seems to be very common. In fact I almost didn't name her this because of that assumption, but it's a variation of the meaning of her birth name, so that is why we chose it.

eidean

07-09-2009, 01:41 AM

DS's name is getting a pretty strong negative reaction, especially from family- to the point where I'm starting to feel that maybe we made a mistake. MIL won't use the name and a friend told us he'll get beat up on the playground because everyone will assume he's "a sissy". Ummm, yeah, we proposely gave our son a name in hopes he'll get beat up. Sigh.

An ex-coworker of mine had these issues before her son was born and wound up switching the name. This is part of why we chose not to reveal the names we picked for DS until he was born and we knew what gender he was. We didn't want any unsolicited feedback. :wink2: If you keep your choice, stick to your guns and don't let anybody address your son by their own made-up nickname. Good luck!

A lot of people think DS is a girl when they see his name (even the pediatrician had it wrong in their file for a while!)

deborah_r

07-09-2009, 03:52 AM

amldaley

07-09-2009, 05:41 AM

People think I made it up. No. It is the name of a 4th C. saint. It is actually a known name in other parts of the world and charts in the top 1000 in Australia. That explanation then leads to umpteen other random Q's.

People think I spelled it as it is to fit with the current trend of names ending in "yn". I didn't realize that was a trend until dd started daycare. ugh.
But that is how the name has been spelled for more than 1600 years.

People (upon hearing) think she is named for William Wallace's wife. Cool, wrong name, but cool.

People think the have misheard it and leave the "n" off the end.

The truth is, I met someone w/ the name when I was 19. I filed it in my head as a great name and came back to it 15 years later when naming dd.

AngelaS

07-09-2009, 06:58 AM

la mama

07-09-2009, 07:53 AM

My oldest is not named after Rocky's wife from the movie. She hears "Yo Adrienne" on a regular basis but has never seen the movie, nor have I. We just liked the name.

My youngest's name was inspired comic strip character. By the third girl, we looked for names any place we could. :) When I threw the name out while reading the comics, DH said, "I like that!" and that's how we found her name.

(Gosh, I feel so redneck.... ROTFL)

Same here. DD's uncles are the ones saying "Yo Adrienne" which right now is kind of cute actually since they're the only ones actually saying it while I'm pretty sure every other guy we meet is at least thinking it.

BabyMine

07-09-2009, 08:01 AM

It all the depends on the age of the person asking. The older generation tends to give me a weird look and then are speechless. My generation doesn't find it strange. This is going to sound stupid but we wanted names that were not popular but if we went into a store we could find cups with their names on it.

AngelaS

07-09-2009, 08:03 AM

I didn't know you had an Adrienne too! :) We only know a couple. :)

g-mama

07-09-2009, 08:09 AM

People assume my oldest ds is Italian b/c his name is Paolo. Completely understandable, it is an Italian name. But he's 1/2 Filipino and the name is used frequently in the Philippines and we wanted something that went well with our Italian-sounding (but also Filipino) last name. People tell me he will have to be either a movie star or a famous athlete b/c his name has that 'feel' to it.

lizajane

07-09-2009, 08:30 AM

I always think of A Separate Peace when I hear the name Phineas.

:yeahthat: (and in a good way.)

SnuggleBuggles

07-09-2009, 08:30 AM

Their names are both very traditional and not unique so I haven't gotten any comments at all. Except some people comment on how they are nice names.

Beth

kayte

07-09-2009, 08:31 AM

I always think of A Separate Peace when I hear the name Phineas.

Me too! I even had the same thought when I read Harry Potter.

lizajane

07-09-2009, 08:32 AM

i get "why did you spell it that way?"

because that is the way it is spelled.

schuyler is a dutch name. it goes back several generations in my family and i was NOT going to alter the spelling of a family name so that i could use an "easier" made up version of it.

skyler and skylar and made up spellings. schuyler is THE spelling.

Melaine

07-09-2009, 08:37 AM

We also get old-school Hollywood references. People seem to think that we wouldn't have been exposed to the names were it not for a very popular actress and a very popular film from the 40s. These are people from my grandmother's generation usually so I guess that's why.

mecawa

07-09-2009, 08:49 AM

They always assume that we are Irish and that their names are family names. They're correct about both :)

KpbS

07-09-2009, 08:51 AM

People assume we named them after their grandfathers or great grandfathers. We didn't. They were just two boy names we could both agree on LOL.

Their paternal grandparents won't/don't call them by their nicknames--we gave them their names for the nicknames, as in "this is Rob"--yes his given name is Robert but we only call him Rob or Robbie (not actually DS's name).

NN317

07-09-2009, 09:19 AM

The few that have commented make mention of the fact that the names seem more appropriate for the early 1900's. We chose names that are not trendy for a reason, and seem to have succeeded.

lmintzer

07-09-2009, 09:20 AM

People sometimes ask of if Jack is short for Jackson or John. Nope--he's just Jack. We weren't trying to be trendy with his name--his first name is in honor of two great-grandfathers, both of whom were called Jack.

With Joshua, the only assumption people make is that we call him Josh. We almost never call him Josh. Joshie, yes, but not Josh. I am sticking with Joshua as long as I can, lol. : )

caleymama

07-09-2009, 09:23 AM

People think I made it up. No.
.snip.
People think I spelled it as it is to fit with the current trend of names ending in "yn".
.snip.
People think the have misheard it and leave the "n" off the end.

Yes to all of the above for DD2's name. We wanted a semi-family name and DH and I have great-grandmothers with the same first name (a VERY popular girls name today) so we chose to use that name as a starting point. DD2's name is a variant of that name, but is itself a Welsh name that is not made up! It's actually typically a male name and is also a place name in Wales. The only real problem day to day is that people mis-hear and think it's a similar, popular girl name w/o the "n" at the end. DD2 is happy to correct them. :p

Jen841

07-09-2009, 10:04 AM

Jude... yes it is a song, we know. We like the song, but don't love it by any means. We are not offended by people singing the song, we just are not die hard Beatles Fans. We are younger than the generation that loved the Beatles. The song is nice, Jude has a care provider with the most beautiful voice that sang him Hey Jude as a lullaby and it was priceless.

We like the name b/c we knew no one with it, but people know the name. It is biblical which is a plus (my Grandma read the book of Jude the night he was born starting at 1am!) It is a good strong name, and short (we have 8 letter names and wanted short.)

tnrnchick74

07-09-2009, 10:07 AM

My son's name is Parker...

I get asked all the time if he's a boy or girl (it's pretty obvious he's a boy...ALL boy!)

I also get asked if its a family name (1 person back multiple generations...so sort of, but no)

I also get asked if I'm English & that's why I chose the name...no, I just liked the name!

And then the kicker...what's his nickname?? HELLO??? PArker is about as short a name as you can get! I usually respond with "Parker" :tongue5:

HIU8

07-09-2009, 10:10 AM

People always get DS's name wrong. They use another name entirely or ask how to spell it and then look at me funny. It's not an odd name. It is an ethnic name and I live in a very ethnic area and know several children with the name.

DD's name is simple, but it is constantly being mispronounced. Also, people assume it's hebrew (it is but we changed the first letter). They will call her by the hebrew version (which is her hebrew name). I'm not bothered by it b/c I find myself pronouncing DD's name that way as well sometimes, but still...

Moneypenny

07-09-2009, 10:13 AM

DD's name is Avery. People have assumed we really liked office products.

I find that very weird.

Neatfreak

07-09-2009, 10:17 AM

DD's name is Avery. People have assumed we really liked office products.

I find that very weird.

I'd find that weird, too. Labels.

lizajane

07-09-2009, 10:37 AM

People sometimes ask of if Jack is short for Jackson or John. Nope--he's just Jack. We weren't trying to be trendy with his name--his first name is in honor of two great-grandfathers, both of whom were called Jack.

With Joshua, the only assumption people make is that we call him Josh. We almost never call him Josh. Joshie, yes, but not Josh. I am sticking with Joshua as long as I can, lol. : )

"JUST JACK!"

(insert jazz hands here.)

almostamom

07-09-2009, 10:41 AM

almostamom

07-09-2009, 10:44 AM

I'm often asked if DS was named after Christopher Reeve who passed away just before DS was born. Nope. Reeve was a name I read in a book years ago and loved.

Linda

AnnieW625

07-09-2009, 10:46 AM

We named Elisa (Eh lee sa) after DH's grandmother who only had one daughter, and no granddaughters. DH picked it and we both liked it. It really does fit her. Most people think it's Alyssa or Alicia, but I try not to let it bother me.

MartiesMom2B

07-09-2009, 10:52 AM

People assume that Martie's name is short for something like Martina. It's not - she's named after her grandfather. Much like Natalie Portman's character in Beautiful Girls, she's named after a grandfather that's she's never met. We never watched that movie until after she was born.

newg

07-09-2009, 11:04 AM

DD is named after me "Gwendolyn"...but we call her "Wendy"........DH's whole side of the family thought we were naming her after DH's grandpa who's name was William (Bill), but whom everyone called "Windy" (for talking to much...)........I wouldn't have minded except that he was not a nice man. He was very sick when [I]Wendy[I] was born, and I almost didn't want to name her after me for fear that people would think we were naming her after him....luckily MIL understood my fears and helped squelch that misconception very quickly..........it was torture sitting through his funeral (that sounds so horrible of me!) and having all of his friends commenting on my Wendy's name..the whole time pronouncing it "windy".....uuhhggg

pb&j

07-09-2009, 11:04 AM

That they are nicknames.

When I say my child's name is, for instance, "John," people automatically go "Oh, Jonathan!" Um, no. It's just John! While both my kids have what could be diminutive versions of longer names, they are actually names in their own right. I just find it strange that so many people automatically, without asking, think that their names are short for something else, and then actually start calling them that something else!!

infomama

07-09-2009, 11:55 AM

deleted comment

Mermanaid

07-09-2009, 12:11 PM

For DD (Mallory), they assume I liked Family Ties. Now why would I name my child after a supposedly-ditzy character on a TV show? The smart lead ... well, I'd consider that. But not the one that is portrayed as a half-wit.

For DS (Truett), many just cannot fathom where it came from. I heard it. Liked it. Thought it sounded cool with our last name. And, it has a tie into my college. I get very positive reactions to it though. Now if people will quit spelling it "Truitt" I will be happy.

Nechums

07-09-2009, 12:16 PM

While Benjamin is my son's legal name, he also has a Hebrew name that he goes by. It ends in the letter "a", so people sometimes think he's a girl (at this age, other than the color of clothing that they're wearing, it's hard to tell). I feel a bit bad about it, because there are a lot of Hebrew boy names that end in "a" and I never thought about the ramifications of it, until now. But then again, my husband's name ends in "a" and he made it to VP at a bank, so I guess there's hope.

vludmilla

07-09-2009, 12:19 PM

People assume that we are Greek because DD's name is Anastasia. We are not Greek and DH in particular looks very Anglo-German so it seems pretty silly to me. I sometimes mention to those people that Anastasia is also a common Russian name which of course leads them to assume we are Russian. Kind of annoying. It's like they think, who would ever use that name if it weren't an ethnic/cultural thing? Sheesh.

smilequeen

07-09-2009, 12:32 PM

People assume I named my first son after American Idol. Um, not so much...

Otherwise, I don't typically get any assumptions. Most people comment on how cool they are for brother names and I agree ;)

NOLAmom08

07-09-2009, 12:38 PM

We named my DS after his grandfather, but call him by his middle name. So when filling out applications or such I fill out his full name, then get funny looks when I refer to DS by middle name.

JBaxter

07-09-2009, 12:44 PM

People assume we use Nate as a nick name for Nathan. NOPE... if you call him Nate he has NO clue who you are talking about LOL
Its Nathan

When I named Logan 17yrs ago everyone asked me if it was a family name... Nope he was named for wolverine on xmen LOL

I got the same thing 14yrs ago when I named Connor .. He was named because of an old movie called Highlander

nov04

07-09-2009, 12:49 PM

dd2 has an Italian name although we're not Italian. And seem really confused because we don't look Italian. I tell them we just loved the name.

brittone2

07-09-2009, 12:52 PM

We named my DS after his grandfather, but call him by his middle name. So when filling out applications or such I fill out his full name, then get funny looks when I refer to DS by middle name.

Yeah, this is us. DS's first name is shared w/ DH. DH did not want a "jr" and did not want any initial combo as a name (like no J.D. or C.J. etc....). So DS goes by his middle name. It is only annoying when doctors, dentists, etc. ask for his name, but we write the name he goes by in quotes, etc. next to it (or sometimes they have a spot on their forms where they ask what DC likes to be called). But then they just call him by his first name anyway and wonder why he doesn't answer LOL. At age 5 he gets it now though and will respond to his official first name or his middle name.

It doesn't bother me enough that I would change the way we handled it, however. I like his name when written as his first initial followed by his full middle and last name.

plusbellelavie

07-09-2009, 01:21 PM

My DS#1 is named Drake....everyone assumes his names comes from Sir Francais Drake....it doesn't we actually named him Drake because it means Dragon and he was borned in 2000 the year of the Dragaon in China and in the 90s I was very involved with Chinese and China.

With DD we had gotten so much grief with our son name from the French side of the family who just could not say it so we picked something simple but sweet. We named her Zoe...but only because I like that it meant Life.

Well along comes baby number 3....we decided to let the older kids be involve in the naming of the baby....in the end Hudson Boden was born....people in France where we live assume we called him Hudson because of the pilot who landed in the Hudson River but our son was born in December a couple of weeks before the landing (it happens to be our daughters middle name since my DH wanted it for a first name for her but I found it to masculine we are still getting grief for using it as his first name from DH side of the family who don't think it is 'right'...maybe that is why I did it to irk everyone :D).

In France not too many people know about Boden clothes but here in the States we got an earful about the name...my DH just says we should of called him Boden Anderson since that is where all our $$ goes too ...but our DC picked the name because they LOVE their clothes as much as I do and they thought the name was cool and different for the baby.

I just wanted to find names that was unique, easy to say, and couldn't be shorten because in the States people have a way of shortening or giving nicknames even if you don't want them too. But I love that in the States we find such unique and beautiful names that comes from many religions, cultures, books, places, languages...I think it is so awesome and I have enjoyed reading the post and seeing such cool names people have chosen for their kids!

codex57

07-09-2009, 01:28 PM

They think we named DS for biblical reasons when we didn't.

DD's name is gonna be pretty unique, especially for our nationality so I expect we'll get a ton of questions for her name. Both first and middle are kind of ethnic but we're definitely not that ethnicity or speak that language.

swrc00

07-09-2009, 01:35 PM

DD's name is Avery. People have assumed we really liked office products.

I find that very weird.

Seriously! I am a teacher and have quite a few Averys come through my room and have never thought about the office product company. People never cease to amaze me with their comments.

GaPeach_in_Ca

07-09-2009, 01:49 PM

DD's name is Avery. People have assumed we really liked office products.

I find that very weird.

That is really hysterical. People can't really assume you named your daugter after office supplies, can they? :ROTFLMAO:

We haven't really had any assumptions. The only one I can really think of is people saying we must be StarWars fans because my oldest's name is Lucas. Actually, my DH has never even seen 1 StarWars movie.

LexyLou

07-09-2009, 02:07 PM

The only assumption we have is that we spell DD2 with a ph instead of an f. Her name is Sofia. People also think we made up the f spelling. Um, it's the original spanish/italian spelling of the name. Hello Princess Sofia of Spain! We have a very spanish last name so the ph spelling just looked funny to us.

We know she'll forever have to say, "Sofia with an F"...poor girl.

Oh, and now that I think about it. DD1 is Gabriella, but we call her Ella for short. I used to introduce her as Gabriella but people would automatically call her Gabby-which is EXACTLY what we are trying to avoid. So now I just introduce her as Ella. Some people don't even know her full name is Gabriella anymore.

Why do people automatically shorten names? Why not ask if we call her Gabby. She doesn't even respond to Gabby. She has no clue who "gabby" is!

Moneypenny

07-09-2009, 02:09 PM

That is really hysterical. People can't really assume you named your daugter after office supplies, can they? :ROTFLMAO:

I guess they do really think that, and it's been more than one person. Typical conversation:

Me: Her name is Avery.
Them: Oh, like the labels?
Me: Well, yes, I suppose. It's spelled the same at any rate.
Them (looking concerned): So, you really like the labels that well???
Me: *blink*

TonFirst

07-09-2009, 04:06 PM

People sometimes ask of if Jack is short for Jackson or John. Nope--he's just Jack. We weren't trying to be trendy with his name--his first name is in honor of two great-grandfathers, both of whom were called Jack.

This reminds me - we were in a music class a year or so ago with a family with two sons - John and Jack. I was like, "Wha...?"

We are a strictly-family-names family. Our last name is Polish, and although we're Catholic, people frequently assume we are Jewish because we share our last name with a very famous Jewish WW2 hero. Our son's first name comes from the Polish side of the family and is about as Old Testament as you can get. Our daughter's name is Sylvia, and while it comes from a non-Polish branch of the family, it is apparently *very* common in Poland, and in Latin cultures (spelled) Silvia, but we use a French nickname (Sylvie). We're just a multi-culti bunch over here ; )

pinay

07-09-2009, 04:06 PM

We gave our daughter a Hawaiian name that is pretty uncommon- people keep thinking it's "Kiley" or even pronounce it as "Kyle". Her nickname, however is Ellie, so everyone thinks her full name is actually Eleanor. Poor kid's gonna have a lot of explaining to do when she starts school!

spanannie

07-09-2009, 05:12 PM

No one's ever made any assumptions about my kids' names. Good thing, since their names were chosen for no other reason than we liked them!

smiles33

07-09-2009, 05:14 PM

The only comment I've heard is, "Wow, you like really girly names." DDs' names are Jocelyn and Talia. I didn't think they were that girly but I guess at least one person out there does....

daniele_ut

07-09-2009, 05:22 PM

When I named Logan 17yrs ago everyone asked me if it was a family name... Nope he was named for wolverine on xmen LOL

We had lots of people ask us if our Logan was named after Wolverine because the X-Men movies were popular when he was born, but he's named after a place that is very special to dh and me.

mom2binsd

07-09-2009, 05:23 PM

"JUST JACK!"

(insert jazz hands here.)

Love it!!!

With DD whose name is Maddie, people ask if it's Madeline or Madison, nope - JUST MADDIE, (but no jazz hands!!!). We chose Maddie because I hate that my name is Elizabeth which I never use except for official paperwork and when a nurse calls out my name I just keep reading the magazine in the waiting room. Unfortunately there are never any cups or toothbrushes with Maddie on them!

TwinFoxes

07-09-2009, 05:23 PM

OK, I thought that assuming someone named their daughter after office supplies (Avery) was crazy, but thinking someone named their son after Sir Francis Drake???? That is just odd! Where do people come up with these?

People think we either named our daughter after an athlete, or that we made up the name. Neither is true. It is the name of an athlete, but also the name of a (I thought) well known former child star. Plus it's the name of a bunch of other people! But people think it's pretty. The other twin, doesn't get a lot of comments on her name, but people think the two names sound good together.

kijip

07-09-2009, 05:58 PM

I guess they do really think that, and it's been more than one person. Typical conversation:

Me: Her name is Avery.
Them: Oh, like the labels?
Me: Well, yes, I suppose. It's spelled the same at any rate.
Them (looking concerned): So, you really like the labels that well???
Me: *blink*
:hysterical: We used Avery as a middle name because it is my brother's name. While I do really like the labels and insist on using the name brand ones because the generics seem to feed just off enough to waste me half a box or so... I like my brother with the name a touch more than the labels, LOL.

mom2binsd

07-09-2009, 06:03 PM

We had lots of people ask us if our Logan was named after Wolverine because the X-Men movies were popular when he was born, but he's named after a place that is very special to dh and me.

Our Logan was born in West Jordan UT, but we like that there was a Logan in Utah where he was born and Logan nearby our new home- AND we both loved Det. Logan on Law&Order (just kidding, well sort of).

merianne16

07-09-2009, 06:06 PM

We named DS Lincoln after Abraham Lincoln. People always assume he was named after President Lincoln and they're right! People also assume we named him that because we live near DC but we didn't. It is cool that the Lincoln Memorial is nearby though!

noodle

07-09-2009, 07:41 PM

People who don't like my daughter's ("old"-sounding) name ask if it is a family name. I always say, "It is now."

Granted, they seem to be in the minority. When we were last at the ped. dentist, the hygienist told my daughter, "I love your name!" And my daughter (not quite 4 at the time) replied, "Everybody does."

wellyes

07-09-2009, 08:36 PM

We named DS Lincoln after Abraham Lincoln

Awesome!! That was our boy name.

When I named Logan 17yrs ago everyone asked me if it was a family name... Nope he was named for wolverine on xmen LOL

I wanted to name my daughter Kitty after Kitty Pryde but DH felt strongly that Kitty is a stripper name. Obviously he didn't read enough X-Men growing up.

DD is Darcy. I thought people would assume it's after the Jane Austen character, but no one has ever mentioned that, at least out loud.... maybe because the character is a boy and she is not. I do know some people don't like her name. Unless "Well. That's different." is now a compliment LOL.