[infertilitynovice]

I've realized lately how many of us on here were "blessed" with the hyper common name, "Melissa". It got me thinking about my experience growing up with such a popular/common name. Personally, I did not like it much. For me, it was almost like a piece of my sense of individuality was gone b/c I was always lumped into the group of "Melissas". I also grew up with a bunch of Jennifers, Michelles, and Sara(h)s. I wonder if you have a common/popular name are you more sensitive about naming your baby a popular name? Are you more or less inclined to use a name that is on the list of top 10 of popular names? Or is it more important to you that you like it than whether it is popular or not?

I'm asking this because there is a uber popular boy's name right now that I absolutely love, love, love, but I just can't bring myself to use it b/c I don't want my son to have the same experience I had of having to shorten my name or use both my first and last name in grade school so that the teacher can distinguish between me and the rest of the "Melissa Mass". I guess it might be regional too. My BFF said that she never knew a Melissa until me, so I guess your experience can depend on where you live too.

I guess on the other end, if you have an unusual name are more or less inclined to also name your child an uncommon name? Why or why not? Growing up with the name Sunshine probably comes with its own issues too (I am not intending to hurt anyone's feelings if you are named Sunshine...it just popped in my head)

I'm just curious.

[kblythe]

I live in the deep south, where we tend to recycle names quite a bit. I am Kathryn, as is my grandmother, aunt, and cousin, and lot of other girls! And when I have my child, I'm going with traditional family names, too. For me, the important thing is that a name have some meaning. That way, I will always like the name. Whereas, if I went with something really unusual or trendy, I might outgrow the name later on.

But I don't think that means names have to be boring. We use a lot of surnames as first names in the south. If I had been pregnant with a girl, her name would have been Blythe, which was my grandmother's maiden name. I'm having a boy, though, and his name will be Davis, which is also a family surname and the middle name of my dad, brother, and nephew!

Good luck!

(Just another) Kathryn.

[CatIz1]

Hi Melissa,

I too am Melissa - growing up oddly enough I did not have alot of other Melissa's in my class. It has been within the last few years that I have noticed more ladies named Melissa.

DH and I love the name Aiden for a boy but it seems to be one of the most popular names for boys now a days. I have decided that if it's a boy I will not use the name. I don't want my child to have a very common name but wouldn't also give them something that is too unusual.

Good luck.
Another Melissa

[eggy]

My name falls somewhere in the middle (Marisa). When I was a kid, I wanted a name that was readily available on personalized things (it usually showed up as Marissa in stores). As an adult, I'm glad I have a name that not everyone has; if anything, I wish it were either a little more unusual than it is or more old-fashioned. When it comes to naming my own kids, I want to pick a name that is more classic than trendy -- which is to say, names like Madison or Jackson wouldn't work for us. But I also don't want to use a name that everyone else is using. For example, I've always loved the names Sophie, Olivia, and Jacob. But I don't want my kid to be Sophie #2 or Jacob #3 in her/his class. The name thing is definitely going to be tricky for us....

[sarah16]

I'm a teacher so it's hard to pick names without having bad memories come up. As a Sarah though, I was usually the only Sarah in my class actually. I have two good friends that are Sarahs' too.

[jencat215]

try being Jennifer in a class with 5 other Jennifers...to top that off, all of us were Jennifer Lyn or Lynn or Lynne!!!

[sarah16]

The year I had my daughter I had three Laurens in a class. Good thing I enjoyed having them in class.

[jencat215]

Sarah give us some examples of what NOT to name or kids...

[sarah16]

Actually my mom is a teacher too and she was going to name me Amy but she taught this girl who was named Amy who always had hickys on her neck and was called hicky Amy so she wouldn't name me that. The funny thing is a couple of years ago my mom had hicky Amy's son in her kindergarten class. How ironic is that????

[mittons]

I am a Becky...not a Rebecca...I hated growing up with a plain Jane name as that. I think there were 4 other Becky/Rebecca's in my class. With that being said I did not want a super common name for my child nor did I want a trendy name.

With a little research we came up with Makenna which in Celtic means gift of god.

Now going into stores and trying to find personalized items for her will be next to impossible but she also wont be linked in a class room with others sharing her name. I hope it makes her unique.

[infertilitynovice]

You guys have some interesting responses to the name thing. Sarah, I'm a teacher too, so there are a bunch of names I can't use now either. I love the name Joshua (Josh), but I had the most awful kid in my class last year that has just ruined the name for me. By the way, I've always been a big fan of the name "Sarah" I've got three very good friends with the name. JenCat ~ In 4th grade there were four of us with the name Melissa in my class. So, in order to avoid all of us looking everytime the name was said we settled on Mel, Missy, Lissa, and Melissa.

I agree with the rest of you here...try to find a name somewhere in the middle...not something totally off the wall like Storm (sorry not meaning to offend anyone) but also staying away from the "Melissa's" of the new millenium too.

[Inna]

Originally Posted by jencat215

try being Jennifer in a class with 5 other Jennifers...to top that off, all of us were Jennifer Lyn or Lynn or Lynne!!!

That must have been difficult! But it is funny story now.

I have a not commun name and I have liked it that way. For my boy I have used a name we both liked, Andrei Kristian (european) and also has our both middle initials.

[msnoonoo]

I thought this was a very interesting thread. I grew up with Noo Noo as a name and I hated it when I was going through elementary school. You can imagine the mean names little kids can come up with to rhyme with Noo Noo. I could never find anything that had my name on it. I always felt left out when the other kids in my class would come in with personalized items.

However, as an adult, I find that having a unique name could be used to my advantage. When I meet someone for the first time, I can guarantee they will always remember my name, which make me unforgettable and who doesn't want to be unforgettable.

I told dh that if/when we get pregnant, we will give our child a unique name, but nothing way out in left field. I am also a teacher and have run across a lot of strange names. You sometimes wonder what the parents were thinking when they named their child.

[Mom2MandyandTristan]

Jen I can relate I was in a class with 4 other Jessica's and of course I have no middle name and a common spanish last name (equal to smith or jones here) so I always hated my name. I choose my dd's name Miranda in an odd way. I was in college studing law and we were learning about Miranda rights. I loved the name and it stuck lol. She has my first name as a middle name. Tristan was chosen by hubby for his Irish roots and had hubby's first name as a middle name (Mathew).

[meremere]

I grew up with a different name, when I was adopted my birth name was "medrith" my parents had to say no, they gave me ( a 4 year old!) the choice of Amy or Meredith, well I chose Meredith! ( WHY!!!)
I then married a man with a stranger name then me, (Sacha) some of the comments we get are interesting, if we are signing up for things like phone when we moved the phone company said ( in Tx at the time) we do not allow domestic same sex partners to be listed in the phone book with the same last name! Hello he is all male. We get lots of mail for Ms. Sacha D....... and it makes him mad! So we picked Jason as our little one's name, used to be really popular, has slipped a little but still not as off as Meredith or Sacha(make it better his middle name is Pierre, a Russian, French named Brittish guy!) LOL