Parenting poll: Did you hate your name when you were a kid?

From the Community…

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  Posted by Valerie Thu May 14, 2009 1:40pm PDT

  Of course I hated my name, Valerie, and like you, I begged my mother to please, change my name to Diana. Naturally, I'm sure my mother thought I was nuts. Then she explained to me, how different my name was, and not all that common, and the only person she knew with the name Valerie, was beautiful. So I thought, well, when I get old enough, I'll change it myself. Never did. You know, I've met more people with my birthdate, than I have with my name.

  As I was having my children, I did want names that were uncommon, but did'nt follow through, out of all three of my kids, only one has expressed his dislike of his name, Bryan, and should have named him Keith, go figure. WOW, this just took me back to my childhood. Thanks, Valerie

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  Posted by Apple Thu May 14, 2009 2:42pm PDT

  Of course, I had never heard of another Leigh Ann (my first name is Jennifer and I wanted to be Jenny). I didn't even like my last name and because my favorite color was/is green I went around signing my school papers with the last name of Green. My oldest daughter is Douglas: can you imagine how many people are like "A girl named Douglas?" She tells me she is going to start going by her first name, Audrey. I think most of us don't like our name at some point but I think it's fitting for now. But here I am on Shine as Apple: I always wanted an alias.

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  Posted by FallingSpider Thu May 14, 2009 3:59pm PDT

  Heh, I still have issues with my name. There are so few people with the name Ginger, and it's iconic enough that very few people can resist the urge to comments related to gilligan's island, mary ann, or any number of other things. Every so often I go through a phase of changing my name, or just going by my middle name Annette but I never quite do it.

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  Posted by another hockey fan Thu May 14, 2009 4:43pm PDT

  Yeah, I still hate my name (I'm choosing not to reveal it) and what's worse is my mother picked Ann for my middle name. Could you have been any less original mother? ;-) I loved two different names when I was growing up the first was Daisy (now that makes me ill) and then Brandi (which I still like). The names I would have given my children (if I'd decided to have any tee, hee) are Reilly Hendrix for my son and Daltrey Sage for my daughter. Unique to me, without being off the wall.

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  Posted by mel Thu May 14, 2009 11:09pm PDT

  no i have always liked my name. i was named after my great grand mother melissa who from what i hear ws an amazingly wonderful, compassionate woman.

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  Posted by mel Thu May 14, 2009 11:10pm PDT

  there was once a time when douglas was a womans name befor it was a mans name. i think it is lovely!

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  Posted by TheGoddess Fri May 15, 2009 5:31am PDT

  I have always hated my name. My mom was reading a book when she was pregnant with me & it mentioned the Shannon River in Ireland....so, she stuck me with that name. The worst part of it is, there WERE other Shannons that went to my school, but they were all BOYS!!!! I didn't even have the option to go by my middle name because what kid wants to be called Marie??

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  Posted by Cyn Fri May 15, 2009 5:49am PDT

  When I was younger I hated my name because I never, ever heard anyone with the name Cynthia and you couldn't find it on any of those pencils or pens with kid's names on them. Now that I'm older, I actually love my name because it is unique and different. Plus, who wouldn't want a name that was also the name of a goddess.

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  Posted by Alexandria78 Fri May 15, 2009 6:02am PDT

  My name is not American origin and I was born in America. The thing I didn't like about my name was that no one could pronounce it, not even family members. My parents actually didn't know how to pronounce it correctly either and I grew up with the incorrect pronunciation of my name until I was about 22 when I found out from an Imam. I finally began to love my name when I got into college, started going on dates and meeting people from other countries. My name is true to my nature and I still feel like I can grow into my name even more. My Dad made a good choice with my name and I finally can say that I love it because I'm not another common name, and it makes me stand out.

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  Posted by fools_and_sages Fri May 15, 2009 6:13am PDT

  My first name is one of the most common names for women born in the early 70s. You say my name in a crowd of 30-somethings and ten women turn their head. I still don't like my name because I feel it is unoriginal.

  At the same time, many of today's names are a little too original for my liking. If you're giving a kid a name that can't be pronounced easily even with a crash course through Hooked on Phonics, you're doing the child a disservice. If you're naming a child after a celebrity or a tv character with a unique name, you're really not being original because there will be others who do the same for the same reason.

  Unfortunate names also disturb me. And I'm talking about names that seem cute or catchy but are really cruel. For example, I went to school with an Adam Baum (and his family pronounced Baum as bomb) and I knew a girl named Candy Barr (NOT Candace) and a boy named Thomas Thomas.

  Also be careful about choosing great names for kids that have no real adult alternative. For example, many adult Mollys, Wendys, and Brandis I know feels like they were cursed with little girl names that make it more difficult to be taken seriously as adult professionals.

  Children tease one another unmercifully if they have weird names or funny names. And children grow up to be adults who have to carry their given name for a long portion of their lives, if not their entire lives-- so think before you choose a name. I am not saying that all kids should be named Mary, Sue, Emma, Jacob, John, or Michael. I'm just saying that you might want to think twice before you get too creative or too cute because a name affects the person who has it.

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