What happened to because I liked it???

I just ran across an article here that talks about parents choosing unusual names so their child stands out more.

What? Really?

Because I thought for sure, we choose names we loved for our little munchkins.  At least that’s what we did.  I took into consideration that we live in a rural area so to speak, and here most use the top 20 names only.  If it was below #50 we didn’t use it, especially if all the local hospitals had it listed in newest births.  The year Bailey was born, had 6 baby girls born with the name we had chosen if he had been a she, within 5 months.  Sadly though, Bailey was a very popular girls name at the time, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that.  It was the closest we could get to my father’s name, Billy, that ‘we’ could agree on.  By we, I mean Bo, that man is TERRIBLE at coming up with names.  The average graduating class here is in the low 30’s, that’s too many kiddos with the same name.  Because he came out with Mr. Winky he was spared being one of 7 girls with the same name, however he will be one of 7 or so people with the same name, and more than likely the only boy.  I also wanted a family name somewhere.  But that was it, we never thought “Hmm what name can we give this baby to make them stand out in a crowd”.  That, to me, is ridiculous.  Before you kill me, hear me out.

Your child is going to stand out no matter what.  HOW?  Because they are your child, unique in every way, there will never be and never was a child like yours.  EVER. NEVER.  How unique is that? 

Giving your child some wonky name to make people say “Hmm” will more than likely not make them stand out in the way you want.  They will be teased even more than the average child.  They will have to explain their name over and over again.  And many, end up changing their name because its just too much.  Is that the ‘stand out’ you really wanted?

With that said, just because I don’t agree with it doesn’t mean I’m right and all those that do are wrong.  I’m not a rhyming kind of girl, I don’t like the same letter for every child either. But there are those that do, good for you for sticking to what you like even if the rest of us think you need help.  But hey if it helps, everyone hated the names we chose, and still have issues with pronouncing them. 

Both of my children have names that are unisex.  Totally not on purpose, it just happened that way.  I have a process I do when looking up names, I check to see how popular, I check them in our area and then I check for the meaning.  Not because it has to have a meaning but because I would hate to give my child a name with the meaning of fart smeller.  Now Bo, wow, that man is all “It’s too modern.  It’s too old fashioned.  It’s too long.  It’s too short.  It’s too orange”, that its more fun being in labor than deciding on a name with that man.  Bailey’s name, I’ve had picked since I was 15, it was sheer coincidence it was similar to my daddy’s name. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was that this name I’d had for so long was automatically loved by Bo.  We went through tons of names and kept coming back to this one, because I was not going to have the first boy born into my family not named after my father.  I admit, although I love his name as much as I did when I chose it all those years ago, I do wish he had my daddy’s actual name.  But, my family is sorta known for this, my gg-great grandfather’s name was William, Daddy’s name is Billy and now we have Bailey, so it fits.  Jocelyn is a name I’ve loved since I was a teenager, after reading a book having that name in it.  It sounds royal, and magical, and I love it.  It took until we decided on baby number two for Bo to FINALLY agree to it.  He had so many hates for this name it wasn’t funny but I kept bringing it up hoping one day he’d see it my way….and he did. 

Why did you choose the names you did for your munchkins?  And are you still getting flak from family and friends who don’t like them?