What happened to normal conventional names?

[VelvetLace]

An acquaintance who is due slightly after me has just announced on Facebook that she will be naming her baby girl Charm. I originally thought it was short for something else but no. It's just the word Charm. I'm not saying that everyone should name their baby something incredibly dull, but why have full-blown dog names become so common for human beings? Has naming babies just become a creativity contest? I see a lot of conventional names being asked about and considered on MN, but I'm seeing the opposite with people that I know offline. DH and I were discussing this last night.

Mmmmm, well it's definitely not a name I would choose!! I'll be honest it reminds me of a name a woman would pick within the adult entertainment industry, back in the 80s/90's!! 😬

Bless that poor child. I'm not sure why every name must be so cutesy and infantile now. This is as bad as that 'influencer' couple that named their son Koazy because he was cosy in the womb. 🙄

What counts as a 'normal, conventional name' is pretty subjective to class, ethnicity, generation etc.

I mean, I'd prefer Charm to George, by some way.

What’s happened to normal conventional names? The vast majority of people are giving them to their children!

Because people have different tastes? You can convince yourself your a better person, smarter, classier, more loving parent, wiser to the ways of the world etc than your friends, sorry acquaintance, I'm sure your friends all pick names you approve of, but you aren't. Most people genuinely just pick a name they love.

There have always been less usual names - people probably have a wider pool of inspiration now from internet.
i wouldn’t chose that name personally, but I do wish I’d given my children slightly more unusual names.
I went to school with a Barbie and a Lancelot….

It's bad form to post judgemental views in such an identifiable way!

I don't think there's anything wrong with a few unusual names. As every year, the majority of kids have common names and a minority have less common names.

Charm is no problem IMO, if they were in my class it wouldn't register.

It’s worse when they do pick conventional names and then try to spell it in a unique way.

Most MNers always want to be contrary, OP. I've noticed this. If someone had started a thread saying that they loved the name Charm and wanted to use it, everyone on here would be saying how awful it is. Because you have started a thread criticising the name, everyone comes to defend it.

What did you think Charm might be short for, Charmander?

Not a lot wrong with Charm. Naming children for virtues or for your hopes and dreams for them is pretty common in some countries. There are more traditional ones we might be familiar with like Verity, Prudence or Joy and there are also those that are more associated with some black African cultures such as Blessing. Or you can go all Spanish and go for Purificación. I would much rather Charm than Purificación!

What are you naming your baby?

Charmain perhaps

Ooh I quite like it actually

There are far worse names than Charm

Don’t be silly. It’s clearly Charmeleon!

Charm will at least be a name everyone can spell, no lifetime of correcting it.

At one time the French had a list of approved names, I understand this ended because it excluded names from other heritages. Whilst it seems extreme I can understand the sentiment.

Unconventional spelling is not a loving thing to do to your child.

I'm watching America's Sweethearts on Netflix and there is a definite trend for the use of random nouns as names.

There are all these beautiful women with names like Stick, Painter and Soldier (not quite, but ykwim).

It seems to be crossing the pond.

So many people on mumsnet have a real issue with anyone naming their children something out of the norm.

Let’s face it, everything in life is really just made up. There’s nothing particularly admiral about naming a baby the same name as a whole bunch of other people.

Even if baby naming was a creativity contest, so what? Is that less than someone naming a baby after the dad and having two Johns living under the same roof.

Some people need to just lighten up imo.

Why is it any more loving to name your child a super common name?

Every child is given a name, none are more loving or superior to the rest.

Your post seems ironic from what seems a Welsh user name.

I prefer names like Charm to ones that are conventional names spelt creatively.

But regardless, most of the kids in my DCs school etc have conventional names. There’s more kids with unusual names than when I was in school, but the unusual names are still in a minority.

Also re. dog names, most of the dogs I know these days have names more commonly used for humans.

They got boring and there are millions of people with the same names. I mean there were 3 girls with the same first and surname as me in my area growing up 😂

Charm isn’t that weird when you consider most normal names are also just words. Sophie means wisdom, Hannah means favour, Olivia means olive tree… then you’ve got the virtue names like Grace, Hope, Charity, Faith, Mercy, Prudence.

Up to her what she calls her baby. Charm sounds like a stripper name!

Charmian? Charmaine?

In certain cultures, virtue names are quite popular so you’ll get Joy, Hope, Mercy, Patience etc, and I once met a Destiny. I guess Charm just added to this list.

It leaves plenty of scope for matching siblings, Up, Down and Strange.