These are the Daves I know I know

October 16, 2005 9:36 AM

Tell us your personal stories of a too-common-name or too-uncommon-name?

My wife and I want to know stories of problems with having a too common name (like a school class full of Davids) or problems with having an uncommon name. Thanks!

posted by Kickstart70 to Human Relations (99 answers total)

There's this college social networking site called Facebook. There's one girl who's been going through and adding all of the Dans she can find, because...actually, I'm not really sure why. I think her profile used to have an explanation, but it's gone now.

I can say, though, that in every one of my classes throughout all four years of high school, there was at least one other Dan in every one. (And my classes weren't large or anything -- usually 15-20 people, maxing out at 30.)

Also, my girlfriend's name is Halley, and she has to spend half of her life explaining to everyone that it's not pronounced Hailey, but Hal-ey, like the computer in 2001, and did you know that the comet and the man it's named for are pronounced that way too?

Chris Rock has a routine about a friend who wanted to name his son after an African river and chose Niger. Probably a bad idea. "You better name him Euphrates!"

Um...yeah. When I started writing there was a common thread to all of this, I promise...
posted by danb at 9:51 AM on October 16, 2005

I have a very common name, my S.O. has a very common Finnish name (very uncommon in the US).
He has a lot of trouble introducing himself & people can never remember his name (and ALWAYS mispronounce it). It gets mangled in more ways than you can possibly imagine (we always laugh at his postal mail). But it always starts conversations ("What kind of name is that? Where are you from?").
For me, people can always say it, spell it, and remember it when I introduce myself. It's great when putting my name on a waiting list (eg, at restaurants) or when giving personal information. However, in a crowd, people yell "my" all the time. And in school/large groups, they always "uniquify" my name to distinguish me from the others with my same first name.
Also, because my first AND last name are incredibly common, no one will EVER be able to google me (which I think is a plus).
posted by j at 10:01 AM on October 16, 2005

My parents named all three kids with single syllable names that couldn't be shortened because my dad was named Richard, went by Dick, and his mom called him Rich. Keep it simple.

I think the Baby Name Wizard appeared in the blue a while back. It's a great way to see how popular a name is and has been.
posted by Frank Grimes at 10:04 AM on October 16, 2005

My name (no, not Trevyn) is very uncommon. Sometimes I want to be "first names only" anonymous, but end up having to use a different first name to get that anonymous feeling.

It's kind of cool when somewhat says "oh, what a nice/unusual/pretty name". Easy ice-breaker.

I don't mind that some people pronounce it wrong or mistake it for a slightly different name, it's easy enough to set them straight.
posted by trevyn at 10:08 AM on October 16, 2005

My recollection of my first name--Natalie--growing up is that it wasn't very common. There was a Natalie in the class behind me in high school, but that was the only other one I ever knew. When I wanted to get cheap plastic crap with my name on it, I was never able to find anything until I was in college in the early 90's. Now there is a spate of cheap plastic crap with my name on it and there seem to be lots of little girls with my name--I hear it hollered at the mall a lot more than I used to.

My sister, on the other hand, has a common name but with an uncommon spelling--she's Caryn, which always looks to me like a completely different name than Karen for some reason.
posted by eilatan at 10:12 AM on October 16, 2005

I think the obvious story here is George Foreman, who has seven (?) sons, all called, George.
posted by TheRaven at 10:13 AM on October 16, 2005

My name (Jennifer) is so common that people rarely remember it. I dislike my name and don't identify with it to the point where I rarely look up or turn around if I hear it called in a crowd. In every class in school, I was one of many Jennifers, so I always ended up with some derivation of either Jennifer or my last name (which is an unusual name, but not the type that leads to attractive nicknames). I've thought about changing my name many times over, but the process just seems like a lot of work.
posted by Zosia Blue at 10:16 AM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: I have a fairly uncommon, uncommonly spelled name. I hate absolutely everything about it. I think it looks unprofessional, I cringe every time someone on the phone calls me Wendy or Linda or Lindsey, and I have worked with the same people for over a year now that still can't be bothered to spell or pronounce it correctly. If you're going to name your child something original, please please please take into consideration that a name that's cute for a two year old is probably not going to be so cute for a 30 year old adult. I also wish I'd been given a fairly generic middle name to fall back on, but I didn't get that either. I plan on changing the entire thing once my parents die and I don't have to feel guilty about it.
posted by makonan at 10:18 AM on October 16, 2005

I have a very common Swedish name, Lotta, but it's very uncommon in the US, of course. Like some others have said, there are drawbacks and benefits of both.

Drawback of a common name would be to always have something added to your name to distinguish you from others. In my case, I was pretty much always "Lill-Lotta", which means "young" or "small". I hated it...

The problem with a very uncommon name, like j said, is that nobody can ever remember it, and it gets mangled a lot. I get called Laura, Lotte, Lotto, Lara, and pretty much everything else you can think of that sounds the same. Conversely, it's always a great way to break the ice in a conversation, particularly when someone thinks that my name is Lotto....

I would say, though, that I prefer the uncommon name to the common one. It's annoying at times, but it is uniquely ME, instead of feeling like you are one in a crowd.
posted by gemmy at 10:19 AM on October 16, 2005

I was also denied the plastic crap love as a child, and wow did it annoy me. I'm a Hilary-with-one-L, so you can imagine what the prominence of Hillary Clinton has done for the spelling of my name.

There have never been many other Hilarys around, although I notice it's starting to appear on TV more (and it's always some rich, spoiled, shallow, stupid girl. THANKS, TV), so maybe it is becoming more popular.

My boyfriend has a very common name, and has...let's see...three casual friends now with the same name, and they all go by the same nickname. Very confusing at parties.
posted by hilatron at 10:24 AM on October 16, 2005

Freshman year at college -- dorm floor of approximately 25 girls and five of them were named Kate, including two in the same room.

Both of whom had their last names start with B.

That was my dorm room. Hurray!
posted by Katemonkey at 10:26 AM on October 16, 2005

I have common first and last names, and when I was in college there were at least two people with both the same first and last names as me. One of them I would always get their mail by mistake. And the other one was in most of my roommate's classes. It was a bit wierd, but really mostly we just joked about it.
posted by umrain at 10:27 AM on October 16, 2005

Like gemmy, I have a name that's fairly uncommon (but not bizarrely so) in the US, but much more common abroad. I didn't like it as a kid for a few years, but I do like it now and wouldn't want to have a more common name.

On the other hand, I also agree with j that non-googleability might be an asset.
posted by footnote at 10:28 AM on October 16, 2005

I have a lesser-used name (Hal), and I think it's partly to blame for me being bad at remembering other people's names. It's not that I don't care, but because my name is unique, (and not terribly hard to remember, as opposed to Xaoiyskiwerry or something), I've had situations all my life where it precedes me, and people I don't know, or have barely met, will greet me by name, and I won't know, or even know if I should know, theirs, and feel uncomfortable asking... Which can become very uncomfortable, and eventually unthinkable, the more times they say hi. In high school, I obviously couldn't know everyone's name, but most of them knew mine. I developed a bad habit of disregarding names unless I began interacting more frequently with people. Meet, nod, smile, forget. As if school weren't enough, I started tending bar, wearing a name-tag, and found that now hundreds of people knew my name... It's funny, when one bartender is talking to another, the description isn't "you know that blonde, Debbie, about 5'6" - instead, it's "blonde, drinks tall rum & diets.." I've known way too much about some people to not know their name, but would sound really stupid asking it after a year. Anyway, it's been a hard habit to break, and thankfully, I've learned some memory tricks. Now, when the uncomfortable "Hi Hal" situation arises, I generally just bite the bullet, apologize if I'd forgotten, get their name, and try to burn it into my mind.
posted by hypersloth at 10:28 AM on October 16, 2005

As a Matt Brown, I can safely say that I've had little, if any, problems with having a retardedly common name. The only one that I can think of is that on the rare occassion when I've tried to find evidence of my existence using Google, I've been sorely dissapointed.
posted by saladin at 10:28 AM on October 16, 2005

My name, Melanie, isn't super common (though there did seem to be a sort of surge in popularity for naming baby girls Melanie in the mid-70s). Growing up, I generally only knew one or two other girls with the same name during any given school year (and never in the same class as me). I don't consider Melanie a difficult name to remember, but I've been called Michelle, Maureen, Melissa, Melody and Melinda my entire life. Also, no one seems to know how to spell it, which is perplexing. Combined with a rather unusual (in most parts of the US, anyway) last name, it's gotten to the point where I'll answer to almost anything. As a kid, I wasn't keen on my first or last name, but as an adult, I'm really happy with both.
posted by mewithoutyou at 10:30 AM on October 16, 2005

I have an uncommon name that I hated growing up. I always got teased in school. If you're choosing an unusual name for your child, please make sure it doesn't rhyme with any obvious funny words like "fart" or "turd".

I still hate having to spell my name every time I talk on the phone, and often when I'm talking to people in person.
posted by pornucopia at 10:31 AM on October 16, 2005

My wife and I have relatively uncommon-enough names that they always get mangled by others. We always use an assumed name when putting our names on waiting lists at restaurants. We've been going by "Sam" for years, as it's a great unisex name that everyone knows how to spell and pronounce, and it's uncommon enough to not usually conflict with others.

I think the best compromise is to find an uncommon name that most people can actually figure out how to spell, or pronounce if they see it written.
posted by zsazsa at 10:31 AM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: My experience is similar to Eilatan's. My name (Bianca) was very unusual when I was growing up- I never met anyone with my name until I was 17 or 18. Lately lots of people have been telling me about someone they know naming their daughter "Bianca" so I guess it's picking up steam. I actually have mixed feelings about that- I feel kind of proprietary about my name, more than I imagine I would if my name were Jennifer or Heather or Lisa. When I was a kid, I wasn't so crazy about sticking out, but now I can't imagine having any other name. I think people who have common names that are uncommonly spelled have the worst deal- people think they know how to spell it, and constantly have to be corrected ("No, it's E-L-Y-N, not E-L-L-E-N").

I got my unusual name in large part because my mother's name is Carol, which was very common for her generation (out of a class of 40, there were 5 girl named Carol.) In addition, her birthday is December 25, so she is a "Christmas Carol" (groan.)
posted by ambrosia at 10:34 AM on October 16, 2005

I'm white, but most people with my read name are black. I've never thought of this as a problem, but people are sometimes thrown when they meet me in person, having previously only met me via the web. They expect to meet a black guy.

My name is also uncommon enough that, when I was a kid, I could never find pre-made, "personalized" items with my name on them. As an adult, I couldn't care less. But this used to upset me as a child. My friends and I would go into a gift shop, and they'd all be able to find mugs or t-shirts with their names on printed on them. I wouldn't.

My dad told me he purposefully chose a name for me that doesn't rhyme with anything (he goofed -- it does rhyme with one word, but only one). He was trying to shield me from playground taunts (Blob is a slob; Kelly is smelly, etc.) It didn't work. Kids still taunted me. They just called me dickhead or fag instead of rhyming.

My last name is a jumble of odd letter. No one knows how to pronounce it (even though if you take the time to sound it out, it's phonetic), so people generally avoid it. I'm happy with that. I'd rather be known by my first name.

There are TWO possible pronunciations of my last name: it's a german name, and you can use the german pronunciation -- or you can Americanize it. Different people in my family pronounce it different ways. Somehow, my brain never settled on one of these, so I go back and forth. This (understandably) confuses people. When person A asks me my last name, I randomly tell him the American version; I tell person B the german version (I don't do this on purpose -- my mind just flipflops). A and B meet, talk about me, and argue about my last name, both (rightly) claiming they heard the correct pronunciation from me.

Boy, I never thought about if before this question, but I am fucked up in the name department.
posted by grumblebee at 10:34 AM on October 16, 2005

like makonan, I have a very unusual name. it's awful, especially because I do PR professionally and have to call people on the phone all the time. It's particularly annoyingly close to some very common names as well, so I get all sorts of irritating mispronunciations. It's also not easy to shorten/give a nickname to... the most frequently used nickname I had for a while was Spike which isn't too useful for a professional woman. And, my middle name is an Indian boy's name, which isn't too useful either.

If you're considering giving your child an unusual name, please be careful. It can really be an onerous burden.
posted by miss tea at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2005

To add to my funny-name experience above: I often wonder how different I would be as a person if I had been given a normal name. I think that from a very early age I was made to feel that I was different and strange, largely because of my name.
posted by pornucopia at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2005

My grandfather had a very common surname. He also was the spitting image of a very tony movie star. (Correction- a very tony movie star was the spitting image of him.) When he made restaurant reservations under his own name in, say, NYC, there was much winking by the maitre d' and last minute reshuffling to get him a good table.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2005

My sister, on the other hand, has a common name but with an uncommon spelling

Uncommon spellings of common names are total pains in the ass. My name's Jonathon. Common enough name--hit its peak around when I was born in the early 80s. But most people spell it Jonathan. This means every time I receive anything that's been processed--mail, credit cards, election cards, passports, driver's licenses, plane tickets--my name's spelled incorrectly. At this point I don't even bother getting it fixed.

Since kickstart asked for examples of too common names in school, a cute little story...the only time I've met another Jonathon was in pre-school. We were in the same class, and we also shared the same middle name. So when our moms would yell at us, we'd never know who was in trouble: "Jonathon Brett, get over here *now*!"

On preview:
I also agree with j that non-googleability might be an asset.

Sure, it can be an asset...probably worth seeing who shows up in your place, though. I google my name and end up with pages and pages of links to articles about HBO-profiled "pick-up artist Jon Rubin."
posted by jbrjake at 10:38 AM on October 16, 2005

*oh yeah, I only ever found my name on one thing - a single coffee cup at Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. I bought that fucker, and then there were none.
posted by hypersloth at 10:41 AM on October 16, 2005

I like my name, I really feel like I've grown into it. It's common in Ireland, but I'm the only Eamon most of my acquaintances know. It gets mispronounced or misspelled, but you get used to that after a year or two in school.

I think my dad (he apparently thought it up when he was a kid) did a good job with my full name: Eamon Sean Caddigan.
posted by Eamon at 10:42 AM on October 16, 2005

I love the googability of my name. I'm a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears, starred in "Dirty Girl Gangbang 2" among other fine films, play clarinet in the English Royal Ballet Sinfonia, and am a gay former attorney general of Ontario, Canada.
posted by zsazsa at 10:43 AM on October 16, 2005

and one handy thing about having an unusual name- in the days before the do-not-call list, it immediately outed telemarketers:

"Hello?"
"Hello, may I please speak to ..."

(long pause)

"Bionica?"

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong number."

heh.
posted by ambrosia at 10:46 AM on October 16, 2005

I have a fairly common name, with an uncommon spelling. My username is my real name.

Actually, in an increasingly net oriented world, that's the advantage. Everywhere I go on the web and try to register a username, Jacquilynne is always available. On those exceedingly rare occasions when I *can't* get jacquilynne as my username, the most common scenario is that I've previously registered on that site and forgotten about it, so I just ask for a password reset, and presto, I'm in.

The disadvantage to the unusual spelling is that, uh, well, no one can spell it. I carefully spell my name to everyone, all the time, and still get stuff spelled in the most ridiculous ways imaginable. If they all spelled it Jacqueline, I could understand, but the Jacklyns and Jacklines and Jekllyns that I get are just truly bizarre. I think people just remember 'oh, she spells it differently' and then spell it in whatever different manner strikes them at the time.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:47 AM on October 16, 2005

To start with, here's an article on the pros and cons of unique names that you may find interesting.

Anecdotally? I got my name at the zenith of its popularity and so was Melissa R. throughout my school days, a practical but widget-like usage that caused me to hate my otherwise perfectly acceptable name. My husband, on the other hand, has a rare name (according to that handy graph Frank linked, it hasn't been popular since the turn of the century, which makes sense as it belonged to his grandfather). He has to put up with folks mispronouncing and misspelling it, but no one ever forgets it or mistakes him for someone else. When I first met him, his name was the first thing I noticed about him, and I liked it immediately. It helped that it was an attractive name (euphonious, solid and trustworthy in that Old Testament way, but not Josaphat or anything, w/apologies to any happy Josaphats or those who love them) and a real name, not simply an alternative spelling of a popular name. So my vote is for you and the missus to usher Unique-Special Snowflake Kickstart into the world, if that's why you are asking.
posted by melissa may at 10:47 AM on October 16, 2005

My name is Trey. Everytime someone says "Hey" in a crowd, I turn around
posted by trinarian at 10:49 AM on October 16, 2005

Richard Anderson: very common. Often asked about my work as McGyver and Oscar Goldman. Have people sometimes say "Mr. Anderson" in a "Mr. Smith" tone but I am rarely in tune with the reference. (Except when delivered by an actual Mr. Smith. Go figure.) Also quizzed often by the Immgration Service when entering the US. Seems there is a Richard Anderson who once lived in California who might be wanted for stuff or something. In the end, I like my common name but hate when people take liberties when changing Richard to their preferred short form. I do correct them if I expect to see them again. Still way down in the google charts and hope to someday have Richard Anderson make me a suit.
posted by Dick Paris at 10:50 AM on October 16, 2005

Nina (nine-uh). My folks told me that they wanted to give me an adult name because I would be an adult longer that I would be a kid. They also didn't want it to have a shorter nickname like Jenny is short for Jennifer. My name is uncommon and I usually have to tell people several time how to say it and for some strange reason it gets mispelled often. When I was in junior high I decided to go by my middle name but I just ended up hating it. I have only met a few other people that pronounce their name the same as me. I do hate it when people ask "why dont you pronounce it the other way?" Because it isn't. or " why would your parents pronounce it like that?" AAAggghhhh... I
It really isn't that hard. I just want to ask, "Why did your parents give you such a common name?"
posted by nimsey lou at 10:58 AM on October 16, 2005

My name is a slightly-differently spelled variation of a not that common name. However, that not-so-common name was used in a Disney movie, so people are familiar with it, and its most common form is another spelling entirely. What infuriates me is that people will always spell my name incorrectly, even (especially!) during email discource. I mean, I emailed you, I wrote my name after my email, it was there again in my signature, and they STILL SPELL IT INCORRECTLY!

My last name is a bit harder to spell, and it's fairly uncommon as well, although not in a weird-uncommon way. So I get lots of misspellings there as well.

The worst part, I think, is that when people google you, they'll find you. "Katie Smith" and "John Brown" can get there name online all they want, and still for all intents and purposes be anonymous.
posted by apple scruff at 10:59 AM on October 16, 2005

My first name is terribly common. My middle name is fairly common. It doesn't bother me as I'm pretty attached to my name, especially its shortened form, and only use the long form for business. However, the worst it ever got was in seventh grade math class. There were seven of us with the same first name (3 different spellings). Four of us either had the same middle name or a close variation (Marie/Maria). The poor teacher just took to calling all the kids by their last name for the year. Until college, I was always in classes with one or two other girls with the same first name.

My sister also has a very common name. She, unfortunately, was born during the time when Jennifer was all the rage. My sister was born overseas and Mom never saw the movie which triggered the trend here in the US so it was a bit of a shock when they returned and found lots of other Jennifers around. The odd thing is that people tend to call me by my sister's name even if they don't know I have a sister.

My brother's name is not too common. However, there was a kid down the street who had the same first name (different spelling) and same middle name. Both last names started with "Pur..." and their SSNs were only two digits different. They were friends for a time. The two boys were frequently misidentified, especially by the schools. So, my brother would take advantage of this. If he skipped school and the school called Mom, he'd frequently blame it on the kid down the street. It was believable so he got away with it.
posted by onhazier at 11:02 AM on October 16, 2005

I'm a male Ashley, which has caused gender-confusion hilarity my whole life. (I'm 43).
Just last month I was assigned to a female ward on admission to hospital.
posted by punilux at 11:02 AM on October 16, 2005

I have always felt that I really lucked out in the name department-thanks mom-my name is uncommon but familar: Lily. No one ever, ever mispronounces it, and if I hear it in a crowd, they're talking to me.
posted by slimslowslider at 11:06 AM on October 16, 2005

My name rocks. It's sufficiently unique that I've rarely had to share it in work or academic settings, but it's sufficiently common that it's unquestionably masculine (as opposed to, say, "Pat" or "Jesse"). And my last name seals the deal, because it gives me absolute anonymity online. If you Google my name, you'll find that I write for the Boston Globe, I'm a black sportscaster in Philadelphia, etc. There are at least seven high-profile musicians who share my name (if not its spelling). Yup...life is good.
posted by cribcage at 11:07 AM on October 16, 2005

My first and middle name are very common, I get called by my last name.
posted by I Foody at 11:08 AM on October 16, 2005

I've got a fairly rare name but not an unusual name. IE: I've only met in person one other person with my name however everyone knows how to spell and pronounce it. Unfortunately it is one of the go to names hollywood uses when they are naming a dorky, uncool, mensa member character.
posted by Mitheral at 11:08 AM on October 16, 2005

I have a "real" (as in found in books, roman in origin) uncommon first name. Sufficiently uncommon that, in nearly 50 years, I have never actually met another -- google tells me there are some of them out there though. It doesn't rhyme with anything scatological, and doesn't have any obvious/good truncations, though that doesn't stop people from trying sometimes.

I don't specially love the name, though I have become used to it and would never bother changing it. As for having to spell it, my wife has a much more common name, but she has just as much trouble as I do with misspellings and mispronunciations, so uniqueness doesn't necessarily make that problem better or worse.

The name's advantage and disadvantage is the same: it is distinctive, and tends to stick in people's minds. Great when you wish to be noticed and remembered, less good if you are trying to blend in.

In my experience, extremely uncommon doesn't mean too uncommon.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 11:13 AM on October 16, 2005

I like my unusual name. Once people learn it, they don't forget it. Little kids tend to call me May-omi or Wyoming but that's just too adorable to correct.

For baby naming, I think unusual is better than boring. You can always pick a more "normal" middle name to give the kid options. But please resist the replace-every-vowel-with-Y trend, because that's just wrong.
posted by naomi at 11:18 AM on October 16, 2005

gemmy: my name is Lotto!

Actually I'm a Charlotte by birth, Lottie by habit. In social situations where it's difficult to hear (pub, club etc) I've taken to introducing myself as Charlotte, because people rarely hear Lottie right for some reason. Other than that I don't have any problems with my name, apart from when people spell it Lotty. Lotte, Lotti etc I can tolerate. Lotty = no.
posted by Lotto at 11:18 AM on October 16, 2005

My first name is mis-pronounced very often in English. I bristle when that happens. My last name sounds greek - though I'm scandinavian.

I joined an online community about running in 1991, and posted messages with my personal email address (first name @ domain name.ca) Because my first name was similar to that of a notorious baseball player who played for the A's, some people assumed that I was a big black dude. It was funny to meet new people from the running community during annual conferences/meetups and see their reactions when they met me in person :)

Growing up - I have a very common for a girl of my 'home country'. I grewing up in French-speaking Quebec, and my name certainly isn't French - but it is pronounced correctly in that language. I went to a small school for girls, with very little turnover from class year to class year, so I don't remember any pauses or problems with teachers mis-pronouncing my name.

Same in my adult life - I've travelled far and wide, for business and for pleasure, so I don't recall any recoil from reading my name. My hosts expected a foreigner, and I certainly had a foreign sounding name.

My name is memorable - business contacts remember it, friends don't forget it. If I had kids, I would give them memorable, easy to pronounce names too.
posted by seawallrunner at 11:18 AM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: My name was very common 100 years ago (both in the US and the UK where I'm originally from) but hasn't been given to babies since the 1930's. That means that everyone knows the name, but doesn't actually know anyone with it, unless it's a great-aunt or their grandma's friend in the nursing home!

There are also two slightly better known names that sound a little like mine, one is a woman's name that seems to be the universal ugly/evil name on TV etc, the other is a man's name that is the generic name for a particular nationality and means that people always ask me if I am from there. Sometimes people call me by these names by mistake or for fun (which it isn't for me). The shortened version of my name is horrific, and I won't let anyone use it. It actually upsets me.

I've always felt like my name was very ugly and clumsy and awkward sounding, but I've never seriously considered changing it, it feels too much a part of me and I know my parents would be very upset; they'd see it as symbolic and they put a lot of thought in to it. I also feel lucky not to have received their second choice name (which is similar is associations, although better known and thought of in the US due to a celebrity) Oddly, in college I met a girl with that name who has my name as a middle name. My parents don't like middle names, but presumably if they'd given me one it would have been that name! She was also beautiful and popular, which made me feel better for a while!

The other funny thing is that my wife also has a first name which is strongly associated with the generation born before WWII, and our last name is too. I'm sure that when people see our names written down they expect a couple of 80 year-old ladies, but we're in our mid-twenties.

I don't want to give my name as I'm WAY too googleable already!
posted by crabintheocean at 11:27 AM on October 16, 2005

My experience is similar to Eilatan's. My name (Bianca) was very unusual when I was growing up- I never met anyone with my name until I was 17 or 18. Lately lots of people have been telling me about someone they know naming their daughter "Bianca" so I guess it's picking up steam.

It's not that bad. You get used to it. I am a Brandon and once it was rare. Fuckin' 90210, man.

Both of my freshman year college roommates were Daves. What happened then is the one with the simpler last name got referred to by his last name a lot, and the other one got away with just bein' Dave. Lucky for me the two didn't resemble each other in much of any way at all.
posted by furiousthought at 11:31 AM on October 16, 2005

My name (Charlie) is fairly common, but I sometimes have trouble pronouncing the "tch" phoneme. So I often will introduce myself, they repeat back "Carly?" or "Curly?", and I have to pause, swallow, and try again. It's not a real problem. Humility is good.
posted by Alt F4 at 11:32 AM on October 16, 2005

I'm an Emma, which is great - short, simple, everyone recognizes and spells it correctly but must have gone through a lean period in the 70s (at least in Ireland). I have never had any colleagues or classmates with my name. Aggravatingly however, I guess because of my accent, most Americans I talk to on the phone hear it as "Anna" or "Enna" which makes me instantly hate whoever I'm talking with.

Like Brandon and Bianca above, my name is suddenly all the rage with new parents . . . . when I introduce myself these days, invariably I hear back "oh, my sister/friend/colleague just called their new little girl Emma". I feel bad for them, it's good to know when I hear my name in a crowd it's me being addressed.

My other half has a quite unique (two consonant, unpronounceable on sight) name and regularly has people accuse him of it not actually being his name or just delete it entirely from various forms, which sucks. And my parents and siblings have traditional Irish names which are butchered when they visit, so assuming I remain an emigrant I'd never give my kids an Irish name, which is sad.

And I'll admit it, I secretly snigger and roll my eyes at all the wackily-spelled, or geography-inspired names I see kids around and about with. I may be a bad person, but I just can't see them as anything but daft.
posted by jamesonandwater at 11:48 AM on October 16, 2005

I've always loved my name. Molly fits me perfectly. When I was little it was really rare. Until I was 22 I only knew one other Molly. People always remember it, and no one ever messes it up. I get asked sometimes if it's with a "y" or an "ie", but that's it. I had the "Bort" problem when I was a kid -- could hardly ever find cheap stuff with my name on it, but that just made it that much more fun when I did. My name is a lot more popular now, but still unique enough that I don't hear it all the time.

The only problem I've ever had with it (as some of you may remember from one of the dog naming threads) is the number of people who find it necessary to tell me their dog is named Molly. I don't mind if you name your dog that. Just don't tell me and expect me to feel honored like you named your kid for me or something. :D
posted by MsMolly at 11:52 AM on October 16, 2005

This thread is nothing without the names! Everyone saying what their name rhymes with or how it's mispronounced or how stupid it looks on their business cards, but I keep clicking through to profiles and no payoff.

I have a nice middle-of-the-pack name (Donald). It's quite commonly known/recognized but has crashed in popularity since the thirties — except for a freak coincidence in which I worked at a summer camp with four Donalds on staff (all with Italian surnames, to boot), I've only met two other Donalds in person. Interestingly enough, I've found my name is quite memorable because people always tell me, "Of course I remember your name, it's the same as my father's/grandfather's."

When combined with my Italian surname, I'm the only one Google-able. I like it that way, but I maintain a fairly large internet presence.

A friend of mine is named Emilee and I think it's perfect for her. To distinguish between her and another friend, though, we sometimes have to refer to them as Loud Emilee and Quiet Emily. (Freshman year of college, when the two Kristins on the floor became Kristin and Drunk Kristin.) I had another friend named Kelli, which is unfortunate because she does not at all send out with-an-i vibes.

Oh, I didn't get Donald Duck very much at all when I was little, and not much rhymes with Donald.

I did, however, leave a notebook at a sandwich shop last week and, upon recovery, discovered someone had written a disparaging poem whose rhyme-scheme was based on a mispronounciation of my last name!
posted by rafter at 12:02 PM on October 16, 2005

My name, Nancy, is neither common nor uncommon in the US; I knew only two others as I was growing up. So, here, nothing all that interesting.

But, my Aussie boyfriend sometimes gets razzed by his family and friends for being a nancy-boy.
posted by naturesgreatestmiracle at 12:04 PM on October 16, 2005

My name, Joe, is obviously a very common name, but not in my generation. I always thought that was weird.
posted by mullacc at 12:22 PM on October 16, 2005

I have an unusual name, but one that most people recognize. As a child I hated it. It made me feel different and as a sixth grade girl, that's the last thing I wanted to be.

As an adult, I've grown to like it. I've never met anyone else with my name. People remember it, and so they usually remember me. It can get annoying to have the same first conversation with almost every person I meet ("You mean, like the poem?"), but it never hurts to have someone tell me that they like my name.

I also feel like my name has a part in shaping who I am. It's an unusual, artistic name. I've become and artist, and I think more than a couple of people I know would call me slightly eccentric. Maybe I would have turned out that way anyway, but I can't help thinking the name is part of it.
posted by sonnet at 12:23 PM on October 16, 2005

If a name is also a common noun--or similar to a common noun or phrase (Lotta)--it becomes even more common, and opens you up to jokes. Kids who end up with two common nouns in a row must have parents with a screw loose. Candy Rabbit may get married some day and lose the Rabbit, but she may end up with Cain.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:52 PM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: I have both an uncommon name and a common one. That is, my first name is unusual but when combined with my last name, it's the name of someone who was a famous author long before I was born. This has had side effects:

1. When I went to get my name as my domain name, it was available. Googling my first name and clicking "I'm feeling lucky" gets to my website. I love that.
2. I very rarely get emails from publishers asking for permission to use a photo of me, they are asking the wrong Jessamyn. When you click on my name in Amazon.com for the one book I edited, you get my one book and all her books. I hate that. Amazon calls this a "feature"
3. I get email from a lot of different people named Jessamyn who find my website and hadn't known anyone else with that name before. That is sort of neat.
4. My name can be hard to pronounce which can be weird in situations where I didn't want to attract attention [classrooms specifically, teachers would make a big deal out of it and I didn't like it]. Sometimes I don't correct people early enough and then when I do, after they find out they have been pronouncing it wrong for weeks/months/years, they get annoyed. [it has an sssss sound, not a jezamin sound]
5. I liked having a different name otherwise. I was sort of a different kid [back in school where this sort of thing seems to matter more] and it made sense to have a name like this.
6. My middle name is Charity and I pretty much hated it until college. Now it sort of fits.
posted by jessamyn at 1:18 PM on October 16, 2005

I would be remiss if I didn't validate danb's lament, and post in this thread. I didn't have a Dan in every class, but there were plenty of them around -- #19 in 1963 (wow, #7 today), but you'd think it was higher. I didn't and don't think it was so bad, but I'd pick a "second 10" name before I'd pick a "top ten" name for my kid.

It's weird -- I like most of the top ten boys' names but few of the top ten girls' names.

My closest friend has a girl's name that was #50 at birth but as of 2001 fell out of the top 1000 names. It was a popular hippie-era name -- a descriptive word from nature -- which is probably why, although it was a traditional name for a long time before that.

My niece is named Kayla, which was popularized in the 80s by the soap character and shot into the top 20. There are tons of Kaylas everywhere it seems. I would be especially leery of popular names which have the air of a fad about them (currently, Madison).

My overall philosophy for a long time has been: choose a longer, formal traditional name that has two or three nicknames. Elizabeth is a great one for girls. Even if it's technically common, there are different options and as she grows up she can try different nicknames depending on personality. I think it's important to have both a formal name and a nickname available -- I'm Dan to everyone I know, but I truly enjoy being Daniel in my autograph and on official documents.
posted by dhartung at 1:19 PM on October 16, 2005

There are probably about 25-30 Gyans in the US. It's monosyllabic, and pronounced like 'yarn' with a G (and without the 'r'). In native India, it's rare overall, but only uncommon in certain parts, especially the state of Punjab.
posted by Gyan at 1:28 PM on October 16, 2005

My name (Shannon) is more commonly a female name in the US, so I got a lot of shit for it in high school. Well, actually I never got anything but, "That's a girl's name!" I was able to tune it out pretty easily, but I still wanted to change it.

By adulthood, I realized that my full name (Shannon Ellery Hubbell) is incredibly unique and it interests people. Plus, I've been given some really fun nicknames... Shannahan, Shannanigans, Non-Shan-Non. Those and the inevitable Hubble Telescope jokes, even though the spelling is different.
posted by brundlefly at 1:43 PM on October 16, 2005

There are a lot of Amandas. For the majority of my existence, there have always been a lot of Amandas.

The good of my name: having a song (actually more than one) involve the name and cause well known pot smoking country singers to sing it to you.

The bad: Mandy. I hate the name Mandy. Hate.

(My last name is rather unusual, so I tend to have rather easy Google-ability. Both a blessing and a curse.)
posted by amandaudoff at 1:47 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm a Sarah; there've always been tons of Sarahs around. There were two others in my grade in elementary school (out of 30), tons in high school and college. It was the most popular name the year I was born (same thing is true for my older sister; mom said she thought she was being creative. Hmph.). I was the only one at my workplace for a year, and then there was (briefly) a plan to hire two other Sarahs (not intentionally) in the same week. I made a horrible horrible face.

What's funny about my situation is that since there were so many other Sarahs all my life, I basically never respond to my name. Every time it's called, it's for someone else, so eventually I just stopped looking up. The great part is that in elementary and high school, I had all the same teachers as my older sister, who went through four years ahead of me. So when they called for a Sarah, they meant someone else, but when they called my sister's name, they meant me. And there was never anyone with my sister's name in my class.

So now, I respond much more quickly to her name than to mine. So I tell people that when they want to get my attention, they should holler for my sister instead :)

My last name is German, and very uncommon. It's constantly mangled in both spelling and speech. I can't wait to change it.
posted by fuzzbean at 1:55 PM on October 16, 2005

My parents named me Christina because they wanted me to stick out from all the Kristins and Christines. (Funny, because Christina is #20 for the year that I was born, 20 spots ahead of the other two, even though there a bunch of Kristins in my class in high school.)

Of course, I get called Christine all the time. Even by people that I've known forever or in emails. And no one can pronounce my last name, either, which is a whole other kettle of fish.
posted by strikhedonia at 2:08 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm a Sarah. My name has been in the top twenty (often the top ten) for decades, but it isn't really a big deal. I was made to feel odd as a kid for plenty of reasons. Sometimes people don't understand when I tell them what my name is. Sometimes people spell it the bad way, and so I have learned to say, "Sarah-with-an-h." I always had an initial appended in school, and I kinda liked it: it was like I had a name plus. I suppose if I didn't like my name, I'd be bothered by the commonality, but it just strikes me as a really good name, so I understand that other people liked it, too. The only thing is I don't turn around when people call out my name, unless they say it two or three times.
posted by dame at 2:10 PM on October 16, 2005

Zak without a "C" never plays your favorite song, then...
posted by Kwantsar at 2:14 PM on October 16, 2005

I have never met another Mars, though I hear rumours of them every once in a while. People rarely forget my name, though I usually have to repeat it before they believe that they heard me correctly, and I always have to spell it for people filling out forms. "Mars. Yes, m-a-r-s, just like the planet."
posted by Mars Saxman at 2:18 PM on October 16, 2005

Mars, you have a really cool name. I have to say.
posted by brundlefly at 2:23 PM on October 16, 2005

My first name Fraser, is pronounced as "frazer." Ever since the TV show "Frasier," I've more or less given up correcting people. A lot of people don't even seem to realize there's a difference between the two names.

My last name, Birt, is a highly uncommon spelling of a fairly uncommon (but not unheard of,) Anglo-Welsh name. I mean, it's four letters, with ONE vowel, and NOBODY can spell it right. It's amazing how often people assume there's been a typo and call me "Mr. Brit," or "Mr. Bird."

That being said, it's a handy way to identify telemarketers. "Hello, is Frasier Brit there?"
posted by generichuman at 2:27 PM on October 16, 2005

We are naming a kid here? We gave the kids middle names that were fairly common, but with a silent e at the end, just to avoid confusion at the SS office later in life. Goofy spellings on the middle name don't bother much, and it makes the name more distinctive from a legal standpoint.

In business, I use a completely different, short form than my real, actual name. I can't see the advantage to spelling (and pronouncing) the damn thing several dozen times a day, so I use what the social security office calls, "a professional name". Why should strippers be the only ones allowed this convenience?
posted by unrepentanthippie at 2:32 PM on October 16, 2005

My name is Candice and that was quite unusual when I was growing up---boy was it ever. Being called "Candy" throughout childhood annoyed me to no end, not to mention "Candy-ass" lol. Later on though in college and beyond when I moved far away, I would hear an occasional "kansas", "cadance" and even "constance" but thankfully that is rare. I still like my name for all that "trauma"--- and though it can be pronounced as either "kan-dis" or"kan-deese", I prefer the former way.

As an aside, my bf is British and he said no one in the UK as far as he knows says "kan-diss" (whether it's spelled Candice or Candace or Kandice) so I will have to brace myself I guess for mispronunciations when I meet his family. In fact it took him a few tries to pronounce my name right too :)
posted by clon7 at 2:45 PM on October 16, 2005

Both my first and last names are rather uncommon, and neither are really 'me'. My first name sounds like someone's maiden aunt. (And oh, the tiresome Mickey Mouse club references.) My last name's pronunciation is sure to be mangled if I'm in an area where Spanish isn't commonly spoken.

If I google myself, just about the only hits are of that poor unfortunate child who got attacked by a pit bull.

All in all - I prefer my screen name to my off-line name. (And I recommend a classic name with a traditional spelling. Space Kitten really dislikes her unintentionally trendy name.)
posted by Space Kitty at 2:57 PM on October 16, 2005

A common name, but a spelling that's quite uncommon here in North America: Geoff (actually, Geoffrey). There are occasions where people mispronounce it because they've actually never seen that spelling before (in addition to all the people who do it on purpose, just for jollies.)
posted by evilcolonel at 3:13 PM on October 16, 2005

I saw this a while a go

I love this bit:

There were also 228 babies named Unique during the 1990s alone, and one each of Uneek, Uneque, and Uneqqee...

For better or for worse, jessamyn in my head sounds like 'jess-admin'.
posted by Mr T at 3:16 PM on October 16, 2005

with a silent 'd'.
posted by Mr T at 3:17 PM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: I don't use my full name; I've always been Nat (except to my third grade math teacher who delighted in using my full name in exactly the way my mother never did, even in anger). However, this causes people to think I'm female (Natalie) before they've met me (if I ever became a drag queen, you can bet my name would be Natalie Drest). Some people who know me for awhile and know I'm male assume my name is "Nate", even on the internet where I have christened myself "N@" (n-at) since the early 90's. I get e-mails and online comments directed at "N@e"—so people obviously understand the @ is both an a and a t, but they still apply the hypercorrection of the terminal e. I don't get it. I say "Nat" and they parrot "Nate", like I was Marge Simpson trying to order coffee ("C-O-" ... "B-E") in an Australian bar. I take delight in the fact that my father told me at some point when I was very young that if anyone called me "Nate" I could hit them. I guess he had the same problem (see below).

I used to do telephone sales as part of my last job and I always introduced myself as "Nat. N as in November, A as in Apple, and T as in Tree" to avoid being called "Matt". Though that misunderstanding saved my ass one time when a childhood prank caught up with me and the guy who took my name down got both my first and my last name wrong. Still, once one of my coworkers drew a cartoon of me introducing myself phonetically, much to the amusement of everyone in the office (myself included).

Also worth noting is that my name is my initials (NAT) rendering me auto-acronymic (? eponymic?). I'm also at "the IV" which is why my webdomain is called "thefourth.net". My dream was always to have the e-mail "n@thefourth", and I have it now. Sometimes I use NATIV[E] (optional e for hypercorrection's sake, eh?) for online stuff, but less so for things since the internet got so big (I refuse to put numbers after my name online, even though I have them IRL. Weird, eh?). The only nickname I've ever been given socially (other than Nate Dogg, which is the only time anyone's ever allowed to call me Nate, and is technically already someone else's nickname) is Natural, or Natural One (which was a popular song at the time by Folk Implosion. Remember Folk Implosion, kids?).

What else do you want to know about me? I've obviously done a lot of thinking over the years about names, mine especially. I am at the center of all that is international (count the letters). I plan to break the chain by naming my firstborn son N. A. T. the IVth the IInd, rather than the Vth (though I may name my second son the Vth, just to keep things interesting). Oh, and hilatron, Burning Airlines got it right when they named their song "Dear Hilary". Worth a listen if you like music-type stuff.
posted by Eideteker at 4:16 PM on October 16, 2005

I got a pretty standard name (First name, Heather, middle name, Ann) but my parents have called me by both my entire life, to the point where I don't notice when people call for a "Heather." 'Ann' is my middle name, so it doesn't go on official lists and every professor/doctor/etc calls me Heather unless I correct them. People reply to my emails with "Dear Heather," even though my name was there in the To: field and in the signature. I introduce myself ("Hi, I'm Heather Ann.") and I get, "Nice to meet you, Heather."

I could insert a hyphen (Heather-Ann) and just not have a middle name, but that looks unspeakably ugly to me. I'm not sure why it's that hard to remember, except that 'Heather' is common and 'Heather Ann' is not. Friends will call me 'Heather Ann' for a year and then switch to 'Heather' for no reason. People complain that it's a long name, though it's no more syllables than my sisters' names (Melissa, Amanda) and they don't get shortened.

It is frustrating. Keep it simple.
posted by heatherann at 4:51 PM on October 16, 2005

My first name is rather commonplace and blah and my last name is quite famous in the annals of the 20th century thanks to a very distant relation to very celebrated author. Consequently, NO ONE and I mean NO ONE, actually calls me by my first name. I never encouraged this; for a long time I even discouraged it. But people I barely knew or had just met chose to call me by my last name, and I finally embraced it and now often I just introduce myself by my last name as its more memorable anyway. Now occasionally people think in conceited for doing so. I guess you can't please them all.

Also, on an unrelated note, my grandmother's two given names are Ida Hortense (Yes, she's Mormon, from Idaho), and she CHOOSES to go by Hortense. The family joke, which I believe is over 50 years old, is "Hortense? She looks pretty calm to me."
posted by Heminator at 5:07 PM on October 16, 2005

My name is Michael. It's pretty much useless as a name. When I hear my name called out in a crowd, I can't be bothered to turn around, because it's never for me. When I phone or IM someone, "This is Michael" is never good enough.. it has to be "This is Michael from history class." And everyone assumes that I go by Mike.

My kids are gonna be named freakin' D'Artagnan or something.
posted by Sxyzzx at 5:19 PM on October 16, 2005

I read somewhere that if you have a gathering of computer programmers, it's a safe bet that there are more guys called Steve than there are women. I've tested it a few times and it's never been wrong yet.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:21 PM on October 16, 2005 [1 favorite]

I have a common name, David, with a common shortening, Dave. I work with a bunch of Daves, but I personally don't like being called Dave. Let me just say, be careful when you shorten peoples names, if they don't introduce themselves by the shortened form, don't just assume that they're going to go by that form. It really bugs me that people call me Dave all the time.

Oddly enough it annoys me so bad that I NEVER use a shortened name unless that person introduces themsevles as that first. I dated this girl for 5 years, and even though her name could be fairly easily shortened, and often was by her family, I never once did it.

This is also why I tend to go by my last name, which is relatively uncommon, but fairly easy to pronouce and is short. Many people I know don't even know that my first name is David.
posted by KirTakat at 5:43 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm 5-10 years ahead of the Jennifer curve -- there were a couple of Jennifers in the class ahead of me at school, and a couple two years behind, but I was the only one in my grade. And I grew up with an exceedingly uncommon last name (there are a grand total of four(!) in the US, and not many more in Russia). It is rather surprising the amount of mail (snail and email) that gets sent to Jean, though.... My sis is Anne, and while it wasn't a common name, it's not really unusual, either. People don't usually forget our names, or get them wrong, or confuse us with other people.

Our daughter is (was) a Kate -- when she was born, we knew two Katherine/Kathryn/Kates, and both of them were 10 years old at the time. I asked the nurses and they said that they hadn't seen many come through the ward. There still aren't that many up where she was born, but then we moved. And there are Kates *everywhere*. There was a Kate Riley in her preschool, but in a different session. There were four Kates in her scout troop, five in her fifth grade class, a dozen in the high school band, etc. She changed her name. Not legally, yet (she's only been using the new name for 6 months), but I suspect that may come.
posted by jlkr at 5:43 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm a Matthew, and in intermediate school I was in a class with 5 Matthews. Two others were Matthew C's, so in the morning the teacher would read our surnames with an extra letter and say "Matthew Co", "Matthew Crrrrr". Bah. And Matthew sounds like Thank You. I just go by Matt these days because but I don't really care.

My surname is Cruickshank, and no one can spell it.

For a first name I'd want an unpopular and short name. Nothing made up. Perhaps something that's fallen out of favour over time so people still know how to spell it, like Joe.

A made up name I liked for a while was Joesh (spoken "joyshhhhhh") but I soon realised it sounds like Joyce. I'm still rather fond of it but converting all that legacy data wouldn't be fun.
posted by holloway at 5:47 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm an Amanda as well. When I was born, it was an unusual name (add me to the list of people who never had mugs or other things with their names on them as a kid - I always got the generic ones while my sister and cousins with more normal names got ones with their names on), I never even met another Amanda until I was ten or so. And yes, having a name with songs attached gets old fast, especially Barry Manilow songs about diminutives of your name (although it does teach you to perfect your "stop that NOW" glare). As does having a name which rhymes with "panda". And if one more person calls me "amanda huggankiss"... I swear...
posted by biscotti at 6:02 PM on October 16, 2005

Here's my best "my name is too common" story. Due to the way my company's name is licensed it was at one stage possible for another company to be created in Indonesia with exactly the same name and to be connected to the same parent oganisation as the one we're joined to. At that company worked a person that had almost the same first and last names as me. The difference was Fredrick A. Jones vs Fredrick Paul-Jones (not the real names).
posted by krisjohn at 6:19 PM on October 16, 2005

my first name's michael and as you can imagine, it's common as mud ... it doesn't seem to be a big deal and people always remember it, although they usually shorten it to mike

my last name's not that common ... almost always mispelled (even though it's only 4 letters) ... and often mispronounced by foreign telemarketers (although any american or irish person has heard the name and gets it right)
posted by pyramid termite at 6:33 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm male and go by the Russian diminutive of my legal name, Sasha. In the US, Sasha is largely a female name, so I frequently get mail addressed to Ms Sasha [unpronounceable last name]. This was more irritating when I was younger, but hasn't left any lasting scars.

My name in general usually generates brainlock... my last name is shared by about 20 people worldwide, and was last widespread in Eastern Europe (Poland, Lithuania) in the 1500s. I've yet to meet anyone that has been able to pronounce it correctly (or spell it from hearing it) on the first try.

To say that I'm googleable would be an understatement.
posted by fet at 7:28 PM on October 16, 2005

Best answer: Why not name the child with a relatively common first name and a relatively uncommon middle name, and then encourage them while growing up to use either, as they please. I'd think that would take care of a lot of the anxiety of both "they're going to make fun of me for my name" and "there are three other people with the same name in the room."

My only regret about my name is that there are two common spellings of it: Brian and Bryan. Thankfully I am of the 'i' persuasion (and the 'y's always struck me as odd people for some reason) but I still have to tell people that it's with an 'i', otherwise they will either ask anyway or get it wrong. So for that reason I would try to pick something that does not have multiple spellings that are pronounced the same - like Jon/John etc.

And for the record I would just like to say that I can't stand names that are made "unique" just for the heck of it. Whenever I see one of those I just have to groan. It's like you can see the progression of the name just getting more silly looking with each alteration, for example: Cindy -> Kindy -> Kindee -> Sindee -> Xyndey -> and so on.

So please please don't go for that "alternate spelling" thing that has become so popular lately. There's nothing wrong with picking an uncommon name, but please don't take a common name and try to spell it differently.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:51 PM on October 16, 2005

My name is Felicity and I'm the only one in the US. Well, no, not really, but I've never met another Felicity here - a couple in England. And I never got any plastic crap either, obviously. So I hated my name passionately as a child and changed it to Lisa as a teenager, which had the added benefit of annoying my parents no end. Then I went to college and decided I liked being weird and changed it back. Finally the American Girl dolls and the TV series came along, and people have now heard the name before, which makes my life easier, since I don't always have to repeat it 8 times. Noone can spell it, though. My last name is quite common.

When I named my kids (Audrey and Miles) I tried very hard to come up with names that were unusual enough to be unique in a classroom, but recognizable enough so that they wouldn't raise an eyebrow. And I wanted them to occasionally, but not always, find plastic crap with their names on it. I succeeded for the most part, although my sons name seems to be getting more popular daily.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:00 PM on October 16, 2005

I'm Brigitte, but pronounced "Bridget" unless you are my grandmother in which case you make me sound French when I am not. I like my name, it's at the right level of popularity for me in that I was never in class with someone with the same name, but I have met others. It's a pain in the arse spelling though. My middle name is Jane which I like because it's so plain it's reasonably uncommon.
posted by gaspode at 8:40 PM on October 16, 2005

You may want to commit Dr. Seuss's "Too Many Daves" to memory.
posted by booth at 8:48 PM on October 16, 2005

Just like crabintheocean I have a name that everybody reognises because "I have a great-grand-aunt called by that name!" I have learnt to live with telemarketers trying to sell me magazines and whatnots geared toward those in their 70's.

My last name is more tricky, it's one syllable, fricative + vowel, and everybody in Norway can say it, but when I say my name everybody keeps waiting and waiting for me to say my last name. I wasn't clearing my throat, that was my last name! And just to make it more impressive they tend to pile on a couple of h's and u's and perhaps another h to make it look last-namey.

It wasn't too much of a bother until I moved to Greece where neither sound in my last name existed. After some hopeless fighting with bureaucracy I took my mothers name Torborg as a middle name matronym (which I am allowed to do). Spelling something like "Torborgsdatter" is always amusing (spell checker suggests tobogganer).
posted by mummimamma at 12:38 AM on October 17, 2005

I have an extremely common last name that is spelled unusally. No one ever spells it right. Never. I've always used my grandmother's last name, which is uncommon but easy to spell and pronounce, when I publish a story or an essay. I've considered changing it legally, but in the meantime I'm pleased enough to have a penname I like.
posted by honeydew at 2:25 AM on October 17, 2005

I changed my middle name to Emilie (Emily with an "ie" instead of "y") when I was 21. Now for you "don't use a weird spelling folks," I actually named myself after an actual Emilie who claimed the spelling was polish.

I've not had any trouble with the name (which I now use instead of my first name) until 2 weeks ago. I am in my last year of college in program that has 7 guys for every one girl (in a college that is 2 girls for 1 guy), and my professor pronounced it like "Ee-meal-lye." Like it was some strange spelling of Emil. This horrified me and made the guys in my group laugh, so now they tease me. They all have names like Bradon, Nate, Cole, like good mid western boys should.

My last name is uncommon enough that is always me when I google my name. Yayy!
posted by Monday at 4:32 AM on October 17, 2005

Well my problems with having an uncommon name are basically: it is frequently mispronounced, almost always mispelled, and generally assumed to be backwards. (Hi Scott!) I also was disappointed at never getting personalized stuff though my industrious grandmother was able to get around this with all sorts of things like T-shirts with crocheted writing and custom-made pencils of the sort you order for a business.

I've had more problems with too-common names. One class in high school had four Katies, out of about 20-25 students. There were also two Katies with the same last name (not particularly common, but it is Dutch in a Dutch area). Daves, Erins, Johns, and Jens have all been problematic for me, too :)
posted by dagnyscott at 6:09 AM on October 17, 2005

My name is Bethany. My one problem with it is that people so often hear it as "Stephanie". Otherwise it's a good choice for a distinctive name. It's unusual, but recognizable, easy to pronounce and spell. I like it, though I hardly ever use it. Most people call me Beth. If I were to name a baby, I'd give him or her an unusual name that can be shortened to a common nickname — you get to have your cake and eat it too.
posted by orange swan at 6:49 AM on October 17, 2005

So many random stories:

Third grade: four Dan's in a class of ~23, including myself. Ended up moving the next year into a class that just had a Dan move away, thus making me "replacement Dan". Great way to start at a new school.

My last name (Dickinson) should be easy enough to spell, shared by poets (Emily) and reality tv trash (Janice) alike. Yet it never is, even when I enunciate the hell out of the middle syllable. Frequently "dickenson", sometimes "dickerson", and once "dcknson".

My best friend in high school has a mother named Douglas, and went by Doug; his name got bubbled in wrong on the PSAT, so he got a lot of college recruitment mail sent to "Ben Jamin Land". Very reggae.

College: Three Daves lived in my house senior year; luckily their last names were distinct so we could go by them. One of them was named David Cross, which was somewhat amusing; more amusing was that a kid named Michael Jordan lived next to me freshman year. Both David Cross and Michael Jordan were asian, oddly enough.

When my wife (then Katie Michael) and I got engaged, the announcement read "Michael-Dickinson", which (of course!) is my dad's name and led to ribbing.

I know both a Caryn (different from the one above) and a Laren; both rhyme with Karen.

And I'm happy to have staked #1 for googling my own name, much to the chagrin of some stuffy business types.
posted by Remy at 9:55 AM on October 17, 2005

My sister had twins a year ago and I was eager to participate in naming them. My sister and I are very different and disagreed completely on names. I was pushing for old-timey, well known but unused names (Think Edsel and Lola) and she liked... David, Christopher, Katherine, Elisabeth.

She prefers the uncommon spellings of the girls names, she thought they are more flexible (Kathy, Lisbeth.) She's an Alicia, I'm a Rebekah--we have brothers with very common names, Johnny, Jeffrey. I prefer unusual names, she prefers white bread names.

So the twins were named Elisabeth Katherine and Christopher David. However, I'm their primary caretaker and they are called by everybody the nicknames I gave them, Christor and Ellie. As my mother said to my sister, you can name them whatever you want, but you'll have little control over what we call them.

I like my name a lot and prefer to go by my firstname-middlename combination. I always introduce myself as "Rebekah Jude" and almost everybody immediately drops the Jude. I have gone by many, many nicknames. People who I grew up going to summer camp with all call me Becky, people I worked with on the Kerry campaign call me RJ, college friends call me Rebekah Jude, almost everyone I know now calls me by a nickname of the name I skate Roller Derby under, Ivana Clobber (I'm called Clobber or Clobbs.) My girlfriend and I call each other by our derby names and almost everyone finds that delightfully cute, a few find it weird. It's a little strange at times, for example her parents seem to find it surprising when I refer to her by her derby name in front of them.
posted by palegirl at 12:36 PM on October 17, 2005

People who I grew up going to summer camp with all call me Becky, people I worked with on the Kerry campaign call me RJ, college friends call me Rebekah Jude, almost everyone I know now calls me by a nickname of the name I skate Roller Derby under, Ivana Clobber (I'm called Clobber or Clobbs.)

Dude! I just saw you at Rollerderby yesterday!
posted by rafter at 4:51 PM on October 17, 2005

Throughout my school years I always knew at least three other girls with my name. I went by Debi, the others were usually Debbie. At times we had to go by last names because there were so many of us. I go by Deborah now and I always have to spell it. "No, no, no - the long version, please." It's amazing how often such a simple, popular name gets mutilated.

My brothers have common names all of which were mentioned up thread.

My maiden name was Walton. Try living with that one. "Where's John Boy?" was a frequent question. Fuck if I know, I never watched the damned show.
posted by deborah at 8:15 PM on October 17, 2005

I was always one of at least two Sarahs in my classes growing up. When I went to college, my roommate was also named Sarah.

When my sister Rebecca went to college, she ended up rooming with Rebekah.
posted by srah at 6:05 AM on October 22, 2005

My name, Kathy, was very popluar when I was a kid. I never really knew if they were all Kathryns, or Kathleens or whatever because we all went by Kathy.

In Kindergarten I was 'Kathy with a K' as opposed to my very good friend, 'Cathy with a C.'

In 5th grade they had to rearrange the classes twice because there were 7 or 8 Kathy's and almost all of us ended up in the same class.

My husband, Chad, has a brother, Chris, who married a Katie. Actually, it's Kathleen, but Katie or Kate for short. Talk about confusing! We just all look when anyone says anything even remotely similar to our names, just in case. We answer, too, even when we know we weren't being talked to. Sometimes it's pretty funny. But for the over 80 crowd Katie and I are both Katie/Kate/Kathy/Kat/Kathryn/Kathleen. At least they've got part of it right!

Here's my philosophy on naming. I know you'll be so thrilled to know it! I didn't get 'Kathryn,' I got Kathy, so my choices were limited. I think everyone should have a good first and middle name, at least one of which can be shortened or legthened and if you can get a good 'cuddly' name out if it, all the better. The child has more choices when they get older to find the right version that meets their personality. It should be a name that works when you shout it (Nathan, come to dinner!), when you yell it (Victoria June Derringer! Get over here this instant!) and when you're cuddling (go to sleep now, little Tooooriiiii...)

Like, Nathaniel/Nathan/Nat, Robert/Rob/Robbie/Bob/Bobby, Victoria/Vicky/Tori, and the like.

As a final note, play with the name and see what will happen to it in 3rd grade. My husband refuses to ever name a child John/Jon or anything that can be shortened to it. "In 3rd grade, a toilet become 'the john.' I don't want my kid scarred..." We already know he'll be a geeky, ignored kid as it is (we both were). We just hope he ends up with the success Steve Jobs has! (We, of course, didn't.)
posted by kdavies at 11:16 AM on October 26, 2005