Susie O'Brien on baby names - Adelaide Advertiser

[ezymay]

Yeah way harsh about Erin's!!! no dolphin tatt or regrowth here. All the Erin's I know are almost the total opposite of what she described.

Divvy were you the friend from the court???

[feeb]

I agree mainly!!

Heard most of those names before around the traps!

[~TT40~]

that whole dash thing reminds me of what my brother and i did in highschool, was our nicknames: me= am&a and my brother = n@ was never offical, but i use to use that on my books etc.

[Trillian]

I haven't read the article yet, but before I do I wanted to say thats a bit unfair about Erin though, I have an Erin and it's an old name, not something new or modernised.

ETA - I had to LOL at the bit about the cat sitting on the keyboard. I read a birth announcement in the paper a while back for a boy called 'Maisyn', which is apparently 'Mason'. And the Erin thing is definitely a bad association thing. That was always a problem when we were deciding on names - names I loved were given the thumbs down by DH because he 'knew a Justin at school and he was a ****head' LOL. And some of it certainly has gone too far. Creating spelling is one thing and can be tolerated, but calling your child something that is totally random is just dumb, it really is. I know that it is their child and they have the right to call them whatever they want, but it really is just dumb. I remember reading in the Daily Telegraph ages ago about a child in Western Sydney that was called 'Fully Sic'.

[Junglemum]

She wasn't having a crack at the spelling of Erin Trill, or saying it was made up. It was used as an example of a name she doesn't like. Her sister was going to use it, told her and basically said 'Ewww'. We all have names that conjure up images of specific people that we don't like, Erin was one for her. My list is huge! lol I think it's a pretty name.

[Trillian]

Check out this site too Stupid Kid Names the language is a bit full on and not all of the names are that bad really, but some of them are shockers and rightly deserve to be on a site called stupid kid names LOL.

[butterfly_warrior]

As a teacher, naming your child is close to impossible.

I could sit here and say that every single Mitchell I've ever taught has been a nightmare, and it's true and the name has very negative associations for me. That's not to say that there aren't lovely Mitchells out there - just that none of them ever ended up in my classroom.

Would I use the name myself? No.
Would I automatically assume a new Mitchell I come across is also a ratbag? No. I actually look forward to the day when someone may actually be able to redeem the name for me! As my nephew is doing a great job of doing with his (not Mitchell! But another name that has strong negative associations for me).

Also, as a teacher... creative spellings are a pain in the bum. Yes, it's also a pain to have three Jessicas in the one class (has happened!), but it's no less painful if there's a Jessica, a Jessika and a Jessikah or something like that. It's actually more painful because you end up having kids getting irate because you spelled their name wrong!

I also have a personal hatred of unisex names... when you just get the list of names and you're looking at Jordan, Morgan, Kim, Jesse... It can be really embarrassing!

BW

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

My google search brought up this page, Div!

Well, I see both points. I don't like names with stupid spellings. I don't mind optional letter "e" at the end or not, I don't mind names that have a variant (two of my names are case in point: one is a Welsh spelling and the other a family one). I do dislike names spelt to make people unsure of the pronounciation and just to add in the letter X, Y, or anything else "cool". (I also dislike Jaymz for James and have done since I first heard it over 15 years ago.) I've taught a Claire and a Clare in the same class - not a problem (thankfully they sat at opposite sides, so I could remember "I's left!").

Other points - Cierra isn't "Sierra" (which ain't even a name in my book) but an Irish varient of Keira/Kira/Kiera. Interesting about "Princess" - in the UK, you can't give your child a title as a name, nor can you deed poll it into your name. Also, endings of "ie" and "y" are often traditionally interchanged so I don't see a problem with that.

Archie is a normal name - short for Archibald. I dislike nicknames given as formal names, but that's just me. And I like the name Erin, but DH agreed with O'Brien. Or should we insist she spells it O'Brian?

[mrsmac]

AS the mother of a beautiful Erin I have to protest LOL but I agree with all the rest.
As a teacher I find the same as BW- some names have bad associations for me- every Haidyn or Jaiden I have ever known has had to got to remedial reading classes LOL Actually until this year all the Aidens have too but we have some new ones LOL
Someone on my FB liked a site called "Everyone knows a **** named Jess" highly upsetting for the mother of a Jess LOL (even if she does dress like one!!!)

[Roryrory]

Very funny article Div. You know my thoughts on made up names

[Tiff+2]

I agree with most of this, but wow, this lady is seemingly VERY judgmental! Of the Erin's I know, what she wrote couldn't have been further from the truth. If I was an Erin I would be completely offended she even wrote that and it is a great thing she's not my sister, I doubt I'd speak to her about anything after an such an outburst.

As for the American state refernce, I think she needs to have a look at how a lot of them got their names!!! I think she may find they came from people... I could be wrong though??!

My family is very opinionated about my children's names. I didn't want anything completely out there, but on the same token I didn't want "Jane" to be called out in class and 3 other girls answer. I do believe a name should be decently, so I did my best to keep my childrens names simple to read, spell and pronouce (which I wasn't 100% successful in doing, but if you say it as it reads, not as you think it says, you'd get it right!).

I wouldn't care to read any further articles of Susie's!

[mrsmac]

The funny thing is some names you can have 2 or 3 in a class and they aren't that common! This year we had 2 Jaspers start kindy - I have never thought that a common name! We also have 2 Poppy's- again not what I would consider common. Last year I had 2 Luca/Luka s in my class.

[butterfly_warrior]

Annalise, Melanie, Jessica. I'm completely blanking on the boys names I've had multiples of, but I have NEVER taught a Jane.

[Glamourcide]

The funny thing is some names you can have 2 or 3 in a class and they aren't that common! This year we had 2 Jaspers start kindy - I have never thought that a common name! We also have 2 Poppy's- again not what I would consider common. Last year I had 2 Luca/Luka s in my class.

I figure it's a generational thing. When I was growing up, there were always plenty of Angelas, Rebeccas, Jessicas and Karlys. Nowadays they're practically unheard of, and 'uncommon' names like Poppy, Cooper and Bailey are a dime a dozen!

[Cranky Kitten]

My own name was a little unusual, a very old-fashioned Irish name that is a feminine version of Brian - I found the problems associated with "different" names or those with tricky spellings/pronunciation is that you will never get called by your actual name. It would almost immediately be shortened, unfortunately for me to a type of very tasty soft cheese.

Ultimately I changed it by deed poll to reverse the positions of my first name and second name (much shorter, easier to pronounce) because I was sick of having my name shortened or mispronounced every time I met someone.

So now when it comes to naming my children, I've leant towards quite traditional names, although DD's father insisted on varying the spelling slightly on Rachelle (pronounced Rachel). I think it stems from not wanting to put them through the constant headache of having to spell their name out or correct people every time their name is mispronounced.

[Tiff+2]

The funny thing is some names you can have 2 or 3 in a class and they aren't that common! This year we had 2 Jaspers start kindy - I have never thought that a common name! We also have 2 Poppy's- again not what I would consider common. Last year I had 2 Luca/Luka s in my class.

I do agree with this to an extent. Although not a teacher I use to work in a child care centre and had a few names come throught that I thought were a little different, then there'd be more... And yes I know young girls names Jane, Betty, Elsy, Esme, but not a lot. Thankfully I live in a small town... There are about a 1000 Ava's around, but haven't yet come across a Tiera or a Hadley! Not in Music classes, preschool, kindergym, swimming or mother's group.... So far so good!