Meredith Hammer Pregnant and Had Her Fifth

[louisa05]

2 hours ago, Anonymousguest said:

Yep, i was born early 70s and the top two names of my Facebook friends are Jennifer (or some form) and Amy. 

I have an unusual first name. I hated it when I was little because I was very shy and I hated having to correct people when they mispronounced or misspelled it. My kids all have common easy to spell names. 

I used to teach The House on Mango Street and have tenth graders write their own autobiography using Cisneros's style from the book. Since there is a vignette in which Esperanza writes about her name, most of them chose to write about their names. Universally, the ones with very unusual names hated them for the reasons you cite. And the ones with super common/popular names hated them because there were always other people sharing their name and they got nicknamed in ways they didn't like or the last initial thing. The ones with atypical spellings were annoyed. The ones happy with their names were those who had classic but not super trendy or popular names that were spelled in traditional ways. 

Unfortunately, I don't know that that info is helpful for parents in terms of determining what is common without being overused (it is a warning against creative spelling and super unusual names). My mother chose my name because she knew an elderly woman with it when she was growing up and just loved the name. And when she was growing up, it was not popular. Neither of my parents realized that it was super trendy until I was a toddler and every other girl in the church nursery and such places had the same name. And I think that happens in one way or another to a lot of people. Maybe looking at stats online these days can help a bit. 

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

43 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

I used to teach The House on Mango Street and have tenth graders write their own autobiography using Cisneros's style from the book. Since there is a vignette in which Esperanza writes about her name, most of them chose to write about their names. Universally, the ones with very unusual names hated them for the reasons you cite. And the ones with super common/popular names hated them because there were always other people sharing their name and they got nicknamed in ways they didn't like or the last initial thing. The ones with atypical spellings were annoyed. The ones happy with their names were those who had classic but not super trendy or popular names that were spelled in traditional ways. 

Unfortunately, I don't know that that info is helpful for parents in terms of determining what is common without being overused (it is a warning against creative spelling and super unusual names). My mother chose my name because she knew an elderly woman with it when she was growing up and just loved the name. And when she was growing up, it was not popular. Neither of my parents realized that it was super trendy until I was a toddler and every other girl in the church nursery and such places had the same name. And I think that happens in one way or another to a lot of people. Maybe looking at stats online these days can help a bit. 

This happened with my oldest. I didn’t know anyone with her name, but as she got older I realized just how popular it, and multiple versions and forms of it, were. Fixed that with the others. Girls have feminine, though not classic, names. Boys have surnames. And all but one have classic/family middle names.  So far they all like their names. Here’s hoping that sticks!

My name is uncommon without being unheard of. I wasn’t thrilled as a kid with how different it was, but now I love it! It really fits me, I think, and I hear that a lot from others. It is often incorrectly spelled with a y at the end, and sometimes hard for people to pronounce at first (though I can’t see why lol), but I just correct it and move on. 

[louisa05]

6 minutes ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

 

My name is uncommon without being unheard of. I wasn’t thrilled as a kid with how different it was, but now I love it! It really fits me, I think, and I hear that a lot from others. It is often incorrectly spelled with a y at the end, and sometimes hard for people to pronounce at first (though I can’t see why lol), but I just correct it and move on. 

I wanted a more unusual name when I was younger. But I'm happy with my name now. And I like it much better than the other two super popular names from my age group. 

My mother has an extremely unusual name plus she goes by her first and middle name. She has spent her life with misspellings, mispronunciations, people literally calling her by an entirely different but slightly similar name (a teacher at the school where she was a secretary called her by a completely different name for ten years no matter how many times she was corrected), and people refusing to use both names. So my brother and I have more traditional names. His was in the middle of the top 100 list on Social Security the year he was born. So it is common without being super popular. And it is not prone to being misspelled or mispronounced. Mine ended up being really popular. 

My mother's first name is starting to get a bit popular but with a different spelling. I've encountered a few little ones in primary classrooms lately. 

[FeministShrew]

I really want my name to be Elizabeth. Is 50 too old to do a legal name change, lol? I just know it would be a huge hassle.
My divorce lawyer changed her entire name when she was around my age. I can't imagine dealing with the legal & professsional complications. She was very well known in the area. I'm not sure if that helped or made it worse.

 

[Pianokeeper]

4 hours ago, louisa05 said:

 

Where were the Amys and Stacey’s?

The JV cheer squad at my high school in 1986 was Stacy, Stacey, Stacey, Jenny, Jenny, Jen, Amy, Amy, Aimee, and Suzanne. Lucky Suzanne.

One of those is my first name, though I was not on the squad. And I’m not Suzanne. There were four of us with the same first name on the small wing of my dorm floor. Back in the days of communal hall phones. And people would call for one without knowing the last name. Fun times.

When I was first teaching the common name was Sarah. I had three in one section in a small school.

Now the thing is boy names ending in “n”. I had a first grade class several days last year with every boy but one with a name ending in “an” or “on”.

 

The boy names ending in N are definitely a thing, as this lovely blog posting breaks down: http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2012/5/the-shape-of-boys-names-an-update-on-the-age-of-aidan

[luv2laugh]

Stephen Hammer reminds me of Rob Porter.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

My name used to be fairly unique, which was nice, but then it got insanely trendy in the last few years and it's driving me nuts! I swear I'm the only person over the age of 8 with my name, and it's quickly getting into trashy-and-overused territory (ever read Freakonomics?)

[VVV]

5 hours ago, louisa05 said:

 The ones happy with their names were those who had classic but not super trendy or popular names that were spelled in traditional ways. 

My daughter would be an exception to this, then. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

My name is considered popular and classic. Growing up I got very tired of having the same name as a bunch of other girls but I never hated my actual name. There's nothing wrong with it. I don't hate my name now. But I kept popularity in mind when naming my kids. I don't do the top 20 names on the SSA website in order to avoid super popular names.  

[mango_fandango]

In my year 7 (6th grade) form at secondary school (like homeroom I guess) we had two Alices. They were both Alice D. There were three Charlottes (two in my form, one was L and the other K), two Jessicas (not same form) and two Serenas (also not in same form). Oh yes and two Eleanors in the year.

I had a friend (same age as me) at university called Stacey. 

When my granddad was in primary school he was one of seven Brians!! 

[pook]

5 hours ago, Pianokeeper said:

The boy names ending in N are definitely a thing, as this lovely blog posting breaks down: http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2012/5/the-shape-of-boys-names-an-update-on-the-age-of-aidan

Fascinating, both my boys have names ending in "N".  I will tell you one of them is Holden and it fits him damn straight.  Nolan was also on my list along with Sebastian.

[Koala]

5 hours ago, FeministShrew said:

I really want my name to be Elizabeth. Is 50 too old to do a legal name change, lol?

It's so nice to hear someone else say that! I just love that name.  HATE my own. 

[SuperNova]

Add me to the list of name haters. I can't stand my name. It's well recognized but fairly uncommon and I've rarely met someone with the same name. There are two ways to pronounce it and people usually pick the one I hate the most. I actually went through the process of having the spelling of my name legally changed to avoid mispronunciation. It didn't work. Now instead of just mispronouncing my name, they'll say the wrong name altogether.

I took great care when naming my daughter. I picked something classic and easily to pronounce. She has a love/hate relationship with it. It was uncommon when she was in school but these days you can't throw a stick without hitting someone with her name. Oh well. You just can't win.

Edited March 15, 2018 by SuperNova

[cindyluvs24]

Alison and Jamie were big names in my teens.  When I worked at a sleepover camp, there were several Jamie Cohens and Ali Cohens. 

Edited March 16, 2018 by cindyluvs24

[bea]

My daughter was born in 1978. As I hobbled through the hospital corridor in labor, a new mom wheeled her newborn to the nursery. I immediately thought, “Bet the baby’s named Jennifer!” I was right. When my daughter was in high school, we had to refer to the four Jennifers in her friend circle with their last names.

I heard a great song by one of my contemporaries (b. early 1970s) called “27 Jennifers.”
First two lines:
I went to school with 27 Jennifers
16 Jens, 1 Jenny, and then there was her....

The song is certainly not a masterpiece, but as someone born in 1973, I thought it was hysterical.

[Carm_88]

Laura and Ashley's were big when I was in university! Keeping track of them all was fun!  

[BabyBottlePop]

Sarah, Ashley, and Brittany (and all the potential spelling variants) were several of my classmates. 

I had 2 friends growing up who fought over who would get to name their daughter Riley (or Rileigh). I never liked the name, but now it's frequent among my peers which I think is funny. Neither of those friends have children yet so I don't know if one of them will use Riley after all.

Edited March 16, 2018 by BabyBottlePop
Added another spelling

[Koala]

58 minutes ago, cindyluvs24 said:

Alison and Jamie were big names in my teens.  When I worked at a sleepover camp, there were several Jamie Cohens and Ali Cohens. 

I really like the name Allison.  

[Naga Viper]

I was almost an Elizabeth. Which would not have thrilled me—the name I got is just as beige but the derivatives are tolerable, whereas I would've been miserable as a Liz or a Beth or an Ellie. I've known lovely people with all those names, but they're just not me, you know?

Mr. Viper shares my problem: A super-common first name (spelled traditionally) and a fairly common last name, so early on we bonded over that childhood misery. ("So your parents were too burned out to come up with something better, huh? Mine too.") With time I think we came to appreciate that our names are mostly bulletproof and impossible for other people to fuck up, but would we still choose them for ourselves? Probably not. I almost switched to my middle name at one point; he thought about doing the same, but his is a weird family name that would've unleashed a different can of worms. Back to the default setting.

Parents really can't win, though; the kid learns all the pros and cons of the name the hard way, plus it's just too subjective a matter. I actually had a conversation about my name with my mother once where I threw out ten alternatives I would've preferred and she hated nine of them. The tenth she liked, but she said it never would've occurred to her because while it wasn't unheard of at the time, it wasn't as common as it later became. (Come to think of it...it's the same name as one of the Duggars, LOL.)

[MamaJunebug]

On 3/14/2018 at 1:40 PM, hoipolloi said:

This is a family name in our case and had we been blessed with a daughter, she would have been named Helen, but we planned to call her Nell so as to distinguish her from her older relatives.

If anyone is interested, the Social Security Administration has a great website for browsing all things pertaining to baby names & first names. 

Please please please know I had no intention of insulting anybody!!!   Nor their families. 

I promise I will stick with fundie gooberness henceforth. The Napiers being non-fundy, I devoutly wish I could erase the comment. 

My apologies, @hoipolloi and anybody else I was rude to!!!! 

[hoipolloi]

2 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

My apologies, @hoipolloi and anybody else I was rude to!!!! 

You werenʻt rude & no offense was taken! 

Except in my grandmotherʻs day up through maybe the 1920s, Helen has NEVER been a popular or common name. 

My grandmother graduated from a midwestern college in 1918 so, like her, most people in her class would have been born in the 1890s. Judging from her senior class yearbook, there were also duplicate (and triplicate or more) names in her day, such as the womenʻs names of Gladys, Ina, Mabel (and Mabelle), Jessie & Hazel. Claire & Meredith were menʻs names.

[Tjay]

Mark me down as another person who doesn't like their name. I was born in the mid nineties and received a popular surname name that I share with a singer and twilight actor. I don't hate the name, I just don't think it fits me, it also doesn't fit in with the rest of my siblings who received traditional popular names.

I went to a small private Christian k-12 school. In the year below me there was 9 different  Emily, Emilly, and Emillie's. It was extremely confusing. 

 

But it I like the Hammer's names for their children as opposed to the cutesy names some fundies are going with, like the latest Paine baby. 

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

19 hours ago, Pianokeeper said:

The boy names ending in N are definitely a thing, as this lovely blog posting breaks down: http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2012/5/the-shape-of-boys-names-an-update-on-the-age-of-aidan

I noticed the trend a long time ago and I did want to avoid it a little bit. I avoided the Aidens but there are some names I like that end with n. Like Corbin. That's a nice name. But my boys don't have names that end with n. Their names are fairly common but not super popular. 

[L1o2u3]

I like my name and then I don't.... 

I don't know anybody with my name. At least when I put my first name into Google, there are no other results than me. I don't like that.... (Edit: that's also why I can't tell you what name it is because you'd find me immediately)

I have two first names with a hyphen (like Maya-Sophia). One is Swedish, one is Hebrew. I always go by the Swedish one. And I really really hate the hyphen because that way, I can never drop the second one in official documents. And people always have problems pronouncing my name because both of them are very unusual in German. 

And the hyphen wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. My mom was against that... but my father really wanted the hyphon and when she was still recovering from my birth, he went to the town hall to register me and PUT THAT FUCKING HYPHEN IN THERE and now I can't get rid of it... maybe I can change it when I get married (my mom divorced my dad when I was just a few months old because he also had other plans for me that she didn't approve...  he only wanted me to play with vegetarian kids and to go to a Waldorf school among some other things. he's still trying to make me into a vegan 21 years later). 

So no hyphenated names for my kids!  

Edited March 16, 2018 by L1o2u3

[ScorpiousMalfoy]

My name was the most popular one in my country in my birth year. I never found it to be too common though. I had 3 girls named the same as me in pre-K class, but it never was like that anytime later in life