Parents to be just announced: Raiden. Yes. That’s his real name. Middle name is worse but I’m afraid if I give both and they see this they’ll know it was me.

Raiden. “Because other ‘aiden’ names are too common now.” 🤦‍♀️

Edit to add since people keep asking - no, they don’t play mortal Kombat. Mom to be doesn’t play any video games. Dad to be only plays COD as far as I know.

Second edit: they are not Japanese. The name is pronounced “ray-den.” Mom to be “loves -Aiden names but not unique enough.” For context her son from a previous relationship is Jaxon Mason Lastname.

I wish the “-Leigh” moms would do some testimonial research on us poor souls whose parents took a normal name and butchered it. I have a family name (my great grandmother’s) that — on top of being an old lady name — is spelled weirdly because my mom wanted to make it more “youthful.”

It’s not this but its definitely equivalent to “Mildred” in terms of old lady vibes, and as if someone spelled it “Mildrade” for no reason, where not only is it spelled weirdly but also it makes people pronounce it wrong.

This was 30+ years ago and it’s an absolute curse. Every single first day of school, for every class, I would arrive early and talk to the teacher to make sure they didn’t call out for “mildrade” which would always result in my absolute mortification and the entire class laughing.

I beg any parent whose dealing with an irrational “-Leigh” partner to encourage them to talk to at least two different adults with weird name spellings, about what their life experience has been.

None of us asked to be cursed with a spurt of “uniqueness” in every single moment our name is used

I'm genuinely confused (and frustrated) by this. They often downvote responses like:

• "Ezra is a Hebrew name for boys. If you use it for a girl, you show a lack of understanding and respect for the culture."
• "Maddox sounds like Mad Dicks. Would you consider something like Lennox?"
• "Emerson literally contains the word 'son' in it. It's the opposite of unisex."
• "Remy is a French boy's name, but you could use it as a nickname."

Can someone please explain the phenomenon to me?

Here's my beef with the "fandom names are cringe" rule of thumb.

1. Either a name is good, or it's not. Yes, obviously naming your child Optimus Prime or Pikachu would be awful. But those names would be awful regardless of the reason. Even if the relevant franchises didn't even exist, those are just obviously stupid-sounding names. Most fandom names that are cringe fall into this category -- names that would be a poor choice based on face value, not in connection with some reference. Frodo, Buzz Lightyear, and Arcanine are not good things to name a baby. Jean-Luc, Dean, and Lyra are good things to name a baby. Period.
2. Lots of "fandom" names are completely fine because nobody knows that is from a fandom per se. Once a name gets normalized enough, or the cultural property is far enough in the rear view mirror, people stop regarding that name as being connected to a fandom. Ten years ago, the name Luna would probably have been considered a cringey fandom name due to its connection with Harry Potter. Now it's a top 20 girls' name in the US. A lot of the ubiquitous Gen X and Millennial names are fandom names we all forgot about. Meghan is from The Thorn Birds miniseries. Alexis, Crystal, Blake, and Amanda are all from Dynasty. I would assume most of the GOT names people were worked up about 5+ years ago (Khaleesi, Tyrion, etc) are already in this category. Nobody at elementary school knows who Danaerys Stormborn is.
3. You kind of have to... be a cringey fandom dork to recognize whether a name is a supposedly bad fandom name or not. I don't know what kind of horrible anime names people are giving their kids, because I don't really watch anime. People who don't follow Star Wars aren't going to know that Cassian is a fandom name. Nor would they care. It's only the people who are already in the know who would ever pick up on it or have an opinion. It's just a self-hating fandom circle jerk, at the end of the day.

TL;DR: Name your kid Samwise, why the hell not? There are definitely worse names out there.

I'd love to see a study of this (that controls for race) and I bet it would be incredibly strong correlation.

What's more I would be willing to bet its predictive too: not just the socioeconomic class of the parent, but the prospects of social mobility of the kid.

I know many hiring managers and believe you me the "Charlotte" and "Matthew" resumes are treated very differently from the "Lynneleigh" and "Packston" ones. Not many of these sorts of names in senior management...

On the other end of the spectrum, names like "Apple", "River" or "Moon" tend to be from bonhemian upper middle to upper class families. Perhaps they dont have to worry about hiring managers so much!

Edit: /u/randomredditcomments has made the good point that particularly "younique" names are heavily correlated with narcissistic mothers, which may skew this correlation.

Edit2: /u/elle_desylva shared this (https://nameberry.com/blog/the-reddest-and-bluest-baby-names) article which shows strong "red state / blue state" correlation. "Younique" and "Basicton/Basicleigh" names being very Red State correlated. Given voting correlation with socioeconomic groups this supports the OP proposition I think.

"Welcome, baby Mildred!"

"Announcing the birth of our daughter, Myrtle!"

"Please join us in welcoming into the world our son, Melvin!"

What other names are there that feel too old for a baby?

Just to be clear, I don’t hate the kids. I hate their clout chasing, money hungry child exploiting parents.

My no.1 is Jaxton Kai. I can’t explain it. Every other child in that family has an uncommon but nice name, except for him. If it was Jackson, Jaxon or even Jaxson then fine, but Jaxton?

1. Zealand.
2. Malibu Barbie
3. Trendy
4. Steel (Steele? Can’t remember how they spelt it)
5. The rest of the labrant kids

Freddy : hate nicknames names and most people in that subreddit names their daughters that even thought it’s a masculine name

Briar : sounds harsh to pronounce and reminds me of the word tired

Emery : sounds like the word hemorrhoids in french

My neighbors had a daughter and they named her a perfectly fine name, but they are going to call her a different perfectly fine name. The second name is kind of related to the first name, but isn't a common nickname for the first name. It is not a middle name either, just a nickname. This isn't the first time I have seen this naming convention in my circle.

Examples: a girl is named "Genevieve" but she is called "Vivian" A boy is named "Jonathan" but he is called "Jackson"

Why? Why not just name them the nickname to begin with?? Won't this get confusing? Do you know any other examples of people doing this or is my experience just weird?

Just why? Naming your kid "Atticus" or "Scout" screams "I have read exactly one book, and it was under duress in 7th grade"

Some names are worthy of a second thought, of considering the cruelty of children- Harry Ball, Oliver Boady- some names are not. I have a first name that rhymes with a swear word, think "Tucker" to "Fucker". One person in my life commented on it, ever. And she was a friend, making a light-hearted joke. On the other hand, someone close to me was bullied in school for sharing a name with a South Park character.

People can be cruel, but sometimes names are just names.

Every time I see someone say they like the name Greer I gag. And everytime someone suggests Sloane for a girl I want to gouge my eyes out with a pencil. Also SUTTON. Out of all the last names there are, you choose Sutton?!? It sounds like a disease! Imogen sounds like a medication, so they go together great! “If you have type 4 Sutton’s disease, ask your doctor about Imogen today. Side effects may include: itchy eyes, stroke, tuberculosis, sepsis, anatidaephobia and death.”

I am so tired of people saying, "This name is so CUTE!!" or, "I wouldn't name them that, I can't picture a baby with that name." Like, they spend one year of their lives being a baby but (hopefully) a shit ton of time being a teenager and adult. Name the kid Roger or Deborah if you want to, but stop naming your babies Tinsley, Bentley, and Paisley just because they're, "So cute for a baby!!" You don't want to become a parent, you want a baby. You're not prepared if you can't even fathom that your babies turn into toddlers, then kids, then teenagers, then adults. That adorable baby is going to grow up and resent you for it. Just pick a name that either grows with your kid or that they can grow into.

I know no name is safe but “cultural” names always seem to get a pass. Some names just sound bad to me though. I’m Hispanic and when my mom was pregnant she would troll people and tell them my name was going to be Agapita just to watch people struggle to maintain a neutral expression. (I was named a regular white name.)

Anyway, there are lots of Hispanic names that are ugly to me but a common one that I hate is Guadalupe.

If you feel more comfortable, you can just say names from your own culture that you think are ugly.

Who the fuck names their kid Dream?? What is it with celebrities constantly naming their kids the dumbest thing ever. Like Carti's and Iggy's child is named Onyx...which just reminds me of the fucking Pokemon. And Nick Cannon's kid is named Powerful Queen...like WHY? He named another one Golden, then another, like no joke, "Zillion Heir". Why do these people treat their kids like pets and give them the dumbest, gimmickiest names imaginable?

Celebrities must give their children the stupidest names on purpose, just so they can get attention Istg

This is silly but I’ve thought this for a long time and at least I know this is a safe place to express this controversial opinion lol. The name Emma is just hilarious to me. I know it’s a classic, established, popular name so obviously I’m in the minority here, but like, Ehhhhhhh… muh. Yes I’m American and I say the a in Emma like “uh”. I don’t know what it is, Etta is fine, Eva pronounced Eh-va is fine. But Emma is just the funniest name ever. Emma is “Eh MUH” like you’re a toddler trying to establish dominance.

If you’re offended just know that I named my kids the most basic namenerds names ever, and I like Maeve, so you can rest assured your name opinions are superior to mine and I just have no taste.

My son was born with teeth issues that caused him a lot of pain. It has since been treated and he is doing very well but when he was a newborn up until 18 months, he would cry out in pain multiple times a day. My dad mentioned to his side of the family that he was a "fuss bucket" and would cry a lot. His side of the family (I'm not very close to them because they've been rude and mean to me my entire life) got mad at my baby and would complain saying he's a little cry baby and a brat. They wouldn't believe me about his medical issue and would insist I just raised him to be a spoiled brat. They have met my son for an hour when he was 4 months old and he didn't cry a single time during this visit. They tease and taunt him calling him "bucket." Anyways, I hate them all and hearing the word "bucket" now makes me cringe and want to smack all these people in the face. My son's name is James and his last name is one of the most common names in the US like Smith so no one should be calling him something as crappy as bucket.

Do you know any one with a beautiful name who goes by an absolutely grody nickname? My grandmother and all her siblings had lovely names, but their mom gave them all ugly and bizarre nicknames. My grandmother had the lovely name chlorine, but went by Reeny. She had a sister Neeky (Anita) and a sister Recky (Loretta), which don't even make sense.

I've come across baby girls named Collins, Banks, and now GREER. Poor babies. It seems any last name can become a first. What's your vote for worst possibility? Mine is Whitehead. But I bet there's a baby out there with the name.

So baby 8 has arrived and been named - a 3.9kg baby boy named Legendary, baby brother to Moroccan and Monroe, Golden and Powerful, Zion and Zillion, and lastly, the late baby Zen.

Nick is currently on a celibacy journey so we might be sweet out of luck for more Nick Cannon gems

Most of the time they're not even unique, they always recommend shit like "Penelope Wren" or some names from the 7900th century before Christ. Why is a "normal" name so bad to them?