Names names...

[always-bawling.livejournal.com]

I don't like a lot of the names people people are naming their offspring as of late. To be more specific, basically anything that's on the top 20 list of names bugs me because it's...well...not original anymore.

Which sucks because I really used to love the name Madison. And Emma. But now they're totally overused and it sucks.

I'm worried that if I find a name I love, by the time my child is in school, EVERYONE will have that name. And then it will be like "Emma G., Emma W., Emma K., Emma L." and I don't want my kid to be "Emma W."

So I was looking towards Indian names because I just love the way they sound. Parminder (like the girl from ER and Bend it like Beckham) is so cute. I also like Alka, Kalindi, Trishna, Nidra, Sadhana, and Lavanya.

The questions are:

Are these TOO far out?
And are they inappropriate for someone of any race or color? Like, I might be put off if I saw a little Japanese girl named Shanequa. You know what I mean?

Comments

[semi-sweet.livejournal.com]

check out the site http://www.behindthename.com/top/ and if you put in a name, you can see if it is rising in popularity, and how sharp that rise is, then you can see if it is likely to rise to the top or not. there are also lots of good name ideas on that site

i agree that parminder is a lovely name. but it might be a little odd for your child. i'm white but have a latina sounding name, although usually i go by my "anglo sounding" nickname. it's always a little odd, and people sometimes think i have a hispanic roommate when they hear my name on the answering machine, they just don't make the connection.

i also wonder if it hurts my chances in job interviews - there have been recent studies that resumes with common black names (tyrone, tamika, etc) don't get as many call backs as resumes with common anglo names like jason, kristen, etc. so that might be an issue for your child as well. just something to consider.

there are plenty of uncommon names, if that is what you are going for, many names will never make it into the top 20. with some research you can find something you love that isn't popular :o)