does anyone else notice...

[politicking.livejournal.com]

lately, a lot of people naming their children names that don't "grow" well with them; names you just can't picture on an adult?

what names do you think fall under this category (male & female)?

Comments

All I can think of for now

[sailorneptune.livejournal.com]

Hailey for a girl.
Noun names for a boy (Hunter, Fisher, etc).

Can't really picture a 35 year old man in a business suit named Harley, either.

[djador.livejournal.com]

I think that has a lot to do with people giving their kids made up/trendy names that have only been around for a few years so there are no adults with the name. I think in 20/30 years it won't be hard to picture a grown up Jayden or McKenna because there will be tons of them.

[happysaid.livejournal.com]

Yes! It seems like so many people lately only think of the cute baby stage & don't consider how a name will come across on a 30-40-70 year old. Generally anything with extra y's and other random letters, but some others I can think of...

I work with a girl who named her daughter Mikaili.
Kayla/Kaylie/Makayla/Makenzie
Most nickname/nickname sounding names, like Gracie - why not just Grace??
Madison (on girls or boys)
Kacey
Macie
Hailey
Nevaeh (or even worse, Neveah!)
the really uh.. "cute" names like Princess etc.

While I don't think Aidan grows too badly, the rest (Jayden, Caden, Brayden etcetcetc) don't work for me.
I've never thought Cory really grew well, either.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Yes. Time and time again people coo over how 'cute' a name is. That's all fine and well when your son or daughter is in diapers, but by the time they're starting their first career, say, suddenly Piper has lost its charm. Then there are names like Ryder, or Cannon, that look ridiculous on a gangling 14-year-old boy with acne. Peyton and Teagan are two other names that don't work on anyone over the age of four. And then there are names like Molly or Ruby - they're not bad names, but they don't really age well.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Also, any names like Aidyn, Madysyn, Kailie, Karsen, etc. that are spelt wrong. It's hard to picture them on any adult.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

MINE! I feel like I'm already outgrowing Jessica at 22. LOL. That's the one thing I really hate about my name.

Hayley, Katie, Molly, Mallory, Leslie, Kayleigh and all of its variants, Carly, Tiffany. Basically a lot of -eeeeee ending names.

Boys I think of names like Jaylen, Ryker, and Tyler. I think most boy names age well because boys tend to get "classic" names but girls tend to be a lot more trendy.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I agree with a lot of the ones people are mentioning, like Madison and Hailey. I don't necessarily agree about the strangely spelled ones, because although they kill my eyes to look at them, most of them are variants of perfectly nice names, like Michaela, for example. If it was someone whose name you were going to see in print a lot it would get irritating, but for a lot of people, you might not even know that they spelled it that way.

What also bothers me is when the short form of the name is the GIVEN name, like Kate or Lexie instead of Katherine or Alexandra. Even if that was what you were going to call the kid, they might not want to use that same short form forever, or to be called by everybody, and I can't really understand not giving them the option from the beginning.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

i agree about the short form or nickname as a given name. Kate doesn't bother me that much, because i know some girls named Kate & it has aged okay with them... but Lexie, Gracie, Lulu. & on the boy side- Mike, Jim, Bob... i think the full name would be much better in the long run, too. like you said, it gives them the option to use the nickname or full name.

the strangely spelled ones, i think won't age well with someone who has a professional career. like, a lawyer named Ahlyzabeth Jones might get a few "wtf is wrong with your name" thoughts haha. but Joe Schmo, whose name isn't printed on billboards, newspaper, or ads in the telephone book... you probably would never know it was Addysyn, not Addison.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

Ryker! eek. i cannot imagine that on any boy of any age lol.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

BOYS
- any of the word names, like Hunter, Rebel, Lucky, River, etc.
- any Aidan/Aiden variant except for Aidan/Aiden (spelled this way!) or POSSIBLY Braden. Especially if they have excessive y's.
- nicknames as given names (i.e. Jake instead of Jacob, Sam instead of Samuel, etc.)
- Tyler
- Logan
- Cameron
- Connor
- Wyatt
- Chase
- Cole (as a given name; I like it as a nickname)
- Tristan
- Blake
- Devin

GIRLS
- Madison
- Mackenzie
- Addison
- anything with excessive y's, regardless of the pronunciation of the name (ex: Catherine works wonderful on any age; Cathyryn, however, looks horribly takcy)
- Mikayla variations
- Kaylee
- any variation of Isabel except Isabel
- boys' names on girls, especially Riley and Logan, but also any name that is ACTUALLY a boy's name and not unisex (ie, Elliot, Sean, etc.)
- Aaliyah
- Haley
- Brooklyn/Brooke (regardless of the middle name paired with Brooke)
- Kylie
- Avery/Bailey
- Peyton
- Nevaeh
- Destiny
- Lola
- Emma
- Jasmine
- Savannah
- Mia as a given name (love it as a nn for Amelia, though)

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

The strangely spelled ones, to me, are the worst, because as politicking pointed out, they look SO tacky, especially if you're trying to be professional. And the worst part, as you stated, is that they are pronounced the exact same way. So if you want to name your daughter Elizabeth, name her Elizabeth and save her the trouble of having to be embarrassed that they spelled it Ahlyzybeth.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I only knew one and I knew him when he was a baby. He's nearly 2 now. It's a strange name, that's for sure.

Re: All I can think of for now

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

Or worse, a 35 year old woman in business attire named Harley. *shudder*

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on names like Lexie or Mike or somethin glike that. I think Kate is a decent stand alone name though, especially since Kate is a nickname that can last through all ages.

[heather80.livejournal.com]

It's true. The same way we have a hard time picturing a child name Gertude.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree about people in professional careers ... I guess I just didn't think of there being that many people in situations like that, but there obviously would be.

[gangwaygirls.livejournal.com]

Hm... my name's Mia... I guess I've never really thought about it not aging well with me, but you may be right! :)

[gangwaygirls.livejournal.com]

Tiffany. Brittany. I don't like either of these names for any age, but they sound so silly when you put them after "Grandma." That's kind of my gauge for whether a name will age well... Baby Tiffany? Miss Tiffany? Mrs. Tiffany? Grandma Tiffany? "Baby" and "Miss" are really the only ones that work, and they're not my thing at all.

Also, my dad had a friend when I was little named Matt and I thought it was a weird name for an adult. I kind of still do. It's more of a teenage boy/20-something name to me.

Then there's the opposite, where a name's too "old"-sounding for a baby. Here's our newborn... Ethel.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on the person. There are some people who carry names well regardless, but I have a hard time picturing it on an adult. Maybe if I knew you I'd have a different opinion of it, though:)

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

See, I think old names sound really cute on little kids. I know little girls named Harriet, Ruby, and Hazel, and there are the cutest names ever, and I can totally picture them on teenagers/adults/older people without blinking an eye. Same thing with boys, like Henry, Francis, and Frederick.

[gangwaygirls.livejournal.com]

I actually love Harriet, Ruby and Hazel too. There are just certain names I associate with grandmas... Edna, Ethel, Ruth, Naomi, Martha, etc.

And Henry is one of my very favorite names for a boy.

[http://users.livejournal.com/--fourinchesx/]

Cody and Tyler are the only two names I've ever thought of, that wouldn't sound right on an older person.

And Tiffany. :)

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think this only matters if the person you're naming is theoretical. In the real world, if someone grows up with the name Madison, and you know them, then when they're 12, 30, 50, you're not going to think "oh, you know...I knew you when you were 12 and the name suited you then, but now that you're 50 it doesn't really anymore." For instance, my cousin's name is Herbie. People think that Herbie is a really old fashioned name, but I don't- I just think of my cousin, and it suits him because thats all I've ever known him as. Same thing with Molly, Haley, things like that that are coming up again and again in this thread...I know Molly's and Haley's that are my age (19 or 20), and it seems perfectly normal to me that those are their names, because thats all I've evern known them as.

MAYBE mispelling is a different story. I personally don't like the way it looks but honestly it is hard to believe that someone would be so cruel as to judge whether someone is worthy of a job based on what his or her parents named them.

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

Like Riker's Island, the prison?!

Re: All I can think of for now

[quite-rosie.livejournal.com]

Now Harley, I can picture. Fisher is a dumb name though. So is hunter.

[quite-rosie.livejournal.com]

There is a 6 year old at our school named Edith. And I have a second grader named Bertha. Great grandma names, lol.

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

Haha, my cat is named Ethel! That made me laugh. :)

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

I agree with the above posters that anything that is clearly spelled wrong will not age well, regardless how well the person carries the name.
For names I can't picture on a real adult:
Marley
Hailie
Kylie/Rylie/Mylie
Chloe/Khloe
Piper
Tanner
Tyler
Hayden/Jayden/Cayden
Trent/Brent
etc.

[stellarichards6.livejournal.com]

maybe because its my name, but i dont think that naomi is all that old-sounding. i do only use naomi in professional circumstances, and nomi w/ friends & family, though. *shrug*

[juniorfan29.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how Ruby doesn't age well. There's a couple in our church who are in their 70s or 80s, and her name is Ruby. I can't picture the name on anyone younger than, say, 40 or 50.

[juniorfan29.livejournal.com]

I think it's all a matter of perspective, and possibly what your definition of "adult" is. I've seen a lot of names that people have listed that I know of someone with that name, someone who in MY opinion is an adult, and it works for them. Who gets to decide what is or is not an "appropriate" name for an adult? Who determines what is a "professional" name?

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ruby sounds weird to me on an old woman, or on anyone over the age of eight, really. I'm not disputing that it's a common name among older people, but it still seems off to me.

[juniorfan29.livejournal.com]

I guess it's all just a matter of perspective.

[h-hope.livejournal.com]

LOL, my name is Hailey and i totally feel like i need to come to it's defense... hehe! (i'm almost 25, and no very few other Hailey's in my age group) I agree with a lot of what has been said. I like Hailey/Haley just fine, but maybe Hayley/Hailie/Haylee is a different story.
And for all these parents giving their children horribly trendy/misspelled names, I hope they at least pick out a good solid middle name the child can choose to go by later in life if they don't like their own name either!!

[xo-inthered.livejournal.com]

I can imagine Aiden, purely because of Sex and the City.
Oh dear.

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

Lacey was the first name that came to mind. But I still like it =P
And...I don't know.
I agree with the person who said Nevaeh. I really can't see that one on adults.

[neverstarsburn.livejournal.com]

Lulu, even though its a dirty pleasure of mine.

also, bluebell, suri, apple, etc.

Re: All I can think of for now

[ghetto-lonetto.livejournal.com]

I actually met an older Hunter (he was late 30s, early 40s), and I thought it fit pretty well, so that one I can see. I agree about Harley, though. That one would be tough.

[ghetto-lonetto.livejournal.com]

I actually know a girl who legally changed her name to Kate at the age of 22, so I agree with you there. On the other hand, her name was Katrina, which I think has a younger feel than a name like Katherine.

[ghetto-lonetto.livejournal.com]

And also, not everyone wants to be a professional. So in a lot of chosen occupations, "unique" names wouldn't make a difference.

I agree. But then, it's hard to tell now what kind of job a child will end up with in twenty years. If they want to be a tattoo artist, that one thing, but what if they'd rather sit on the Supreme Court?