the name Barbara

[biancasablancas.livejournal.com]

Apologies to people who might be offended but I really mean no harm, this hate only goes name-deep.

I was wondering if there are any redeeming qualities to the name Barbara but I couldn't come up with any. It's close to barbaric, barbarism, the french word 'barbarie' etc. and it doesn't even lend itself to nice nicknames. Barb reminds me of barbed wire, for example. Ouch. It doesn't sound nice (in my opinion) and sounds even worse with an American/Canadian accent when you pronounce the 'r'. Okay, so those last points were pretty subjective but you get the idea about the connotations.

Can anyone convince me?

Comments

[quite-rosie.livejournal.com]

I can't convince you. I can say my mom's name is Barbara and her nickname is Bobby, which I think is cute.

[biancasablancas.livejournal.com]

Actually that is kind of cute as a nn! My mum's name is Lyn and she just gets Lynnie which is not so cute :)

[spikes-sexkitty.livejournal.com]

everyone has their favs and not-so-favs.

2 of my grandma's were named this (maternal step-grandma & paternal grandma).

as far as i know, my paternal grandma went by either Barbara or Babs.

My step-grandma goes by BB and when she was a child, Barbie. (yeah.. i know she hated it too. it was a family nn though)

i don't LIKE the name in the sense that i would USE it... not even to honor them. but it's a good solid name and i can't fault anyone from using it ya know?

[biancasablancas.livejournal.com]

we seem to agree on quite a few things!

[biancasablancas.livejournal.com]

oh, I made this LJ like two years ago and I only use it for baby_names. I have no idea what's in my profile or anything, I should probably update it. The Decemberists are still awesome, though!

[breedertales.livejournal.com]

Well, for me it's a name that runs in my family. My great-great aunt, my grandma, my mom... It's not my favorite name in the whole world, but I don't have any negative feelings about it. For me I think of it relatively positively because I've grown up associating it with my family.

[biancasablancas.livejournal.com]

I guess the warmth of associating something with your family can counteract the more negative parts of it. Still, 'barbaric'...

[breedertales.livejournal.com]

lol Yeah, if it didn't have that connotation for me, I probably wouldn't be game for using it at all. As it is, it's not really one of my top choices ;)

[lovetokate.livejournal.com]

I have no idea...I hate it, too. My husband has a grandmother with the name and several great aunts. I don't get how their mothers found it to be an attractive name. :oP

But I've also known some women who carry it very well.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I never made the barbaric connection before, I just think that it sounds like an old woman's name.

[nothingtolose19.livejournal.com]

I can't say I love the name, because I'm not overly fond of it. However, it's my aunt's name, so that's why I don't mind it :)

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I really, really don't like the name Barbara. And I have TWO Aunt Barbara's, one on each side. My dad's brother's wife Barbara is EVIL.

However, my mom's brother's wife is a total sweetheart, she almost solely goes by Barb. My aunt & uncle's son's name is Ken, so we sometimes jokingly call my aunt "Barbie" as in Ken & Barbie, although they are mother and son, not romantically involved.

I don't know. As much as I love my Aunt Barb, Barbara is just an icky name, and Barb sounds really close to Bob and Bart for me.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I like the name for personal reasons, but I wouldn't use it as a first name because I'm not a huge fan of it on name grounds, you know what I mean? I plan to use it as a middle name after a couple of people who are really important to me, though.

[justuschickens.livejournal.com]

I had an awesome grandmother and a terrible grandmother. The terrible one was named Barbara.

[seksimaggie.livejournal.com]

I have an aunt named Barbara, and she always goes by Barbie, and when I was little I thought it was soo cool that she had the same name as Barbie, haha how lame... Now I don't care for either name.

I knew a little girl, she was 4 when I used to babysit her, and her name was Barbara Isabella, Barbara after her mother, and she always went by Bella. I thought that was a cute system, because Bella was adorable on a 4-year-old but it wouldn't be a good name on a grown-up, professional lady, whereas Barbara could be better for that age/circumstance. Soo that's the only good quality I can think of.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

Haha I know what you mean. I always wondered why on earth somebody would essentially call their child 'barbarian'. That is what it means anyway- barbarian just means foreigner/alien/outsider etc, and so does Barbara.

There are two more things I don't like about it -- Barbie, and that the end of the name sounds like "bra"

But, I've grown to tolerate this name, I have met some older women who wore it well, and it doesn't sound AS bad as some other names if you forget all the barb- words that go with it. I certainly don't like it though, and have often wondered how it ever made its way into common usage.