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I love the name Arielle for a girl. I think it sounds pretty and looks pretty. But I was thinking about this name yesterday and tried picturing it on an adult professional woman. Couldn't do it. The name screams cute little girl, and that's it.

So, I tried this with other names I like. Sydney, for example, is a total guilty pleasure girl name for me, and again, sounds ridiculous on an adult. I actually was picturing my mother and giving her these names, heh. Now it bugs the crap out of me when people are listing such childish names for future children... I mean these "kids" are going to be ADULTS for most of their lives, NOT BABIES. While a name may be lyke soooo kewt on a 3-year-old, is it really going to be like that on a grown woman? I doubt it.

And yeah, there's the arguement that, well, in 30 years LOTS of adults will have (stupid) names like Mykaila and Mickinzi and Aydyn... but in 30 years LOTS of adults will also have (nice) names like Isabel, Julia, and Daniel. So is Mickinzi really going to be thought of as an adult with a nice, strong name... or a grown woman with a little kids name?

A few years ago, I worked at a clothing store and I worked with a girl named Makayla. She was like 17 or something and even then, I always thought "God, she has a little girl name..."

I don't know. I'm just kind of thinking that if a name immediately illicts an "OMG THAT'S SOOO CUTE!" from me, it's probably not a name I should use. I just think it's sad that people name their children based on the fact that OMG HARLEY IS SUUUUCH A KEWT NAME FOR A LITTLE GIRL! without thinking about the fact that she's not gonna be a little girl forever, ya know?

Yay classic names!

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YAY CLASSIC NAMES!!!

My unborn and possibly not even yet conceived child will never have to correct the spelling of their first name. My kid is not going to suffer for my OMGNEEDTOBEORIGINAL.

I think it depends on each individual's association with the names. For example, I have to disagree with you on the name Sydney. I absolutely do not think it is ridiculous for an adult. I think a person makes his/her name what it is for him/herself. My childhood best friend's name is Arielle and now she is the manager of a camera store and runs her own photography business. Even though I knew her best when we were little girls, that doesn't take away anything from her professionalism as an adult. I do agree that some names might have that "cute little girl" sound to them, but I don't think that these names don't transfer well to adults. The name is with the person throughout their life and I think adapts itself to the person as s/he grows older. For example, my mom's name is Barbara. When she was younger everyone called her Bobby, now they call her Barb or Barbara. Her family still calls her Bobby and it sounds sort of childish to me when I hear it, but that's because she's my mother so I have a certain association with it. Then again, one of my mom's best friends' name is Bobbie and it totally works on her.

Obviously they are exceptions to every rule. Of course there could be a Sydney who's CEO of a major corporation. There could also be one who's a stripper.

We are judgemental creatures. Studies show that people make SNAP JUDGEMENTS based on names. If I am looking at two resumes that are nearly identical and one persons name is Rose and the other's is Madisynnleigh, I'm going to tend to think Rose, based on a judgement of her name only is more professional. That's the way the world works, not saying it's a good thing, but it's reality.

I'm in no way claiming a name dictates who a person is.

Sydney to ME sounds VERY adult and mature, and I think it sounds funny as a child's name. Henry is the same way.

I'm sure at one point Julia was never considered "an adult name".. but a lot of people named their children that and eventually they all grew up and it became "adult" If there's a bunch of kids now with the names, then eventually they will end up sounding like adult named

names*

Did you even read my post?

And yeah, there's the arguement that, well, in 30 years LOTS of adults will have (stupid) names like Mykaila and Mickinzi and Aydyn... but in 30 years LOTS of adults will also have (nice) names like Isabel, Julia, and Daniel. So is Mickinzi really going to be thought of as an adult with a nice, strong name... or a grown woman with a little kids name?

k, thanks.

And at the end I said eventually people will accept them as adult names.

k, thanks.

I am SO with you on this.
I'm not really a fan of boring classics, but more trendy classics... I love girly girly names, and lots of them do scream 'cuuuuute' ...

My favourites are Anabelle, Amelia, Felicity, Juliet... classic, cute, without being too much of either!

Yes! Thank you! There is definitely a happy medium and I think you stumbled right onto it :) I love those names.

I'm totally with you on this one..
I'd never give my child a name that I couldn't imagine myself having..

I know a 16-year old girl named Ariel, and it fits her just fine... I have no idea why it'd be any different on her as an adult.

I also know a Makayla that's in her mid-20's and again, I think it's just fine.

I completely disagree with you... except in a few extreme situations where the name is stupid to begin with (for example, Nevaeh)

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I agree...my brother was named James, but from the time my mom got pregnant she intended to call him Jimmy...and we did. Until he hit 6th grade and decided that Jimmy was a childish name and he wasn't childish. Since then (he's now a junior in HS) he's gone by James. If his name had actually been Jimmy he wouldn't have had that choice and Jimmy REALLY doesn't suit him anymore and James is perfect.

I know a Sydney and she just oozes maturity and glamour. I can't picture her young because she's looked an adult for years.

I also know an adult named Sydney and thought the same thing. So I have to disagree with the original poster, even though I prefer classic names anyway. :)

Yeah I was thinking of Sydney from Alias. She certainly fits that description too. :)

I hear Sydney and think Bristow just because I'm such a big fan of the show, so I can definatly see it fitting a strong, smart adult.

I agree with you for the most part...

But specifically about Arielle, I think spelling it Ariel might help make it less cutesy and more fitting for all ages. It's a very traditional Jewish name with ancient roots (it means "lion of God" and is used as another name for Jerusalem). It is used more often for boys, I think, though it's not unheard of for girls. So Ariel's definitely not in the Mickinzy/Makayla camp! I can definitely see an adult Ariel (by then the mermaid reference should be super old...), so I would reconsider it!

What is your icon? It looks like an old world map too me. But uh...the world has more than 2 continents LOL.

OH!!!! It's ancient texts! ?

Yes! It's a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I'm doing my doctorate in Hebrew Bible/Ancient Judaism so I'm a big ancient text nerd :)

Maybe this is why I love 'old lady' names so much, can be sure they'll age well because they've been road tested. Even so I don't give much thought to whether a name will age well. Yeah there's the 'president test' but these are people with their own free will, they might not end up in such a career.

I think names grow with people and the perceptions over time. For every time people say they can't picture an adult named Mckenzie someone has as much trouble imagining a baby Frank.
It would be very tedious and confusing if people only stuck with a very small pool of names. Why would we want to anyway?

Oh and just curious, who has the right and omniscience to say what is and isn't a 'childish name'; or which namers are acting out of some egoism in their desire for a sense of originality*?
The whole thing is a matter of perspective. There are names that I wouldn't use, but try very hard not to have the nerve to write them or their admirers off as 'stupid' or whatever.

*because of course we can't bucking the status quo, what would the neighbours think! (rolls eyes)

Ditto, darling. I was thinking the same thing, and you said it perfectly. :)

Thanks :)

Who are we to call a name childish? This is a baby names community... we are here to give our opinion on baby names. So I can't refer to a name as childish but I can refer to it as... what? I don't call people who like trendy names stupid and I never would. I might say I think the NAME is stupid, but hey they can feel free to tell me that Elizabeth is stupid or Mary Anne is stupid. Sharing our opinions is pretty much what we're here for, do you think that we should only share an opinion if we AGREE with the OP?

or you could always be like me and give your kid a classic first name and a 'trendy' middle name.

Rebecca Madison (she goes by Madison.. for now at least)

oh and I also LOVE the name Sydney!!! I like it on a girl more then a boy.. but it goes both ways! A friend of mine has that name picked for her future child.. and it's really grown on me over the years. :)

I love that! I love the name Rebecca, as long as people don't use Becky as nn. Rebecca is beautiful. And I love the idea of a classic first name and a trendy middle name, because lets face it I think we've all got at least a teeny bit of a trendy bone in our body and that's a fabulous way to incorporate both :)

:) exactly. I love the name Rebecca. Hate the nn becky and have a so so opinion of becca. That's one of the reasons we went with Madison for now. Maddie is a cool nn for a little girl, and Madison on the right person is an OK name for an adult. (Tho Rebecca is a much nicer formal name!!)

I think it depends on the person, and how you raise the child. If a child is strong enough and self-confident enough, they can carry any name their whole lives.

I also think Sydney is a very adult name.

I agree with you in some cases I think people dont think about what there kid will have to go through when naming.. sometimes I think thats our own human selfishness, I mean who says we get to pick a name that someone has to live with forever but I mean I guess thats just the way it is.

As for sydney apparently people dont agree with you or just alot of people that read this blog know sydneys but I dont think the point of your post was to bash the name sydney or anything but rather to say that people sometimes dont pick names that will do well in the adult world and sometimes in our selfishness we pick names for our kids for all the wrong reason.. BUt I could be misinterpreting the point of your post.

The person that comes to mind is the poor little girl that already has to grow up in the awful hollywood world but she also has a crappy name.. Apple.. i mean seriously

I have to disagree with you a bit here. The first time I heard the name Apple I thought, "WTF kind of name is that?!", but now I actually like it. It's different, it's sweet, and from what I understand, it's a name born out of love. And no, I'm not a fan of Coldplay or Gwyneth Paltrow. I just think it's refreshing to hear a name that very few other people have thought of before. Also, I have thing for nature names, and unusual names in general, so that helps. :)

again missing the point of the post. Im sure some people like the name apple.. but I dont think everyone does and I know I wouldnt like it if that was my name.

I am not, thank you very much, missing the point of the post, although I did find it a bit rude. I was merely expressing my opinion, as did the original poster. Not everyone thinks that only classic names will "age" well. Not that I'm fond of the whole trendy/kre8tiv name thing, either. I just find it particularly uncouth to call certain names "dumb". It's simply unnecessary.

Yes, exactly! The point WAS NOT to bash Sydney, I feel like I should edit my original post and clarify... it was just an example. You got my point just as I thought others would. I mean I even said I like the name Sydney! lol. I think that its hard for a lot of people to imagine their baby as, well, older than them. I mean if you're 17 years old and thinking about baby names, you're probably not thinking about 40 years in the future when your "baby" is 40 and you are 57. You're thinking about a cute little kid, maybe a teenager... and that's really all I was getting at. I guess that point was lost in the whole Sydney debacle though :/

well this blog tends to get a bit dramatic sometimes.. i mean its mostly women and were all a little dramatic at times

Yeah... I didn't really get focussed on the specific details of this post. I just thought that you were trying to say, not that a really "cute" name is necessarily bad... but if people are choosing a cute name simply on the basis that it is cute for a little kid, that is a bit silly... you're naming someone for life, not just their childhood.

I agree with that - you may love a cute adorable name, and pick it for the reason that you simply love it and it's a beautiful name. That's fine. But if you are going "ooh this name is so cute, I can just imagine a sweet little girl in a pink frilly dress with this name" then maybe they need to think a bit more. That's all.

(As a side issue... it's weird how "Makayla" is now this trendy Mackenzie/Madison kind of name. I always used to know Michaela as this normal but slightly unusual name - a feminine form of Michael... and now it seems to have transformed itself into a Mc name with no substance simply because its spelling trend has changed. If that makes sense...)

Ok, I think people are getting a little side-tracked with agreeing/disagreeing with your examples. I see your main point, though, and I completely agree. I think it's super important to consider how well the name ages when naming your child. I cringe at the idea of a bunch of 40 year old Madyson's and Ashleigh's. (Hell, I cringe at the idea of a 2 year old Madyson or Ashleigh! That's beside the point though. heh) Anyway, I also like the idea of giving your kid a more classic first name and a 'trendy' middle name.

I agree. A 40 year old Milo or Kandee? I don't think so.

I half agree with you. I think the names that are most likely to carry a "little kid" vibe through adulthood are the "tailored", better known as "cracked-out" spellings (like your examples).

I think the problem with those is that they don't just use a unique spelling, they create a completely new word that is thumbing its nose at the rules of the English language.

Bravo! I agree 100%. There are tons and tons of names that I absolutely adore - but I'd never name a poor child it. I've already got my top two names for both genders picked out, and they're nice and normal (Peter, Catherine, Alexander, Elizabeth). Maybe paired with one of the weirder-but-cute names as a middle name, but not as a first. Just... no.

Oh, me too. I have so many names on my list that I completely love, but would never actually use for a child. I think a lot of people a problem letting go of those types of names. Personally, I use them for my pets! My kitten is named Emma because, while I adore the name, I'd never actually use it for a child and have her be one of three Emmas in her class at school, you know?

A nurse I met is named Ashley...she is much older and it just seemed wrong to me.

I think Sydney is a perfectly fine name for an adult. It's a favorite of mine, actually. But i have bumped a lot of names from my list because they just don't work on an adult, IMO. Cheyenne is one of my favorite names, but I'd never saddle someone with it.
There was a professional something-or-other on Starting Over once whose first name was "Smooch." Bloody hell, people, I have no idea what kind of crack her mother was on.

I agree with this post exactly. My mom named me Holland, and as much as I hate the name, it can grow with me. I mostly go by Hollie, since Holland doesn't seem to fit a teen, but in say, 20 years, I'll most likely go by Holland, and it will fit me.

something i do when im deciding on names is to picture the boy/girl as a little person, as a teenager with his/her friends cheering for him during a game or something, outstretching their hand as they introduce him/herself as he/she interviews for colleges, then for jobs, then eventually as a middle aged adult. finding something that fits all those scenarios is really important to me.

that's a cool way to kinda test run a name. I might steal that idea from you :)

oh, please do! i completely agree with your post. all these little people running around with adorable names are going to feel cursed in 20 years. i had a friend who when she was pregnant she decided that she would only name her child a name that she could picture someone saying "now introducing President so-and-so" and i thought it was a great gauge. she wound up having a girl and naming her margaret, but pretty much only goes by maggie. seriously, i dont know that i would want a president brittnee or braydyn or mykaylee, or something equally ridiculous. and i wish more people would think about things like that before they name their child. :)

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