babynames | (no subject)

(no subject)

I met my first Isabelle today. It's never been a name that I cared about either way, but when I heard it on an actual person, I thought, "wow, it's entirely way too princess-y, over-the-top, and only works in theory."

So, whether that's your opinion or not, I was wondering: do any of you have names that you liked until you heard it on an actual person, and then just thought, "wow, that does not work"?

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I haven't had that exact experience, but I noticed that when I got pregnant and had an actual kid to name, suddenly a lot of the more fanciful names I liked seemed less appealing.

From another perspective, I have found it weird when people I know by a nickname move or enter a new phase of their lives and start going by their full names. For example, my college roommate was always Toni and when she went to grad school she started going by Antoinette. I love the name Antoinette but it doesn't seem like it fits the person I know/knew...so it has been really alienating. Maybe it's because Toni and Antoinette are such different name styles? Maybe if it was Sara short for Sarafina it wouldn't seem so weird? I don't know.

My best friend is Joseph Evan, but because Joseph was also his uncle's name, he has forever been Evan. However, all of his professors call him Joseph, and he's started going by it to some degree. It is weird.

My boyfriend is John Nicholas, but he's always gone by Nick. He said the same thing of professors- he just lets them call him John because he's in a lot of larger classes where it's difficult to explain that he goes by Nick, so a lot of his schoolmates know him as John.

I think it's kind of weird- he's so clearly a Nick and not a John to me.

I always loved the name Anastasia... It's long, elegant, and would be a nice spin on my mother's name, Ann.

My freshman year of college, my roommate had a friend named Anastasia. She was awful: spoiled, whiny, clingy, demanding. Everything I would never want my daughter to be.

I named my cat Isabel after queen Isabella of Spain, so yeah, I get the princessy side of it :) My mom's first response was "Well, now you can't name your child that..." So?

I like Isabelle, especially as Isobel or Isobella, NN being either Bella or Izzy.

I have yet to hear one that I really dislike. Daphne might be the only one.

I actually had the opposite experience with the name Isabella. (Which I prefer over Isabelle.) I really disliked the name until I heard the nickname Bella (pronounced the Spanish way.) being used for a friends niece. I loved the nickname, and Isabella has really started to grow on me. I guess it can go both way.s

you know...now that I think about it, I've only met one Isabelle too, and it does seem too dramatic for a person. especially because this person was a four year old girl.

a woman at church named her baby Ava, and I hadn't thought much of it before but then when I heard it on an actual person it was strange. especially because Ava on a baby seems weird to me. it's not necessarily an old lady name to me, but it does seem a bit fanciful. maybe I think of the Gabor sisters, even though that one was an Eva.

I used to like the Truman, but I can't really see it on a person.

i just experienced this with the name lily - i have always loved it, but i met a teenager named lily recently and was like "ew that does NOT work on anyone over the age of ten"

to me Lilly always starts as an old lady name, because I grew up with an Aunt Lilly (Lillian) (and she's technically my mom's aunt) - But unlike other old lady names, I do actually enjoy hearing this one on a child - and I like it spelled Lily... maybe because Auntie Lilly was never my favorite person :P

putting a face to a name sure can kill it
as a teacher- so many names are dead to me

I feel the same way about Isabelle. All the Isabels and Isabelles I know in real life go by Izzy.

It's amusing for me to read that because Isabelle is my name and there are so many other Isabelles in the French speaking countries it seemed obvious to me that the name worked perfectly, and was even boringly common. I had never imagined it could make that "princess-y" impression on people of other countries.

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