Names

[Male Ponytail]

Would you give your baby a name dealing with a figure related to hair such as Rapunzel, Sampson, Delilah or Medusa?

[Obsidian]

No, never. Thats just setting them up for teasing.

[Ylva]

No. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for "strange" and unique names, but those hold no special meaning to me. And what if my child didn't want to have long hair? The association would suck arse.

[AmaryllisRed]

Human child, no.
Pet or plant, sure.

[cjk]

If the name was something that was tangentially related to hair, Samson is actually a good example, then maybe. Samsung is known for hair, yes, but also strength. And faith in God.

But naming your daughter Medusa? Or Rapunzel?

It's a fine line.

As for the comment about setting them up for teasing, children are evil little balls of hatred and torment. They'll find, or make up, something to target. Even if it's not the name.

There's a famous story, perhaps apocryphal, about Frank Zappa and his kids weird names. Dweezil got tired of the teasing and decided to tell people his name was Richard.

Yeah, he was briefly known as Dick.

[Jane99]

Now that you mention it, Rapunzel would be a good name for one of my plants!

[Iyashikei]

No. Especially not Sampson because of similarities to a certain dog in a TV program for kids here.

[Male Ponytail]

I like the name I was given but see it continues to fall out of favor with time, except given as a pet name being quite popular now! Maybe it's sounds cute to most people or too unmanly thus the decline in populaity these days? Perhaps the demographic of people has changed where certain ethnic people or people of certain religious denomonations or cultures in general who give that name commonly have a declining birthrate? Why do you think the name "Jeffrey" continues to fall out of favor of people with time? As of 2018, the name ranks #331 among male names according to the USA Social Security Administration and declines each year.

[Xlena]

Nope, I prefer more traditional names, but as everyone else, I'd chose those for pets.

And even if I wanted, my country doesn't allow it. They don't want children to be bullied in school so no weird or extravagant names are allowed. Recently they're not even allowing foreign names, you can only put a foreign name if one of the parents is from other country so... xd

[Lady Stardust]

When I chose a name for my child, I thought about a few things factors:

- how did it go with our surname
- would it be an obvious target for teasing
- how would it appear on a CV/job application
- I imagined them as an 18 year old introducing themselves down the pub! I didn’t want them to cringe.

Rapunzel and Medusa fail on multiple criteria!

[Male Ponytail]

Nope, I prefer more traditional names, but as everyone else, I'd chose those for pets.

And even if I wanted, my country doesn't allow it. They don't want children to be bullied in school so no weird or extravagant names are allowed. Recently they're not even allowing foreign names, you can only put a foreign name if one of the parents is from other country so... xd

Interesting, I take it you're from Spain? When did this name restriction for foreign names start? Is there a list of names deemed acceptable one can choose from?

[SleepyTangles]

I like mythological/literarature-derived names, but I'm not looking for them to be hair-related.

ETA: actually Dalila (Delilah in Italiano), sounds nice. Not a fan of the biblical counterpart, tough ;)

[SleepyTangles]

When I chose a name for my child, I thought about a few things factors:

- how did it go with our surname
- would it be an obvious target for teasing
- how would it appear on a CV/job application
- I imagined them as an 18 year old introducing themselves down the pub! I didn’t want them to cringe.

Rapunzel and Medusa fail on multiple criteria!

Those are some awesome tips! Babies won't be babies forever ;)

[florenonite]

When I chose a name for my child, I thought about a few things factors:

- how did it go with our surname
- would it be an obvious target for teasing
- how would it appear on a CV/job application
- I imagined them as an 18 year old introducing themselves down the pub! I didn’t want them to cringe.

Rapunzel and Medusa fail on multiple criteria!

These are great criteria!

It reminds me of this (https://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2019/07/unique-names-in-scotland-2018.html) list I came across recently, of unique names given to babies in Scotland a couple of years ago. A lot of the boys' names are unusual, but could be used either as-is or in a nickname format by an adult human being (for instance wee McKenna-Jamieson might not be using his full name, but there are a wealth of nicknames to choose there). Even the fantasy-inspired ones tend to favour names and words that wouldn't raise eyebrows outside of the fandom (like Lorien; if you're not a big Tolkien fan you might think it's a variation on Loren).

A lot of the names on the girls' list, on the other hand, come across much more cutesy to me (though I think Perth is lovely and Callumina is very traditional). Sassi-Boo and Baby are going to grow up one day and be putting those names on their CVs.

Of course this is a list of names that were each given once, so it's not representative of the average parent naming a new child, but I thought it was interesting to see a gender delineation in what sorts of unusual names parents chose for boys versus girls. And that's how I'd feel naming a daughter something like Rapunzel; like I was giving her a cute fairytale name that's fun for a child whose mum likes to braid her hair, but not so fun for an adult with a pixie cut trying to apply for jobs.

Now Medusa, I'd be tempted by, and that's why I don't have kids :twisted:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Only if I wanted my child to be bullied over it at school...

[DropStitches]

I like the name I was given but see it continues to fall out of favor with time, except given as a pet name being quite popular now! Maybe it's sounds cute to most people or too unmanly thus the decline in populaity these days? Perhaps the demographic of people has changed where certain ethnic people or people of certain religious denomonations or cultures in general who give that name commonly have a declining birthrate? Why do you think the name "Jeffrey" continues to fall out of favor of people with time? As of 2018, the name ranks #331 among male names according to the USA Social Security Administration and declines each year.

I love the name Delilah, though the association with that song from a few years ago by the Plain White Tees actually overrides the Biblical hair destroying temptress for me!

As for Jeffrey, I think names that were super popular at one time tend to decline in popularity because they're associated with a particular generation, so you don't meet too many babies called Linda or Barbara or Clive because those names were super popular in the 60s and 70s and so now read as 'mom/dad' names. After a while, though, like fashions with other things, I think names come back around - so a lot of what I would once have thought of as slightly old-lady/man-like names, like Ruby or Violet or Albert have become super popular in recent years. I know I personally knew a fair few Jeffreys growing up, both in my generation (now 30-something), and a bit older than me, so I'd speculate that people having children now might have those same associations, and look for something a bit more 'modern' feeling. But I'm sure Jeffrey's time will come again!

Sorry, a bit off the topic of hair, but names are one of my other obsessions!

[Amy-Lee]

Medusa and Rapunzel? Haha. I'll pass on those, even though one of my favorite animated cartoons is Tangled. I do love Delilah though. Such a sweet sounding name. :o