Does your child have an unusual name?

amother

Amber

Sat, Sep 10 2016, 10:45 pm

Just curious. My son is Sinai, which is pretty unusual for our circles, and I love hearing slightly different (but not too "out there") names.
Please share!

Tzutzie

Sat, Sep 10 2016, 10:49 pm

My kids both have typical names. My oldest is not very common but it's fairly typical. My second child has, I think, THE most common name.

I have two uncommon names. One of them is Tirtzah. I love both my names.

Maya

Sat, Sep 10 2016, 10:53 pm

My kid's name was normal for our circles when we named him, but is out of place now in his school/community because it's pronounced with a Chassidish havarah Smile

A lot of people question us about it.

amother

Chocolate

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 3:39 am

amother wrote:

Just curious. My son is Sinai, which is pretty unusual for our circles, and I love hearing slightly different (but not too "out there") names.
Please share!

I love that name. Are you in Israel? I've met one boy in Israel with that name.
One of my kids has an unusual name, she doesn't like it. I love it. My other kids have fairly boring names.

Teomima

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 4:22 am

dd1 has a name I thought I made up, but suddenly became all the rage right when she was born, and now there several girls in her school with the same name.

dd2 has a name that is very popular, but not at all in our circles. The only person she's ever met with the same name is a teacher at her school.

dd3 has a very unusual name, though it's similar to other popular names. It's not easy for us when introducing her but the literal meaning is very special to us. People catch on easily enough so hopefully it'll be no trouble for her as she grows up.

Worst case scenario, all three have easy, common Hebrew (we're in Israel) middle names they can go by as they get older, if they wish.

amother

Navy

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 7:10 am

Teomima wrote:

Worst case scenario, all three have easy, common Hebrew (we're in Israel) middle names they can go by as they get older, if they wish.

This isn't directed specifically at you, but I had to add my two cents.

I have an unusual, kind of ugly, first name. Switching to my "normal" middle name would have meant insulting my parents and dealing with the hassle of correcting people all the time, so I decided not to bother.

I wouldn't put the burden on my kids to change their names just because I wanted something funky. Some kids, of course, will love their unique names. Some won't. You can't possibly know in advance, so it seems unfair.

Give your child an unusual middle name if you want, but call him or her by something mainstream.

Sake

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 7:24 am

We wanted very badly to name a son for my father but his name is Sake pronounced (shacky) it's Dutch for Jacques but nobody would ever know how to say it. So ended up calling our last baby James. Dad's middle name is Zachariah but I didn't feel it was the same to name a middle name.

Ruchel

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 7:40 am

Legally you can use any of your names here, though in practice they often want you to use the first.
My kids names are not that rare, depends on circles, I use more "heimish" nicknames that range from mega common to unheard of depending on circle.
I use my third name the most but never changed the order as it's long/expensive.
Give what you like, just do think of an adult using it

Teomima

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 7:44 am

amother wrote:

I wouldn't put the burden on my kids to change their names just because I wanted something funky. Some kids, of course, will love their unique names. Some won't. You can't possibly know in advance, so it seems unfair.

Give your child an unusual middle name if you want, but call him or her by something mainstream.

I hear what you're saying, but it go could either way. You could make a kid Sarah and she could hate being one of the fifteen Sarahs in her class and want to change to something less common. There's no way to know.

I agree going too funky isn't necessarily ideal (in our case, we just added a yud to a name that doesn't normally have one, but it greatly personalized the name in a way that was hugely meaningful to us), but in the end, a parent has to go with names that speak to their heart.

saw50st8

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 7:46 am

My kids have very common hebrew names and then very common in the non-Jewish world English names that are uncommon in the Jewish world. I didn't want my kids to be one of 9 Chanis in the grade (true story for my sister). There was ALWAYS another Shira in my class. I hated it.

When they get older, they are welcome to choose one of their other names (and if they choose their Hebrew names, it would be pretty easy switch without being too much of a hassle). So far they seem to like their names.

cnc

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 8:12 am

amother wrote:

Just curious. My son is Sinai, which is pretty unusual for our circles, and I love hearing slightly different (but not too "out there") names.
Please share!

I love the name Sinai.
I know a few Sinais all part of the same family.

2cents

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 8:34 am

My kids all have less common names, but nothing "funky" that I think they may have an issue with as they grow up. They definitely know that their names are different and the older ones know that we put a lot of thought and love in choosing. Dh is very anti middle names so no help there.

amother

Amber

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 10:25 am

Thanks everyone! Sinai is a family name and we live in a pretty yeshivish community in the US, so most people have never heard of it. I personally only know one other person with it outside of the family.
He doesn't mind it, in fact for a long time we called him by his more common name but he wanted to be called Sinai!

OOTBubby

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 11:17 am

Tzutzie wrote:

I have a daughter names Tirtza. She was never bothered by it, but realized it became helpful to have an unusual first name when she married someone with a very common last name. With a common first name, there would have been lots of people around with the same name; with an unusual first name she doesn't have that problem.

amother

Amber

Sun, Sep 11 2016, 8:31 pm

OP here. Love how I got hugged on that first post! If we hadn't like the name we wouldn't have named him that Very Happy

Thanks all for your input, it's interesting to see which names are considered unusual (I know people with most of the names mentioned).