Would you rather have a "too common" or "too unusual" name?

It really depends on the names and what you consider to be unusual.

As someone with a less common name I'd rather have had the more common spelling Elizabeth because everyone mispronounces it

I was always in school with a million other Sarah's. Two of my best friends are sarahs. It never bothered me

Really doesnt bother me tbh - as long as I personally love the name

I’m also a Sarah who went to school like 5 other Sarah’s! I love my (our) name!

my name is “kaylee” but spelt ceili. i changed the spelling here because obviously his hard to pronounce if you don’t know it. it’s irish gaelic and no i haven’t ever found my name on a keychain or coffee cup but i LOVE my name and how unique it is.

I agree it depends on the names.

For reference: the names we're stuck between are

Peregrine/Peregrin - either after the bird or LoTR

Arthur - which is 6th most common boy name in UK

Chances are that whichever isn't the first name might end up as a middle name anyway

I love my uncommon name! Only thing weird about it is if you know how to spell it you can google a lotttt of things about me.

For my kids I wanted to avoid the top 100 in popularity, which we did. My son’s name is more popular than my daughter’s and technically both could be gender neutral. They’re not spelled weirdly I don’t think. Well my son’s definitely isn’t but you could spell my daughter’s name multiple ways.

More unusual! I guess it does depend on the names, but growing up in the US I never met anyone with my name and always loved feeling unique

I think Arthur Peregrine sounds nicer than Peregrine Arthur and he could also go by his middle name later if he wants

@Sarah our last name also starts with M so the other way around he'd end up being PAM for his Initials 😅 but if we went with Peregrin(e) as his first name, we were thinking Peregrin(e) Oscar Ellis (all book-related names) so his Initials would be POEM

I like Peregrin better than Peregrine. Have you thought about a nickname?

@Nevine I prefer Peregrin (like Pippin from LoTR) but my husband prefers Peregrine like the Falcon 😅 nicknames would be Pip, Pippin or Perry probably. For Arthur it would Art or Artie

Nice. I'd go with Peregrin(e). And like someone said he can choose one of his more common middle names if it bothers him later. That's what we did with our child too.

@Nevine I think that's why we wanted 2 middle names if we went for the "unusual" name, so he had more options

the initials poem are so cool! You definitely have a hard decisions lol

@Sarah my Initials are JAM 😂

Another Sarah checking in, it always made me feel like I automatically had a friend as a kid when I met another one. Interestingly enough one of my very good friends just named her kid Peregrin and calls him Pippin/Pip after Lotr. I love her and those films dearly, she is one of my best friends, our husbands are also close and we all love those movies but privately my husband and I cannot stop talking about what a goofy and cringy name choice it is if that helps at all. I would never say it to her face but it’s rough. Please choose Arthur, Peregrin is a lovely middle name choice.

@Sarah this is my worry too because people do think like that, and if the name doesn't suit or he doesn't have the confidence to pull it off it won't work. I know other kids won't judge when he's little. But then they'll overhear parents/adults saying stuff like that and will start to think like it or pick on him. But I also really hated being one of many Jess' and being called by my last name or my initials - although my maiden name wasn't great and our last name now is a lot better! We still have loads of time to think and have no idea what he'll be like or if we'll just go with different names completely. But I wanted to hear people's POV on being too common/unusual so we can think about pros and cons and what might make his life easier or harder

whatever you choose hopefully no one will say anything to your kid to be hurtful about it! Like I said, I love her and I would never ever say anything to her about her name choice because at the end of the day it makes her happy and she loves it and that’s what matters but essentially every mutual friend I’ve talked to has kind of had a similar reaction to mine in that we’re not crazy about it and it’s so closely associated with the books and movies it’s hard to take seriously but that we would never say that to her. No matter what you choose I hope you’re happy with it and that’s what matters! And like I said I really like the flow of Arthur Peregrin, it’s a great first and middle name combo and still give you the option for Pip as a nickname!

I have and uncommon name and I love it so I say unusual . I’d prefer my kid not to be 1 of 10 ppl in their grade with their name even if my child has to tell ppl how to pronounce or spell their name when they first meet

I also love Peregrine! Lots of different meanings for us too, but I think we’re going to settle for it as a middle name and nickname him Pippin for it

My names not really unusual but I barely ever meet someone with my name and sometimes people don’t know how to pronounce it but I’m glad I don’t have a more common name and would always sway towards something more unique

My name isn’t common in my area but its not unusual either(profile name isn’t my real name of course) lol as long as I have a name that easy to pronounce

@Lara we like that it's related to a Falcon, so gives nature and literary vibes as well as travel and freedom. Pippin isn't our first choice if that makes sense, as it's not just about the hobbit and if anything we don't want it to be an obvious reference to that. We want a name he can grow up with and be all ages and Pippin feels like a young or old person's name and definitely feels like a nickname not a full name to us. I guess we try and imagine one day he'll have to fill out forms, apply for jobs, get a driving license and passport etc. And what will the names be like when he's a teenager, adult, older

For boys I prefer classic, for girls I think you can get away with more uncommon.

@Chicken this is where we really struggled as we found girls names so much easier! But boys names are so hard 😪

Consider why a name is “unusual” — is the spelling unique? Is it not from your family’s culture? Is it a fantasy character?

@Kate it's Peregrine which could be associated with a Falcon or a character, or something else. I think people respond that it's "weird" but I'm not sure if it's because it's unfamiliar/uncommon or because people do/don't have certain associations- it's just hard to understand how it might impact his life

so my actual full first name is very “unusual” as in its the only one, there is literally no one else with that name 😭🤣 and growing up and even now I hated the conversation that I had with everyone I introduced myself to, it was the exact same script over and over and no one could ever pronounce it 🥴 so I just use my nickname now

But Peregrine/Pippin has so many meanings to us, we got engaged on the Camino pilgrimage where with their saying you see “peregrine” everywhere, my teddy i sleep with every night is called pippin that he got me when we got together 10 years ago, and we now live on the peregrines where we conceived our son! Plus I love LOTR 😅 but our last name is a P (& both our cats initials are PP) and I was unsure of the unusualness because of my name so middle it is

@Emy aw I'm glad you have that connection with the name ☺️ it sounds like you've made your decision for it to be a middle name for reasons that make sense to you. I still feel so torn though!

boy names are impossible!!! I totally agree