“This is my brother, Daryl, and this is my other brother, Daryl.”
How in the world did that happen??
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When were we first having our kids, we lived an urban neighborhood full of arty media types. There were a lot of little Ruby’s, Toby’s, Lois’s and Theo’s. Our D’s old fashioned name was inspired by a good family friend who I had always liked.
My son’s middle name was inspired by my dad, who was quite cantankerous. When we told him the name, my dad said “They always called me that in school and I hated it.” 
Good old dad.
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My sister and I both hate our names. She had a nickname since childhood, and that is now her legal name. Me, I have just suffered.
So, when my kids mentioned the baby boy names to me, I said, “what ever happened to David, Benjamin, …? One name they mentioned was that of my son’s former roommate. I asked if this man liked his name, and would he feel honored. I did let DIL know that I came to really like the name she chose. So, baby has an unusual biblical name, and his middle name is Ralph, DIL’s tribute to her PGF.
My father had 8 siblings. He was #7. When he joined the marines he saw that the first name on the birth certificate was not the name he had gone by for the first 18 years of his life. Never a clear answer if his parents forgot what they named him, changed their minds or what have you, but he was surprised and then did absolutely nothing about it. He didn’t get it corrected until he was going to get a passport, which I believe was when I was in high school.
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My girls had pet rats, onyx and pearl.
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I was 3rd out of 4 children, my younger brother being 9 years younger than me. He was a “surprise” and I think after naming 3 my parents were sort of over picking names, lol. My mom let me think of my brother’s first and middle name. I have no idea why I picked what I did - it’s not odd or anything - in fact very normal and basic - but there is NO meaning whatsoever to his first/middle name!
My 3 have names and spellings that anyone would know but they are not super common names. H and I both have French-ish backgrounds so we tried to pick French origin names. D1 was named after my mom - a name that is also my middle name. Her middle name after H’s grandmother. S’s middle name was after my dad. D2’s middle name after my MIL’s fav song “Amazing GRACE” who was the first to know I was pregnant - I whispered to her when she was in her last couple of days of life…and was the song on the radio in her last hour on earth.
I think all 3 would say they like their names.
My mom grew up in Morocco and did not have a middle name. In fact, she had a different birth name but when she became an American citizen she chose to make official a slightly different more “American” version of her Moroccan name.
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Meaning a change like Maryam → Mary or Ibrahim → Abraham?
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Sort of. Not as “simple or common” like “Mary” but a name that would be more recognizable in the States.
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A friend I went to high school with was married to a man with a name that is a common one syllable male name with a z on the end, like “Bradz”. They actually named their son “Brad Bradz”. Still can’t believe they did that.
There was a realtor with big billboards in my area whose name was Ricky Rouse.
To the poster upthread who mentioned old fashioned names like Nellie — that’s a nickname for Eleanor which is a pretty popular name now. It’s one of those like Elizabeth that has a million nickname variations, Ella, Elle, Ellie, Lenore, Nell, Nellie, Nora, etc. Nellie might not be the top nickname for Eleanor right now but I suspect it will bubble to the surface soon. We know tons of Ellas and Eleanors.
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I usually smile and nod. My niece is having a baby and I don’t like the choice of her baby’s name at all! Her mom doesn’t like it either. I haven’t liked her other two children’s names either but one of them is growing on me. They were all ethnic names from the father’s origins (two different fathers and two different origins).
When my daughter was naming her son she told me one night they were strongly considering Howie. She was serious. I just said “The only Howie I know is Howie Mandel.” She asked who that was and I brought up a picture and she says “Ohhhh. I think we will come up with a different name.” I love my grandson’s name they chose as a replacement.
Old lady names are funny. In my family they were Ida, Helen, Margaret, Ula, Polly, Fannie, Virginia, Delma, Inas, Myrtle, Bessie, Golda Mae, Alta some can come back and some are better to stay gone!
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My aunt Helen went by Nellie.
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Don’t be so sure! My son likes this name for a girl.
I love the name Gertrude. Totally considered it for my daughter.
D doesn’t have a middle name. We didn’t think we needed one.
High school graduation - her diploma had “FirstName No Middle Name LastName”. The principal profusely apologized for this and sent us a duplicate diploma.
When D was about three years old, we had a discussion about a jewish friend and how they named their kids after someone in the family who had a long happy life. I said I wished we had done that. D piped up and announced her middle name - she picked my grandma’s! Even though officially, she doesn’t have a middle name, when I am very frustrated with her, I do call her by her first and “chosen” middle name.
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I love all of these.
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But I wouldn’t name two sisters Thelma and Louise!
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I have a friend who has two dogs named Thelma and Louise ; )
That’s where I run into trouble…when someone names their child with a name that I associate with a pet ; )
I have a Gladys, Bertha, Mildred, Leola, Etta, Josephine, Ewert, and Berlin in my family tree. No one decided to name any of their kids after them, lol.
I did have an older relative named Fern which I think is pretty.
Everyone but me in my immediate family has a name with the same uncommon initial: my husbands middle name, my oldest’s middle name named after her dad, and my youngest’s middle name coincidentally given to her by her orphanage in China. All of the baby girls that arrived at the orphanage in the same month were given the same first name (different second name - think Mei Li, Mei Lan, Mei Hua etc ) with that initial. The name was also spelled VERY similar to my husband and oldest’s name (which is an Irish name). I noticed that on one set of unofficial paperwork, someone in China had changed the spelling to more closely match my husband and other daughters name! It was a list of all the babies in our adoption group of 10 families or so, and only our daughter had her Chinese name altered, so we knew what had happened. I was very touched by that! In the end, her official documents had the same spelling as the other babies, and we kept her original Chinese name as her middle name.
I have an old lady name, but it’s my name so it doesn’t sound ugly to me. Also, hardly anyone has ever called me by my full name, so I just go by the shortened version. It was in the top 100 most popular names for over 40 years with a high of #14, but it hasn’t shown any signs of coming back.
I have a friend who named her eldest Jamie, when he transitioned he was grateful that he didn’t have to change his name.
We had a neighbor named Hyacinth. I quite like the name.
I’m a fan of the classic names with normal spellings, but I don’t say anything. I might ask how they came to choose the name assuming I could do so without sounding accusatory.
I’m curious what my married son might choose. He’s married to a young woman from Hong Kong. She has a very common English first name, Chinese middle and last name.
I chose Biblical names for my kids, figuring if they’ve been in use for 2,000 years, odds are they’d stick around (I don’t like new/trendy names, eg Tiffany). We named my eldest after the man who built our 230 year old house.
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I know a baby Mabel. Had not heard that before.
I still remember my brother-in-law commenting that my chosen girls name for my first child was too “rhymey” with DH’s last name. It really wasn’t although the first syllable of each were the same. I didn’t have a girl and moved on from the name. While I sort of appreciated his pointing that out, mostly was annoyed. Also, most people mispronounce DH’s last name so it would not have rhymed.
My DH’s brother had a boys name that I really didn’t like (also thought high potential for teasing). Didn’t say a word but was thankful that their first and only child was a girl and did not get such with that name.