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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

What do you do?

What do you do when your friend or family member wants to give their child a bad name? Do you tell them your honest opinion of the name? Do you lie to spare their feelings? It's a no-win situation. If you lie to spare their feelings, the child will end up with a bad name. If you tell the person the truth, their feelings will be hurt.  I think it's okay to be honest if someone asks you for your opinion. Make sure to let the person know why you dislike the name. Be sure to offer your suggestions for a more tasteful name, but do it in a subtle way. Direct your friend to the most popular baby names site. Popularity is a big concern for most parents these days. If they realize that their bundle of joy will be one of the thousands with an "-aden" name, they might choose another name.  Let me know your opinions in the comments section.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I would be honest, some of these names that parents are giving these kids are down right tacky, and unfair to the children. One day this child is going to have to go to school or on a job interview and it will be very embarrassing when the person hosting the interview can't pronounce your name. Its cruel, I really like this site, and I hate when I read a comment and someone is so made at the site because their child has one of the horrible names on it. Parents need to stop thinking about what's hot at the moment and think about the childs future.

blahb31 said...

Unless you're directly asked, I would stay out of it. Your opinion isn't going to change anything, and the parents may take it badly. If they ask, then give your honest but polite opinion.

When my brother-in-law adopted, his wife asked me what I thought of the name they picked out. (Names changed to protect the innocent, but same basic idea applies.)

"We're going to change his name to Herman. What do you think?"

"His last name is Sherman. Those sound a lot alike to me."

"Oh, it will be fine."

So, yeah, your opinion won't matter.

Anonymous said...

H E L P! my granddaughter wants to name her baby girl Mi'Arah. How would you pronouce that? The phonetic pronounciation in her mind is Mee-ar-a. I already gave her my opinion of spelling the name a different way without the apostropher. She seems dead set on using it, though.

Anonymous said...

My mom is always honest with me. When i decide to have kids and if i'm hypnotized by today's baby names (most likely i won't) my mom will snap me out of it. I personally like older names. The fancy ones. Not a bunch of misspelled made up names.