Almost named

[VisionofMilotic]

A person's name is important. While some parents may know right away what their child's name will be, it can also be a lengthy decision process where multiple names are considered.

Did your family ever think of a name that's different than the one they gave you? For me, yes! It sounds like it was actually a long, involved discussion, from what I have been told. It wasn't just my parents, but other busy extended family members popping up and suggesting and vetoing names.

There were a lot of things I was nearly named. My mother wanted a name that was both unusual and that she thought was pretty, gravitated towards ones that came from art. A couple of them were Giselle, the title character of her favorite ballet, and Titania, name of the fairy queen in A Midsummer Night's Dream. My dad thought all of this was pretentious and silly. I'm not sure how I feel about Giselle, but I actually liked the Titania idea. My dad however refused both, and wanted instead names after some flesh and blood people he knew or respected, and was gunning for Winifred, with my nickname being Winnie. My mother had a violent reaction to that one, especially thought being called Winnie for short was cringey. While I don't miss being Winifred, I would probably just have shortened it to Freddie, that I could deal with.

The compromise my dad put forward was my actual name. I personally think it's kinda ugly, but like with Fred I am okay just being Sam for short.

Was there a name that you were almost given? You don't need to share the name you currently have, unless you want to. This is just about alternative names you could have gotten.

 

[Retek]

Hmm, my parents once told me they wanted to name me Sanbhav, a combination of their names, but the family members had other plans, and that lead to my present name.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

If I were a boy, I would've been named after my dad. He was named after his dad (he's the Jr.) and my parents were going to name the next boy the III, but my parents never had any boys.

 

[Ivysaur]

In my case, my mum was so dead set on what to call me that she prepared two versions, one for both possible genders. I'm Víctor, but had I been a girl, I would have been Victoria (a name I used in some Pokémon games when I decided to use the female character).

 

[Corrin]

My family is very old fashioned and tends to name after other family members.
This is the context for why I was almost named Gertrude.

 

[RedDragonThunderzord]

I'm not sure if I almost got named something different, but my twin was almost Halcyon, which was our maternal grandmother's middle name.

 

[gimmepie]

My dad wanted to name me some weird sci-fi sounding extravagant name. Blessedly, my mum had a more grounded approach - which was "no". Thus I became Daniel.

 

[Aslan]

The name my parents went with was Sophie. I don't think my parents ever had any other names in mind. My Mum had the choice to name me and one of her favourite books is Sophie's World. She thought the name Sophie was nice and that's how I got my name. But I have no doubt that if she hadn't come across that book, she would have chosen some other name from a book she liked :D

 

[Roni]

My mom was dead set on my first name. She wanted something from the Bible and settled with it. My second name was supposed to be Tyrell for some reason, but my aunt swooped in last minute and came up with Zachary. It fits better too imo, so I'm glad she did that.

 

[Palamon]

I will not reveal my dead name, but my mother wanted to call me "Donna" or "Loraine" but my grandmother would not let her because it "wasn't a Jewish name", or something. Honestly, just thinking about being called either one of those names makes me glad I wasn't. Even if I didn't identify as male, I know Donna does not fit me, like, at all.

 

[QueenNothing]

When I was 7 or so my mom had told me other names she considered for me but given how long ago that was I have no memory of it, and I'm not on good terms with my mom at all now so no way am I asking her now.

What I can tell you though is names I almost gave myself when I started questioning my gender. I tested out the name Marcia for a bit because it's the name of my favorite Fire Emblem character and it's similar enough to my dead-name, but it just didn't feel right. Had I realized I was a girl a decade earlier than I did I think I would have gone with the name Gwen, I always liked how it sounded and when I was a kid I had a crush on Gwen from both Ben 10 and Total Drama. By the time I remembered that detail though I had already mostly settled on my current name so it wasn't really meant to be, but ultimately I'm glad I settled on what I did.

 

[moon]

I was supposed to have been named Maria but apparenly I looked like a Riki.

 

[Sheep]

Almost named Joan! After Joan of Arc. :O But then my mom decided Janna was better since it's a little more common in the country I'm from so people wouldn't struggle with saying it.

 

[VisionofMilotic]

Had I been a boy my dad would have most likely had me named Daryl, after a best friend of his. Of course, I could always be Daryl as a girl too like actress Daryl Hannah, but my dad had some archaic notions at the time about what is, and what isn't a girl's name. In fact, he still refuses to call me Sam to this day, saying things like that's a boy's name, so as a girl he wasn't going to approve Daryl. That one is just kinda no frills for me, so I don't mind.

There's a chance I also would have been named Michael had I been male, my dad was comfortable with this name. It's the name of his sister's son. My mom also liked this name too, it reminds her of the arc angel, and Micaela was I think a name she also considered for me, but I don't know how my dad felt about it. I think both Michael and Micaela are very nice.

 

[Bay]

My mom originally wanted to name me Rebecca as she fonds of female names with -ca in it. I don't remember what boy name I would've gotten though, probably will eventually.