Jessie Paquette spends her days consulting with parents-to-be, helping guide them in their search for the perfect baby name.
It can be a tricky business, think of Kylie Jenner switching her son’s name from Wolf to Aire more than a year after he was born.
This means Jessie is often hard at work, but she recently took to TikTok to share her top four baby naming icks parents can be guilty of when picking their child’s moniker.
The video went viral, garnering more than 600,000 views, and it turns out people couldn’t agree more.
Warning: you may feel personally called out.
Scrabble names
‘This first ick drives me crazy, I call these scrabble names,’ Jessie says.
‘These are the names that you could’ve spelled with less complex letters but you’re adding them like you’re trying to win a game of scrabble.’
People in the comments were quick to offer examples. @rachelcoombs pointed out people’s alternative spellings of Jackson.
‘Jaxson, Jakxsyn, Jackxon,’ she wrote. Another added: ‘Recently saw a Jacsun,’ while another said: ‘My son is friends with a Jaxxyon.’
Another TikToker said they’d babysat a ‘Maddysonne’ while someone else said they met a ‘Teighlor’ instead of a Taylor.
TikToker Kendahl Cowan said: ‘My name is a scrabble name,’ and another commenter said: ‘I know an Alexzandriyah.’
Family traditions
Family naming traditions can be a big source of contention and for Jessie, it’s a pet peeve.
‘I hate when I’m working with a couple and one of the members of the partnership is visibly bullying the other into a family name,’ she says.
‘I typically see this with an overbearing dad, really pushing for a name that’s a tradition on his side. Mum doesn’t like it but feels pressured and uncomfortable because it’s a family tradition – I hate that.
‘You don’t get to bulldoze naming just because your family has a weird naming tradition.’
Plenty of mums took to the comments to express their frustrations with this one.
@Autumn wrote: ‘I can relate with the family name tradition thing. My husband wants a R name because everyone has an R name in his family. My favourite boy names don’t begin with the letter R, so I suggested having an R name as a middle but he won’t compromise.’
Another TikToker Hayley added: ‘My husband is a fourth and he HATES it. We were blessed with girls because he was adamant about not having a boy and feeling like he needed to name him the fifth.’
‘My husband is the 3rd Lester. I straight up told him there will not be a 4th, so get your mind right,’ commenter Bonnie Gail Wilhite added.
Shock factor
‘The next major ick for me is when people care way too much about the shock factor of their baby name,’ Jessie explains.
‘It’s not like they’re choosing a name that’s a little out there because it speaks to them or it’s beautiful to them – you can tell it’s just for the production value.
‘Obsessing over “oh my gosh, no one will have heard this before” versus “oh my gosh that’s the name it’s so beautiful”.’
Fellow TikTokers also shared this pet peeve. One said: ‘Shock value names p**s me off so bad. You’re naming a person, not a boat.’
‘I hated having a super unique name,’ added another. ‘Everyone always pronounced it wrong.’
TikToker Lynn Brown wrote: ‘I hate when people name their kid something ridiculous and they are like “it’s so unique”, no it’s abuse girl, that child is going to be made fun of forever and they aren’t gonna be able to spell it.’
Name popularity
‘The cardinal sin to me, the biggest ick I can have while I’m helping you name your baby is being convinced that name popularity is dictated by how many babies with that name you know,’ Jessie says.
‘”There’s no way Theodore is in the top 10, I’ve never met a Theodore” – that actually doesn’t matter.’
Now you can name your baby whatever you wish – whether the name is popular or not, but if you want to avoid the most common monikers then we’ve got the top 10 for boys and girls right here.
Top 10 baby names for boys and girls in England and Wales
Boy names:
- Muhammad
- Noah
- Oliver
- George
- Leo
- Arthur
- Luca
- Theodore
- Oscar
- Henry
Girl names:
- Olivia
- Amelia
- Isla
- Lily
- Freya
- Ava
- Ivy
- Florence
- Willow
- Isabella
Source: ONS
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