Baby name consultant Jesse has divulged her top four ‘biggest icks’ to avoid when choosing a baby’s name, as the trend for unique names grows among the general population.
While celebrities have long opted for distinctive names for their offspring, it’s a relatively new phenomenon for others to follow suit.
Jesse, known on TikTok as ‘dreambabynames’, assists expectant parents in selecting the ideal name, but she admits there are certain trends that irk her.
In a video, she begins by saying: “My biggest baby name icks as a baby name consultant,” and goes on to explain, “If you don’t know what that means, I name people’s babies for a living.”
She then outlines the four major pitfalls for parents to avoid when naming their child.
1. Overcomplicating it with extra letters
Jesse begins her list by referring to her first pet peeve as ‘scrabble names’, which refers to when parents choose alternative and more complicated ways to spell a name.
“First baby name ick that drives me crazy, I call these scrabble names,” she said. “These names that you could have spelled with less complex letters, but you’re adding like, as if you’re trying to win a game of Scrabble.”
2. Pressured naming traditions.
The second ‘ick’ involves family pressure, as Jesse said: “Baby name ick number two, I hate when I’m working with a couple and one of the members of the partnership is visibly bullying the other into like a family name.”
She further elaborated: “An example of what I typically see is an overbearing dad’s side of the family really pushing for a name that’s like a ‘tradition’ on his side. Mum doesn’t like it but feels pressured, feels uncomfortable because it’s like a ‘family tradition’. I hate that. You don’t get to bulldoze naming just because your family has a weird naming tradition.”
3. Prioritising need to be different
Jesse also pointed out that while unique and unconventional names are gaining popularity, parents sometimes become overly concerned with finding a distinctive, ‘shock factor’ name for their child.
She clarified: “It’s not like they’re choosing a name that’s a little out there cause it speaks to them, it really is like beautiful to them. You can tell it’s a little bit more just like for the production value’s sake, and I just mean like obsessing over like ‘oh my gosh, no one will have heard of this before’ versus like ‘oh my gosh, that’s the name. It’s so beautiful’ – you know what I mean?”
4. Not agreeing with official popularity lists
Lastly, she expressed her biggest pet peeve when helping parents choose baby names.
“And finally, the cardinal sin to me, the biggest ick I can have while I’m helping you name your baby – being convinced that name popularity is dictated by how many babies with that name that you know,” she said, before providing an example.
“‘There is no way Theodore is in the top 10, I’ve never met a Theodore’ – that actually doesn’t matter. It is.”
However, after revealing her pet peeves regarding baby names, she encouraged parents to choose whatever name they prefer for their child, emphasising that her comments should not be taken personally.