Hacker News Reader

Comment by disintegore | Hacker News Reader

I've always loved the term "baby name". Makes it seem like you grow out of it eventually and have to switch to an adult name like "Roger" or "Raymond".

View on HN

Haha, I love it! Our first kid was code-named “baby thunder” before being born (we delayed telling some friends so we wouldn’t steal their “baby thunder”). The name stuck around for a couple months after she was born before we trailed off using it, so it really was her “baby name” :p

We did a similar thing. Early on, our toddler proposed the name Bin-ban for his upcoming sister, and it stuck.

We have a lovely video of the toddler explaining to Grannie a few hours after the birth 'her name is Bin-ban'. 'Oh <long pause>, yes, but she has a real name'.

We called her Bin-ban for a few more weeks until she sort of grew into her 'real' name. That beautiful little original name is a very fond memory for us.

Our son proposed “Caterpillar Pop” for his looming sister which I always liked. “Mustard” was the codename for another unborn child (my sister’s, I think).

Ours was Stardust, tying into part of their name that is a constellation name.

Same! I always thought I was alone in feeling this way. When I first heard the phrase "baby names", I first understood it as that: a name used for people while they are still a baby. I was confused for many years until I realized that it was just a query for popular names for your newborn. I feel there should be a more descriptive phrase for it, or simply refer to it as name popularity. I'm not familiar with a culture where people legally change their name as they get older, but I don't think it would make a statistical dent. Almost all people keep the name they are born with, correct?

When I was a child I used to ask my mother what her name was when she was a child too. I just couldn't imagine/believe someone would have that/her name as and be 10 years old at the same time.

I don't really like my name and I think adults should be able to choose their names without big hassle. Not choosing where you're born is already too much of a control-giveup haha

This just seems like we’d be fixing a cultural issue with a band aid solution. The reason changing a name is difficult shouldn’t be the bureaucracy, but the fact that you exist in an interpersonal network of individuals indexed by name.

> I think adults should’ve able to choose their name without a big hassle

So my question for you would be: what hassle are you referring to? The cultural norm or the bureaucracy/paperwork?

In either case, what would a solution look like?

In a way - perhaps? If someone doesn't like their name they can change it when they reach adulthood (at least in the US)

Speaking as a "Joseph", there was a definite "Joey" phase as a kid, followed by an ongoing "Joe" phase, while "Joseph" is retained for Very Adult/Formal contexts. But maybe not everyone has such multifunctional names.

That used to be the case in some culture, like the Chinese one.

hahaha

Reply on news.ycombinator.com