I'm a Name Snob

I have to admit it.  I would never say anything to any parent's face about what they named their child, but sometimes when I hear what some people named their baby I think, "wow they sure didn't search far to find that name."  I am very against popular names.  Even my husband has said upon hearing a name, "that's boring!" 

We named our son Cedric Demetrius.  Which I think is an uncommon, awesome-sounding, bad ass name that is still recognized as a name.  I'm also against inventing names randomly, though less so than giving your baby a name that three other people in his kindergarten class will have.  I was going for pronouncable, but unique.  I won't say any names, so as not to offend anyone, but if your baby's name is in the top 100 names for the year he was born, I probably rolled my eyes when I heard it.

Which makes me just a little terrible, but I said nothing to your face, did I? 

I also hate nick names, I really do, though I recognize that this is totally my problem, and I realize that many people have nick names, and I call many of you by your nick names, but I really don't like them.

Why name a kid something only to call him something else?  I just don't get it.  And I was pretty amazed at the number of people who, after hearing I named my son Cedric, asked, "so do you have any nick names?"  What the hell is wrong with Cedric?  He will be called Cedric.  I didn't name him Cedric to call him Ced, or Ceddy, or CD, or ANYTHING else.  I will be that annoying mom who corrects you when you try to bastardize his name.  It's a freaking two syllable name, it's not hard to say.  Also, just so you know, my name is Andrea, not Andi.  The only people who call me Andi are those who know my mother better than me.  Yes, my own mother tried to give me a nick name as a child, and I didn't take it, I preferred Andrea.  Why name me Andrea, to only call me Andi?  I tend to let this one go, because the sheer amount of people who call me Andi is too much correcting, and I've let it go on for so many years now, that it would be weird for me to bring it up.  Chances are if you call me Andi, we aren't very close.

I'm also not a fan of giving the mother's maiden name as a middle name, even though this is exactly what my mother-in-law did.  A last name shouldn't be a middle name, but I won't try to pass legislation forbidding it.  One of another weird naming quirk of mine. 

Briefly, other things that bother me:

Naming your child after someone still alive, especially yourself.
Giving your child a hyphenated last name.
Giving your child the last name of her father who skipped town after he found out he knocked you up.
Giving your child no middle name.
Giving your child more than one middle name.

There, I had to get that off my chest.  I promise I won't confront anyone directly, and I will call your child by what you want me to call them.  And what you name your child doesn't reflect how good of a parent you are.  :)