Alan?
I've never ever liked this name. But I've been writing a story where I give the characters brilliantly crafted (IMO) names that fit some artistic image, and often that artistic image is realistically bad. Anyway I have one named Alan Burnside and he's a really neat guy, and look at that, I am thinking more and more of the name Alan.
What do y'all think of it? It's always around, super common as a middle name. I only like this spelling; what spellings do y'all like best or hate least?
This is also happening to me with Clay. Not Klay or Klayton or Clayton - ¡ust Clay. I have a character called this, and he is a gravedigger. So corny but I couldn't name him anything else, I tried ¡ames, Earl, Leslie, and it kept going back to Clay. I like it as sort of an opposite to the loftiness of names like Skye and Nevaeh and Miracle - ¡ust really realistic and grounded and honest. We are all made out of clay, &c.
Also, I'm curious to hear about times that this has happened to y'all - not with any circumstance of names growing on you, but where names that you picked out for some reason or another as deliberately bad which grew on you subsequently. I think it's a really interesting phenomenon. I'll edit more if I think of them.
What do y'all think of it? It's always around, super common as a middle name. I only like this spelling; what spellings do y'all like best or hate least?
This is also happening to me with Clay. Not Klay or Klayton or Clayton - ¡ust Clay. I have a character called this, and he is a gravedigger. So corny but I couldn't name him anything else, I tried ¡ames, Earl, Leslie, and it kept going back to Clay. I like it as sort of an opposite to the loftiness of names like Skye and Nevaeh and Miracle - ¡ust really realistic and grounded and honest. We are all made out of clay, &c.
Also, I'm curious to hear about times that this has happened to y'all - not with any circumstance of names growing on you, but where names that you picked out for some reason or another as deliberately bad which grew on you subsequently. I think it's a really interesting phenomenon. I'll edit more if I think of them.
Replies
I love Alan. I've always really liked the name. Sure it sounds a little daddish, but I still think it has a rugged highlandish appeal.
I like Alan. Probably because I had a childhood friend named Alan.
I don't like Alan, exactly, but I have good associations with it. I don't mind Alain though, I have a baby cousin named that. That side of my family is French, so they pronounce it accordingly.
I used to dislike Charmion, Desdemona, Macadrian, Mehetabel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Ignatius, but they're on my "interesting" names list and I guess exposure has me like them. There are still a lot of names on that list I don't like, I just find neat, though, so I don't know.
I used to dislike Charmion, Desdemona, Macadrian, Mehetabel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Ignatius, but they're on my "interesting" names list and I guess exposure has me like them. There are still a lot of names on that list I don't like, I just find neat, though, so I don't know.
Alan - I've been suddenly coming around on this the past few months. I'm not sure if I prefer Alan or Allen yet. Both are too familiar to me (Alan is my brother's mn, Allen is my husband's mn), which is mostly why I've never thought much about them. But Alan does have something neat about it. It makes me think of baseball.
Clay - Really not a fan. It has this uneducated, innocent feel to it. It would be good for that type of character, and maybe I could see having an appreciation for it. But truly liking it, I just can't see that ever happening.
I haven't begun to enjoy a name I'd picked for a character that I thought was bad, but I've had multiple situations where I've felt neutral about a name I picked and then came to like it because of the character. It's funny that some names I have so tied to certain "people," yet these people are entirely in my head. And documents on my computer.
Clay - Really not a fan. It has this uneducated, innocent feel to it. It would be good for that type of character, and maybe I could see having an appreciation for it. But truly liking it, I just can't see that ever happening.
I haven't begun to enjoy a name I'd picked for a character that I thought was bad, but I've had multiple situations where I've felt neutral about a name I picked and then came to like it because of the character. It's funny that some names I have so tied to certain "people," yet these people are entirely in my head. And documents on my computer.
It's not horrible to me... just boring... though Alanna is kinda pretty on a girl.
Eh, I hate Alanna.
Me too, but I like Alana.
I like Alan.
Hm... I suppose that kind of happened to me with Chase.
Hm... I suppose that kind of happened to me with Chase.