One of the largest controversies you’ll find on naming communities and forums is made up names. No, let me revise that a bit. One of the naming community’s favorite pastimes is to criticize made up names. These names are often deemed trendy or “kre8tive” or too try-hard by name fanatics, and while I try and avoid insulting someone’s baby naming choice, I have to admit that I often internally scoff at some of these created choices. But are made up names really a harmless way for parents to guarantee their child uniqueness, or are they as much of a baby naming no-no as a lot of us make them out to be? First of all, let me clarify that the Cons section of this article in no way justifies rudeness or cruelty towards parents who are planning on or have called their child a name that’s considered made up. This is merely to bring up an interesting conversation. Second, the topics mentioned do feel like a bit of a “Let’s Talk About” post, but I figured that there was still enough support for an opposing side that I could form an interesting debate. Many thanks to Nebuchadnezzar for recommending this article through my contact form, and let’s dive right in!
Pros
Made up names are incredibly stylish. I mean, Evolet? Cambrie? Maxton? Why, when you can create your own baby name, you have the ability to make the sweetest, most lovely name for the trends that your baby is being born into. Just sprinkle a bit of vintage Evelyn into romantic Juliet, and you have a perfect baby name ready to become a sensation. Maxton takes the -ton ending we know and love and smashes it on the end of friendly, boy-next-door Max for that delightfully on-trend and current baby name we know as Maxton. When you’re crafting names with the name scene of today in mind instead of fishing from a pile of centuries old names, you have a huge advantage in coming up with something cool and contemporary for your new baby. So if you’re struggling to dig up a name with tons of history that also fills the box of being the perfect name for today, look no further than Maevery or Toleon. And on top of that, choosing a name or creating a name that no one has ever thought to use before guarantees your child that one in a million factor that many parents have made a necessity on their list of baby name requirements. If you want something truly unique, a baby name that has barely ever been considered for a child other than your own, making your own would be a great way to ensure that Wrenley doesn’t share a name with any little girl in her class. Hey, why not Wrenevieve? In all seriousness, though, when looking for a name that is surely not going to appear in classrooms all over your area, making up your own is one way to solidify your daughter or son’s title as the only one. Another huge perk of being able to create the name of your child is being able to manipulative every part, letter by letter. If the Gray- bit of Grayson is appealing to you, but the -son ending is too harsh or masculine and you’d prefer something a bit softer or more unisex, maybe Graylen would be a nice solution. If Elizabeth is just too traditional and you’d prefer something with more dramatic flair and a clearer route to trendy nickname Eliza, tweaking it to Elizadora might be an ideal option. Being able to nitpick your favorite names and make them the best that they can be for your family is a wonderful gift that parents who use made up naming as their naming philosophy receive. Many people are under the impression that parents who create their own baby names are removing the significance from the naming process and merely giving their children meaningless names designed only to draw plenty of attention to the parents. However, this is simply untrue. Plenty of meaning can be found in made up baby names. For instance, there are plenty of made up name generators that allows parents to formulate their child’s name by merging their own into several on trend, meaningful choices. You can even make honor names for multiple people this way. Want to honor your Uncle William and your best friend Sophia at the same time? Check out Willia! So while some parents do love to choose made up names solely for their cool sound (which is perfectly fine as well!) made up names can also contain as much meaning as you wish to incorporate into them. And if the parents are controlling and creating every aspect of the name, carefully piecing together their favorite sounds to form a beautiful creation, I would honestly think of that as far more personal than just snagging Alexander or Matilda pre-made, assuming that those names don’t have any significant meaning to that family.
Cons
So you’re planning on calling your son Sayden. It’s 100% unique. When taking a peek at the latest Social Security baby name records, there aren’t over 5 children in the entire US whose parents gave the name Sayden. Yet it doesn’t feel quite novel or untouched. In fact, Sayden already feels a bit overused. That’s because Sayden is essentially a slightly tweaked version of Ayden, Brayden, Jayden, Cayden and crew. Often, made up names that pose the most stylistically successful have sounds borrowed heavily from names whose sounds have showed up constantly in other names. There’s only so many little Daxons. But the sounds are somehow already redundant and unoriginal even without overused by that specific name. Most name creations that parents create with the intention of making something stylish and cool have already defeated the secondary goal of uniqueness. That’s because stylish sounds are popular ones, so the criteria many parents have for the names their making up are contradictory. Since the same sounds used in mainstream baby names are essentially reused for these made up names, these “made-up” and unique names really are just subtle tweaks to a favorite, which can get very tiring and boring.
Daenerys and Zabe are surely cool for today, but in a couple years, these high fashion names may sound ridiculous. Of course, that’s only in the most extreme of cases, but names that have been so precisely crafted for a singular moment in time will easily topple with one slight trend change, while names that have lingered for centuries, not necessarily built for one single time period are more able to stand strong over the years. That’s not to say that Stephanie and Stephan haven’t become dated, of course, but they have the potential to arise in 100 years, while Brylon and Lakely may never be resurrected. And now for one major aspect that differs between names that have been around for a while and recently made up names: meaning and origin. Bexley may sound a bit cooler than Brenda, but the absence of meaning or origin does pale in comparison to Brenda’s fierce meaning of “sword.” Meaning matters to many families, and even if meaning isn’t incredibly influential to your baby naming decision, choosing an origin that aligns with that of your family could be a sweet touch. Finally, a name that has been crafted with all of the most popular sounds of an area has the potential to become extremely popular, preventing that beautiful rarity you were hoping to craft. Say you named your daughter the made up Elianna, intending to make a unique and different baby girl name that doesn’t sound too weird. Then she gets to preschool and it’s Elianna express, you wincing every time the teacher calls on little Elianna T. or Elianna R. If the name you’ve created seems a little too good to be completely original, it may be. Popularity isn’t everything, but in the market of creating names, popularity is often a top reason cited for creating a name as opposed to going for a tried and true favorite.
The Final Verdict:
I’ve been very influenced by my own taste in names in this whole “made up name” endeavor. I tend to value names that have deep meaning and origin, and I feel that that is a sentiment shared by many of my fellow name enthusiasts. However, looking at all of the pros and cons, I think that I may have been wrong. Made up names seem to have a ton of pros, and I’m honestly quite swayed (by myself! Funny how these posts do that to me…) I still don’t think I would ever look to choose a made up name personally (though I recently saw Everlise on Nameberry and might’ve passed out from the sheer beauty), but I have a newfound respect for them. I think that made up names are shockingly fun to create, and maybe we should play around with them more often as name lovers. Oh, and I’m beginning to develop an affinity with Bernadette. Whatta ya think?
Sincerely,
-Delphina Moon