Baby Name

[limewave]

We have a name picked out for the newest addition expected in May. For the first child, we each picked our favorite names and then put them all in a hat. DH got to draw the lucky name, and that's how we got DD's name.

So, we did the same thing this time except I got to draw. And the name is . . .

Bear Bryan

DD is pretty cute telling all the other kiddos that she has a baby bear. :)

[tulip]

Isn't that a football coach or something? Congratulations on your new little one!

[limewave]

Isn't that a football coach or something? Congratulations on your new little one!

Yeah, I had no idea until someone informed me. Bear Bryant was a football coach in Alabama. We don't keep up with football in our house . . .

[sgtiger]

Aw! Congrats to you and your family.:)

[Aggie_Ama]

Before Alabama he was the football coach of the Fightin' Texas Aggies. WHOOP! His real name was Paul, Bear was a nickname.

Congratulations on picking a name, when are you due again? Couple months still?

[Zen]

are you sure about this?

[alpinerabbit]

Roll Tide :-)

[Aggie_Ama]

are you sure about this?

Me? Yup, he went to Bama but stopped over in Aggieland along the way to coach. He was pretty well known on our campus for his "Junction Boys" incident.

[tulip]

(I think she was referring to the OP).

[Tuckervill]

are you sure about this?

+1

There are way worse names. I mean, even if you switched it around to be Bryan Bear, that would be worse! But are you sure such a unique name is the way to go? And with the connection to someone famous, someone you have no idea who it is, but the a good deal of the rest of the country does?

Just the ramblings of some stranger on the internet.

Karen

[Tri Girl]

I taught a kid named Bear once. He was the cuddliest little guy (his name fit him perfectly). His brother's name was Fox and sister's name was Ellen (huh?). The last name was one of the generic last names (Smith, Brown, etc) so mom said she wanted something unique. It's definitely a unique name. If he wants to go by Bryan as an adult in the "professional" world then he has that option. I know quite a few people who go by their middle name instead of their first.

I really like the name!! Congrats on making a decision. I think naming a child would be almost as stressful as actually having the child. My DH has an unusual name and it suits him well.

[shootingstar]

Congrats. limewave for another new family member-to-be. :)

[tulip]

I have an unusual name and I really like it...now. But growing up I shortened it to be more "normal." My nephew has friends with rather uncommon names (Dallas, Atticus, Dakota (pretty common nowadays)) and they are all fine and well-adjusted 10-year-olds.

My unusual name is great in my professional life because people tend to remember me more than if I had a common name. They have to focus on it at first, so they remember it.

I used to work at a large university and there was a student whose full name was Rainy Summer Day. She went by Summer. Much later I met someone who knew her sister, who also had a similarly catchy name that went with Day. I can't remember it now.

I like Bear alot. I like Bryan alot. I'm just not too sure of the combo because of the football thing.

[Crankin]

After seeing how kids tease others who have unusual names, I would think twice. While more unusual names are much more common now, I know that I would not have wanted to be the kid with a "different" name.
Just my opinion.

[xeney]

Wow. I must have spent too much time on parenting boards lately because I thought everybody knew how incredibly rude it is to jump in and criticize someone's name choice when they've been generous enough to share it with you. (And haven't asked for opinions.)

I think it's a fine name. Congratulations on your new addition.

[tulip]

1. This is not a parenting forum. Many of us do not have kids. We don't know the rules. Thanks for informing us.

2. When you put something out there, you get reactions that you may not want.

3. Guess I'll bow out of this one now, lest I become the new Smurf.

[solobiker]

Congrats!! I like the name. Unique names are great and poeple can say whatever they want to about the name "Bear" and that he will be picked on. Kids will pick on others with traditional names as well or for whateve else they may want to...for lack of a better explaination on my part. Heck, years and years ago kids picked on my Mom (in the late 1930s and early 1940s) for her middle name because it was the same name as the elephant at the zoo. So I guess what I am saying, nothing seems safe with children and how they pick on others. So to make a long story short...Conrgats once again!!! I am so happy for you and thanks for sharing.

[Zen]

Wow. I must have spent too much time on parenting boards lately because I thought everybody knew how incredibly rude it is to jump in and criticize someone's name choice when they've been generous enough to share it with you. (And haven't asked for opinions.)


Like Tulip said.
1- This is not a parenting board
2- I don't think anyone criticized the name
3- You know darned well you're going to hear opinions here
4- Good thing she didn't decide on "Mulva"

[Susan Otcenas]

Lime, I think Bear is a fabulous name. An ususual choice, for sure, but then again, I've never been one to follow the crowd. :) What I especially like is that's it's unusual without setting your son up for people to be kidding him about it too much.

I *do* think parents should give a thought to what their kids will have to go through if they have a name that other children could be cruel about. My brother in law recently graudated from Arizona State. One of the other graduates was named Lucas Skyler Walker. Each name on it's own is fine, but I do think his parents might have considered the implications of naming their son after a Star Wars character....

I grew up with Hamburg as my maiden name. As a child, I was called pretty much every name on the McDonald's menu. I even had one teacher who insisted on calling me Hotdog throughout 7th grade. Kids (and even some adults!) can be cruel. Now I simply have a name no one can pronouce. :D

xeney, I don't think anyone intended any harm. Hopefully Lime didn't interpret it that way.

Congrats again, Lime, on the impending arrival of Bear!!

[solobiker]

Like Tulip said.
1- This is not a parenting board
2- I don't think anyone criticized the name
3- You know darned well you're going to hear opinions here
4- Good thing she didn't decide on "Mulva"

HaHAHa, Mulva...great episode

[Biciclista]

Although if i were the grandmother, I'd have a fit about that name, I know that names do not bear the stigma that they used to (unless they do sound like something silly like Les Moore or something) Children's names have taken on a life of their own, any spelling goes, city names, brand names, why not animal names too. (and you can probably blame it on MY generation!! :confused::confused:
No more D I C K and Jane and Tom and Sally anymore, that's for sure. (Hey Susan, since you're reading this, how come we can't use D i c k, it's a perfectly normal name!!!)

[Susan Otcenas]

(Hey Susan, since you're reading this, how come we can't use D i c k, it's a perfectly normal name!!!)

Regrettably, the pornographers and spammers have forced us to simply disallow certain words, that being one of them. You'd be amazed at how much spam DOESN'T hit this forum due to the protocals we have in place.

Susan

[OakLeaf]

I'm still laughing about whoever tried to refer to the D I C K van D Y K E show last week! :D

[channlluv]

I like the name Bear. It makes me want to hug him right off the bat, and I don't even know him. <g>

There are some really creative names for kids at the school where I work, including D'Artagnan, after the Three Musketeers hero. We had a Dakota, too, last year. We have a handful of Mikaylas with various spellings, a couple of Edens, a couple of Noahs, lots of sky/weather names (Esther, Stella, Summer, Soleil, Sunshine), one Czarina - what a name to live up to, huh? - and so on. DH and I gave our DD a simple, old-fashioned first name, Danielle, because her last name is five syllables and Hawaiian. Most people trip over it the first time or two, and I've got a fellow mom-friend who has known us since Kindergarten and she still refers to me as "Mrs. Ohum-o-whatsits."

Let's just hope little Bear grows up and into his name, happy, healthy, and with great self-esteem because he's got such wonderful, active, healthy, loving parents. Congratulations!

Roxy

[Mr. SR500]

Interesting way to pick. Regardless Paul "Bear" Bryant, was one of the most famous college football coaches of all time. While not exact, I'm sure as he grows up, the name comparison will be made. Not bad to be named after a legend... even if it was pulled out if a hat. Congrats on the birth to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6N__pA8Jc

http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Bryant_Bear.html

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm still laughing about whoever tried to refer to the D I C K van D Y K E show last week! :D

That was me....the poor **** Van **** show! :D :D


See?- it did it again!!!!

[Aggie_Ama]

I was made fun of to no end for my last name (a fun German name that could be made fun of in many ways). My mom named me Amanda and my brother a normal name because she was teased for being named Pansy. You know what, didn't help one dang bit to have a "normal" name. I also got called Amanda Panda, which I hated. Manders, hated. Mandy, hated. And when they figured it out that it annoyed me, they did it more.

So you know he might get made fun of or everyone might think he is cool for having such a neat name. I am sure all the Tom/John/James/Jason/Roberts of the world get made fun of. Kids just are mean, isn't that part of growing up or something? If it isn't a name it is buck teeth, pale skin, freckles, etc.... Can't change those anymore than a name (well, I guess there are braces at some point). :cool:

I like the name. It is fun, of course it does sound like a jock but maybe he is the next rockstar pro-mountain biker like Tinker or Jeff Kabush. Of course he might be the president in 36 years, all the politicians will have names we might not have thought were normal today. :)

[Selkie]

Lime

Congrats on your little Bear. :)

Name him whatever you please!

[xeney]

I'm pretty sure that if you posted a photo of your new bike on a parenting forum, nobody would say, "Why'd you get THAT one? What were you thinking? That color, man. Hideous!" Manners of this sort are generally fairly universal. And the fact that people will share negative opinions does not mean that it is polite or kind to do so.

TE is not, as has been noted elsewhere, the board that it used to be.

[Tuckervill]

No, but I might say I really don't like PINK!

Same thing. Just giving my opinion. No one's bound by it. And a baby name is WAY more important than a bike.

Karen

[limewave]

People say what they are going to say about baby names--doesn't really bother me. I kind of like to get all the comments out of the way before the kid arrives.

We're excited to have a little Bear in the family. And, actually, I've seen in the paper a couple of kids named Bear born over the last few months--so it must not be as unusual as we all think.

[limewave]

Although if i were the grandmother, I'd have a fit about that name, I know that names do not bear the stigma that they used to (unless they do sound like something silly like Les Moore or something) Children's names have taken on a life of their own, any spelling goes, city names, brand names, why not animal names too. (and you can probably blame it on MY generation!! :confused::confused:


I asked my mom about naming him "Bear" before we put the name in the hat, and she really liked it. We even had her secretly poll her card group. They've been friends for more than 30 years. I knew we'd get honest feedback from them, and they all loved it. Funny because we got tons of negative comments from them on DD's name, which is Sage. I didn't think her name was that weird.

[Tuckervill]

It's not Bear, it's Bear with Bryan that I would avoid if it were me.

I was in a mass job interview once when a guy introduced himself as Bob White. Of course, some one whistled the bird call, and you could tell he was totally disgusted and annoyed, once again! There are way worse names, like I said, but the connotation the name brings to mind is always a consideration.

Karen

[sfa]

I really wouldn't worry about the football thing. Very few people ever hear/use both of their names in combination, so all the worry that parents have about whether a first and middle name "flows" or if there is some connection people will make with it is really a waste of time. People *won't* connect Bear Bryan with Bear Bryant because they will almost never hear him called Bear Bryan. And in spite of football fans thinking that their knowledge base must be shared by everyone on the planet, I'm betting that only a small fraction of the people who DO hear the whole name will have heard of Bear Bryant. Whoever he is. I hadn't heard of him before this thread.

A friend of mine had people warning her not to name her daughter Sarah Michelle because when she was born, Sarah Michelle Gellar was all over the place. But they wanted that name to honor relatives, so that's what they chose, figuring that the full name would only be heard at baptism, graduation and her wedding. Sarah Michelle is now seven or eight and no one thinks she's a vampire slayer.

Now if it's a given and a last name that might make people think of other things/people, then I might hesitate over a name I like. Bob White would have done well to go by Robert.

Sarah

[Aggie_Ama]

Yeah, we have a lot of southerners here and I am an Aggie. So of course I know who Bear Bryant was! You ask my SIL who is a Southerner but despises sports and she wouldn't know. Her husband loves football but not Aggies or Bama so he won't know because he only knows Darrell Royal as far as old football coaches go. So I agree, he will hear it if his full name is mentioned to some people but otherwise it really wouldn't matter! And again how often are you going to be calling you son Bear Bryan?

I worked with a guy named Michael Jackson, he was older than Jacko but what the heck after the 80's no escaping the weird looks!

[Tuckervill]

1. sports trivia buff 2. Texas Aggie 3. Alabama fan but

I'm none of those things and immediately made the connection. But, whatever.

Karen

[alpinerabbit]

I asked my mom about naming him "Bear" before we put the name in the hat, and she really liked it. We even had her secretly poll her card group. They've been friends for more than 30 years. I knew we'd get honest feedback from them, and they all loved it. Funny because we got tons of negative comments from them on DD's name, which is Sage. I didn't think her name was that weird.

It's perfectly fine, bear is a very powerful animal (read up on native power animals and such?) - sage is also a very powerful plant. Good stuff.

[ny biker]

My college basketball team used to have a star player named Michael Jordan. No, that that one. But he was number 23.

Anyway. Unfortunate names, courtesy of the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7909561.stm

I personally would like to meet Hazel Nutt.

[mtbdarby]

Congrats Limewave! May you have a very healthy baby - please keep us posted when the time comes:)

[lph]

I like Bear! It's a common name ("Bjørn") in Norwegian so I'm used to the connotation.

Can I tell my Fruit Stand name joke again? Oh please, lots of new readers here now... can I? Can I? :p

[alpinerabbit]

please do:D:D:D

[PamNY]

Congratulations and best wishes. My friend named her son Bear (early 1970s) and I thought it was a lovely name.

Have you heard of nominative determinism (http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/12/the-new-scienti.html)? Maybe your boy will have a great career in sports.

Pam

[indysteel]

Congratulations and best wishes. My friend named her son Bear (early 1970s) and I thought it was a lovely name.

Have you heard of nominative determinism (http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/12/the-new-scienti.html)? Maybe your boy will have a great career in sports.

Pam

I was sort of wondering the same thing. There's a show on the Discovery Channel called Man vs. Wild with this guy named Bear Grylls. The premise of the show is that they drop Bear into the middle of nowhere and see if he can make his way out of it. Maybe Limewave's little boy will group up to be an adventure sport aficiado!

In any event, congrats Limewave. I wish you and your family all the best!

[Zen]

It's perfectly fine, bear is a very powerful animal
Winnie the Pooh wasn't that powerful. He got his head stuck in the honey pot ;)

[CyclaSutra]

People can and will make fun of almost any name. My husband wanted a teasing-proof name: Delilah? "If she's chubby, they'll call her Deli." Drake, after Sir Francis Drake, an ancestor of mine who was a privateer, some say pirate. "They'll call him a butt pirate. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

So I chose the name, although Desi is a slang term for individuals of Indian descent (the country, not the one whose country we snagged). For me, the name is a short form of a poem that I love, a father's advice to his child, "Desiderata." It means "desired things" in Latin, and she was debated for a decade before we decided to have her.

Desi Alexandra Love Edwards (http://www.lovenewsjh.blogspot.com) was born on Dec. 19. I think she may be our one and only experiment with procreating, but I'm saving Drake for a boy if we decide to go down this road again...

Congrats, Limewave, and hope Bear arrives with a roar!

[snapdragen]

Winnie the Pooh wasn't that powerful. He got his head stuck in the honey pot ;)

Pooh wasn't a Bear, he was a bear. :p

Oh, and I like both names, Bear and Sage.

[Zen]

Desi Arnaz

[Susan Otcenas]

Desi Alexandra Love Edwards was born on Dec. 19. I think she may be our one and only experiment with procreating, but I'm saving Drake for a boy if we decide to go down this road again...



What a cutie! Congratulations. I LOVE the baby leg warmers! Reminds me of junior high school. :D

[Tokie]

You want to hear a bad name that will make you wince? I know someone whose son (last name "Ball") named his son "Cannon". Ugh. The kids will laugh - the grownups will laugh. As for Bear Bryan - its a familiar name to us, but to his contemporaries, probably not so much. I think it's pretty cute. Tokie

[lph]

please do:D:D:D

w00t! This one always makes me giggle :D

It was the first day of school, and all the little first-graders came to school with a card around their neck with their name on. One small boy's card read "Fruit Stand". The teacher found this a a little unusual, but this was back in the 70s when every other hippy child was called Moonbeam or Sunflower or Raindance. He was quite shy, and didn't react much when talked to, but lots of kids are shy in the beginning.

The day over, he was ready to take the school bus home, and the driver asked where he was going. Little Fruit Stand just looked at him and pointed at the card round his neck. The driver turned it over, and there on the other side, printed in neat letters, was the name "Anthony".

[Zen]

again, a guffaw from me.

Fruit Stands parents were just recycling :)

[digishank]

Nice Name.

[indigoiis]

I knew a kid in high school named Bear. He was a real sweetie and a hugger.
It's a good legacy to give to a boy.

[ginny]

I know a guy named David (real normal, average name), he is in his 30's. His current nickname is "giggles". I don't think one's name has much to do with nicknames and various childhood torments. Although, for rhyming purposes, maybe.... anyway, I really like Bear, but you probably don't care too much about my (random stranger) opinion. Either way, congratulations and best wishes for your family and Bear (it really is a very huggable name) :)

[northstar]

Awww, congratulations. Enjoy your little cuddle bear.

[limewave]

Pooh wasn't a Bear, he was a bear. :p


And his name was "Pooh".

Not to be critical or anything . . . . :)

[rocknrollgirl]

I like Bear....congrats!

Now how about this for bad...

We had a family in our district last name Schaffer

They named their daughters Kegga and Casa.....I kid you not.

I also went to college with a girl named Ivy Fern Moss

[crazycanuck]

Limewave, it's a cool name :cool:. I can see many folks going "hmmm..ahhh! ok...hmm..interesting..hmmm..cool"

Beats my boring name!!!

[Duck on Wheels]

Just saw this thread. Congratulations on baby Bear! "UK Elephant" on this list also has a baby Bear brother. Bjørn (which means bear) is a pretty common name here. So there you have my two kids: Elephant (not her name, but she uses it in some settings) and Bear (yep, his name). Sweetest "kids" on the planet, all grown up and far as I know quite happy with their names. We once told Bear that before he was born we were waffling between Bear and Wolf. He was shocked, and relieved that we landed on Bear. But I figure he'd have felt the other way round had he grown up with the name Wolf. ;)

[malkin]

Pooh was also an Astute and Helpful Bear!

May the new Bear grow up to be 'That Sort of Bear!'