Naming Your Child | David Mitchell's Soapbox

David Mitchell discusses naming your child.

David discusses the folly of giving your child a unique name. But as soon as you get used to a name do you stop noticing it's strangeness altogether? Just think of 'Peep Show'..

ABOUT DAVID MITCHELL'S SOAPBOX:
David Mitchell, star of UK TV favourites Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look, brings us his unique perspective on the issues facing men of the world today.

[markgearing]

Thirty years ago I didn’t want my daughter to have a name that came with baggage, so I named her “Karen”.

[rogermckay]

I am convinced. My daughter is going to be named "Normal Bloke".

[redlady]

What's even worse is when the uniqueness is in the pronunciation, not the spelling, so the poor child spends their entire life having to correct people and constantly get called the wrong thing.

[katharineharrison]

I heard of a couple who tried out baby names at Starbucks. They would say their favourite baby names when asked their name. Wait for it to be called out and see how they felt about it. Ingenious

[The_Butler_Did_It]

I once heard a mother calling after her daughter at a local market "come here Calista May..Calista May! are you listening to me?.... CALISTA MAAAAYYY..." I thought her daughter was called colostomy 

[Flynn]

I really wish the Beatles had been called Jongo, Pongo, Jingo, and Ringo. 😂

[unclecreepy]

I have twins i named Jamal and Juan. When people ask to see pictures of my twins, I show them a picture of Juan. Of course, they always ask to see pictures of the other one, so I tell them “if you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Jamal”.

[pisse]

I am of the firm belief that every parent should be forced to introduce themselves with the name they're planning on naming their child for at least a month.
If Moonshadow is good enough for your child, it should be good enough for you.

[emmdoubleyou]

Anyone else notice the baby called Jeremy gets changed to Jez when the shot changes?

[X_Potato]

"and so to a lesser extent is your partner"

[drkatel]

Pediatrician here...oh, the stories I can tell! My kids complain about the "boring" names I gave them, but they should bow down in gratitude.

[erinmaree]

Frankly, I think 'yoo-nique' names are evidence of parental narcissism.
Your child is not an accessory, your possession or an extension of you.

[tshandy]

David Mitchell is my spirit animal. He would likely grow agitated at being referred to as a spirit animal, which makes him all the more my spirit animal.

[parypearl]

I had a friend who named her child "Destany". The misspelling of an actual word was most irritating.

[MonkeyButtMovies]

My first born will be called "New Folder", the following children will be called New Folder (1), New Folder (2), New Folder (3) and so on and so forth

[heranje]

My goal for naming a child would be: uncommon enough that they wouldn't know 5 other kids by the same name, normal enough that it won't necessarily get a reaction and people will be able to spell it. My name is Iris and I feel like my mum nailed that one - everyone recognises it as a name, but I've rarely met other Irises.

[jim]

Gonna call my son Bort.... It's a very popular name.

[TheJackhanbury]

David Mitchell clearly speaks perfect English as it seems he may be the only person in the history of youtube to have his speech transcribed into subtitles perfectly

[drSvensen]

Came back to this because of X Æ A-12 Musk

[Neomaxizundweeby]

I'm naming my daughter Mayonnaise. We'll shorten it to May for everyone else, and since May isn't normally short for anything, no one will question it. But she'll know. She'll know her fucking name is Mayonnaise.