Follow my blog with Bloglovin The problem with choosing an original name for your baby.

So 'Rafe' is not a name that you see every day, and it is quite quirky and different, but that's exactly what I wanted. To be honest if I didn't have Richard reining me in I could have chosen a much, much more 'out there' name altogether.

First of all a bit of background on the name. Rafe is a variant of the name Ralph which comes from the Norse word for 'wolf' or 'council of the wolf' which I personally think is quite cool. (Rafe also happens to be the name of the character Ben Affleck plays in the film Pearl Harbour...not that it had anything to do with our choice, and there is an actor named Rafe Spall.) 
We found the name in one of our baby name books, I then further investigated it online and it turns out it is a very uncommon name in the UK, or anywhere really, which just made me like it even more. I wanted our son to have an original name, the sort of name where he would be the only child in his year (or school for that matter) to have it. I want him to be able to understand it's good to be different, to embrace originality and to be a character. The last thing anyone wants is to be unmemorable. 
Now before you think I hate traditional, mainstream names I can assure you that I really don't and we were thinking about the options of Henry, Oliver and Finley before we found the name Rafe, and I love lots of traditional names. The problem we were finding was that with most of these more traditional names one or both of us knew someone from our past with them, or we made the mistake of discussing potential choices with friends and family and they put us off of them...(see my earlier post on choosing baby names).
Rafe was so original that neither of us knew anyone unsavory from our pasts with that forename, and we chose to keep it a secret until he was born to minimise negative and unwanted feedback to put us off.

There are some problems that you face when choosing a name which most people have never seen or heard of. Firstly nobody knows how to spell it. Okay so it's not exactly a long one but it could be spelt in many different ways (Raef, Raife etc) and for that reason I constantly have to spell it out to everyone.
Then there is the correcting of people who pronounce it wrong. It is not pronounced "Raffy"...two people have so far referred to my son as Raffy (to my despair). It's pronounced as it's spelt and it can be a little awkward having to correct people as they enthusiastically ask how baby "Raffy" is. 
Trying to explain an unusual baby name to most some people of the...er...older generation shall we say is near impossible. They don't understand it. They don't usually like it and you will probably have to repeat it to them at least three times before they will realise what you are saying.
Some people also don't know whether it is a boys name or a girls name. Luckily there would be no mistaking Rafe for a girl by looking at him so I don't usually have to correct anyone there. 

If you are considering naming your child something very original or a bit different I would still 100% go for it. Just be prepared for forever having to explain your choice and sometimes feeling like you have to justify it to people who maybe lack a bit of imagination!

Jx