Do you find people with names like Star, Precious or Tray have a harder time in life as they grow or do you think it seems to make no difference at all?

In school, I was called by my nickname, Archie. I think that alone accounts for a lot of the abuse I took. That abuse, of course, had an impact on my personality.
Things may be different now, because so many names are daft.

I’m almost old enough to retire and can remember working with Bo,Trace, Milo and Fort. For girl’s names Honey, Petty and Christmas.

@Tropical_Willie Do you know if it made a difference in their lives?

They were pretty normal but a Christmas and Petty ( Pants ) got a lot of teasing.
Bo, Trace and Fort were family name so they had relatives with the same names.

It’s a perceived class thing. There were guys who I went to school with named Kip and Trip who’d rock their Docksiders with no socks and a Lacoste polo with khakis and no one made fun of them or ignored them.

Frankly, Trey = Trip. It means that the boy/man is the third generation with his full name (“Kip” is usually a Jr.). Even on Sex in the City, Charlotte’s first (rich, white) husband is called Trey.

As for Star and Precious and so on, it’s other people who make that association. They could actually observe and get to know the person instead of making assumptions, but most won’t because that takes effort and their biases might be exposed and they’ll “feel bad”.

Therein lies the problem. No one wants to think any assumptions they make could possibly be faulty. No, easier to think that a girl named Star is a stripper and that a guy named Trey is a punk. But Trip? He’s wonderful, and I hope he lets me come sailing with him on his yacht soon!~

With my high-falutin’ given name, people who never saw me before thought I was one sort of person and were shocked to discover when they met me that I was not what they assumed at all! Except for the “pretty” part ;)

Honestly? There are tons of weird and unusual names nowadays…I personally feel that my sons name is different, but it has been rising on the top names list. Who knows if he’ll get teased for his name. I doubt it. It may seem weird to some, but I’ve noticed now that we live in an even nicer neighborhood..that Cash is by far one of the more “normal” names. Also Cash is a surname, so it’s not that unusual (in my opinion)
The other day he played with 4 year old twin boys named Harrison and Hutch. And then three brothers came along named Link, Rex, and Duke. I’m not even kidding. They were all between 7–2.
I’m on a lot of parenting community boards, so I see a ton of the names children have…A lot of unique names more for girls than the boys. I often wonder what it’ll be like for them when they’re older.
And I’m sure people make a snap judgment when they hear a name..I think that’s pretty much the norm for people to do. You can have an opinion on a name, but leave the other crap alone. For example: That kid named Link might get some funny looks when he introduces himself. Did he pick his name? No. Does it have anything to do with his ability to perform a job? No. So I don’t see how it goes any further than being a unique name.

It does make a difference.
In the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner, Chapter 6 discusses the socioeconomic patterns of naming children.
He data mines massive data bases and follows children for many years to prove his conclusions. Very well done.

@worriedguy I got to check that out. sounds interesting.

I’ve noticed that in the US people are much more likely to use a surname as a first name. here in the UK it’s still fairly unusual to do that.

@downtide Is it unusual in a bad way? Both my boys have surnames as first names. lol. Cash and Parker.

Both of my sons have unusual names, and both have found it to be a lot of fun.

@casheroo No I don’t think its unusual in a bad way – I just thought it was interesting. btw I will soon be changing my name by deed poll and I’ve picked an unusual middle name, which is a sort of family name that’s been passed down the generations.