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Usually a bad association prevents me from liking a name, so I highly doubt I would still use it.

This message was edited 5/5/2012, 9:42 AM

It depends. If it has a bad association but also other good associations, then I'd use it. I'd use Franz because of Schubert even though I don't like Grillparzer (plus, Grillparzer isn't very well-known where I live, so that wouldn't matter anyway.) Most of the names that have bad associations for me I've come to hate anyway, just because of the association. The only name I love that has a really bad association for me is Hans, and I wouldn't use it because of that association.

Probably not. It depends on the stength of the association, how negative it is and whether or not I have positive associations to counteract it, and how personal it is to me.

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Odds are, if I have a strong, personal, bad association with a name, I'm not going to love the name.

Nope. Especially my ex's name.

I suppose it would depend on just how much I loved the name, and how bad the association was. If all I thought about when hearing/reading the name was a person or place or whatever that I had bad associations with, I wouldn't use it.

Depends on how bad the association would be, how it might affect others who might have the same association, just how much I loved the name in the first place and whether it was for my own child or the child of someone else looking for ideas who may not have the same association.

I think that would depend on what the bad association is. If the person is just annoying, I'd consider it. If the person was a bully or abusive, I woudln't. Especially if there was only one person I know with it. If it was a common name, hopefully I would have good associations with the name from those other people.

In the cases I'm thinking of, having a bad association with a name means I simply no longer love it. Those are personally bad associations... eg., I had a very bad run-in with someone who's a complete **** and now associate a name with them. I guess if I had a bad association that was less immediate, like knowing of a character I dislike who has a name I otherwise like, it wouldn't matter as much.

I think my only truly bad associations are Lydia and Laura, and no I would not use either of those.

Yes... Some names are beyond salvaging for other reasons and others are middle only material.

This message was edited 5/4/2012, 1:53 PM

Mine is a bit more complicated than all that...

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I have pretty bad OCD. It can target anything. My paticular version is thoughts that disturb me, and I hang on to them. I can make up anything, and normally I try to come up with the worst thing I can think of. So everytime I find a name I like, I try to come up with a totally random picture that I latch onto.

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I'm getting better about not doing it, and I'm starting to move past it now, but it is still difficult to deal with.

I'd try and get rid of the association...(m)

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Like I adore the name Reuben, however i've had a fairly terrible student named Rubin. Every time I think of the name I cringe a little now. But im serious enough to want to use it that I might start calling one of my bears Reuben or start trying to picture what our future son will look like. If I knew 4 terrible Ruebens then it would be harder, but im trying :)

It honestly depends on the bad connotation. Say if it was the name of a stupid celebrity, I might consider it if I loved the name. Someone who tormented me or hurt me, probably not. Depends on the level of "bad" :P

Yes.

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If I truly loved a name I would use it regardless of associations. In the end my positive association (my child) would far outweigh my negative association.

Just depends

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On how bad the association was. I've met tons of awful Marys but I still love the name and want to use it.

It depends on how bad the association was. I love the name Christina, and it was in the Final Five choices for our daughter. I knew a really annoying Christina in middle school who never shut up and whose voice was like a spike going in your eardrum. But that association wasn't enough to make me not want to use the name. It was just one minorly irritating person, and she never did or said anything to me personally.

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Now if Christina had spread ugly rumors about me or got me in trouble for things she had done, or we'd fought physically or she'd stolen from me or something like that, then the experience would probably rub off on the name and I wouldn't like to use it. If the experience was bad enough probably I would not think I liked the name enough to consider using it anyway.

Yes, but then only in the middle name spot.

I think yes.

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Often I dislike names because of negative associations. But for example I really like the name Miranda these days. One amoung the many people who use to bully me in elementary school is named Miranda. But I have had a class with Miranda while in college and she is definitely not a bully anymore. Also I've met a Miranda who was very nice. She is the daughter of my college choir teacher. Whenever I see her we usually talk. Plus I love the Shakespeare association.

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I have some negative associations for Miranda but I also have some possitive associations as well. Since I really like the name and because I have less negative than possitive associations I could see using Miranda.

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It's similar to the name Callisto. All the possitive associations have had a larger impact on me than the negative ones.

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To use a name I have negative associations with, I have to more than just like the name. I also need to have some possitive association to it.

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No.

No. But then a bad association makes me hate a name.

It would entirely depend on the association.

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There are some negative associations that I could get past and others that I couldn't/wouldn't be able to get past.

No.. Unless in the meantime someone awesome with that name came into my life and it would outshine the bad.