Made-up names that, well, aren't after all.

[essjay]

I'm working on character names for a story, and I decided to call one of them Kenton, with the nn of Kenny. It sounded to me like a modern, surnamey-type name with a nickname, which was what I was looking for. It was a name I thought I'd made up after playing around with his name for a few minutes. Then I googled it, as I do with all my main character names, and found out it's the name of a tube station in London. It must have subconsciously entered my brain over the many times I've looked at the tube map, even though I've never been to Kenton.

On another related note, I thought I came up with the name Kayla back when I was about 12 for a story by smushing two friends' names, Kayleigh and Georgina, together. And I also thought I'd made up the name Elena by respelling the name Eleanor to make it sound more exotic. I was crushed when I found the internet a few years later and discovered both names were actually pretty popular, but I'd just never heard of them before.

Has anyone else had the same thing, thought they'd come up with an original or different name only to find it's, well, not actually all that made up after all? Or that something so ordinary like planning a travel route has managed to embed a name into your head.

[jame1881]

Yes! When I was younger, I thought I made up Tara (from Cara) and Lillian (from Jillian). In fact, most names I made up were real. I was quite disappointed

[dantea]

When I was trying to come up with a middle name for Persephone, Cody and I were talking about the Elysium Plains and how only the blessed and favored of the gods go there. I looked at him and said "Elysia!" We thought we made it up from Elysium and then I started looking and BAM there it is, a real name ^_^

[jennipea382]

This is sort of related.. A pet peeve I have is when people say ALL of the -aden names are made up. Some are, but most have history (though are now misspelled). Aidan, Jadon, Caden, Hayden and Braden all have history according to Behind the Name, though now they are most likely to be spelled Aiden, Jayden, Kayden, Hayden and Brayden (what's with all the y's?!).

A few years ago I thought that Camden would be kind of a cute name for a girl (with the nn Cam or Cammie). My dad grew up there so it would be a nice honor to him (although the city is MUCH different now..). I started seeing it pop up a lot and it's getting sort of popular. I've since decided naming a child after an extremely crime filled city isn't a good idea :-)

[east93]

Oh I did the exact same thing with Kenton!
I was looking to come up with a new surname for myself, and I thought of smushing my grandfather's names together, Kenneth and Hilton.

I searched it up, and low and behold, it's already an existing name. :P

[shaymin2]

When I was about 10, I thought I invented the name Annabelle, and was really crushed when I found out that it had been in usage for centuries.

[shaymin2]

I also thought I made up the name Eleanor lol.

[allyfally]

I apparently had a dream or something, but I woke up with the name Sephira in my head. Instant love. But I thought I made it up. And then just to be sure, I typed it in yahoo. I was so disappointed when I realized I hadnt made it up.

[lucialucentum]

When I was 11, I was really in to trendy names and combining syllables. I 'made up' Jaisen and then I said it out loud and realized it was just Jason, haha.

[feather]

My aunt has a cat named Omaha Rose, nicknamed Ohmie. I thought it was the sweetest name, until I found out 'Omi' is a german name for grandma!
Also, when I was younger, I 'made up' Maisyn and Kaisyn. I was very proud of myself, until I met a little girl named Maisyn, same spelling and everything. (this actually made me very happy)
When I was very little I made up a name for myself that if spelled out would probably be something like Elizha. I would run around telling strangers that was my name. Looking back, i guess it sounded a bit like Elijah.