Moniker Madness!

The Baby’s Named a Bad Bad Thing board have a bit of a reputation in the community, as far as I can gather. A lot of people seem to think they make fun of babies. Well, I have to say, that is patently not true. They make fun of the names, which honestly is not any different from reading Birth Announcements on other boards and snickering. I’m not sure why people think they’re mean spirited. They really aren’t, but I must confess my bias as a poster.

Anyway, the BNaBBT boards are more parent oriented than Behind The Name, but less so than, say, Babycenter. They have a lot of different boards, for different purposes. The Comments board entertains such questions as How do you pronounce this name?, Etymology of (Insert Rare Name Here), Where do you draw the line, popularity wise?, How did you pick your children’s names? et cetera. Honestly, it is the catchall for name questions that aren’t directly asking for advice. Those questions go in Advice, along with “critique my list” type posts. A lot of people are actually naming babies here, so it’s fun to feel that you get to give input on an actual child’s name. There is a board for Name Games, and then there are two others: Sightings and Online Madness. Sightings is for bizarre names you see in the real world, and Online Madness is for weird ones you see online, either in birth announcements or on other boards. Generally these boards are the “What the hell were they thinking?” boards, and where most of the site’s repuation is centered. Let me say again, they do not make fun of babies. Just names.

Taste on the board definitely runs to the classic. It’s name-snobbishness at its finest, but I mean that in a good way. Favorites include Alice, Julian, Adele, and Rosalind. They (it’s hard not to say ‘we!’) subscribe to the “classic but unusal” school of thought. If you like Peyton or Alyvvia-Gracen this is not the place for you! Members are brutally honest and do not suffer fools.

The board culture is very tight, with many members being friends off board. Two people who met on board even got married! When a member is in trouble, the community tends to band together to try and help them, and updates are provided. Members regularly ask for advice on all aspects of life, and conversation is generally civil. Good grammar and spelling is expected, and acronyms and mass amounts of smilies are not tolerated. Personally, I like this, because it leads to a high level of discourse and scares off idiots. The “downstairs” is broken up into a few subforums, which makes the entire thing easily navigateable and pleasant. The community is huge, though, so it is easy to get a false sense of security.

Go to BNaBBT if you like grammar, hate bad names, and love to read well reasoned arguments and zingers. Avoid it if you like trendy names, are offended by cussing, or can’t comform yourself to a strong board culture, if you’re not a natural fit.

http://bigbadbabynames.net/forum/index.php