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It doesn't sound like a real name. It sounds like an obvious fake name. (Butterfly McQueen's real name was Thelma, which I don't care for either, but it still sounds better than Butterfly.)

I would initially think "wow, that's cute!", but then I would probably also think "her parents must be New Age/hippie people or something like that..."

I'd bite holes in my cheeks rather than enquire if she'd started out as a caterpillar, but that's what I'd be thinking.

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That, and I'd be looking round for her sibling named Moth.

I wouldn't like it. Butterflies make me think of flitting about frivolously, and, you know, of insects with six black legs and antennae and a proboscis - and anyway, a child butterfly is a larva (caterpillar?). Also there's Madame Butterfly. The name only works on an adult, if it works at all.

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This http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html has some interesting other reasons not to like it, including associations of the word butterfly with yellow bugshit, and bugs landing in dairy products. Also the association of butterflies with the souls of dead people, is not very appealing.

This message was edited 3/24/2016, 10:18 PM

I think it's nice as a name meaning, but not as a name itself. I do like Mariposa, which is butterfly in Spanish.

You know, in a work (started out as a book, became movie script) that I've had shelved in my mind pretty much since high school, I have a prominent character who everyone called Butterfly. Her real name was Flutura, which she hated, and which is Albanian for "butterfly." She was pretty much the high school rebel, even sang and played guitar in a grunge band (it took place in the 90s), and most of her clothing was black. Her personality was witty, brazen, vulgar, and sometimes acerbic, but despite an outward "openness" she disliked letting people too close. (I should probably revisit this project.)

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Anyway, this character has colored my perception of Butterfly as a potential name for someone. I haven't read the other posts yet, but I imagine most of them make a connection to hippies. My perception, however, is that a Butterfly would pretty much be the opposite of what her name suggests.

Honestly I would think that her parents were crazy.

I highly prefer Mariposa.

I'd think her parents were either mentally backward or desperately hippie.

I would hope that is what she has decided to name herself and not her actual given name.

Poor kid that's going to be a hard name to live with.

That's one of my nns and I think it's cute. I don't think it'd work as a fn but I can see whimsical parents choosing Butterfly as a mn for a daughter.

This message was edited 3/24/2016, 12:03 PM

That she was named after Butterfly McQueen.

I don't mind it but I just don't really think it's a pretty word - "budder" is just gross lol. Maybe it would be nicer in a non-American accent. :)

I wouldn't really think much of anything. Even though I'm not much of a fan of the name personally, it would be cool to meet someone named it. It's a novelty.

It's cute and could have an interesting symbolic meaning. I think it's unfortunate that it could be shortened to Butt, and I wouldn't use it because a lot of people would consider it flaky.

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I don't dislike it personally, though. Animal names are traditional in some cultures.

It's stupid.