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I would love to meet someone named Rainbow. It's campy to me, so I wouldn't use it either, but I think it's sweet if people get past that.

I like it in theory, but I would never use it. It conjures up a beautiful image, but it’s just to out there. I have a coworker named Rainbow, but I think that might actually just be her middle name (or perhaps a nickname that everyone uses).

My association is immediately to Rainbow Rowell. She was originally a newspaper columnist for the Omaha World Herald, the paper my column on names appears in, and has now gone on to be a quite successful writer of "young adult" novels. Having read her newspaper columns over the years, I think my impression of someone named Rainbow is of someone a great deal more intelligent, thoughtful, and serious than the one I would have had before I became aware of Ms. Rowell. By the way, I know from a column she wrote years ago that Rainbow is the name her parents gave her -- it's not just a pen name.

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https://www.rainbowrowell.com/

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Rowell

All I can think of are rainbow babies, 1970s hippies, and little girls naming their dolls.

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I love Rain, though. And River.

It sounds like it was chosen either by a stoned-out-of-her-mind hippie in 1970, or by a My Little Pony-obsessed four-year-old today.

maybe as a middle, I've seen it spelt as Reynbeau though

Hi !!!

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I'm not from an English-speaking country so I see Rainbow in the same way of Brian or Tiffany or any other English name. I would be happy to see it in real life.

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In Italian rainbow is arcobaleno (arco = bow, baleno = flash) but it's not a given name at all.

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If Arcobaleno were a common-used, established name as Rainbow is so I would be glad to use it.

This message was edited 12/2/2019, 12:36 PM

I'm a major fan of hippy names like this. I'd have certainly have been a part of that trend if I lived in the 70s. Rainbow isn't one I really like, but some flower power names I love dearly are; River; Willow; Misty; Crystal; Moon; Star and Autumn among a decently expansive list including some amazingly peace and love combinations like

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Misty Moon
Misty Willow
Star Song
Star River
Crystal Moon etc

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IRL ? Not Rainbow. Middle name is fine, but it's not good for a first name imo

This message was edited 12/2/2019, 12:11 PM

Sounds very hippyish, I prefer Iris.

It's sort of interesting to see it as a name, but I think that's mainly because it's unusual. Too much, it's like Misty or Star ... a flimsy 1970s sort of vibe for me. I think I'd like it more if the sound of it seemed more pleasant and namey to me ... I like Meadow more than Rainbow, even though I think Rainbow is a far better name-word, just because Meadow sounds nicer.

IRL, I'd be quite happy with Iris! Rainbow is very flower-in-your-hair hippy.