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Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Baby names

I keep wanting to call my baby the wrong name

72 replies

NoteSpelling · 30/03/2012 13:26

I keep wanting to call her Zoe.

I don't particularly like the name Zoe, it has never been on any kind of shortlist, I don't know any Zoes, it is not her name. It is nothing like her name.

I don't mean I want to call her Zoe, as in I wish I had. I mean I keep nearly getting her name wrong. I look at her and she looks like a Zoe, or perhaps a Laila.

Calling her Zoe or Laila is absolutely out of the question.

What on earth is going on? I am a bit wierded out by this.

OP posts:

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doctordwt · 30/03/2012 13:29

What is her name?!

squoosh · 30/03/2012 13:29

She must be sending you subliminal messages.

perceptionreality · 30/03/2012 13:32

Sometimes a baby doesn't suit the name you had planned to use when you were pregnant. I was going to call dd3 Jemima or Cleo but when she was born I just knew neither name suited her so I did a new short list and ended up choosing between Isabella and Gabrielle which suited her much better.

greenhairedmonster · 30/03/2012 13:33

do you see those names as being more 'nick name-y' than her name?

with both my dc, I rarely used their actual given names until they were at least 2, they both had nicknames/diminutives/family names.

they just didn't seem to 'be' their names. I didn't regret using them, or actually want to change, but they had not yet grown into their names.

dd was 'Poppy' for so long that other people at toddler groups etc thought that was her name! I had no desire to use it as her name, and would never have wanted to. but that is what she became, for quite some time (probably about 3 years, thinking back!) she did know her name too, as it was used at pre school (and I kept correcting other people who called her Poppy - and got many a look in return!)

NoteSpelling · 30/03/2012 13:34

What's more, I never accidentally refer to her as Zoe; when I talk about her I get her name right. It's when she sits on my knee and we look at each other that she seems like a Zoe.

OP posts:

greenhairedmonster · 30/03/2012 13:34

oh, meant to say - they are now nearly 8 and 5, and are definitely their names. couldn't think of them being anything else now.

BehindLockNumberNine · 30/03/2012 13:35

I had the same when ds was born. We had always said that if we had a boy he would be called X. So when ds arrived, his name was X.
However, for the first few days for some reason I was convinced his name was Rhodri. I don't know any Rhodri's, it had never been on our shortlist, it was never a name that had entered my head. But for some reason it just 'fitted'.

Of course he remained X and the feeling of 'he-is-called-Rhodri' disappeared. But it was most odd....

NoteSpelling · 30/03/2012 13:36

Well it took us 3 weeks to name her after she was born, so it's not as though we've forced a planned-in-pregnancy name on her.

And we use the nickname form of her name anyway, and it's a very cute little baby nickname.

And her siblings just call her Sprout, and dh and I have started calling her Sprout in the family too.

OP posts:

NoteSpelling · 30/03/2012 13:38

Oh thank God BehindLock#9 - I am not alone in this! Yes, it's like a moment of being convinced her name ought to be Zoe.

I am NOT calling my baby Zoe!

OP posts:

Hassled · 30/03/2012 13:41

Did you once know a Zoe who has a bit of a look of your DD? She could just be reminding you of someone, without you being conscious of it.

DD used to remind me of someone when she was a baby.It drove me insane trying to work out who it was. One day I looked at a photo of her and realised she'd been reminding me of her father!

GoGoBananas · 30/03/2012 13:43

I did this with ds. Would look at him and think 'Jack'. I don't even like the name Jack. His name's Raphael fgs. Once he had lots of nicknames and fitted into the family with them, it went away.

I think it's because ordinarily people tell you their name and it's fact. Choosing somebody's name is flipping weird. People just have names and they fit them, we don't question it. Babies we give birth to, not so, you get to decide, which is a very strange thing.

ImCoveredInBeeeees · 30/03/2012 13:45

I did this too. I kept calling ds Joshua. Not his name! It passes, but it is weird!

ImCoveredInBeeeees · 30/03/2012 13:45

I did this too. I kept calling ds Joshua. Not his name! It passes, but it is weird!

TheEpilator · 30/03/2012 14:01

Maybe Zoe was her name in a former life?! Once she moves on and settles into life with you she'll become 'her name'. My DS1 used to talk about his 'old mum and dad' (as in previous) when he was little and I became convinced he'd been here before. [slightly insane emoticon]

EasyOnTheChips · 30/03/2012 14:05

I kept wanting to call my eldest "Sam". Weird.

Past life

SoozyWoozy · 30/03/2012 19:49

My eldest has definitely been here before... her name is Charlotte (she was Evie for 3 days, but it didn't 'fit' and Charlotte did). When she was just learning to talk, she told me her name had been Charlie (the name we had used for my ectopic pregnancy baby) and don't worry Mummy, because I am here really. Weird. She'd never met a Charlie, and we didn't know any Charlie's so she'd never heard the name before. And this was said in a very competent way when she was still babbling. I was baffled.

BehindLockNumberNine · 30/03/2012 19:51

I did at the time think he had been here before and Rhodri had been his name. I felt this very strongly for the first three days after his birth..

Of course it could just have been post-horrific-birth-experience delusions... who knows?

cupofteaplease · 30/03/2012 19:54

I did this with dd2. I kept calling her Megan. Not to other people, just when I was speaking to her. It was never on my shortlist, I didn't particularly like the name, whereas I loved her actual name. Weird, but I did it a good few times!

StopSwearingNagoo · 30/03/2012 20:00

My daughter is Zoe and I call her Bob.

perceptionreality · 30/03/2012 20:14

ooh Soozy - interesting!

perceptionreality · 30/03/2012 20:17

Actually, although it was a long time ago, I now recall that when dd2 was a baby I wanted to call her 'Kath' even though her real name was completely different and now she's definitely suited to her name. Maybe this is quite common then?

DorisIsWaiting · 30/03/2012 20:28

Nagoo my dd3 is Bob too

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Janoschi · 31/03/2012 00:21

So is mine. But her name is Robin so it's almost sensible... !

IHeartKingThistle · 31/03/2012 00:40

Ooh this is a bit weird isn't it?

I kept calling DS either Oliver or Benjamin for the first couple of weeks. Neither of those were names we'd even considered. Weird...

MadameChinLegs · 31/03/2012 00:47

After she was born, in the hospital, and every now and again, I call my DD by the cat's name. It's totally unlike her name, but I suppose it's just rolling off the tongue.

Stick with Sprout.

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