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How do you feel when you tell people a potential baby name and their reaction is 'whaaaat?!'

76 replies

ilikeyoursleeves · 31/05/2009 21:20

I have posted another thread re the name we like for DS- Zach (full name Zachary). I am humming and hooing over this name, secretly I do love it but when my DH told his family about it they all went 'you can't call him Zachary!!!' (apparantly, I wasn't there, not that they'd say that in front of me anyway).

So I continue to feel a bit hesitant about the name Zach, in case others don't like it. But then I think 'he's OUR baby!'.

What have your experiences been when telling other potential / actual baby names?

OP posts:
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thisisyesterday · 31/05/2009 21:23

ha i love it when people do that.
it makes me think good, i've chosen a great name

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CrushWithEyeliner · 31/05/2009 21:24

Oh God don't tell anyone - someone always knows a dog named that. It is so tedious.

It is your choice and people just forget after a while and they become the child and not the name iyswim....

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LittleWhiteWolf · 31/05/2009 21:25

Quite frankly, they dont have a choice in the matter! Yeah its annoying and disheartening to hear that people dont love the name you love, but at the end of the day its YOUR choice (well, maybe DH's as well ) and their opinions are just that: opinions. DH and I picked the name Leonard even before we got pg and we still love it (whether we'll get to use it, well we'll find out in a month when LO is born and we discover the sex!) but the amount of people who've pulled faces and made comments about it! We love the name and thats what counts to us.

I think Zach is a lovely name

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puffylovett · 31/05/2009 21:26

It makes me feel shit.

I had this all through my pregnancy. Picked the name Edward because I desperately loved the name Teddy and wanted to call him that. I let everybody laughing at me get to me and so he's now Eddie instead of Ted.

Gutted.

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LibrasBiscuitsOfFortune · 31/05/2009 21:27

ignore.
ignore.
ignore.

OR

Jsut don't tell them until after the baby has arrived.

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rasputin · 31/05/2009 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HumphreyCobbler · 31/05/2009 21:28

pity their ignorance and despise them

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fucksticks · 31/05/2009 21:30

I had that with Ds1 and it did put me off some names.
I never told anyone what we were calling Ds2 untill he was born THANK GOD as I just KNOW that they would have gone 'whaaaaat?' at me.
He actually IS called Teddy (Edward) and I'm really really glad I didnt compromise!

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thisisyesterday · 31/05/2009 21:30

agree LWW.
people can be so incredibly rude about potential baby names. but it's what you think that matters,

we got a whole bunch of rude comments about both our boys names from his paternal grandparents.
DP just said to them well that's what his name is, get over it. basically.

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suwoo · 31/05/2009 21:30

After a few and reactions, I have stopped telling people now. I just say 'I'm not telling you'.

Not bothered about saying on here though as have done so a few times. He'll be Felix Arthur.

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19fran76 · 31/05/2009 21:31

If you love it, stick to it Lots of people are a bit timid about unusual names but if you go ahead anyway they get used to your choice & often grow to love it once it feels familiar to them IYKWIM

Zach is a good name.

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Tortoise · 31/05/2009 21:32

My Mum hated the name Zach/Zachary when i mentioned it while pregnant with DS2. I ignored her and went with the name because i love it!
She also moaned that the shortened version isn't spelt Zach! Should be Zac. She got used to it! Gets various spellings from people at school though.
He loves his name as well which is great.

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Paolosgirl · 31/05/2009 21:33

Depends - I like to think there are children running around the UK who have been spared the embarrassment of being called Chastity-Destiny or Hepplethwaite or somesuch hormonal nonsense, thanks to the sensible ladies of MN

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puffylovett · 31/05/2009 21:35

fucksticks

I need to develop a backbone I think !!

You go with Zach if that's what you like. don't have any secret regrets.

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thisisyesterday · 31/05/2009 21:41

puffy, you can still start calling him Teddy!

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hester · 31/05/2009 21:41

I wanted to call dd Dora - I've always loved the name since I read Freud (ponce alert) - but my family and friends said NO with one voice. They were concerned about the ubiquitousness of Dora the Explorer. I had never heard of Dora the Explorer. Now my dd is 3, I think they were quite right and I'm glad I asked.

I did, however, go on to choose another name that I thought was pretty, not strange, but still uncommon. Was I ever wrong; it is soaring up the name charts, one of those Mia-Ruby-Scarlett type names that seems a good idea until you hear it shrieked a dozen times in the sandpit.

I still quite like the name, but I don't love it, and I kind of wish I had asked more people's opinions - in particular, mothers of young children, who could have warned me how common this name was becoming.

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pavlovthecat · 31/05/2009 21:44

how do I feel - resigned expectation. I have stopped talking about it, there is always someone who wants to change our minds!

You are right. Its your baby, don't give a toss what others think, as long a you are not inflicting your child with a name that could scar him for life.

I like Zach and Zachary too btw.

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puffylovett · 31/05/2009 21:45

(next ones due in sept - I'm thinking Theodore - Teddy for short lol if it's a boy, but then I'll have an eddie and a teddie! Either that or we'll go with William and have Bill and Ted )

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NBM · 31/05/2009 22:31

I have had this over DD3's name. I have got used to it, we love it and most other people do too. Ignore. Like Zach BTW.

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listenglisten · 31/05/2009 22:35

I agree with thisisyesterday - I love it when people do that too!

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beepbeep123 · 31/05/2009 23:17

this so reminds me of the reaction to the name we wanted for our baby from relatives. We didnt name him 'til the 6 weeks were up and went ahead with the name we had decided upon. however i still feel slightly uneasy when people ask his name . im just waiting for that look!!!!! It got bad press on MN too!!!

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barnsleybelle · 31/05/2009 23:27

likeyour... funnily enough i commented on your last thread, as we too have a zak.

I remember when i was pregnant and we told my family that if it were a boy we would call him Zak. My mum said it was totally awful and that she would refuse to call him it!!! I honestly didn't care, as we loved it.

He's now 7 and he's a complete and utter Zak. Even my mum loves it now. In my son's school ( and i admit it's small ), there are a dozen Jacks, Lewis's, Alex's etc etc... but only one Zak. He loves that he's the only one and in his words " Noone has to use my 2nd name to describe who i am".

Zak or not, if you love the name then who cares what anyone else thinks.

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barnsleybelle · 31/05/2009 23:30

What's the name beep.. i'm dying to know now!

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beepbeep123 · 01/06/2009 00:00

its Reggie or Reg or Reginald but i call him baby.

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lockets · 01/06/2009 00:06

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