Everyone laughs at my babies name......thinking of changing it????

I personally find Bear much cooler, more interesting and less widely used than Edward, which is quite dull and already widely used.

I know kids called Tiger (yes, not a nickname but registered first name) and Wolf and Bear has a similar feel.

Isn't the whole idea of 'naming' a person to 'identify' him/her. Well, a name like Edward will already be used by lots and lots of other little boys, whereas as a Bear his name will be much more unique (at the moment anyway, perhaps you are a trendsetter ).

I know far too many adult Steves, Andys and Mikes. Life would be more fun and interesting (and easier) if we didn't all use the same names!

Stick with Bear!

OP, just a little word of advice. If you didn't want to out yourself (at first) by telling us your ds's ridiculous name, change your mn, to something more anonymous!

Bear ?? thanks ripishere I am a bit slow this morning got one eye on Jeremy Kyle... Bear?? why would you do that to your child and thinking of Ted is this a joke or have you got an obsession with bears !!

imnotmymum keep up love, it's Bear.
Ridiculous IMO. Why not Hippo or Horse?

Actually I love it but never be brave enough to use it myself.

Prefer it to Ted definitely.

Sorry I didn't mean I was upset to be asked whether I was Jewish or not! I'm not Jewish but have no problems with being thought to be Jewish, it was the way people had a go at me about the name and were weird about it.

I guess I learned a name is a public thing, like marriage. Everyone gets angry about interference in their weddings but naming and weddings are somehow public acts, they're not private things we can control, we are sharing our child with the world via his/her name, so the world is, in those terms, free to comment. It's awful but somehow their names are public property to an extent.

what is the name ?? How can we possibly comment !!!!!!

Also, re the family nickname thing, it can be hard to shift it when older.
My friend called her baby what they called her while she was expecting,it's very distinctive so let's say they referred to her bump as Twinky and named her officially, let's say Rachel.
She's 15 now and is still called Twinky by everyone, it's a bit of a handle to carry around!

I called my son a very Old Testament name and found loads of people having quite a negative response saying "You're not Jewish!" and I found it upsetting as I love my ds's name.

So when I had dd I was super conservative and chose a classic English name and I'm so happy I did, I love it and she can have all the personality she wants without me laying my quirkiness on her.
(Still feeling sensitive about the people who were rude about ds's name......)

"People laughing at you every time you first introduce yourself would get a little wearing after a decade or two...

Yes it does. Which is why I was happy to change my surname when I got married ad will not be changing it back. I joke about it with my mother occasionally but I don't think she actually realises what a profoundly negative affect her choice of name had on me.

I'm afraid if I heard Bear, I'd think Bare. That's the way my mind works.

Op you need to change the birth certificate ASAP
but call your baby whatever you like as a nickname.

I like Chicken's idea -- put Edward on the BC and call him Bear, but only until he's about 7.

Someone upthread wasn't sure if the term means stocky, rather hairy, often leather clad, bikerish member of the gay community and the answer is yup.

I think what you have to remember is right now you are the person feeling embarrassed and fed up with the poor reaction that your baby's name is getting. Your child may well have that for the rest of his life. It's not great is it?

Personally I would wonder what on earth you were on if introduced to your 'bear', and might well find it hard to give a positive reaction. I really like unusual names (I have one myself) but there is unusual and then there is silly, and to me 'bear' is just silly.

I would change it. I think he will get very tired of pulling out his ID over the years and explaining that " yes, it really is my name!"

Nn is fine, but at least give him the option of something else for later on in life.

Imagine being a 15 year old bloke, trying to pull girls and having to tell them your name's Bear.

People laughing at you every time you first introduce yourself would get a little wearing after a decade or two...

I think it's a great family nickname but a very tough name to carry through life. Personally I think if your instinct is to change his name maybe you're right to protect him from the hassle. Life is hard enough not to set out to face the world and people are laughing as soon as you get introduced!
I think the slebs who call their kids quirky names like Apple and Honeybunny tend to send their kids to schools in Muswell Hill, Islington etc where loads of the kids are called Quasimodo and Esmerelda-Lilibeth and the child thinks nothing of it. But where we live it might be a bit mean to call a child a very distinctive name. A family nickname of Bear is great tho.

I like Bear. I have a male friend called Blue and no one made fun of him. Kids these days have reet random names, I would give him a more demure middle name though in case he grows up to be an accountant or something.

Saying that Milo is our name of choice if this baby is a boy so I'm partial to slightly unusual names.

I love Bear. I don't think it's cutesy at all it's a good strong name that can be grown into, and as for piss taking at school, kids will always find something.

If he hates it when he older, which I doubt he will, does he a middle name he can use?

I love Bear as a nickname, at any age. As a full name, I think it would work for a baby or small child but might become a bit embarrasing after that. It would depend on your DS and what "kind" of child/teen/man he becomes as to whether he could carry off Bear happily throughout life. Personally, I think I would need to have something else on the BC for him to use "officially".

Mind you, I couldn't even get my DH to consider something as unusual as Marcus so I'd have had no chance of getting Bear into the equation in the first place .

Has anyone mentioned that Bear Grylles isn't actually called Bear yet?

Biased, but I'd go for Arthur with nn Bear. And Suzy - it's in the high 80s in the name charts I think now, so expect to meet some small Arthurs (or Arfurs) soon!

I like Bear, I also like Ursula.

Anyway I would use it as a nickname and have something else on birthcert for all the reasons mentioned above.

Liking the name Bear is one thing, having the guts to actually name your child it is quite another.

Yeah but Bear Arkwright just hasn't got the same ring, know what I mean

I quite like Bear. But agree that you would have to be quite thick skinned to pull it off; Bear isn't Bear Grylls actual first name AFAIK. Changing it to Edward would be a good compromise.

Sparky/spanky (apologies on iPhone, been up since daft o'clock not sure if I read an r or an n) - you have EXCELLENT taste in DS2 names.

I have just moved to a new town & the first child I met was called Dolly....

BTW ignore the people who say he'll never get anywhere in life with a name like that. If you can have a President of the US called Barack Hussein Obama, then anyone can do anything.

Yeah I want to be all cool and say I like it, but it is pretty stoopid. FWIW in this house Bear is a term of endearment as we don't like Dear/Darling etc, but there's no way I'd have called a DC that as their actual name.

I think Edward so you can keep Bear as your family name is cool, but honestly can you imagine him being introduced for an interview in 20 years with Bear s his moniker. He'll fucking kill you.