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

We always give each kid one normal name and one or two less common ones so in extremis they can change over if they hate the one we originally used for them. I think as you can legally add extra names during the first year it would make sense to add a more conservative extra name for this reason. But ultimately I find kids grow into their names, and given that I have taught a lot of rock stars' children with totally bonkers names, who never batted an eyelid, I think you should stick to your guns if you like it and you think it suits him.

monkeyhandbag. Having an unusual name makes you instantly cool in the teenage years. . Don't think it works quite like that, I take it you've cursed blessed your kids with unusual names too?

Bear. Why???? It's a bloody ridiculous name

well tbh,it's a funny ole name
and given the rl and mn reaction I'd say it's proceed a reaction

BTW I really like the name Bear and am shocked at how rude some of the posters have been about it.

I dont think you should change it to Edward on the bc unless you love Bear Grylls as it will just look like you stole the whole idea from him!
I think you should make sure he has a more user friendly middle name (my DS's both have what would be seen as nicknames but they have very average middle names to compensate!!).

some names create a weight of expectation,image of what they will be like

bear is such a name, it's v animalistic,outdoorsy....what if wee bear is a clever indoorsy chap

apple Martin gets called Alison (middle name) I read somewhere

Lydia - you don't imagine someone in town planning called Bear. Are you suggesting that town planners are boring????
I like the name Bear but I think changing it to Edward on the BC would be a safe option and then he will have the choice of whether to keep it or not.

Arthur (on your list) means Bear.

I think Bear's nice actually. Rather than changing it, I'd add Arthur or Edward or Bjorn (something from which one might reasonably extrapolate Bear as a nickname!) as middle name.

Then he can choose to use the more conventional name if Bear just doesn't suit him when older (if he's a beanpoley bespectacled geeky type for example.)

Don't change it. My son has an unusual name (although more common now). Someone once told me that you have to be really cool to carry off an unusual name. Having an unusual name makes you instantly cool in your teen years. There are so many unusual names out there- Apple? Blue? but they work because the more you say them the more normal they get to feel.
I also read recently that people with unusual or names people remember are more successful because people think of the person/don't forget them etc.
Bear is fab!!!

Why on Earth would you do that to your child??? Change the name, and use it as a nick name if you so wish, but don't give a life of hell to your baby (sorry)

bear grylls is Edward
bear as a tumbling wee laddie yes, bear as a suit in a regular job.no

I presume he has a decent middle name to fall back on when he's a professional or whatever later on in life? I wouldn't choose a solicitor or a surgeon called Bear personally, would struggle to take them seriously. As do I those who think Bear Grylls was actually named such at birth; of course he wasn't.

Wow, wasnt expecting Bear.

Bear is a great name! My little non-nephew has it as his middle name and totally suits it.

If it makes you feel better, change it to Edward on his BC, but I'd not tell anyone in your immediate family if you don't want them to start using it.

Staying with with the animal theme I might call my next child parrot or guinea (pig for short) or maybe gerbil, hamster the possibilities are endless

I did know a girl called Mouse once. Even odder, her surname was Katz!

I like Bear. What about Bear Grylls? It is a name. Cat for Catherine is accepted, so why not Bear?

you called him bear
and didn't anticipate a strong reaction?
should have seen that one coming

I like Bear, it's a great strong name. If you want to put Edward on his BC then fine, but you will probably then get you parents deciding to call him that.

It's ok as a name, and rather cool as a nn for Edward.

Bear (!) In mind that if you put that in his birth ceritficate he is going to get a certain ammount of hassle at job interviews and from inflexible officialdom as to why he is using a nn and what is his real name please.?

My db suffers from this, he has a given name that is often used as a short form of another name (think tom or Ben, but more unusual) it happens quite frequently, one chap at a job interview was actually quite hostile about it. Trying to make db out to be a fool or a liar. Db showed him his birth certificate, and the chap still rumbled in about it not being a real name. not a good start. the chap was being a nob, but Db says it can make him look unproffessional at times. And he loves his unusual name and suits it perfectly.

Lydia- is Mouse a hairdresser by any chance?

I think it's a lovely name. We don't all have to be the same do we? Don't change it :)

I also think Edward works with nickname of Bear.

erm, it doesn't sound like the name of a FTSE 100 CFO does it? It's rather harsh if he ends up being a bit of a weedy geek, you're rather banking on him being large/stocky and 'outdoorsy' or 'creative' straight man - you don't imagine someone in town planning called Bear.

I would change it, but keep Bear as a nickname, and it's a very cute nickname. (I know a woman known as Mouse, has been since newborn, her family never use her actual name, introduces herself to people as Mouse, but she has a very normal first name, which is really her 'work' name.)

I quite like it, but I think I'd personally rather give my children plain names that they can allow their personality to shape, than fancy names which threaten to try and shape them.

Edward nn Bear is very nice