Parents hate our first choice name

Meredith is a lovely name...my mum wasn't keen on my dd1 name and kept suggesting alternatives. Months later she told me it had grown on her and she couldn't imagine my dd being called anything else. Dd2, s-i-l wasn't keen on the name knew a woman she didn't like by the same name and thought it was too common we chose to ignore her. At the end of the day you can't please everyone all of the time so go with what makes you happy she's your baby..

My parents weren't keen when I named dd but it suits her and everyone loves her name now. Go with what you like . Grandparents don't get a say about names as far as I'm concerned .

Meredith is a beautiful name and if that's your choice it doesn't matter what the rest of the family think. They'll get used to it! It's not as though you're planning on calling her something completely ridiculous.

Do you love your parents naming choices? Mine chose names I wouldn't pick and my ILs chose names I loathe. As they've decided to share their opinions perhaps you might want to add your views on their naming taste and point out that they've had their turn.

I agree with all the other comments, just ignore your parents. Mine were super rude about DDs middle name and recently my Mum admitted she likes it after all noe (11 months later).

Lovely name- stick with it on point of principle. We chose not to call our DS a hideous name that had been in the family for four generations. The silence was defeating!

Next they'll be trying to influence where she's christened, what school she goes to etc, etc.

Peachy

I can't imagine not discussing names with family and friends. For me it was part of the excitement of being pregnant. We didn't ever say "we are calling the baby ...." but said "I like Jonah" or "How do you think Francesca sound with our surname".
I liked hearing their suggestions and opinions.

DM, DSis and DBil all said they didn't like the name we chose for DS3. We still used it, DH and I love it and no-one has mentioned it again.

So what if other people don't love our name choices, as long as they love the DC who have them I don't care!

if i would have had a boy, I'd have liked to call him Sean. Pronounced Shaun.... simply because my mum would have to call him Shaun even though she INSISTS its pronounced Sean to rhyme with bean!

good job i had a girl!

Lovely name, and even if it weren't, none if their beeswax. I agree telling family the baby's name in advance is fatal. Don't be drawn into further discussion. My parents and ILs don't like my son's name, though they have never explicitly said so. They think all children should be called by the most ordinary of the top five names, so they won't stand out in the playground, and the boys, especially, should all be called John or Connor or Paul or Anthony, in case they are teased.

Meredith is great. How rude they are.
Both my DM, DF and PILs were very when we told them what DD's name would be and it upset me at the time. When she was born though, the pride in their voices when they spoke about her showed that they'd got over it.
Hope your parents are the same, but if they do keep on about it you're going to have to tell them it's not up for discussion and they need to pipe down now. As everybody else has already said, it is your choice!

Don't discuss any more names with anyone.

If your parents bring it up tell them firmly that you are not discussing it anymore and that names go in cycles of fashion and generations.

They might not like your choice but they will have live with it. Tell them your choices are not up for discussion.

There is nothing wrong with Meredith, it is just a generational difference and your parents would have been quite unusual to name a baby that in the 70s/80s as there were plenty of middle aged and old aged merediths back then which is why they think it is old, frumpy and unusable. It is a bit like why we would be less likely to name babies today Jan, Alan, Lisa, Donald or Jenny.

My mum HATED ds's name I mean really hated it but once he was born it grew on her and now she likes it.

I have an unusual name myself not very unusual now but in the 80's it was and my gran hated it said it sounded made up and could I not be called something normal but she got used to it and likes it now.

My mum also has a name which is now normal but in the 60's it was way out there, her grandparents hated it the priest almost refused to christen her because of it but my gran went ahead and her parents accepted it and never mentioned now liking it again.

Call her what you like they will get used to it even if they still don't like it

Can I just add, the only Meredith I knew was old, would have been about 95/6 now, and very, well I suppose you'd say posh. My Father's Aunty. She was also the funniest, can't say sweet, she was wicked, in a good way most accepting, wittiest lady. She was also probably one of the youngest minded people I've ever known. So I don't see it as an' old' name.
She would have both loved and hated Mumsnet.

I've never met a Meredith so have it has no associations, altho' possibly a character in The Dark is Rising?

Anyway FWIW I think it's great.

It's a gorgeous name ! Go with it !

It's a lovely name, tell them to stop being so silly.

My family hated dds name. They've got used to it now. It's her name, so they think of her when they use/hear it rather than the preconception they had before she was born.

How odd of them to say that - I have never met an older Meredith so I don't have that impression at all! In any case it is entirely your choice and you shouldn't be swayed by family preferences.

Ignore your parents. They got to choose when you were a baby. Actually, let it be known that you do not approve of their disapproval.

It's lovely imo but that's beside the point it's your choice. I wouldn't have said the name until the baby is born.

Tbh when I read of situations like this it never ceases to amaze me that gp's/extended family feel it's acceptable to behave in such a controling boorish way Sod 'em.

In fact I'd be tempted to tell them the baby will be called F'Tang F'Tang Ole Biscuit Barrel the Third and spend the next few months laughing to myself at their reaction.

I would guess that your in-laws are thinking of it as an old-fashioned name, something from their own generation, which probably puts them off.

But it's a beautiful name, and long overdue a revival.

Anyway, it's entirely your choice & nothing whatsoever to do with them. Go with what you like & they will come round eventually.

It's just a generational thing. There is a name that appears to be coming back in, which if my daughter-in-law (not yet in existence) told me was to be my grand-daughter's name, I would have to take a moment to control myself because I think it is so incredibly ugly. But of course it's not, it's just a name. Call your baby what you like.

Meredith is lovely. More to the point it's a real name, inoffensive, not the name of a mass murderer and not being taken over by the screechy brigade. If you'd said the name was La-a (ladasha) or pixiebell or the ubiquitous ellie-Mae (both lovely in their own right, sadly hijacked) then I may have sympathy for them.
My friends daughter is calling her soon to be born son an odd name, my friend would be mortified to use it. I can completely understand and sympathise.

Let them chose the middle name then you are rewarding them for their rudeness.

Artichook - don't let them spolit it, do you still like the name? Does your DS suit the name? The old man thing is just that people who really are old don't understand they are fashionable now, your DS's name is unlikely to actually stand out when he's with other DCs a similar age, at DS's nursery, his name stands out more because it's not a particularly "grandad chic" name!

Your PIL will get used to the name, it will suit him. If you picked another name, you know you'd always regret not being brave enough to use your first choice.