Do babies really look like a certain name?

We have always gone for a short list of names to be decided once the baby arrives. Oddly the top few names have never suited our DC so they have all ended up with one from near the bottom of our lists. Just because it suited them better.

In fact DC3 we had only agreed on one boys name - when he was born a boy he really really didn't look like the one name we had chosen. When he was 5 days old (and still nameless) the mw suggested the name we finally went with.

DS2 didn't have a name until he arrived. The minute we saw him it was obvious what his name should be. He might as well have had a label round his neck.

We had a list of about 10 names and when we met DD we chose one near the bottom of the list that we hadn't been at all serious about; it just suited her, and we could see straight away that our top names didn't work for her. it's funny, but true i think.

When my dd1 was born I spent the first day getting her name wrong. We had chosen her name as soon as I was pg, never really discussed any other names didn't know anyone with this alternative name but she just somehow looked like it!
We did stick to our guns and stay with the original name but wasn't so concerned about having a name chosen in advance for dc2!

We had the same issue as Elvira, my DS was supposed to be Cillian but was 10 lbs 3.5 oz and Cillian sounded so delicate so we went for something more robust!

I had 2 big babies (9lbs and 10lbs)

All the pretty flowery names we had originally considered would have been awful for them, especially as DH is 6'5" and we knew they'd probably be tall. So, yes, DD2 was most definitely neither a Willow nor a Cecilia at birth.

A lot of newborns also look very like Wallace Shawn. I'm surprised more baby boys and girls aren't called Simon Pegg or Wallace Shawn.

I think all newborns look like Simon Pegg.

We were the opposite. We picked a name and then when he was born we said "oh, so that's what X looks like". Worked for us.

But how do you know if they'll grow up to be tall and thin, olive?

Apparently sounds of certain names emulate physical characteristics.
Tim and Philip - you expect someone tall and thin.
Bob - you expect someone large.

I agree with you OP. Surely in your hormone induced fug you would decide your newborn needs a really cute name to suit him or her, and then they'd be lumbered with a cutesy baby name when they're grown up?

That's so cute spider

We did decide on names but I think our dc look like their names- they are classic though

For really bubbly, cute, funky names maybe you would need to see the child

Yes they can. Some people really do come with a name, and others never grow into their name.

We'd decided on a name for DS and then I went right off it because I could only picture it suiting a very Welsh-looking, red-headed, rosy-cheeked farmer's son of a baby and DH and I are none of the above (apart from me being Welsh). When DS popped out, he was very Welsh-looking, red-headed, rosy-cheeked and looked as if he'd be hefting haybales about before his first birthday, and I couldn't imagine him being called anything else! None of the other names we'd picked would have been 'him' at all, even though on paper I actually preferred several of them.

But my two DSs looked very different as newborns! DS2 just wasn't a Hugo, much as I love the name. Hugos are solid, sturdy blokes. DS2 was too delicate to be a Hugo. DS1, however would have made a great Hugo, or George, or Bruce.

I always think babies look like fleshy pink blobs (in a nice way!) so I don't understand the 'wait to see if it suits the name' mentality either!

I think every little baby girl looks like a Rosie, no idea why.

We have twin girls and had decided (based on kicking and movement patterns, etc) what their personalities were probably going to be, and we named them accordingly when they were born. However, after 12 hours of properly looking at them, it became abundantly clear that their names should be swapped because they each looked like the other's name! To this day, they still really suit their names both in looks and personality.

shoobi obviously I chose a name I thought suited her from a pool of names that I actually liked! She may well have looked more like a Sharon or a Michelle than a Felicity, but from my short list she was definitely a Felicity.

I wonder why so many babies in the 70s looked like a Steve or Clare, and loads of today's babies look like Harry or Ellie!

Agree with previous posters: nearly all caucasian babies look like Winston (Churchill), Ross (Kemp) or William (Hague). Or perhaps 'howling orange in a wig'

And when DD was born the midwife said "she's such a sweet little baby she needs a flower name"

At the time I was . With hindsight she was right

We had a name picked for ds2...when he was born it just didn't suit him, and I dave him a completely different name, which suits him very well.

Yorkshire Felicity was on our short list and when DD was born we just knew that was the right name, she seemed to be born with a smile on her face! She's been happy and sunny ever since. I do think babies suit/don't suit certain names.