Choosing a name your family will hate

I liked the idea of calling DS after my maternal grandfather who was William. Fairly uncontroversial except when DS was due around 12 July and I was imagining DHs nationalist family living on the NI border having to celebrate “Billy” on the 12th

I called him after my paternal grandfather instead.

My mum made me change DDs name from the one I originally wanted. The one she wanted was horrible so we reached an uneasy compromise

Rufus is fine. It's very popular.

Rufus is lovely, sod them all.
I named our DD something our families didn't like. My mum outrightly said that she hated it (before we started trying). Dhs dad said something along the lines of "as long as it doesn't have a toff name like maximillian" yes, she does have a "toff" name. And dhs mum screamed at him.
Sod them all, name is lovely and they'll hate number 2s name too probably 🤷

I like Rufus if I have another - my family would HATE it!

They hate my first son’s name but they’ve shut up about it now that he’s a toddler. It’s a real name with a long history but they think only common names are acceptable.

Rufus is an ace name! It reminds me of a gorgeous chap I went to school with- plus, obviously: Rufus Sewell!

We used a shortening for our son’s name at first which upset fil. He asked us not to, so we stopped. But it wasn’t just that he didn’t like it. I think you should go ahead, unless it’s the name of the person who strangled your mum’s hamster or something.

Rufus is a fine name imo. As a grandparent I see my job as loving my GC not naming them. Children grow into their names and soon Rufus’s relatives won’t be able to imagine him with any other name even if it’s not one they overly like.

I'd say go for it. The name my family hated for dd3 is Matilda. I didn't think it's unusual but you'd think I'd announced in calling my dd Satansunshinepop for the reaction it got 🙈

Rufus is a great name choice. Go with it!

Yes, my family hate my DCs name, they are 3 now and I still love it and think it suits them. My family still pull faces if a stranger asks their name.
The only time I wouldn't if if I was naming them after someone and they had good reason to associate the name with bad feelings.

Yes I would. Your baby, your choice of name. But I agree that as long it's not the name of someone who your family have reason to hate/dislike.

What is the name? It is obscure?

As long as it’s not the name of someone who has caused hurt and pain I’d go ahead and call them what you want to.

No one in my family liked or understood my nephew's name, and honestly none of us really use it - we've all got our own nicknames for him (fairly normal in our family, I am called by about 6 different names by various family members). Obviously if it was causing upset we'd use the name, but parents don't mind. Baby was given the name of a relative with an unsavoury past but "not named after him", so an odd circumstance.

I called my daughter something really unusual and my MIL wanted to call her by a different nickname as she couldn't pronounce it apparently?! Now she and everyone love it

Totally depends why they won’t like it!

If it’s due to a specific connection that all the family know about or something, I wouldn’t use it

If it’s becuase they are very traditional and you want something more unusual, I would say go with what you want!

Why would all the family hate it? Is it after someone they know?

Personally no I wouldn't.

It depends. They might dislike it for personal reasons or maybe it's dreadful. Maybe they are set in their ways. Try it out on us and let us guide you.

My family liked our name choice but in laws didn't. They told us they didn't like it when we were talking possible names one day, before we even knew what the sex was. A while later we told them we'd chose a name but were keeping it a surprise and one of them said "I hope it's not ....." 🙈 I ended up crying in the bathroom lol.

Still used it though :) so glad I stuck with it and it suits her 100% .

None of our family were over joyed with our choice for DD, but now at 5 months no one has mentioned it for a long time (FIL has even had it tattooed on himself after commenting the name looked like we had thrown scrabble pieces on a table and gone with whatever order they had fallen). Go for it they will get used to it

I wouldn’t choose a name I thought no one would like as I would like my child to grow up liking their own name.

I would.

I wouldn't put too much weight on what other people think. If you love love it then that's what important. I didn't tell anyone my LO name until he was a week old and by that point it was non negotiable

Wouldnt bother me tbh - we all have different taste in names, so you will never please everyone. This is your child and your decision. (maybe dont mention the name until baby is born, then you wont have anyone trying to change your mind).