Me and DP have fallen in love with a name but nervous about telling people

OP, honestly, don't worry or overthink. If you and your DP love the name, go for it. However, as long as you're not entering your child for a lifetime of embarassment by giving them a name like Hashtag, and the name will see them through from childhood to adulthood...go for it. It's not up to anyone else what you choose to name your baby.

But please, do tell us the name. I love names and am very interested.

Ds2 has an unusual name. My dm flat out said to me "people will never spell or pronounce that correctly"
This was followed by a look. She wanted to give him a horrible shortened version of his name and I flat out said no that's not his name.
I agree with others just say you haven't decided yet and don't tell anyone until baby is here.

Yep. My Ds and DD have unusual names. We didn't share until they were born and named. People still said some things. Oh so can we call her......"nickname" - no that's not her name.

So poeple will ask us where you got your name from?! - which people?!

The only thing you can do is stand by it and ignore the thoughtless comments. They happen from pregnancy onwards don't they?? It's as though poeple think you're public property now.

This is my tactic.

Me: were going to call her X
Random relative: really, I don't like that name
Me: tinkly laugh I don't like your children's names either so we're even

Yep, both DD’s have unusual names. My mum is actually embarrassed of the second one and although she is a wonderful granny and dotes in the children and loves showing them off, I know she dreads it when people ask their names. If I am with her she always stops talking and looks to me. 🙈😁

I have found that other children take unusual names in their stride and don’t bat an eyelid.
People under 40 are open and ask about it.
Anyone of my mothers generation (60 years old) just don’t get it and ‘feel sorry’ for the child. With this age group they either openly say ‘oh poor child’ or similar. Or the politer ones recover quickly and day ‘ooh How unusual ‘.

Anyway nearly all my mums friends are called a variation of Sue, or Carol, Linda, val etc.
And my friends are overwhelmingly called sarah, Becky or claire.
I think it’s great that the next generations, whilst having ‘popular names’ will have much more variety.

We told everyone the names as soon as we decided as we wanted people to get used to them. But we did come under heavy pressure to change them (which we ignored because we liked them and that’s all we cared about). But if you feel it will upset you, just keep it secret until baby born. Most people will be politer then. (Apart from my mum 😉)
Congratulations on new baby

We decided on DS's name before he was born, but we kept it quiet until after the birth. It was difficult but I have no regrets as we have opinionated relatives (doesn't everyone!) so I'm sure we would have had all sorts of comments. As it is we had fun letting them guess They did put pressure on so to avoid that you could white lie and say that you've narrowed it down to two or three names, want to wait and see what baby looks like and don't want to be swayed by people's reactions/opinions.

I suppose it would defeat the object to tell us the name you've chosen (boo!) but could you tell us the name of your DS?

Do not tell anyone.

Except us. I’m dying to know now & Mumsnet is always 100% supportive of all suggestions....

Yabu to not tell us the name

We only told people baby's name once she arrived and MIL still said 'oh no you're joking, that's terrible'!
We also got a few slightly puzzled faces, but we love the name and really couldn't give a shit if other people don't feel the same, that's their prerogative.

If you love it, go with it. You will kick yourself forever if you drop a name you love for fear of others not being as enthusiastic.

(What's the name?!)

Stick with the name you both love and ignore everyone else, they will get used to it.

When Ds was born (Conrad) my mothers reaction was " thats HORRIBLE" she was horrified.. FFW 13 years and she told me " I always liked the name Conrad it is such a good strong name".. The association for her had chanced and now Conrad was her loved grandson.

People get used to it.

Once your baby arrives the name you choose will soon be 'their' name and people won't be able to imagine anything else. My pregnant DD is allowing suggestions for names but has banned us from saying that we don't like any names in case it's one they are considering. So you could try that with your ruder relatives, say that you only want to hear positive comments?

My friend has two children with frankly hideous names but she clearly loves them so it's up to her. Everyone thinks their own child has a great man. Not everyone will agree but that's life.

Absolutely do not tell anyone, announce the name when bub is born.
I experienced this last pregnancy and so many lovely possible names were thrown out because of people's reactions.

We didn't tell anyone until our babies were born to avoid just this thing. We told everyone the sexes of our babies, just to get them excited. When we had our B/G twins, my batshit mother was thrilled at the prospect of the boy and kept announcing that she had a dream that we had called him "Jamie". (Ew!). We told her that we had chosen a name, and Jamie was never going to happen, so then she toddled off and had blue towels embroidered with Jamie in bright yellow kept telling us how much she had spent on them. When the twins were born and we announced what his ACTUAL name was, the first thing she said was "What about the towels???" It was like she thought she could guilt-trip us to keep the name she had chosen. (She used those towels at her house every time we went there - and probably called him by that name as well, but it wasn't very often and it never stuck!)

If you and your partner love the name then it's the perfect name. Don't worry about what anyone thinks.

My clearly? I meant to say "My Mum clearly wasn't sure"

@cargghhh

We chose a very rare almost unheard of name for our daughter. It's such a beautiful name! I told my family I was considering it... My clearly wants sure, and my Dad made a joke about how it sounded like something else (the name of a brand in Australia so not an issue and really obscure). Anyway because people were being funny about it I almost chose something else.

Luckily my sister said to me one day "why don't you go back to X? I really loved that name!" and then my DP's Nan said the same thing! So we did. And now my Mum and Dad think it's the prettiest name ever and that nothing else would suit her

I'm dying to know what it is now 😂

Agree with others, keep it quiet cos if you don't you'll get negative opinions I'm sure ! Which might put you off and if you both really love it you should just go for it .

Dont tell ANYONE until the baby is born and you have given the name. It is a lot harder for people to say negatives about a name once it has been given.

To be honest I had this for one of mine, and it isn't even anywhere near what I would call an unusual name. My MIL and my DM both said they didn't like it, in fact my DM screwed up her fave and repeated the name with distaste. She was swiftly told to mind her own business.

Name your baby what you want to. Good idea not to tell anyone until baby is here, it's harder for people to make comments when the baby has arrived and the decision has already been made. And remember sometimes people, even family members, are just rude and like to voice their opinion even when not asked for!

Definitely don't tell anyone in advance.

The fact that both the baby's parents love the name is the most important thing.

My god-daughter named her baby something quite unusual, never heard of it before as a first name. There was a momentary. ??? from me (thankfully not face to face) then I thought it sounds like it SHOULD be a name, and now it's the most normal name in the world to us

I hated giving lists of names as ideas as people always turned their noses up.
Charlotte - my mum said sounded like Scarlet fever 🙄
Francesca - Franny, fanny 🙄 said by a friend.
There’s no need to tell anyone before hand or run it past anyone.
Dd2 was always Alice, but we never told anyone.

Traditionally in Finland the baby is only known as "baby" until the christening or naming party takes place and is announced then. Try that?

Is it Granville?
I love it.

Agree, just don’t tell anyone in advance. But do be sure you’ve got it spelled it correctly- no pheobe, for example.