Family members not fond of name choice - any experience with this?

We named dd after a great aunt of dh's. My paternal grandmother referred to her as "that child" from her birth to my grandmother's death. I ignored it.

I wouldn't want to lump my child with a name that has dodgy associations that I hadn't thought of

My DGD nearly got landed with a name like that. It didn't have connotations for my DD's generation, but very much did for anyone a bit older. Several of us trod on eggshells trying to warn my DD that DGD would get a load of annoying comments and teasing, but without saying "jeeeze, what are you thinking?!" and I'm sure she didn't initially appreciate us saying that. But in the end she did take what we said on board and DGD had a narrow escape.

I don't understand why people get offended by their family being underwhelmed by their name choice. I appreciated my family's feedback, it tested the water before committing to a name. I wouldn't want to lump my child with a name that has dodgy associations that I hadn't thought of. I don't get the obsession with finding the most woah unique name that everyone thinks is amazing but still isn't popular. Concessions have to made somewhere.

Nathan is a good solid name. You can't please everyone but I'm sure your child would be happy enough being called Nathan.

It's a lovely name. Don't listen to what anyone else has to say - your baby, your choice.

People feel that they have to give their opinion on everything, even when you didn't ask for it...

I've said it before and I'll say it again - there should be a health warning on pregnancy testing kits advising expectant parents NOT to discuss or tell anyone their choice of names before the baby is born.

I also wouldn't be telling anyone the sex of the baby either - keep 'em guessing!

No one liked our name choice for DD. My dad and stepmum made it clear they hated it. My mum now denies that she didn't like it. Everyone now agrees our DD's name suits her.
My DP's mum hates it and calls her by a different name, which I think is just rude.

Family didn't like our DS's name either. My dad said he didn't like it but knew I wouldn't listen to him anyway (correct!). My mum loved it. My DP's mum hated it and said we were setting both kids up to be bullied. They're not particularly unusual or odd names 😕.

The best thing to do is tell them as little as possible if you know they'll cause problems. Or tell them the names but that they're not up for debate and you're deciding yourselves without family input.

It’s quite popular, along with Nathaniel.

Not at all outdated.

Don’t discuss it amy more

It is a lovely name. Yes this happened to me with DC 1 but generally only with rude people Inc MIL! There will always be some that don't like any given name. Stick with your choice.

This!!!! I was a bit 'hmmmm' about some of my nieces' and nephews' names but as they grew older, I realised that I love their names because I love them.

I think telling people before you have the baby is pretty much asking for their opinion, I have no idea why you'd do it if you weren't inviting their opinion.

I guesss you're not asking for our opinions either

🤭😷🤐

It is a lovely name, but does always make me think of the joke 'you can't call him Nathan, you have to call him somethin'' (said in a NI accent!)

My mum criticised my choice for DC1 and it put me off
For DC2 I kept quiet and called them my original choice
I wish I'd have pointed out at the time how rude she'd been but I think she got the message when I point blank refused to share my choices with her for DC2.
FWIW, Nathaniel was on my list both times, lovely name

It's none of their business it's your baby, my little cousin is called Nathan he's a lovely boy. X

When we announced my daughter's name my mum's only comment was 'Its a bit long isn't it, how will she fit that on forms?'. Her name is long as she has 2 middle names. But it is shorter than my niece's full name and my mum didn't make that comment about her. It was just my mum criticising without actually having to say he doesn't like it.

I don't really care, we chose a name we liked and we have compliments on it aaaall the time. Literally everytime I introduce her people say what a lovely name.

I think Nathan is a really nice name - and he probably won't be one of 6 Nathan's in the class at school, and I really like the name meaning. Go for it. Family will get over themselves.

So what? My father didn't like the name we had chosen for my daughter so kept referring to her as some other name he preferred while I was still pregnant. Didn't make any difference we went with our name and he accepted that.

now I feel a bit anxious about it

Your choice of baby's name is honestly the last thing you need to feel anxious about. As parents, you really can't get this one wrong.

Enjoy and don't bother telling anyone your choices in advance. Plenty of time for them to find out when they actually meet the baby.

It’s a classic Old Testament name . It’s nice sounding and safe . It works across classes and occupations , Dr, Prof, Captain etc
but also wouldn’t sound out of place on a building site .
its a name that will grow with him whoever he becomes .

it’s many many times better than the latest trends of made up , cut and shut , unique names that will age very badly for those who find themselves in professional careers.

Take no notice. Nathan was one of my two choices for a boy, although we had a girl in the end. My dad made it very clear that he didn't like either of the boys names I'd picked. I just told him that it wasn't up to him and I liked both of the names so that was all that mattered. If I had a boy now, Nathan would be my choice. You need to remember that you're never going to please everybody so you might as well please yourself!

If they don’t like the name they can call their children something different and you’ll all be happy. Go with what you like.

No one's business but yours!
You can't please everyone

I was my daughter birthing partner and she didn’t tell me until after baby was born what her name was ! I literally had 10;seconds to digest her name and wasn’t sure because it was so unexpected….I now absolutely love her name and cannot imagine her as anyone else X

Nathan is a lovely name.
My parents and their siblings hate my children’s names, but that’s probably because they gave their children names like Ian, Nigel, Trevor, Sharon, Denise, Karen, and Noel, so the names were never going to be to their taste. I couldn’t care less as I’d be more worried if they approved of my life choices but I appreciate it’s more difficult if your family are usually kind and reasonable.

Nathan is a naughty boy name, that's probably why they don't like it

Nathan is a fine name, I’d still go with it and avoid talking to your family about names and maybe even the gender when you find out. You might find you’re having a girl anyway (Natalie is a lovely alternative to Nathan), so don’t worry too much. You won’t find a single name that everyone would love and not have some sort of issue with. I’ve been floating a long list of names with family and someone said they didn’t like a name because one of their exes cousin’s was called that. So ridiculous! Nathan is very inoffensive