Has anyone decided for definate on names BEFORE the baby is born?

Had a name for my ds, all the way through pregnany he was refered to as Oliver, people would ask "hows Oliver doing?" not "oh hows the baby". but when pregnant with dd, I had no names, I knew she was a girl and still couldnt think of one, took 3 days from her birth to name her.

Dont worry, you will see her and have a fair idea, but please not one of those dulux names, I mean some random colour out of a chart like, lilac fern, or misty may!! just tooo cruel, erm not that Im standing in judgement if anyones dd is called magnolia!!

We had decided on names well before our childen were born. They had to be Welsh, and NOTHING in the Top 10 lists. So we had Hywel for a boy, and Eleri for a girl. Incidently, I know only one Grace, but there are at least 7 little boys called Thomas that I know, so be prepared for lots of confusion at school etc!

Had names ready for all three of ours - both boys and girls (they are all girls). DD2 & 3 both had the same boys name. I did want dd1's name shortened but it just never happened and she's always called by her full name. With dd2 I said right from the start that she would be called the shorter version of her name (and she is), and wanted to call dd3 a shortened version of her name, but again that never happened!

Whatever names you choose, your baby will be that person right from the start! Love all of your choices by the way - dd3 is Elizabeth!

We had a boys name and a girls name picked for ds very early on, and when he was born knew he fitted his name and called him that from the moment he was pulled out. With dd we spent an incredibly long time trying to find a boys name we liked, mainly because we both liked Ezra but thought it might be difficult to carry off, so kept on trying to find something else! In the end we realised that we always thought of the baby as Ezzie so not much point thinking of anything else. As it happens it turned out to be dd, which was a bit of a surprise and then it took a while for her name to stick because we hadn't really discussed girls names at all. We played around with a few other names for a while before reverting to our orignial choice. Very happy with both names now.

I found out the sex at 20 weeks in all three pregnancies and settled on a name as quickly as possible after that and started referring to the baby using it. I find with the 2nd and3rd that it is also great for the older kids - makes the whole thing more real. I don't think it hurts with the DH either, for whom babies only become interesting when they can say Papa or kick a ball . With my two DS's I never had a moments doubt that the name suited them once I saw them.

Our three dds names (first and middle) were all picked before they were born - dd1 had her name by the 20 week scan - I was so sure I was having a girl.

I really wanted a Thomas, sigh.

Sadly Tommy doesn't go (or rather goes too well) with our surname.

We did use it for DS2's middle name though.

bebejones lol at yr post.

I was talking to a Mrs Jones the other day and she said how she couldn't call any baby she had Tom or Grace!

To answer your title, we had the name we needed for deffo in all 3 cases (ie had a boy's name for DS1, a girl's name for DD etc)

I would say a common (in the nicest way) name like Jones can take a more unusual first name.

We picked all our children's names before the births and were sure. Certainly made life easier.

oops - ndd = ended!! Dodgy 'e' key!

Ds1 didn't seem to suit any of the names we were thinking of before he was born and ndd up being called a name we'd not even considered, but it really suits him and I'm so glad we chose it. He loves it too.

Dd and ds2's names were decided before they were born (in fact the name I'd chosen for dd never changed since I was a teenager) and they both suit and love their names, so we appear to have got it right. What we didn't do, however, was tell anyone our thoughts on names before they were born, therefore not allowing anyone's opinions to influence our decision.

Well, yes Fimbo. I have always had the name for my first born son

After two boy I found I was pregnant with a DD.
Ds1 was 10 years old and asked if he could name babe. We agreed with much trepidation but he chose a beautiful name. That was at approx 20 weeks preg

Bebe I think your names are all lovely. Your boys names are similar to the ones I would choose (Oliver is my favourite)! I like Joseph aswell but I prefer "Ollie" to "Joe". I prefer Phoebe to Hannah.

I had a girls name picked before I even met dh! Just as well he agreed with it. Didn't have a boys name so just as well she was a girl!

We agreed on ds's name about a week before his birth.

We were doing a lot of umming and aahing about names, and with our first ds we changed our mind at around 30 weeks (which confused a few people, as they didn't realise we had changed our mind and told people the wrong name, lol).
With ds2 we decided pretty early on a name and the same with ds3 and they both have the names we decided on...however, when they were born we did look at them and made sure the other half still agreed that the name would be the one we choose...
TBH, I think a child grows into a name, not teh other way round, iykwim...I really don't think that a child looks like it suits a name or itt doesn't...once they got the name you just get used to it and therefore start believing it's the perfect name for them, lol

Yes, with DD and with DS(DS was named after my dad though), this time round we have got a 'for definite' boys name, and a 99% 'for definite' girls name. However when PG with DS I had had a girls name for ages, which I changed the ngiht before I had him, so who knows?

I think if you can get down to two or three names for each sex then you cna decide when it comes.

A friend of mine had liked Ben throughout her pregnancy but wasnt going to use it as it reminded her of someone, but when baby was born the first thing I said was, 'oh Ben's here and he's gorgeous' (I was birthing partner and we'd called her 'bump' ben for ages) she looked at him and decided that in fact Ben was his name and it suited him perfectly. So who knows your LO may come along and look just like a Thomas.

We had decided before we were even pregnant with ds! Next time it will be harder because I keep changing my mind.

Yes. A girl's name and a boy's name (and middle name) from quite early in the pregnancy. Too early in one case.

We also had Thomas, but when DS was born he didn't look like one at all, so was un-named for four days while I waited for DH to come round to my original idea (Jude)!

I like the name Thomas but I'm really into meanings as well, and Thomas means 'twin'. Jude means 'praise' in Hebrew, which I liked better

I like Oliver.

only the second pg
first pg...we waited till he was born