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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Did you/Would you let siblings pick the name?

56 replies

littlelamb · 12/04/2008 10:58

My dd (3) has been insistent that this bump is called Jack from day 1! At first I dismissed it, but the more I think about it, I think it would be nice to include it somewhere, perhaps as a middle name. Is this weird?! I'mnot sure how I'd feel if I had been saddled with a name because my brothers picked it

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SquonkTheBeerGuru · 12/04/2008 13:46

DS wants a little brother called Mr. Mopple.

If I ever do get pg, we won't be letting him choose the name.

sweetkitty · 12/04/2008 13:45

DD1 has insisted that DD3 is called Rosie from when we told her we were having a baby, even before she was told it was a girl she said it was a girl baby called Rosie (and we got a huge told you so) she's now changed her mind to Becky this week.

FrannyandZooey · 12/04/2008 13:22

ds wants to call new sibling Angel Wings
I am thinking perhaps NOT

TinkerbellesMum · 12/04/2008 13:20

BTW, Tinkerbelle stuck!

TinkerbellesMum · 12/04/2008 13:19

My OH choose his sisters name, there is about 8 years between them but she ended up with Corrina. I'm convinced it's why they don't get on now.

When I was pregnant with Tink we had narrowed down to 5 names and I didn't want to tell anyone our choices, but he went and told his mum and nan so we got all the negatives to each name. I said "if people are worried what the kids will call them, lets ask the kids" so I spoke to my brothers oldest 3, made sure they could say all the names and asked what they liked. My niece said "I like Tinkerbelle the best" meaning Isobel, I checked with her she could say Isobel and that was the name she liked and she said "Isobel, yes, but I like Tinkerbelle the best". The next day (day before she was born lol) OH spoke to his sons, told them they were going to have a sister and asked them about the names, they also liked Isobel best. I was pleased because it was the name I liked best.

I found out later that Isobel was the fulfilment of her sisters name. We called her sister (born alive at 20 weeks and lived 3 hours) Lily-Hope which when you look into the meaning is a promise of another child, Isobel is "gift from God".

My nephew wanted to call his brother either Nemo or his own name - he wasn't called either in the end!

My aunt named my uncle. He doesn't like his first name and uses his middle name. My aunt always used her middle name because that's what my grandparents wanted her called but didn't think her name worked with the other way around. My aunt always called my uncle by his first name and he would do the same to her. It was the cause of a few cross words between them!

I would be careful about letting a child name their sibling. If you want them to feel involved let them know your shortlist, but if they come up with a decent suggestion that you have no objections to, then go for it, use it as a middle name if you're not totally sure.

PuppyDogTails · 12/04/2008 12:45

DSD (11 yo) wanted us to call DS Darren

lucykate · 12/04/2008 12:45

dd picked ds's name, we gave her a shortlist of 3 to choose from.

it was either that or she wanted to call him elsie!

lottiejenkins · 12/04/2008 12:43

I love the name Dolly for a girl! My late firstborn ds was Jack.

lulumama · 12/04/2008 12:34

DS gave DD her name, but it quickly became lulu, and we are changing it legally to lulu. he had chosen crusher for a boy and angelina for a girl, when we found out we were having a girl, he was very upset, so we suggested he thought of some names, some were daft, but then he picked the one we ended up giving her.

popsycal · 12/04/2008 12:31

Not a chance.

If we had, ds2 would be called Hugo Mango Yoyo.

If we let ds2 name this baby, it would be called 'Wolverine - for a girl OR boy, Mummy'.!

Saturn74 · 12/04/2008 12:30

probably have been

Saturn74 · 12/04/2008 12:30

DS2 would probably been called Spyro or FunSongFactory if we'd allowed his brother to name him.

AbbeyA · 12/04/2008 12:28

Absolutely not!

Fullmoonfiend · 12/04/2008 12:24

dear gods no. ds1 who has the most vivid imagination, has a distressing history of naming cherished things in the most obvious way..
ie: Teddy. Bunny. Blanket-y.

a baby would be christend, ooh, let's see, baby-y by him

lilyloo · 12/04/2008 12:24

ds picked dd2 middle name 'Neve'

Ineedsomesleep · 12/04/2008 12:22

DS wanted to call DD Cottontail, so maybe not in our case. If you like Jack and want to use it as one of the names then why not, its much better than Cottontail.

BettySpaghetti · 12/04/2008 11:17

If its a name you like and want then why not.

If on the other hand your child would end up being called RAINBOW (which is what DD would have called DS, given half a chance) then, most definitely no

cheesesarnie · 12/04/2008 11:13

we let dd and ds1 chose ds2 name.dd chose a girls name,ds chose the boys name.he wanted kitty rainbow but we talked him out of it.so we have a thomas the tank engine(we left the tank engine bit off the birth cerificate).i think it helped them be involved.i was having our baby not my baby.

littlelamb · 12/04/2008 11:09

It does look like its a boy, but the sonographer said she couldn't be 100%. If its a girl she wants to call it Rosie, which just woldn't work with our surname, so she has called her dolly it instead . Its not a name I considered before, but it is nice and it does go with my other choices, so I think I may have to go with it!

OP posts:
evenhope · 12/04/2008 11:07

My DH was named by his brothers, who were 4 and 7 at the time. Both his names are hideous and don't go together.

137wallis · 12/04/2008 11:04

we let our boys help with chooseing names, but gave them a choice of a couple we really liked, although our third son was called Charlie by his older bros, from the moment they were told about him, and it stuck, we had wanted to call him something else entirely! My eldest really really wanted to call our forth ds Tony after the primeminister, that thankfully was argued against with my hd!

dirtygertiefromnumber30 · 12/04/2008 11:04

i think its a lovely idea. I know of a few people who have let older brothers and sisters choose the name - risky though!

However, Jack is a good, solid name so why not?!

DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe · 12/04/2008 11:04

Definitely not unless I happened to love the name too. At 3yr she'll get over the crushing disappointment in about...oh....15 seconds.

Misdee - can't imagine why you didn't go with Lemon Sponge. Great name

dizzydixies · 12/04/2008 11:03

big sister - SORRY!!!

dizzydixies · 12/04/2008 11:02

dd1 has picked Bluey for a boy and pinky for a girl - either that or Dora the Explorer - full title, not just Dora

I think Jack is a lovely choice and a nice way of getting big brother involved