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Baby names

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

What were you nearly called?

237 replies

Abigail47 · 08/08/2024 19:13

I was nearly called Deborah or Scarlett.

They were in my parents top three names.

Then they finally chose my name.

I feel a bit of a connection to those other two names.

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RobertaFirmino · 08/10/2024 21:51

Mairead. Ma opted for something even more Gaelic and unpronounceable in the end.

RoseApp · 07/10/2024 10:10

I was going to be called Helen or Ellen but dad’s family vetoed it. Ended up with what at the time was a naf 1960s name that is still out of fashion. I changed it as soon as I was 18. Found out much later doing my family tree that in my mum’s family Ellen had been a family name (which my mum knew nothing about), when I changed my name I added in Ellen as a middle name I’ve always felt fate clearly intervened here some how

MadameMassiveSalad · 06/10/2024 22:21

Nancy or Joseph

Hannahspeltbackwards · 06/10/2024 20:02

Philippa or Tamsin.

sadeightiesthrowback · 06/10/2024 19:08

Amelia Mary Rose...

OVienna · 06/10/2024 14:45

No idea why there are gin bottles there! Should be "x"s!

OVienna · 06/10/2024 14:44

I am adopted and my mother always said that she'd always wanted a girl called [my name.] She said it was a family name and I never questioned it. Isn't not really? When I thought it through. I'm the only person with this name - one person had it as a middle name.

I found out that my birth mother subsequently went on to have two more daughters (both kept). Her first child born after me was also a girl and named Jane [my name.] Her last child was also a girl I'd named [my name] As her actual first name..

When I spoke to the adoption agency they said she probably wasn't told my name. I think I don't believe this. It too much of a coincidence and I can see from family tree research [my name] isn't a family name either.

I have never retrieved my original birth certificate but I have always felt drawn to the name Jennifer ( which would have been very common in my era!)

Maybe I will one day..

RedRobyn2021 · 06/10/2024 13:57

Charlotte

BluebellsareBlue · 06/10/2024 12:04

Reagan (from the girl in the excorsist!!) or Allana. Alan if I was a boy. Ronald Reagan was the president at the time I was born and this out mum off, also my nana suggested I'd get called Ray gun. She didn't go with Alanna as my nana said it would be horrible in a dundee accent (mom had a beautiful South African/Scottish hybrid accent)

45fatandtired · 06/10/2024 10:59

Karen or Susan
I was born 1978 , the same year as the first ivf baby , hence me being named Louise

NetDesMamans1 · 06/10/2024 09:30

If my younger brother had been born first, and then I'd come along, I would have been Hazel. I love it, but suffer from Hirsutism, and the thought of being bullied as Hairy Hazel I find really upsetting.

Benshawsberries · 06/10/2024 09:20

Neil 🤣

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 06/10/2024 09:18

My middle name was supposed to be Naomi.
My dad chose it. (She chose my first name. That was the deal.)

When my mum went to register me she claims she forgot my middle name and panicked and said the first name that came to mind, which was Maria.

Yeah, my catholic mother just had a sudden bout of amnesia about my dad's choice of middle name and so went with Maria in desperation. 🤣 She thinks we're all daft I swear.

Thisbastardcomputer · 06/10/2024 08:43

Felicity, I'm told I was introduced as such before DM changed her mind, before I was registered.

MosaDiCello · 06/10/2024 08:34

My Mother wanted to call me Sophia and my Father wanted to call me the name I am now. They both tossed a coin and my Father won. I would have preferred Sophia I do love my name it's just a name most people say incorrectly because of one letter.

NewBrightonEel · 06/10/2024 08:32

Karen.

MosaDiCello · 06/10/2024 08:31

imnotthatkindofmum · 08/08/2024 19:14

If I was a boy I would have been Keith. Bloody awful name!! I think
My name was set in stone as I was named after a great aunt.

My girls could have been Charlotte, Constance and Avery. None of these names suit them now lol

Keith is an awful name thank goodness you're not a Keith ☺️😂

Enko · 06/10/2024 08:23

Fanny my mother's choice they drew straws. Dad won. I kinda like Fanny but I had a Scandinavian surname before I married that is used as slang for male genetalia so happy it was not used considering I ended up living in the UK.

Crikeyalmighty · 05/10/2024 20:08

Juliette

Aspecialplaceinhell · 04/10/2024 21:41

Marley
Thankfully I am not Marley.

smooshraspberry · 09/08/2024 19:50

Abigail47 · 08/08/2024 19:13

I was nearly called Deborah or Scarlett.

They were in my parents top three names.

Then they finally chose my name.

I feel a bit of a connection to those other two names.

Also Scarlett! I wonder if we're the same age... my mum was a fan of Gone with the Wind...

HMTheQueenMuffin · 09/08/2024 19:47

I was going to be Cameron if a boy.

My parents had me when they were 21 and my mother had a very difficult (cowbag) Great aunt who disliked my actual name and decided i ought to be called Natasha instead. (My real name is more of the 'Jane, Anne variety).

So to a fairly large cohort of my mother's family I have always been called Natasha. Because my parents (and my grandparents) sadly never put their foot down on the subject.

Mad really.

NoEscapingMe · 09/08/2024 19:42

50shadedofmagnolia · 09/08/2024 16:32

Mary 😳 and what makes it worse is ima twin born near Christmas and he was going to be called joe 😂.
I'm so glad they had a rethink

Mary is a beautiful name imho

GlobetrottingPercy · 09/08/2024 19:07

Sinéad. I like my actual name but I’ve always wished my dad hadn’t vetoed it.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 09/08/2024 18:32

My parents decided my name on their first date. If I'd been a boy I would have been Ignatius, Clovis or both!