Has anyone not had a name lined up before the birth?

I agree Choklit - I thought the name would just come to me when I saw her, but a week later I started to panic as nothing seemed right! It has turned out OK though.

I am 38wks with DC3 and with all three pregnancies I picked out the names soon after the 19week scan at which we found out the sex. I think it helps with the bonding and with the third has been more important than ever so that her big brothers already feel like they know her. I found it more difficult with the latest than with the boys and had one moment where I considered changing my mind (if DH would let me) before I dismissed doing so and just go on with it. We are practical people and not too sentimental so it is a practice that suits us well.

I'm 36 weeks pregnant with my 4th and we haven't decided on a name. I have a couple of favourites and a long list of possibles - all of which DH has rejected. He won't/can't suggest anything himself apart from Beryl which initially I found quite funny but is now really pissing me off.

We pretty much knew with the others what they'd be called and it was lovely that they were named in the delivery room. I'm getting a bit bothered about it with this one - pregnancy hormones I guess. And the longer we go on without a name the more I dwell on my favourite names instead on focusing on a name that we both like.

ME!!! My DH (or not so DH) hates all my suggestions but won't come up with any of his own... and we've got three weeks to go for our first baby. Aaargh. But I reckon since I have to do all the hard work I should get to choose the name.

He/she does have a nickname tho... LF. Any guesses what that stands for? haha. I'm a bit worried it might stick for life.

oooh, hatrick, didn't know you'd decided on a name, I liked a lot of your shortlisted ones

We took 6 weeks after the birth with both dcs 2 and 3.

Then we changed dc3's name when he was 11 months old.

We're very indecisive people!

We had a shortlist of 4 names, but for the first 5 months of my pregnancy I called her 'Mia', which didn't even end up on the shortlist!

So when she is older and reads my pregnancy journal (oh the luxury of having the time to write it!) she will see that she was initially called Mia.

My mum put me off at as we are scousers and she said she heard somebody shouting 'Miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa' in a dreadfully broad accent, ha ha.

Dd is called Alexa. Dh had vetoed that up until the night before she was born. When she came out, we just instinctively knew what to call her, it was very strange.

JJ
Junior 'our surname'
It was the bump's name, and it stuck!
And I was JJ's mum in hospital!

"The baby". Actually I still call her "my darling" and lots of other pet names - I don't use her given name much at all.

I must have secret issues about it.

Just out of interest - what did those of you who hadn't got a name for your babies call them until you had decided?

Our daughter wasn't named until a week after she was born, and then only because the registrar kept coming up to my room every day to see if we'd made our minds up.

We settled on the one that was closest to the top of both our lists (number one on his, number four on mine).

We thought we'd wait to see what she looked like. She had fuzzy black hair so I thought she looked like a little bear and wanted to call her Ursula, but DH said no way. So waiting for the baby to pop out and tell you its name telepathically is not a solution, IME.

My ds was named all the way through pregnancy, people would ask how he was doing by name!! but dd, had no clue, took about a week after birth to decided.

We had a list (of about 20 possible girl's names - knew it was a dd), couldn't narrow it down to one. Finally decided about 3 days after the birth.

You have plenty of time to make a decision after the birth - don't rush it.

We had a few people saying "Ooh, haven't you named that baby yet" but I just ignored them.

We weren't going to pick a specific name, but there's only been one name we've found that we both absolutely love so it feels pretty set in stone now. I guess we may well change our minds yet, although my DH has been calling the bump by the name for a while now. We haven't told anyone though, so we can change our minds easily if we decide to.

We had a name right up to just before DS was born and then went off it. And then, when he came out he would never have been that name anyway so we were really glad. Took us the rest of the week to come up with the name he has and we love it - it really suits him.

We didn't have a name for dd, we named her when she was about 2 days old, when we found something that fitted. With ds, we knew what we were going to call him, luckily he was a boy or we would have been stuck.

Had a shortlist of 3 for ds, but it was on the last day for registering before we absolutely decided! So for the first six weeks he was nameless, except for his nickname, which we infact used for the first two years!

For dd we had 3 again, but had sort of settled on Robyn - had some cards saying 'welcome to the world Robyn', then we changed our minds. I do still like Robyn though, but dd's name probably suits her more!

We always knew what our sons name was. I didnt feel like I was naming someone I hadnt met I felt I knew him already. And his name suits him so well! We are umming and awwing about next baby's name if its a boy we have a great girls one lined up. I'm not pregnant yet just TTC! I guess its different for everyone!

Wheresthehamster - my dh is also vetoing Eliza - but I may still get my way yet!

FIL is doing his family tree, and has discovered that, before his father there were six generations of the same name. First baby due in Sept. If it's a boy (sonographer thinks it is and he found a willy) then that'll be his name. FIL has mentiond this a few times "If it's a boy, he could be the 7th xxx". Luckily xxx is my favorite all time boys name, and with FIL on my side, DH can't (and hasn't) put up any opposition.

On the other hand, we had friends who had 7 or 8 months of pregnancy to think about it, then 6 weeks, and finally called their son John on the last day they could register him.

We had a nightmare it took us the full 6 weeks with our daughter and they phoned to tell us we would be prosecuted if we did not register her on time. Was an awful experience not to be repeated.

Think it is best to have some ideas as making such an important decision is so difficult when you are exhausted from birth and lack of sleep.

Good Luck

Yes. We had a girl's name decided, but nothing for a boy. It was a boy! We spent about 2 days without a clue what to do and really came up with our name by chance. It had been on our list earlier but we'd dismissed it as too odd - then we saw a way it could be shortened. It just came to us during a discussion and we made a decision within minutes and named him there and then. (I'll always remember and treasure that moment actually - sitting there with him turning over different names for him - it was a lovely time that we wouldn't have had if we'd been sure from the start, IYSWIM.)

me! I have only had a name with one of my 5. we got to the 6 week deadline with dd2 and we only named ds2 (4 weeks) last week. This is because dh doesn't discuss names before they are born, and then never likes the names I suggest, so we have to go through a whole compromise situation.