Does anyone else feel underwhelmed by the name they chose?

Give it a few years, it matters less and less as they get older, tbh. Other things become more important. I’d name my dc something completely different if I was picking their names now. They’re 24 & 20, so I doubt they’d let me change them, lol.

I love the names I chose for my kids, as they're unique.

So literally no one has ever been named those names before your children?

Luckily my daughter doesn't feel the same way, I call her by her middle name and first name. Also nicknames, it's all meant affectionately and she's happy about it.

Baby 1: exasperated compromise choice chosen weeks after he was born due to family pressure to get on with it. Went very popular after we named him. Still hope I might change it. He’s a grown adult now so odds are we probably won’t. 😉

Baby 2: Perfect name I’d always wanted to use for a girl. She shortens it and calls herself something else.

Baby 3: Compromise name. Regret not being braver.

Ultimately none of my ‘feelings’ matter, they are who they are now.

I haven't heard the names elsewhere.

Admittedly, they didn't like their names so much during primary school, but they enjoy them now.

• couldn't HAVE. Never, ever OF.

So how did you come up with them in the first place? Or do you mean they’re words, just not usually used as names?

I once knew a Whistle. And I used to teach a Friday whose middle names on the university records were her date and month of birth.

Cheers

i understand - I actually love both of my childrens names but I also have a name I love more that I wished I had used. My husband actively doesn’t like it though so I could never have used it. Annoyingly a friend used that name for her son and I feel very slightly jealous whenever I see her (not often) and she talks about her son, which is bonkers as she never even knew I wanted that name. I also would have called DS2 by a different name if I could go back and change things - bot because I don’t love his name, but because by chance and habit we ended up calling him the diminutive of another Christian name just as a nickname and that had really stuck. So I sort of wish I had just called him by the proper name of his nickname if that makes sense. Only because we end up having to explain that his proper name is actually something totally different and not related, or having to explain why he hs a different name for sports clubs etc.

My 20 year old hated her name and changed it when she was 16. I agonised over her name for months! My second we chose one we liked but we're not over the moon about and now we all love it! In the end it doesn't matter too much.

If it makes you feel any better, I was exactly the same as you and wished I'd used my dd's middle name as her first name, it bothered me for years and years. She's 9 now and finally I no longer regret it. Couldn't even imagine her being called her middle name now.

My friend started to use her middle name in childhood - and now it’s stuck so maybe your son will have the final word? I have always had a bit of regret about my DD’s name which my husband sort of sprung on me suddenly after the birth. He’d been non-committal about the names I was suggesting through pregnancy (with twins so there were two sets of names!!) so I just went with it but never really connected with it. I recently downloaded the novel The Names on Audible but slightly worried it might reignite my baby name regret so haven’t listened to it yet….!! Names are so imbued with meaning it’s not really the name itself but what we attach to it.

I think the names I really loved were the names I gave my two cats and seemed inappropriate to name my twins the same 😂- which is a life’s lesson don’t give your favourite names to your pets before having kids!!!

If it helps at all: this is just the name you chose while he couldn't speak or name himself and it isn't legally binding. He can pick any name he wants, whenever he wants. And so can you. A piece of paper means nothing. Call him whatever you want.

Where I live (country in the UK) kids are named one thing then called by their middle name anyways. Do do that
then let him choose which he prefers when he’s older

There are so many lovely names out there that I sometimes think of other names I might have named DD. But it helps that she thinks most of them are awful!

DD and I both did ancestry DNA tests and if anything, it showed that I chose the right name for her as it's a name that would work in many of the countries where she apparently has ancestry.

Which country is that? I do know a very small number of people who go by their middle names, but they happen to be English, like me. They intrigue me for some reason.

I think you are over thinking it.
Lots of people dislike the name their parents gave them hence why deed poll change of names are so popular.
Fashions change.
It’s not that big a deal.
Nobody is going to say I’m not being friends with you and don’t ever try and contact any of my friends either, because they dislike your name.
Some names are silly and the parents are to blame. I’m talking about names such as Michael Hunt or Annette Curtain type names.
In another 20 years you will probably prefer a different name altogether, that’s just life.

Interesting thread. In contrast, my ex left while I was pregnant so I chose DD’s name and she has my surname too. There were definitely silver linings as I didn’t have to compromise.

No I adore all my DCs names. There was no compromise, I had names I always wanted that were important to me, only 1 DH didn’t like on my list which was fine as it wasn’t at the top of my list. I wasn’t compromising on my eldest name if he didn’t like it we weren’t compatible as it was too important to me. My ExH hated the name, as I pointed out to him it’s better than a made up name he forced his ex to go with, his DD hated it and would cry on my shoulder all the time.

My DCs know where their names came from and why they were named as such, they have important family connections for both our families.

Wales - as far west as you can go

We couldn’t agree on names, so neither of us had our preference, but we were both happy with what we eventually landed on.

I think about it from time to time, but more in the “you could’ve been called X” type way rather than a massive regret.

Yes I would love to choose a different name for my DD. We had chosen a really unusual name together when I was pregnant. By the time I gabe birth I realised the name was too wacky snd no one would ever be able to pronounce it. My DH refused to budge so in the end we went with the onlu nsme he agreed to. I wish we had spent longer going over names post birth, but I felt a pressure. I dont mind the name but feel like it is too girly for my tomboy DD

Start calling him by his first and middle name and over time, drop the first name.

How about in true Mumsnet fashion and for political correctness
Chlld 1 rev C1.C2. C3 etc?