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Original poster

If you didn't name your baby for a few days...

31 replies

littlemissmoomoo · 17/06/2019 00:59

...did you eventually choose a name that you had already thought of, or did you choose something completely different?

My baby is a week old in a few hours and still has no name. I have a couple of threads in baby names but wondered what other peoples experiences were.

We had a shortish list but now he's here, none of them are right. I keep coming up with new names and DH is getting annoyed. He likes 3 of our original list but none are right.

OP posts:

Soola · 17/06/2019 01:20

We didn’t name our children for weeks and only went to the Registry office on the last day given to name them. In one instance we were told we could be fined if we didn’t come in and register the name!

It was very difficult to find names that we both agreed on.

The result that when our daughter was named we still had no idea whilst sitting in the office and were saying names out aloud much to the annoyance of the registrar who was angry that we couldn’t decide. Eventually we decided on an unconventional name. She’s an adult now!

MattMagnolia · 17/06/2019 05:51

Ours were named long before birth, except one who was named a day afterwards. I can’t imagine having a nameless baby or pet. It must become harder to decide the longer you wait.
If you can’t decide let your DH do it.

LittleKitty1985 · 17/06/2019 05:58

You might not find a name that feels "perfect" for him, but he'll grow into whatever name you decide on and it will suit him eventually. Just go for one of the 3 originals that your DH likes.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families

Magpiefeather · 17/06/2019 06:03

They were on our original (quite long) shortlist. But we did try out a different name for the first day and both agreed it wasn’t right so changed it.
Don’t agree that there’s anything wrong with them not having an official name for a few days. They neither know nor care!!

Blankiefan · 17/06/2019 06:05

We didn't name DD until day 4. When she was a bumper had a nickname for her (think Peanut but not). It was difficult to think of her as anything else.

We chose the name we'd been previously toying with. I was unsure but it's totally her now and was really quickly.

lancslass17 · 17/06/2019 06:22

We took 2 weeks to name him, had a shortlist we ended up with a variation of one of the names. Wasn't in the right frame of mind to choose before then.

maddiemookins16mum · 17/06/2019 06:37

We had two names for DD. I went with the 2nd one as it suited her better (despite all new borns in my humble opinion looking like scrunched up, red faced errr newborns). The first choice was Elizabeth, none in her year at school. The second choice, and her name, only a few throughout the past 15 years. We named her on day 3.

MaverickSnoopy · 17/06/2019 06:43

Not a week but our 2nd and 3rd weren't named until a day after birth. Largely because DH wanted to talk names the second our first was born and I felt totally blindsided. So I just wanted to stop and think after the others were born.

Possibly you're over thinking this. It's just a name and babies tend to grow into their names, not the other way around. That being said I've read man a thread on MN from people asking whether it's OK to change their babies name months or years down the line.

Fwiw I didn't feel that our firsts name was "right" for about a year but now I can't imagine her as anything else.

Go back to your shortlist and look at what names you like. Try not to worry about whether the name will suit or be the right one. When I looked at my second and third they just looked like babies not a Doris, Daphne or Daisy iyswim.

eurochick · 17/06/2019 06:49

We had a shortlist of three for each sex. When she was born one immediately didn't feel right. We couldn't decide between the other two so we called her each name for a day. One felt more "right" so we went with that.

nordicwannabe · 17/06/2019 07:23

We couldn't decide on a name for DD for about 10 days! We had a shortlist, but when she was born none of them seemed quite right.

We went right back to the beginning with a whole new list (in between finding our feet as parents of a newborn... hence it taking 10 days!)

In the end chose the name which was 2nd on our original list We did choose completely new middle names for her from our new list though. I love all her names.

Polestar50 · 17/06/2019 07:33

It took us about two weeks to settle on a name. It was in the top 4 of our list before the baby was born.

I completely agree that babies grow into their names. He's just over a year now and I occasionally think of the other names I was keen on and they wouldn't have suited him at all.

I like quite soft, gentle boy's names (Evan, Laurie etc) but we ended up choosing something a bit stronger sounding. He has grown into a bold, lively and adventurous little thing and his name really fits.

Wynston · 17/06/2019 07:33

There is no rush.....we took the 6weeks to decide.
Ds had a nickname during that time. Most people were horrified that i hadnt named him for so long but to be honest he was safe and well and i was busy feeding and falling in love with him!!

DelurkingAJ · 17/06/2019 07:42

DS2 took a few days and we got stuck. We therefore turned our shortlist over to DS1 (then 3). He chose well (although anything not on the shortlist was vetoed so DS2 didn’t become ‘peanut butter’).

Flowerrose · 17/06/2019 07:44

We didn't decide untill she was 6 days old, I made a few lists whilst I was pregnant but DH and I didn't really find any we loved. I did really love one name but it was too similar to our surname. So once she was born I started looking at some completely different names and found one that I felt suited her and that I liked and obviously that DH liked too. I found before then I kept picking names that were more on the unusual/uncommon side then changing my mind later on. So I went for a "safer" option, something not super popular but far from unheard of. A name I felt I couldn't really go wrong with if that makes sense (it probably doesn't). She's 11 weeks old now and I feel like she's already kind of grown into her name and when I hear her name I think of her so I feel like I now love the name

hlc123 · 17/06/2019 16:35

We didn't decide on a name for a youngest until he was 23 days old. We had a shortlist of 6 boys names but non seemed right, then when he was 2 weeks old I took a photo which made me think he would suit a different name although it was over a week before we decided to go with it. I love it now and it really suits him.

LittleCandle · 17/06/2019 16:47

My cousin and her husband couldn't decide on a name for Baby no 2 and his mother thought there was something wrong with the baby.

Poetryinaction · 17/06/2019 17:04

We dithered for a few days with both daughters but eventually went back to the no1 name on the list. We just wanted to be sure.

FizzyGreenWater · 17/06/2019 17:07

Yes we took a few days with no 1!

Tell your DH to try not to get annoyed, please! It's a real shame to spoil such a precious time. Show him this thread! It's totally normal to take a few days (and really a very sensible thing to do)

WhatAGreatDay · 17/06/2019 17:48

We had a shortlist of two and tried them out over a week. My son kept using his favourite every time we said the alternative and his favourite kind of stuck and we ended up choosing it.

Runmoreorless · 17/06/2019 17:54

DS2 was three weeks early and I took my final exam the day before he was born. I hadn't given names a thought beforehand. There was a real risk he would be "Baby" forever

CharminglyGawky · 17/06/2019 18:05

It's a hard thing to do! We chose the name whilst I was in labour, I had a name I'd wanted (my late grandfather's) but didn't want to push it on DH who was impossible to pin down for a name conversation. We were in the delivery suite and he looked at me and said "so do you want to name him after your grandad then?" I did and so we did!

But even with a name I loved and was meaningful for me it took months to become 'him' I remember explaining why he had that name almost apologetically for months when asked his name out and about he was called Baby more than his actual name up until he became mobile. I bloody love his name and it suits him but it is hard to know if you've chosen well!

romany4 · 17/06/2019 19:44

I only picked one name for my ds when I was pregnant. When he was born the name didn't suit him but I called him it anyway because I couldn't think of anything else I liked.
He grew into it

vampirethriller · 17/06/2019 20:24

I had name ready but she didn't look anything like it. After a couple of days of accidentally calling her the dogs name, I had a think and she's called something I never considered before she was born! But it really suits her.

BalloonSlayer · 17/06/2019 21:06

We were stuck for a name for DS2 (we had a girls' name though). We tried out a certain name for a day before deciding it didn't suit.

In the end DH had printed off the top 100 boys names over the last four years. He asked me to think of a number between 1 and 100. I picked a number which meant something to me. For three of the years,that number corresponded to a name we both really liked but I wasn't sure about. For the fourth it was a not-in-a-million-years name. We took it as a sign. Although I do somehow feel that DS2's real name is still "out there somewhere."

FinallyGotAnIPhone · 17/06/2019 21:08

We had a few names we thought were ok but none we particularly loved. Over the 3-4 days after the baby was born we tried out different names until one stuck.

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