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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you've ever had a bad reaction on announcing your new baby's name?

432 replies

YouDoTheMath · 21/08/2011 20:31

Also posted in Baby Names, but I guess a lot if the ladies there don't have DCs yet.

So - did anyone ever have the gumption to tell you outright that they think the name you chose for your child is awful?

OP posts:
zipzap · 23/08/2011 20:01

Spiggy - just been working through these and seen you used ptolomy. Love it. Wanted to use it for ds1 and ds2 but dh vetoed it Sad, even as a second name. Was also tempted by jethro but again vetoed.

When we announced ds1's name (Noah) my mum was horrified, just hadn't heard of it being used other than the obvious example in the old testament. Until within a month she knew of not 1 but 7 others (friends grandchildren, acquaintances, lady in the shop etc), by which time she'd changed her tune somewhat and considered herself a bit of a trendsetter :)

And when my BIL told her that they were thinking of a name for their dd (rather than saying it was for definite because my sis was still in hospital and he thought my sis would like to tell her) my mum was 'omg you can't call her that it's a dogs name. Thank god you haven't decided yet.'. Took my sis a good couple of weeks agonising about whether or not she should change the name that she previously really liked. :( but she did stick with it and my mum still hates it!

pinkx5 · 23/08/2011 20:02

Matana:

That's really interesting as I know a girl called Ellis but before I knew her, I had always thought Ellis was a male name because of the Bronte sisters: they used the MALE pseudonyms Ellis (Emily), Acton (Anne) and Currer (Charlotte) Bell to cover their real identities as women writers. Therefore, I would assume Ellis was male unless stated otherwise.

TalkinPeace2 · 23/08/2011 20:05

DD : we had no idea what sex she would be so had two definite names lined up.
DS : sex - he's weed across the screen at an early scan BUT he had no name till he was 10 hours old - and then he kinda named himself.

GwennieF · 23/08/2011 20:08

My mother told my I had called my daughter an awful name and she would call her something else. Long history with this because I have dared to shorten my own name ("the beautiful name that I gave you") - hence rejecting her heritage!

TalkinPeace2 · 23/08/2011 20:11

DD is 13. Mil has never called her by her real name!!

4c4good · 23/08/2011 20:22

But what ARE all these names?

Fauntleroy?
Deirdre?

So much of this is laden with the delicious but usually silent, collision of class ( now better known as life style), where one party names the child some kind of 'aspirational' or 'different' or 'hippy' name; whereupon the parents or in-laws react...

So much safer to stay with Sarah, William, John and Elizabeth.

4c4good · 23/08/2011 20:26

Oh - I was given a beautiful, traditional name which I rejected in adolescence and have returned to subsequently. It rolls over the palate and I LOATHE any casual diminutive and make a point of correcting people gently when they do. It was also popular in my generation but no-one was ever traumatised by this fact.

kiki22 · 23/08/2011 20:28

my friend has a very funny taste in names and the latest girls name she's thinking of it Ashani sounds nice but we are very very glaswegian and when she says it it sound really really like A Fanny don't know about elsewhere but in glasgow if someone is an idiot or cheeky or you just generally want to call them a name one of the first choices is 'she's a fanny' hehe had to tell her didn't put her off tho

I also like Jake for my boy BUT again in glasgow a jake is a homeless person or a junky eg 'he's a wee jake don't go near him' so that was out

SpamMarie · 23/08/2011 20:30

My cousins all constantly fall out with each other because they are very unoriginal and like to steal each other's babynames. They are French, and currently amongst them there are a Laura and a Laure, a Florent and a Florient, a Julie and a Julien, a Maria and a Maiana. Nobody minds the style of the names, they just get miffed when some other cousin steals their idea lol.

Then again my grandmother was hardly imaginative herself. She had 13 children, among them a Jacques, a Jacqueline, a Jean and a Jeanne (different pronunciations in French).

TalkinPeace2 · 23/08/2011 21:03

DDs name is so unusual that stating it would instantly out both of us to anybody in the area

it is more common in Germany and Hungary and is actually Italian

MsGee · 23/08/2011 21:48

My MIL told me she didn't like DD name. We picked her full name when pg and as it's long we also chose a nickname. There are two obvious NNs - one popular and modern the other old fashioned (think old lady). MIL was aghast and told me I couldn't call her second name. Which pretty much decided it. Everyone now loves DD NN and thinks it's the bees knees.

I was going to call baby we recently lost Elsa if she was a girl. It tis a lovely name.

BibiBelle · 23/08/2011 21:54

Oh God I've done this a few times Blush The first time years ago when a colleague of mine told me they'd named their wee boy Grey. He then went on to have another two DC, a girl with relatively normal name and another wee boy who's name I won't post as it will out me.

The latest time was today when I took DD3 to her swimming lesson for the first time since the school holidays. There is a wee girl in her class called 'Pebbles' Now you HAVE to forgive me my Shock at that one??!

Considering my mother didn't approve of DD1 and DD2's names she certainly wouldn't have cared for DD3's name. Especially as it is more commonly used for a boy Grin

BibiBelle · 23/08/2011 21:55

MsGee Elsa is a very pretty name, am sorry for your loss. The two boys we lost would have been Joshua and Gabriel Smile

welshchick21 · 23/08/2011 21:56

I have a Noah and that's very well received although my mother didnt like it at first!! If we ever have another child - for a boy: Elijah and for a girl: Violet (or Pearl) - guess what, my mother hates them all!!

sjuperwolef · 23/08/2011 21:57

DD has a little friend called blaybo. blaybo fgs.

mummytowillow · 23/08/2011 21:58

Yes, my mum said she preferred daughters middle name! I chose to ignore her! Wink

sothisismenow · 23/08/2011 22:10

DS1 is Maximus Gabriel ... We both loved Max and my husband wanted Maximus which I wasn't sure about but now love. Gabriel is after my amazing mum, Gabriella, who sadly died unexpectedly 4 days before Max was born. I actually adore the name Gabriel now, having never considered it before, and almost wish it was his first name. I haven't had any negative comments (but I think the circumstances may have been some of the reason!)

onemoreglass · 23/08/2011 22:16

Everyone always comments on my DS's name (Jacob) "Oh, are you a big fan of Twilight then?" Yes, I like Twilight, but I didn't name my DS after the wolf! But it does sound SOO wrong when I hear girls say "go team Jacob!" :)

dementedma · 23/08/2011 22:17

some great names on here and some awful ones but that's only MO Smile
have to say that Minerva is the name of the online HR system used at work to record holidays, absences and travel expenses.
Like Sebastian, Noah and Benedict though/
Neighbours' little grandson is Kenzie which is so hideous I have to call him "toots" or "sweetheart".

lovecat · 23/08/2011 23:11

I had a long list of boys' names that I liked, every single one of which DH vetoed as 'gay', 'very gay', ' I'd punch him if I met him in the playground'Hmm and other such off-putting comments - they were Gabriel, Sebastian, Dorian (although Birds of a Feather also ruined that one for me), Lucian, Julien and Raphael respectively.

As it happened, we had DD, and have had no adverse comments about her first name. Her middle name however, elicited this reaction from the camp-as-christmas parish priest while arranging her baptism - "Oooh, that's very Jewish!"

Ummm... well, it's biblical... and as catholics we're supposed to choose at least one biblical or saint's name... and it's a very common name... but apparently very Jewish! (It's Rebecca, btw).

Massive respect for Chihiro as a name!

Most names I have no real dislike for (apart from Cain - why the hell would anyone name their child after the first murderer?!), but I do hate people misspelling names to be 'different' - no, you are just setting your child up for a life of pain when it comes to form-filling!

usingapseudonym · 23/08/2011 23:14

Hmm Beatrice is on our shortlist. Is it likely to get a bad reaction then? No 1 is Sophie so we thought it went well together. Like Catherine (but not Cathy), like Charlotte (but not Charlie) and as we don't like "Soph" as a nn thought Beatrice was a name we like the nn for (bea, bb, triss...)

marriedinwhite · 24/08/2011 00:08

NO. No bad reactions - in fact most people said things like: "what lovely names".

CuppaTeaAndAJammieDodger · 24/08/2011 00:12

Ha ha HairyGrotter, very nice to see you again :)

kelly2000 · 24/08/2011 00:48

I have never heard of Jesse being a girl's name. I thought it was jessie if it was a girl, and jesse for a boy (wasn't sandra bullock married to someone called jesse, and was there not an actor called jesse jackson), a bit like the difference between Adrian and Adrienne.

kelly2000 · 24/08/2011 00:52

I also really liked the name Rufus, but everyone, and I mean everyone hates it, and says it is a dogs name. My friends have even vowed to get together and buy a dog just to call to Rufus and stop me using the name.