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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:
eatyourveg · 23/08/2011 09:04

My mother said on hearing ds3's name - oh no! it sounds like a dustbin man, you can't call him that.

BustyStClaire · 23/08/2011 09:35

Casper is a friendly ghost.

Bonsoir · 23/08/2011 09:37

Yes, one of my maternal cousins (and, more generally, some of my maternal relatives, though not my paternal relatives). But she has awful taste, so I didn't pay any attention!

Lara2 · 23/08/2011 09:46

DS2 was going to be Arianne Columbia Electra if he'd been a girl. He's 14 and is glad he's not a girl (he frequently tells me the girl choice was crap! Grin)! I still have hankerings for it , sadly it's too late for me to have anymore DC's.
When I told my Dad DS2's name, he paused and said "Very Steinbeck!"

Bubbaluv · 23/08/2011 09:48

FIL said "Well I suppose we'll get used to it " About Leo

paulapantsdown · 23/08/2011 09:50

Was thinking of Lydia for a girl when expecting DS2.
MIL reaction was "like lid of your teapot?". Cow.

SpannerPants · 23/08/2011 09:51

My neighbour said "that's a funny name for a baby" with accompanying catsbum face Grin

SnoozleDoozle · 23/08/2011 09:57

I know my parents caused great offence to my sister which will never be forgiven, by not being able to bring themselves to call her eldest DD by her name until she was about a year old, up until then she was just 'the baby'. They are not generally the overbearing types either, they are very good at hiding their true feelings on things but the name really offended them. Like someone else further up the thread, this all comes down to Northern Ireland politics - my sister gave her daughter an Irish name, with an Irish spelling, and as my parents do not consider themselves Irish in any way, they were deeply offended by it - as far as they were concerned, they might has well have called the baby after the IRA......

TheSecondComing · 23/08/2011 09:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hermionestranger · 23/08/2011 10:04

Gabriel is Gabe. Ours is also Gabey. He's 8 months old though so we'll see what he wants to be known as in relation to nn in later life. DS1 wants to be known as his full name.

We've had all sorts of odd reactions to DS1's name, but stuff them. It's his name and it suits him.

We've also been told we should give both boys short first names because our surname is very long and it'll take them ages to write it down at school. Because obviously they'll be 5 forever.

TimothyClaypoleLover · 23/08/2011 10:11

Yes, MIL told us she didn't like DD's name and kept referring to her as "baby" until DH had a bit of a go. MIL reckons DD's name has now grown on her - one year later!

HeadfirstForHalos · 23/08/2011 10:50

When we announced ds1's name MIL forlornly said, "Oh, I wanted you to call him Joshua"!! She had never even suggested the name and we weren't likely to call him that because she said so either.

Ds2 Is called Jack. Yes it's common but we loved the name and it had been decided since pregnant previously with dd2. MIL said, "Could he perhaps be a Jacques instead?" (cue her sad puppy dog eyes). Err....

She also got the hump because we didn't call dd2 Felicity, although she did like her name (Rosie).

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 11:03

I don't know why people feel the need to comment on someone else's name choice unless of course they are asked for their oppinion.

I have a few friends who have called their children names I'm not keen on but would never dream of telling them. I'm sure some people don't like my name choices

Must say the recent should I call my baby queenie thread made me pull catsarse face though

JanMorrow · 23/08/2011 11:18

I got a one person who thought I was joking when I told them my daughter's name but she's a bit dippy, and a couple of people have called me a hippy but said they liked her name, and one girl wrinkled her nose (but I already hated her so that's ok) and I just said, well it's lucky you won't be seeing much of her if that's the sour face you'll pull whenever you see her! (rage took over).

But apart from that everyone seems to say they like it to my face.. she's still a baby so we've not got to school yet!

Dru77 · 23/08/2011 11:39

Lady1nTheRadiator - That's my name! Without fail everyone I've ever met has commented on what a lovely name it is, even if they can't pronounce it properly.

My DS name was discussed on MN recently and universally slated. He's 6 and a week ago another child said to him 'what kind of name is that?'!!!! It's a proper bloody name, it came out of a name book!

gingercurl · 23/08/2011 11:40

I was a little Hmm when an acquaintance wanted to call her baby Storm if it was a boy. I couldn't help but think that it would have been unfair if the child turns out to be a really placid person.

piebald · 23/08/2011 11:46

My MiL said she didnt like DS2 name so she would call him a nikname of it , dont think she ever did or tried and it didnt stick-it was a nikname i didnt want him to be called so maybe she saw my face! Anyway hes 15 now and i think she got used to his name!

Dru77 · 23/08/2011 11:51

cumbria81 - already stated I have a 'strange' name listed above. Unless you have a 'strange' name you can't possibly comprehend what it's like to have it, just as I can't comprehend what it's like to have a common name. My DH has at least 4 friends with the same name as him and I find it totally weird! If I see my name written down and it's not referring to me it makes me feel funny, it's MY name and I've never had to deal with it belonging to other people.

I was determined to give my DC 'normal' names but when it came down to it the thought of them having loads of friends with the same name as them changed my mind. I can't understand the mind set of people who look at the top 10 list of names and think, yeah, I'll have that one. Why would anyone deliberately do that to a child, to make such a fundamental part of who they are be so non-distinct?

A strange name is only strange to other people, if it's yours then it's as normal as any other.

I wanted to call my DS Beau (years before Emma Bunton chose it) but DH wouldn't let me. Kind of glad I didn't now.

Shoutymomma · 23/08/2011 11:56

My sister in law rang to announce the birth of her son. My fella asked her what she was calling him and when she told him, he went "WHAT?!?!?!"
Not known for tact.

CeliaFate · 23/08/2011 12:15

My friend's baby is called Alisha. I always associate the name with people who would appear on Jeremy Kyle, I don't know why! I just smiled and said "lovely".

duchesse · 23/08/2011 12:21

Jesse is a perfectly solid OT boys' name. People who think it's a girls' name are just unaware of this.

diddl · 23/08/2011 12:24

"A strange name is only strange to other people, if it's yours then it's as normal as any other"

I don´t really agree with that.

The only names that I think of as strange are things like Moon Unit-random words that aren´t recognisable as a name.

Xanthe for example is obviously a name.

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 12:25

Agree with dru I wouldn't say my name is realy unusual but I've only met two other people with it and was the only one in my school with the name. I've always thought it must be strange to know lots of people with the same name as you mine is spelt differently as well

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 12:28

And if anyone has any unusual names they don't mind sharing I'm trying to choose a name for dc 4

Insomnia11 · 23/08/2011 12:31

No, because I deliberately chose classic names for my girls which wouldn't make people go "WTF?" and ensure they will fit in anywhere...

Brian and Bob Grin

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