AIBU to have thought this was a shitty excuse?

[annabelismad]

I'm pregnant and my due date is in two days. We have one son, Franklin James Wilder. Our surname is a religious building. I LOVE vintage names. Husband less so but he liked Franklin when we chose it and frequently calls him: Franklin, Frankie, Lin and Frankie-Jay when around his East London mates who all have kids called Charlie-Jay, Tommy-Lee, Sammy-Joe and names similar. I've never minded the Frankie-Jay thing and thought it was cute. He chose Franklin's middle names. Now, we are having a little girl. We have a name, Gertrude Isabelle Laura. He loved it and chose her middle names. He also mentioned calling her Gertie-Belle, Tru, Gertie and Gertrude. I love this name. Today, he has come to me saying that he doesn't want to name her Gertrude anymore. When, I asked why, he said that I'm worried about what my mates will think. We should call her Lily-Mae or Lola-Rose instead. She needs a proper girly name. This has wound me right round the bend. When he said it, I just walked off. I think this is a rubbish excuse. His mates wouldn't say a thing! Most of them call Franklin, Frankie-Jay but a quite a few call him Franklin.

Ah, Gwendoline. The butt of all jokes at Mallory Towers. Anyone?

Don't call her Nora. One of the lovelies & most amazing women I know is called Nora, but she's 30. It's somewhere near the top of girls' names for this year, so it'll be common as anything by the time Gertie starts school.

I have a "stupid" name and it's not the worst thing that can happen! Although I did spend the first 25 years of my life going "Ha. Ha. Ha." at the same 5 jokes about it.

Gertie-Belle is v. cute.

But there are other, similarly clunky-sounding names you might consider, which don't rhyme with dirty ...

Love Franklin Wilder! Try as I might though I really can't warm to Gertrude, not even Gertie! How about Rudy?

I LOVE THE NAME GERTRUDE.

Not that that's what you're asking. But just to confirm

I LOVE THE NAME GERTRUDE

I love Gertrude ignore them all OP it's a lovely name

Clarice is overdue a revival.
DP can call her Classy :)

I've just realised that when DD2b learns to answer back, you'll be saying "Don't be rude, Gert" about 150 times a day. Sure you can stand it?

I reckon the chances are fairly high that little Gertrude will get teased at school and eventually start calling herself Isabelle or Laura. But kids are mean and will probably still call her "Dirty Gertie" years after she's stopped using the name herself.

Please don't do this to your child, it's just not a nice name, and she'll be called all kinds of unpleasant nick-names at school....I know, I have an unusual name myself!

Gertrude?? Why not go the whole hog and name the child Cynthia - Concepcion? Two "vintage" names for you and your OH gets to be in his mates' gang with the double barrel name too. Poor baby :(

Viviane, Verity, Cora, Beatrice, Tabitha, Ruby and Nell are much prettier Vintage names than Gertrude. To be honest, there are going to be a lot of people who laugh out loud when your daughter is introduced.

I honestly couldn't name my daughter something that will bring her a lifetime of bullying and embarrassment. It sounds like your husband has been having similar thoughts and is trying to let you down gently.

When picking names for our two children we looked at every possibility that their names may be used by bullies. We ruled out several of our favourite names because in combination with our surname the name could be used to bully them.

As it is we love our children's names and they adore them too. They are often complemented on their names. Please consider your daughters future and the teasing that a name like Gertrude would bring.

Oh come on op. FFS. All the lovely names out there and you want to saddle her with Gertrude.

A few more from the Gertrude era:

Cecily and Cecilia
Geraldine
Honora
Valerie
Alberta
Adrienne
Seraphine
Berenice

How cool that Nora is racing up the charts. That was my late DM's name. She'd be so rapt!

I must admit that I dislike Gertrude. But I also think what your husband's mates think is indeed a lame excuse.

But if you love it, can't you swap them round? So say Isabella Laura Gertrude - then your DH can just say she is "Isabelle Laura" and you can call her gertie as a pet name if you like?

Haha at all the posters getting their knickers in a knot about how awful Gertrude is. I don't like it, but to me it's way better than Dorothy or Audrey, both of which in my opinion are about the ugliest names you can saddle a child with.

There will be many posters that disagree with me. Which just goes to prove there isn't one right answer. I don't really understand the baby name threads. Some people like a name, some dislike it. You'll never get agreement, so what's the point.

The mates opinion shouldn't count for tupance. It's not their baby.

It can be shortened to Gigi (Jee Jee is the pronunciation). Geneveive is also nice. And Delphine. Georgette

Franklin and georgette would be super cool.

Winniefred

I'm one of the few people who really likes Gertrude, I think it's a good name. However if your husband (for whatever reason) has decided he no longer likes it, then you'll have to find something else. There's millions more names out there.

It sounds from your OP like you call the shots when it comes to names and your husband just has to go along with it. But he has equal rights and you need to choose a name you BOTH like.

I hear Gertrude, I see an old desiccated auntie with a strict look on her face. She's never been married and keeps her house very clean and tidy. She has barely any decoration in her house except for few Biedermeier china figures and stern looking ancestors in oval frames.
I have always loved the name Frederika, sadly my DH rejected it.

Gertrude belongs in a pile of old lady names that are too ugly to be revived. Names like Edna, Ethel and Dorcas.

Not a fan of hyphens either, they look weirdly indecisive. Just have loads of middle names if you must, but not a baby called Maisie-Mae.

Gertrude is just yuk. Makes me think "Dirty Gert is rude". Some PPs have suggested Maud which I think is just as awful - a combination of mould and fraud.
I do like the abbreviation you suggested, Tru, it might go well if you did want to do the dreaded hyphenation ie Isabelle-Tru. It would make a change from all the -Mae, -Rose, -Grace names around.
Must add that one of my daughter's middle names is May (not hyphenated) as she was born on 1st May so it seemed appropriate. I had no idea it was so common (in both senses) until after.

Very vintage name precisely why it's so cool imo.
We can't assume your DD will be embarrassed by her name. My DD (7) thinks names like Lesley, Tracy and Stuart are wierd because they're not in vogue.
It reminds me of Gertrude in Shakespeare's hamlet though so perhaps I'd prefer ophelia personally.

Don't like hyphenated names