Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

to announce baby's name before it's born?

102 replies

olivertwistwantsmore · 27/02/2018 14:34

Friend is pg. She's 22 weeks. Has just had her anomaly scan. She has posted a scan pic with her baby's name on FB saying 'welcome to the world, xxxxx'

Isn't it odd to name your dc before you even see them? What if the baby doesn't suit her name?? We had a name picked out for dd but then she didn't suit it at all and we changed our minds when we saw her.

And where's the element of surprise?! Friend has had a gender scan and now everyone knows the baby's name. Is this a thing? Seems odd to me...

OP posts:

Mulberry72 · 27/02/2018 15:56

We named DS before he was born, doesn’t strike me as unusual.

IHeartHoumous · 27/02/2018 15:58

I think it's odd but each to their own, friends of ours who had their first baby last year told everyone his first and middle name as soon as they found out the gender. Agreed with PPs, no element of surprise for anyone else but I guess the 'surprise' just gets brought forward when you tell people what you're having and their name?

TheButterflyOfTheStorms · 27/02/2018 16:01

A baby looks like a baby, or like Winston Churchill... Unless you're going to name your child Squidgy or Cutey or Redface or Baldy or Wrinkles you can't give a newborn a name they "look like".

Screamy McScreamison would have been apt in DD's case. Or Avoidy O'Sleeperhan.

EsmeeMerlin · 27/02/2018 16:02

We have had a name for ds2 since I was 16 weeks pregnant and found out he was a boy, we have used it so much that we could not imagine calling him anything else when he arrives(Thursday!)

We only had one boy's name with ds1 as well. It was my favourite boy's name and I said right from the start he would be that name if he was a boy. Now at 4 i still love it.

However I must admit neither name was/has been put on fb or told to everyone. Just close family who have asked about names. Just because we have found that if you tell people early they tend to give their opinion which can wind you up when you are pregnant and hormonal so better to wait until baby is born

StepAwayFromGoogle · 27/02/2018 16:02

We named DD before she was born and told everyone. Mainly because we had taken so long to decide on a name that I wasn't changing it - even if every pregnant person we knew named their child the same.

PeonyTruffle · 27/02/2018 16:06

Meh, we named and used DS name before he was born, we had a lot of friends pregnant at the same time and as this was LITERALLY the only name we could agree on it, we wanted people to know that was our choice (although we wouldn’t have been precious over it should someone else have used it too)

My sister is expecting a baby later this year and he’s been named too and we refer to him by his name

gussyfinknottle · 27/02/2018 16:10

The mum of one of DD's classmates is doing this. Whatever gets you through, is my response.

BewareOfDragons · 27/02/2018 16:21

Well, based on other threads that I have read on MN, the mum-to-be just might have a close friend/relative/frenemy/etc who just announced they were planning to use the mum-to-be's carefully selected name after hearing it. So perhaps mum-to-be is trying to preempt said close friend/relative/frenemy with an announcement of her own...

ClaryFray · 27/02/2018 16:29

I'd named DS before he was born didn't announce it. But I'd named it.

An old school friend has just given birth and she used his name on posts and such.

Tbh I have more in my life to worry about than someone using a name on a scan pic on Facebook. Much less to start a thread here about it.

Sophisticatedsarcasm · 27/02/2018 16:35

I’ve seen a few people do this... however personally I like the element of surprise, I had the names in mind when I was pregnant and everyone kept trying to get me to spill, I had people bribing me and everything.
I guess it’s each to their own. Although I’m not sure on a name ‘suiting’ a baby. I think that’s our mind tricking us into believing thier are certain charteristics for people with certain names. Just another form of stereotyping

Trinity66 · 27/02/2018 16:38

are you saying it's only for babies who actually look like daisies - white blond women with whip thin green bodies and bright yellow faces?

GrumbleBumble · 27/02/2018 16:45

Had a name in mind but didn't tell anyone until the baby arrived. (He did have a name he was known as before he was born but everyone knew it was a "bump name" and not what we were calling him. I've never understood the doesn't suit him/her thing. My skinny strawberry blond brother was chunky and black haired at birth so if you think there are names for different hair colours how does that work? My blond DS will almost certainly end up brown haired as an adult but is still blond at 7.

Amanduh · 27/02/2018 16:47

I agree, I dislike baby showers for the same reason, i’d welcome and name the baby when they’re safely here. Each to their own though

Astrabees · 27/02/2018 16:51

We had ideas but didn't settle names until they were born. DS1 has a short sharp little name, he was bead eyed and very alert, his name suits him.
DS2 was more laid back from day 1, he has a longer more arty sort of name. I wouldn't have dreamed of announcing names until the baby was there and I was sure it was right for them.

BaffledMummy · 27/02/2018 16:55

Agree with some other posters that it’s a bit like laying claim to the name. Maybe she has a few pregnant friends and wants to claim her name first in case someone else dares use it? MAYBE there will be a post soon from someone complaining that their BFF who is also pregnant just stole her baby’s name and announced it on Facebook so now she can’t use it. There is at least one post a week on this topic!

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 27/02/2018 17:02

Yes it could well be that Baffled.

GrannyGrissle · 27/02/2018 17:14

I knew DD's name way before she was born and told afew people casually (one of whom announced it on FB not that i cared it was no secret). I don't understand the 'how will you know s/he looks like a Geoffrey?' etc. They all look like a Blob or a Shrivel or a Scrunch or a Dinky Dot or an 'Oh Fuck It's So Teeny Tiny How Will I Possibly Not Break It' or a 'Holy Shit What Have I Done?' sometimes a Corn Fed Chicken if jaundiced.
My woo friend says i knew my baby's gender and name as she has chosen me to be her Mother No child of mine would be that fucking stupid

Notso · 27/02/2018 17:18

I think it's odd to announce the name before birth, but I also think it's odd to find out the sex and announce that.
Someone DH works with posted every single detail about their pregnancy on Facebook from positive pregnancy test to wet patch on the sofa from waters breaking then a big thing about respecting their privacy and waiting for the official announcement before posting any congratulations messages. That didn't even have a picture of the baby in it, just the Mum looking instagrammy coy and holding a pink babygro.

SugarNyx · 27/02/2018 17:51

I did it, most people knew my sons name long before he was born - if it doesn’t affect you, why should you care what another mother is doing with regards to her own child?

Idontbelieveinthemoon · 27/02/2018 17:57

I wouldn't, and didn't. Before having DS1 (who is now 12) I had a very late stage loss. If I'd put anything on Facebook about the pregnancy I'd have had to explain at a later date why no baby arrived and I can't imagine how utterly awful that might have felt. So with DS1 and DS2 I didn't put anything on any social media until each one was here safely. It just felt as though I'd be jinxing or chancing the pregnancy if I told too many people and made it "real" (which I appreciate is slightly mad, but loss can send a person mad, tbh).

I don't think I'd judge those who do, though. Just not something I'd choose.

Sophisticatedsarcasm · 27/02/2018 18:18

I posted on Facebook about my son but only at 6 months, I didn’t say anything about DD until she was born. People were then saying oh I didn’t know. I was like yeah coz I didn’t post it all over Facebook.

Leiaorganashair · 27/02/2018 18:19

I don't agree that there's no such thing as "suiting" a name. My really didn't suit the name I had originally decided on. I didn't use it in the end. I wouldn't have thought that might happen before I had her though.

Either way, announcing the name is weird, unless she is thinking she has claimed it!

Biscuits2or3 · 28/02/2018 06:58

All 3 of mine have been over a week old before they were named as we wanted names that suited them. I'm a firm believer that you should meet your child before they're named OP so to me it's really bizarre although seems to be the 'done thing'. My bil and sil name their babies before they're born. It really frustrated them when my 3rd was born and we didn't immediately announce a name as they were expecting a son due a couple of months after ours. It turned out they used my sons middle name which we only gave him as we were debating it for his 1st name.

whiteraven010185 · 28/02/2018 07:23

I dont think a name suits a baby, for our daughter (who's now nearly 4) we had a name picked out and that's what we called her. I'm currently 22weeks pregnant with a boy... And we can't decide on a name at all. I think the only odd thing is welcome to the world bit.

Evelynismycatsformerspyname · 28/02/2018 07:31

People can't tell which baby is which when looking at photos of our sons as newborns and small babies. They are 3 years apart, not twins, but were within 10g of the same birth weight, same length, same gestation... Both slept lots for the first 3 weeks and could have been called chilled and easy. However ds1 continued like that until he was about 2.5, when he became somewhat explosive, whereas ds2 stopped sleeping almost completely at 4 weeks old and didn't sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch til he was 2.5. They were remarkably similar newborns but after 4 weeks old totally different. Any name chosen to reflect who they seemed to be at 0-3 weeks old would presumably have had to be charged in later babyhood!

They are totally different now at nearly 7 and 10, in terms of build, colouring and personality, but their newborn photos can only be told apart by looking at other things in the photos. It's utter bollocks that a name suits a baby. Baby appearance and temperament is utterly unrelated to childhood and adult appearance and temperament.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread