To think it's rude to critique somebodies chosen baby name?

[Mothership241]

Expecting a little girl next year and have chosen a name that me and DP love. It's not an unusual or unpleasant name so I've taken offence to a family member constantly expressing their dislike of it whenever they see me and suggesting names that they think sound nicer.

The name we've chosen is Evelynn-Grace.

AIBU to think they're being rude and a babies name choice is nothing to do with anybody apart from it's parents, or am I just being hyper sensitive?

Evelyn's lovely. It's really popular in the baby groups I go to at the moment. I was surprised as I don't think I'd noticed it was popular before that.

Funky I went to school with a Wayne Kerr.

Rule number one in "revealing" baby names - don't do it until baby is born. No one has the bare faced cheek to be rude when you've already had the baby. Also, no one cares what other people are gonna call their babies (sorry)

It’s the kind of reach wonky, annoying 11-13 year olds make though.

Wanky not wonky

Nice name! Your baby your choice of name. Nothing to do with anyone else.

Not a very big reach either.

My daughter dances with a little girl called Evelyn. It’s a beautiful name and everyone loves her. She’s so cute and the name really suits her. Good choice OP.

Yes your relatives are being rude, but as people have said, that's why it's better to keep names under wraps until the baby pops out and you can say 'the baby is called' rather than 'we're planning to call the baby this, you've got x months to talk us out of it.'

May I ask if you have names that are easy to spell? DH has a very common name that he never has to spell out (think John Smith type name) whereas my second name is not exactly unusual but there are different ways of spelling it so I usually have to spell it whenever giving it. DH proposed lots of hard-to-spell names for DD and I was having none of it.

So I think trying to choose an unusual spelling to be a bit different is maybe not the best idea - it won't change how people say it, just makes it a pain to write down!

BTW I also knew an old lady (born in 1910s/20s I would guess) who was Eev-lin.

If the objection to Evelyn is it being old-fashioned, you might want to show your relatives this chart - www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/babynamesenglandandwales/2017 scan down to figure one and enter the name to see a graph showing it spiking!

I have an Evelyn. Pronounced ever-Lyn. We shorten it to Evvy or Ev. I don’t like Evie as much. She does get called eev-Lin and we just correct it but would be annoying having to also correct an extra ‘n’. I think grace is a beautiful middle name, also not a fan of the hyphen.

The Head of Infection Control at a local hospital was named Emma (E) Bowler. Oh how we laughed. (Yes, I'm a massive nerd).

My name is one of those I've had to spell out to people my entire life. My parents liked the sound of my name but didn't like the usual spelling for that pronunciation, so they spelled it differently so it looks like another name which is pronounced very differently. It's been a lifelong ballache. I've now married and changed my surname and due to my husband's second name, we've had to rule out an entire first initial from any baby names because it would look like a rude word when combined with our surname. 🤦🏻‍♀️ (Think W.Anker or something). sigh

I remember once someone suggesting running name suggestions past a focus group of 8 year olds, because they immediately find something to snigger about if there is one!

Crack on OP, the new(ish) name is lovely!

Double barrelled names just remind me of chavs. And I don’t know anyone who actually uses the full name, so to me it’s just pointless.

But yes it’s rude.

Names have a great deal of class connotation, so in a place like the UK where class is definitely "a thing", you're going to get comments. Hyphenated first names and non standard spellings are, along with giving a nickname as a first name (e.g. naming a child Maggie on her birth cert, rather than Margaret), regardless of the morality of the thing, currently considered markers for being uneducated

I think oiiiiiii has it spot on.

I really love the names Evelyn and Grace though.

My name is an "old" name though not uncommon, but is almost always misspelt.

Same goes for my surname and don't get me started on DP's. He is mixed and although he's British he was given (nice) names which are traditional in his father's home country but virtually unheard of here.

Just realised the irony of giving our daughter an unusual spelling when we've both suffered the wrath of those ourselves

Lovely name but just spell it normally fgs

Never tell anyone your baby name! I live next to an Evie-Grace.
Evelyn is lovely.
Evelynn is a bit odd. And why Evelynn-Grace? I guess if someone told me this was there choice I’d question why, but that’s because there are so many Evie-May/Mae/Grace it seems a bit odd.

It's a lovely name, but she won't thank you for giving her an unusual spelling to it. She'll spend her whole life saying "no it's not spelt the normal way, it's spelt..."

Evelyn Grace is beautiful. I completely agree with everyone else’s comments about the spelling and hyphen.

You’ve chosen a lovely name and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy

Hyphenated name is the height of chav

I think Evelyn Grace is fine.

You will have to stop yourself from "correcting" anyone who pronounces Evelyn differently from you though

I can't get too worked up about sticking an extra 'n' on the end. Compared to some modern spellings it's remarkably restrained.

I like it OP. Yes she's rude. Next time around don't tell anyone the name because people seem to be more mannerly when it's a done deal.

This is why you shouldn't tell people the name you've chosen until baby is here.

If it's a me you live then sod what they think.

Evelyn grace is a beautiful name!

First rule of naming your baby, never, ever mention it in RL, well unless it’s with DH of course

This is why we have the Baby Names Board

Evelyn Grace Surname looks very pleasing to the eye!
Much better than the other, pleased you’ve been so reasonable.

I say that because I was a hyphenated name and I absolutely detested it. Doubled with a traditional Irish surname I was sick to fuck of spelling it out for people.. dropped the hyphen (not officially) and haven’t used it in about 20 years and also considering changing my surname to my partners because I seriously can’t handle anymore bloody misspelled official stuff!