To wonder what the government official would call our child?

[peanutfoldover]

We are pregnant with no.2 and we cannot agree on a boys name at the moment, although I’m sure we’ll come to a happy compromise eventually. With our DD1 we chose a name before she was born and registered it as soon as it was possible.

However, out of pure curiosity I wanted to know what would happen if we never registered a name for this child (that won’t happen but, you know.... I was curious!). I checked out the rules: Turns out you have 42 days to register and if you don’t by then its a £200 fine and a government official will choose a name instead!!

THAT got me wondering if anyone has ever allowed this to happen and, if so, what name did the official choose?? Is there some kind of system for choosing a name in these circumstances? I assume this happens to some children by default if they are abandoned as babies or put straight into care etc, but I more mean parents who just don’t know and are happy for an official to choose for them and pay the fine.

It must have happened at least once for the rule to even exist right?!

@sunshinerobots that's lovely you took it so seriously!

And some people will keep the child hidden from the authorities who won't know it was ever born and thus the state won't name it (that is not a very good idea of course....)

@SorryDidISayThatOutLoud

Sometimes the authorities might make better choices! DD was born prematurely and we were in hospital for 6 weeks, so we registered the birth at the hospital when the registrar came on their regular visit. She said she was so pleased that we were choosing a 'nice, traditional name' as that morning she had registered a baby boy named Geronimo.

Yikes.

She shouldn't have told you that! That's a normal name in some places/cultures.

Oh I would love that job.

I always wanted to be the person who names the streets.

Anyway. I would go down the alphabet.

Agamemnon
Barnaby
Claudio
Derek
Eduardo
Finbar
Gerard

If you don't name your child in Denmark, apparently the baby is given the name of either the king or queen.

Gossiping about what previous babies had been named is not professional for a registrar, and neither is giving their opinion.

My brother was handed in at a foreign police station as a new-born baby. The orphanage must have chosen his name. Never knew how, except that his surname was that of the then president.

That name generator is fun! The names it suggested for me were so insanely bonkers, I immediately wanted to be pregnant so I can name the baby some of them.

Having a partner called Geronimo would be FANTASTIC! Being able to shout that name when you orgasmed would be brilliant!

I would never want to risk someone else naming babe in case their taste was extremely dull or too safe a choice