What names did you like but couldn't call your child?

[NachoNachoMan]

When I was expecting, we were discussing baby names. Me & my husband liked the name Sydney for a girl. We had a conversation about names with my brother and sister in law (who were also expecting) and told them we liked the name Syndey.

A few weeks later it was Halloween. My phone rang, it was a withheld number but answered it anyway. I said "hello" & then the voice down the phone said "hello Sydney", followed by a knock at the door. My husband answered it, and there was someone in a scream mask, followed by laughter. The mask came off... and it was my brother! (He has always been a bit of a teaser, thank goodness I'm not of a nervous disposition!)

My daughter was born a few months later, and she is not called Sydney.

So what names have you liked but couldn't call your child?

I liked Gulliver and Ramona. Hard no from DH.

@Nikhedonia

Persephone & Tabitha for girls and Sebastian for a boy (ex-DH vetoed them all )

I wanted Persephone with Percy as shortening. In end we have Percy As her middle name ( lots of reasons why)

There are some lovely Western/British sounding names like Emily and rosie and so on. I love Lizzie and Katie and Eve. Theres nothing at all wrong with them. Just that I wouldn't choose to have them as we are muslim and have stuck with lovely islamic names instead that have a religious meaning that suits our way of life. Interestingly , my daughter has her Irish granny name as her middle name though.

Coco

@recklessruby

Lucifer. It means morning star but I didn't think I d get away with it (and worried he d be called "Lucy" at school. Ds is 32 and says he loves the name. Scarlett. Too close to my own name.

Isn't Lucifer one of the names for the devil? I wouldn't use it because I'd be worried about the connotations of the name.

@SameToo

Wallace for a girl. I love it but Wallace and Gromit so no.

Also love Vada but that was ruined too.

It could have been Wallis, like Wallis Simpson. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Theo for ds2. Husband can't say 'th' ☹

Carly. I loved it but husband didn't. I'm Canadian and think it is maybe more common there as I haven't met any in the UK.

Heidi for a girl and I think we'd have went with it if DS had been a girl... Family were horrified at the thought though...

Also liked Madeleine which was vetoed by DH, and Tabitha... which we ended up calling our new car instead 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

@SideAFries. I've got an Andie! It does get some mixed responses I must say.

Jack was my favourite boys name but dh surname starts jac...... !!! So a no go
Daisy dh said it’s a cows name

@ColaandBru

Carly. I loved it but husband didn't. I'm Canadian and think it is maybe more common there as I haven't met any in the UK.

Carly was super popular in the 80s, I think. At least I was born in 1985, and I had a load of classmates called Carly in several schools! I don't think it's as popular now, though.

Lavinia. My husband said it sounded like "lavatory" and point blank refused.

Haven't even managed to sneak it through as a middle name.

My husband vetoed a lot of the names I liked - Sebastian, Henry, Lilith, Annaliese, Rebecca, Rachel.

@recklessruby Lucifer is the name of the fallen archangel who became the devil. It would have raised a few eyebrows....

DH wanted Louise for our eldest, but my school bully was a Louise so I refused (it is her middle name, in common with half her friends). She was 3 days old before she had a name. I would have loved to call DS Levi, but I knew DH would veto that. He's 18 now (DS not DH) and even now I think he would suit it. Hey ho.

Beatrix. Told family and they made a face. Didn't say anything bad but it put me off. Shame though I loved that name

Persephone or Anya.... but have 2 DS!

30 odd years ago I wanted to call my daughter Angel. My family freaked out and said she would sound like a hooker 🤷🏼‍♀️ It didn’t matter because I only had boys but I still love the name.

I'd have loved Zoe, I had a favourite aunt Zoe, but DH was adamant.
I also liked Daisy and thought of Grace, but as DH is 6ft 7 I thought it would be tempting fate.

Dylan, I love it but DH doesn’t
Dexter again I liked it but nobody else did, said it’s that serial killer program (I’ve never seen it)
Rihanna, basically couldn’t think of anything else, luckily had my DS
Isabelle my husband liked it, I really don’t like it for some reason sorry to any Isabelle’s out there
Joel something different I thought, nobody else liked it!

I wanted to call baby Magnus if a boy.. Two girls later, partner is fairly happy that we didn't have to thrash that one out

@schafernaker

Orla, love the name and then whilst visiting Irish family one pointed out it was Gaelic for vomit unless spelt Órla. I knew the fada would be dropped in England 🙈

I liked Orla too until a friend pointed out it is an anagram of Oral and I couldn’t get beyond that thought

@Iwanttobeagranny

30 odd years ago I wanted to call my daughter Angel. My family freaked out and said she would sound like a hooker 🤷🏼‍♀️ It didn’t matter because I only had boys but I still love the name.

I'm always wary about calling children names like Angel- it feels like tempting fate to name a child any kind of virtuous name!

I had the opposite experience. When I was expecting I only mentioned boy's names as I had my girls name picked out decades. My oh asked would I like to share it with him. I proudly announced it, he looked utterly horrified and said over his dead body. I was gutted but accepted it. I told my best friend who said thank goodness as it's an awful name.

While we were deciding on an alternative I started referring to the bump by my chosen name. Ihad accepted it was vetoed but wanted it to get some use. DH began doing the same thing then one day I heard him casually remark to someone that was to be our daughter's name.

When I excitedly queried when he'd changed his mind he looked completely perplexed. To this day he thinks we chose that name together and he loved it immediately.

My best friend and I have a great laugh however about how she let her true feelings be known.