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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU? DH failed to mention that our baby name choice is the same as one of his exes

272 replies

Toothfairy92 · 30/01/2026 07:18

We are expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks and have had a name - Laura - picked out for a couple of months. I suggested the name initially and we both agreed we liked it. It’s remained our top pick since then.

Last night we were chatting in the car and it emerges that he had a girlfriend called Laura for a “few months” about ten years ago, in his mid-twenties. It came up because I said I was glad that it was less commonly used these days, and he said he’d known a few at school, oh and he’d dated one for a bit. Confused

Personally, I think it’s inappropriate and a bit weird to use a baby name that is shared with an ex girlfriend, even a short term one. I think I’d be really icked out calling a child a name of someone I’d been with!

I feel sad and frustrated that I’m back to the drawing board on names; and that I’d built up my bond with this baby using the name in my head. He says it just didn’t cross his mind until we talked in more detail about it last night, and doesn’t see the problem with using it. He thinks I’m BU to be a bit upset and to think it’s inappropriate. Am I?

OP posts:
VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 30/01/2026 14:22

Toothfairy92 · 30/01/2026 14:12

This is, honestly, the 'ick' of it for me. Going back to my prior fake example - if I had an ex called Daniel and loved the name, I just couldn't imagine naming a tiny baby the name of someone I used to shag!

But they're different people? Maybe it's because I can't picture things in my head, so nothing comes to my mind when I say a name, but I don't see why he'd be thinking about his ex when talking about his daughter at all.

SparkyBlue · 30/01/2026 14:30

Beautiful name OP. A lovely French child at our baby group was Laura and I’ve always loved it as it reminds me of her . Honestly an ex in a short term non significant relationship isn’t something to get hot and bothered about.

Anonanonanonagain · 30/01/2026 14:42

How about Lourda instead?

Waitingformychinesetakeaway · 30/01/2026 14:48

But OP, she’ll be your Laura.

RottenBanana · 30/01/2026 14:50

Toothfairy92 · 30/01/2026 13:30

Question out of genuine curiosity: did you think about the association with your ex whilst you were deciding, or were you able to separate it mentally?

See my post above. My son has the same name as my grandfather. I decided early on in life that if I ever had a son, I would name him after him. Should I have ruled out ever having a relationship with anyone with that name in advance?

My other son also shares a name with someone I had a casual fling with in my 20s. I have never even noticed it until this thread and stopping to think about it.

You don't shag a name, you shag a person. Loads of people have the same name. I had flings with two people who share my husband's name too. I never ever think about it except in this kind of thread context.

MasterBeth · 30/01/2026 15:00

Lolloped · 30/01/2026 07:29

YABU to use Laura as a name. It’s so 80s and will hopefully never come back round. Have you asked for a list of everyone he dated? If he’s in his late 30s its not surprising he has dated a Laura. Hideous name for a baby and horrible to say out loud. Why curse a baby with that?

Jeez, it's a name that was popular a few years back but that doesn't mean it's "horrible to say out loud"!!

(My name is not Laura.)

Happyher · 30/01/2026 15:07

You are being unreasonable childish and petty

jbm16 · 30/01/2026 15:08

You are drastically going to reduce the name pool if you remove every name you both have ever dated...

I could understand an Ex-Husband/Wife name, or recent long term partner, but surely not someone he dated briefly over a decade ago.

KingdomCome1 · 30/01/2026 15:10

Lolloped · 30/01/2026 07:29

YABU to use Laura as a name. It’s so 80s and will hopefully never come back round. Have you asked for a list of everyone he dated? If he’s in his late 30s its not surprising he has dated a Laura. Hideous name for a baby and horrible to say out loud. Why curse a baby with that?

Wow. FO. Laura is a beautiful name and OP didn't ask for your rude and entitled opinion - entitled because you seem to believe you are the arbiter of nice names 😂.

ilovesushi · 30/01/2026 15:11

What!? I know so many Lauras. It used to be a very popular name. Your reasoning is nuts.

SuitablyScolded · 30/01/2026 15:14

Similar to how we got our Lottie, I wanted an L name for family reasons and liked Laura a lot, however I did not like my German husband's pronunciation of it 😂

PeloMom · 30/01/2026 15:20

I’m with you OP. We had a similar situation the other way round. We were picking boy names and there’s a really common yet nice name my husband suggested but I had briefly dated someone named that. I immediately told him while I really like the name why we wouldn’t be using it. It would have felt very weird to me.

RainbowBagels · 30/01/2026 15:31

SuitablyScolded · 30/01/2026 15:14

Similar to how we got our Lottie, I wanted an L name for family reasons and liked Laura a lot, however I did not like my German husband's pronunciation of it 😂

I did the same because I didn't like the way my Welsh DH pronounced a Welsh name! ( Carys)

VictoriousPunge · 30/01/2026 15:37

I got together with my husband when he was 44. He had his first girlfriend at about 16.

If I'd followed your rules I'd probably have had to call my daughter John.

tootyflooty · 30/01/2026 15:44

I suspect Lolloped is* *called Laura 😂

bellhawk · 30/01/2026 15:55

I agree it feels a bit off. Have you considered Lara or Clara as an alternative?

Arlanymor · 30/01/2026 16:24

You are the one being weird and inappropriate. He casually dated someone for five minutes over a decade ago - it's not like naming your baby after his first love who he was with for literal years. Is he supposed to write you a list of the names of everyone he has ever kissed so that you don't use any of their names too?

It's a lovely name, there is no reason not to use it, and frankly your bond with your baby will make you ever forget that someone in your husband's very, very, very distant past had the same time. Blame it on the hormones and move on.

pictoosh · 30/01/2026 16:38

Minjou · 30/01/2026 14:02

I don't care what anyone says, calling your daughter the same name as someone you used to have sex with is fucking weird.
It just is. Ewwww.

Edited

I think focusing on that is what's weird.

He had an inconsequential, short-term girlfriend called Laura in his youth...and so what? It's a popular name.

How jealous do you have to be to make it a problem?

pictoosh · 30/01/2026 16:42

"Hideous name for a baby and horrible to say out loud."

What? Laura is a pleasant, inoffensive name. Neither hideous nor horrible to say out loud. Where did that come from?

Femalemachinest · 30/01/2026 16:46

Lolloped · 30/01/2026 07:29

YABU to use Laura as a name. It’s so 80s and will hopefully never come back round. Have you asked for a list of everyone he dated? If he’s in his late 30s its not surprising he has dated a Laura. Hideous name for a baby and horrible to say out loud. Why curse a baby with that?

Ouch....
i was actually named after my great (maybe one more great I cant rememeber) grandma. It was a much better choice than being named after either of my grandmas

But anyway as a Laura, there was plenty of us around when I grew up. So im going to assume you are of similar age and therefore I wouldn't worry about it. It was very popular.

Bombinia · 30/01/2026 16:54

BigKissByeBye · 30/01/2026 09:31

Snort. Sex isn’t some kind of indication a relationship was significant, you know. ONS are a thing.

Indeed they are. And I wouldn't want to name my baby after one of my husband's ONSs either. If they had sex, it's not a name I want to use. Like I said you don't have to agree but you could do with stopping being superior and patronising.

Mwnci123 · 30/01/2026 16:58

You're being a bit mad OP.

Grammarnut · 30/01/2026 17:01

It really doesn't matter. So a decade ago he went out with a girl called Laura? Honestly, so what?

TheIceBear · 30/01/2026 17:02

Bombinia · 30/01/2026 16:54

Indeed they are. And I wouldn't want to name my baby after one of my husband's ONSs either. If they had sex, it's not a name I want to use. Like I said you don't have to agree but you could do with stopping being superior and patronising.

Such a weird view . I don’t even know how this would come up. I can’t imagine anyone’s husband saying “oh I once had a ONS with someone called Laura” or how you would even know

Bombinia · 30/01/2026 17:05

TheIceBear · 30/01/2026 17:02

Such a weird view . I don’t even know how this would come up. I can’t imagine anyone’s husband saying “oh I once had a ONS with someone called Laura” or how you would even know

I think yours is the weird view. We are all different.

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