Why do people say: "See what the baby looks like when he/she arrives" on baby name threads?

[MardyBra]

Just wondered.

The OP is asking for opinions on the names and that's a cop out.

Besides all newborns look like aliens/Winston Churchill/ET anyway so how can you tell if they look like a Sky or a Jocasta or a Fannie?

Yes i@ve often wondered this! We had our DCs' names decided in advance, and unless they came out looking identical to a famous person, that was the name they were getting. IMO babies can't 'look' or 'not look' like a name.

fannie i looked at you and saw a fannie, fannie

We had a shortlist of names, and when ds was born he just definitely looked/seemed like one in particular It wasn't my favourite name either.

I'm a dedicated wait till it comes out person. Worked well IME - I had 8 billion names, DH had none. He came up with one very quickly and it stuck. YOu cut to the chase and stop theorising when you see the baby in reality.

We'd shortlisted our favourite names, but when DD arrived she just didn't 'look' like those names, you may not agree but that is how it felt to us.

The name she has does look and sound right, and some of it was visual - her name links to her hair colour (red) which we didn't know would be the case until we saw her.

Because sometimes the name you have chosen does or doesn't look like it matches a baby. Maybe it's an instinct thing? I chose my Ds's name half way through my pregnancy with him and it really suited/suits him, but Dd didn't have a name for 3 weeks because we couldn't decide what she looked like. She has a name that really suits her and she looks exactly like her name

I think you can tell, I think they've got thier own little characters which start showing at birth but which are certainly definable by a few weeks old. You have up to 6 weeks to register them, so I think you can see what they are like before naming them. It's how I choose names, but I don't think any the less of people who don't.

That said I think "just see what he/she looks like when they're born" is not helpful. To carefully select a name or a few names prior to birth is one of the great pleasures of pregnancy. In fact it's been my favourite part of the pregnancy for all four of my pregnancies (2 resulted in children for me, 2 resulted in angels for heaven). Both times when I met my new daughters I had to have a sudden rethink as they were so not a {insert favourite name here).

I certainly couldn't tell with either of my DC (and it took nearly 6 weeks to register them!).

In any case, it's still a cop out on a thread where someone is asking you an opinion about names, surely? (Why bother to post at all.)

Oh it's definately a cop out and not helpful to the OP asking for oppinions, I entirely agree on that. Sorry if that didn't come over clearly.

I think it's a bit weird. But perhaps being knackered, hormonal and sore concentrates the mind?

DS1 was named ante-natally, but DS2 and DD were at least a week old.

But trying out all sorts if names from the real possibilities to the oddly outlandish is a great pleasure.

Nobody is arguing that their newborn didn't look like an alien or Winston I notice

Mardybra I don't think it's a cop-out, if they've already got a list of names. You might choose e.g. Oswald but then baby looks nothing like an Oswald, or turns out to be a girl. Or are you going to call her Oswald anyway, just because that's the name you picked? Just wait and see, is it so hard to do? Also OP is only asking for an opinion, it doesn't mean she's going to go for the name that most people liked, or because you liked it. Whatever anyone says, she's going to go for the one that she likes best.

Mine looked like Winston & that was the name I'd originally chosen, but it just didn't suit her

OP, I completely agree. All newborns look like newborns. And you don't name a child based on what they look like anyway, do you?

We choose a name for our child that 1) we like the sound of, 2) goes with our surname and 3) reflects our culture/heritage. In no way did the way our baby looked have anything to do with it .

We had our childrens' names chosen shortly after our 20 week scan after we had found out the gender.

Sossiges, if you don't find out the gender at the scan you obviously need to have a girls and boys name picked out .

We chose our daughters name shortly after her 20 week scan and it really suits her. There was no way after she was born that we would have had a different name.

With this one, currently 24 weeks pregnant we have also chosen her name.

Sorted :-)

Well, my original choice before Dd was born was Rani. You look at my profile pics of my Dd and tell me she looks like a Rani.

I also do not understand how a baby can 'look' like any name (which after all is just a collection of letters). We chose both childrens' names as soon as we knew the gender.

I agree with previous poster - how much you like a name, how popular it already is, how it goes with your surname are all much more important that what a baby happens to look like when it is born (normally not very pretty anyway)... .

solo, I have never met a Rani before and have no preconceptions - I would happily accept ANY child as a Rani . Lovely name.

solo, just looked at your photos - your dd is gorgeous .

It is, but it is of Indian origin. My Dad was Indian and I'm olive skinned; Dd's father is half West Indian so you'd really expect that our Dd would have coffee coloured skin so would really suit being called Rani ~ which means Queen btw, but she is very very white. Rani just doesn't suit her.

Thank you sonnie :)

I agree that it's a bit of a cop out on a thread. BUT I also think the 'you must have a fixed name decided for a child before it emerges from the womb' is also a pretty strange approach. I wanted one name (X) for dd, DH &DS had another preference (Y). Obviously, immeadiatley post birth I won . But after a couple of hours, dh pointed out that she seemed much more of a Y sort of a child (opinionated and self willed rather than floaty feminine, in this case). We slept on it for a few days, but he was quite right. Tbh, I was never going to have a floaty feminine child, I don't know what my hormones were on about.
I think you can tell a bit about personality from the early days - if not looks

My DD looked like a beautiful china doll when she came out (masses of black hair, little baby so not squashed, perfect porcelain features, photos to prove this!).

DS was 10 lb and looked like a big purple alien!