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?

I think it helps to look at the 'build' (for want of a better word) when the baby is born - I know an 'India' - which to me is a 'floaty' and 'delicate' name - which to me just doesn't suit this lovely girl who is very chunky and well built.

One reason for people saying it is that they may have a name decided but don't want to give it away to friends and famiy, so do the 'We've got a shortlist and we'll wait and see when he/she's born'....easier than saying I'm not telling you!

I'm guessing a lot of couples (inc myself) would like to keep the name between themselves until the birth.

We had two names we couldn't decide on, but were erring towards Maisie for DD1, with attendant 'milk maid' type images - cuddly, but strong. A vivacious, outdoor grown, apple cheeked sort of girl!

As soon as she was born it was obvious she was not a Maisie at all and is still too skinny, pale, solemn and sarky for it to have ever worked (obviously the dry, sarky bit came much later, but we could tell!) . She much more suits the second name.

Interestingly DD2 would have fit Maisie very well, but it had somehow become too linked with DD1 to work for her

Well my Dad was the only person that wasn't very enamoured with the name Rani funnily enough. He didn't like the name she has much either, but I think he knew that she definitely was her name and it grew on him. I think that people either love or hate her name and I actually still feel self conscious calling her name in public and I don't know why! but it is sooo her!

All I know is that when DS2 arrived he definately wasn't a Patrick. He just didn't fit a Patrick - there was no Patrickness there. We had an emergency re-think.

I had chosen a girl's name but wanted to wait and see what she looked like before deciding. For some reason the name I chose didn't seem to suit a fair-haired girl, just a dark-haired one.

As it turned out he was a boy so wasn't a problem.

My DD would be called Goblin or Prune if I waited to name her.

I don't think it's so much waiting to see what they look like, as waiting for that moment of reality when you actually have your new little bundle in front of you in the flesh. Sometimes all those fantastic names that you'd attached to your dream of a child were too fanciful or heavy or daring or dull when faced with the reality of your beautiful baby. If people are asking for opinions on Mumsnet between certain names then it's likely they don't have a preference so suggesting that they "wait to see what they look like" is a fair way of suggesting they keep their options open.

I had a first and middle name selected for our DS1. When he was born he didn't suit the name - my DP and midwife shook their heads so we had a quick rethink and it was quick cos' another name jumped out to us both.

For DS2 we had a short list but again when he appeared he was nameless for the day whilst we tried to gins one suitable. To be honest I had days when unsure it was right for him when he was a baby. But as his personality comes through it suits him totally.

We hadn't really decided on a name for DS2 before he was born. All throughout the pregnancy, though, I kept dreaming of a very blond haired 2 year old named Andrew. I knew deep down if the baby was born with light coloured hair I'd name him Andrew Gregory.

As it turned out, he was born with very dark hair and DH named him Edmund Ian. He's two now, and it still suits him :)

Our DD was going to have Melanie (dark one) or Hazel as a middle name (both family names). She was white blonde. Just didn't suit them!

I named DD1 while I was high on diamorphine in labour. I didn't know the sex at that point but was laughing saying I'm having a girl and calling her Lauren, it was a girl and the name stuck. With DD2 we found out at 20wk scan that we were having a girl and had picked a few names. I really liked Gaia but it didn't go with our surname, we both liked Hannah and Eleanor but decided on Hannah. When DD2 was born, we did name her Hannah, we'd refered to her for so long as Hannah that it felt strange to change it but to be honest she didn't and still doesn't look or act like a Hannah, more like a Tilly or Millie I would say. I think you should give it a few days, let them un-scrunch and then decide!

NoodlesMam, Dd's father chucked Gaia into the mix but I didn't like it steered him away from it , Hannah was also a possibility, but we chose a completely different name for her.

Neither of my Dc's had the scrunched up or swollen look and neither did they look like Winston Churchill.

I had a c-section, so baby came out all smooth and perfect looking, but also a whopping great red head - which indeed jinxed all our delicate girly names, she just needed something more robust!

We'd whittled the shortlist down to 2, maybe 3. The one I thought we'd go for didn't suit. I can't put my finger on why. But seeing her really did decide it.

HammingtonPoo I think that really sums it up for me and when people ask I do say we will decide when we see her as if I say I am not saying it starts a whole round of oh no, but you can me ect ect which I cant be bothered with!

Hammington Poo Excellent post!

Agree with hpoo too. I had a short list for both baies, but it really wasn't until I got to know them a bit that the names they were meant to have came to us. It isn't so much what they look like, but what they 'feel' like, the energy of a name. And how you feel when you say it and cuddle them.

Aw, thanks Sossiges !

Well my first DD had her name changed as she 'didn't suit it' although to be fair we had picked a boy name after being told at the scan we were having a boy and to be honest the lack of a penis when she was born meant it just wouldn't work.

We had a shortlist and a probable name, but I was wavering because it called up a very particular image of a red-headed, 'Welsh-looking' child and I wasn't sure it would fit. When he arrived, he looked exactly like that image, so that was that, but if he'd been blond or dark or looked more like my non-Welsh OH, we'd have had to have a rethink.

If one of mine had looked like a fannie I would have put her right back where she came from.

at mathanxiety