Name unease at one - Ruby

[willow5]

I do love the name but it's popularity does bother me, as I knew it would. My main problem is lack of naming input from partner until his suggestion of Ruby the day before she arrived.
We never had a his and hers list, I literally had no input. My list was: Ava, India, Elsa, Florence and Annie and I feel so sad I'll never use those names. When I introduce Ruby I always mention it's popularity, it's like a reflex, not something I intend to do, and I feel the name doesn't do justice to the many many hours of naming websites and stats I studied. My names were vetoed by partner for a number of reasons. Of course once the baby arrived we got caught up looking after a new baby and 2 other children and I was so pleased that he had made one suggestion!!
I guess there's no real point to this thread, just needed to get it off my chest, she suits her name, but she would have suited any of them, the thing will be when she's older if she likes her name or not. Of course I'm aware that in the bigger picture it probably sounds silly, I'm so happy to have her and the person that she is, I just wish I didn't have an uneasy feeling when I say her name.

If it helps I do know what you mean. My DD is 1.4m and her everyday name is Lexie. Her full name however is Alexandra and I always feel I need to tell people this as I have doubts that her nn is a bit trendy and 'celeb'. It actually really suits her and I feel her full name gives her & us more options in the future but I never expected to have a girl (was convinced was having 2nd DS), had no real girls name list and sometimes when I see all the lovely suggestions on her think we could have taken a bit more time & thought over it. I have never had a shred of doubt over DS name but am only prob 95% comfortable with hers.

I know exactly how you feel. my dh said, before we found out the sex, that if it was a girl I could name her as long as he could name him if it was a boy - no interference. well, 'it' was dd2 and I decided to call her Zahra from when I was still pg. It was the name me and the kids bonded with, and the name I told people I was going to call her.....then just before she was due dh decides he utterly hates the name and thinks we should forget what was said and pick a name together.....it took until almost a week after dd2 was born before I gave in and settled for a name that, yes I like, but was not the name I'd bonded with. I cried all the way to the registry office and all during the appointment and all the way home. I still don't 'love' her name, but it is growing on me.....

My partner hated Romilly, Ethne an Erin which i picked for the 1st, there were no other names i liked and i ended up telling him to name her when she was born as long as i got to use my names for the 2nd. He picked an irish name which i liked (not as much as mine though)as i have an irish surname and roots. He named 1st daughter then i named the other 2, My eldest hates her name and prefers Erin. I wont get to use Ethne as dad hates it but i did use Romilly and we compromised for 3rd daughter.

Is her middle name less popular and an option to use?

It's such a shame that you feel uneasy. Funny thing is, I know of only one Ruby where I live (and only one Eve). I never heard the names I chose for my dd s when I chose them but they are also apparantly popular. I was fed up at first but I'm learning to live with it. Just congratulate yourself on your good taste - they are such lovely names that we all agree! It might even itself out eventually anyway.

I know a couple of people who deliberately chose unusual names for their children and I have even seen those moving up the names lists recently.

FWIW I think Ruby is lovely, and I don't know any small ones locally.

FWIW, my name was the most popular girl's name in the year I was born. It has never bothered me a jot, I barely even notice when I meet someone with the same name as me (and there are loads of us!). To be perfectly honest, having a "common" name gives school bullies one less thing to pick on! The downside of having an unusual name is that it makes you stand out, which as a child, is not always a good thing. I was always grateful that although I was the dorky girl in hand knitted cardies and brown sandals who played musical instruments and was crap at sports, at least my hippy parents didn't call me Tulip or similar!

DD is Ruby which is fine at the moment. She has always been the only one in her school. I am sure this will change when we move to England.
I could be bothered about it, but at the moment I am not.

I know what you mean - luckily it didn't happen with the girls I picked Romilly (good choice fifi )for DD1 and Nancy for DD2 (though I had a wobble about the name just before she was born and just after, but stuck with it - though now, she couldn't be called anything else - she is a Nancy).

We went on to have DS1 and he's called Joseph (we were always going to call a son this, after DH's father - even though it's a bit more popular than I would have perhaps liked) and then we had DS2. This was where the problems started.

DH always wanted James, a family name, but it's not a name that really does anything for me. Anyway - we I trawled name books and websites - with very little input from DH, apart from his helpful veto-ing of most of my suggestions. DS2 was born and still had no name and in the end we had a choice of two - Tobias or Angus. We went with the name that DH really liked best - Angus. Don't get me wrong, I like it too, but I posted on here at the time that it's also our cat's name (still alive, though geriatric), and I still feel a bit awkward about it (Angus is now 8 weeks old) - but I have just begun not to 'explain' it anymore.

Ruby is a lovely name when all is said and done.

Shushbaby I have a cousin called Tulip. Really.

thereisalight. I love Romilly and have yet to meet another one. Mines nearly 7 now. Have you seen the Romilly site.

Ruby is a gorgeous name and justifiably popular. It's strong, traditional and beautiful.

I understand your unease. I still feel some unease about my DS's name (he is 2.4 now) because it is rarely used (about 650th in popularity), very divisive and also has a feminine equivalent / element to it. I always have to explain it to people. I've just found out my neighbour of 6 months has thought he was a girl the whole time because of his name (and blond curls!). I don't care though because it suits him down to the ground and I can't think of a better name for him.

Have you talked about it to DP?

fifi - Ours will be 6 in June. Yes, I've seen the Romilly site - and we're on it. Still brings a tear to my eye whenever I see it (hormones!).

Funnily enough, I know a few - my friend's sister is called Romilly (where I first heard it) but she's in her 30s and another friend used the name (inspired by same friend's sister!). There are a couple of MNers with a Romilly, and I've heard of a few in the last 3 or 4 years (being born or a new girls at somebody's school) - but you don't bump into too many, still.

Im on as well, theres non in my area, my mil went on hols and met one who had the same birthday as my daughter, thats the only one any of us have met. My youngests Connie, quite a few of them about. My oldest Niamh, shes 10. There was hardly any of them but loads now in the infants. Never met an Ethne yet though.

Ive never met a Ruby yet in my area but it was on sil's list with her son whos 3. Its strange how in different areas names are more common. Isabella and Florence are the common ones up my way at the mo. My Romilly has 4 Eliies in her class

I don't know any Rubys and I am quite heavily on the baby scene having a 2 year old and a baby. I think there are so many name choices now even the most popular ones are quite diluted.

I personally think it's a lovely name

All of the Rubys are here in the NW!

Aw thank you, I feel much better now!
The main for me is that she likes her name. I have quite an unusual name (first and last) and quite like that if for example people see my CV, when they meet me in person they always remember my name. That said though, I am now 35 and my name was a pain at school because I couldn't spell it when my friends could spell theirs and even now I have to spell it for people and as a child I would have loved a personalised something ....
Ok, I'll get over it now :)