missing the registration deadline

[iskra]

so what actually happens if 6 weeks comes around & you still don't have a name? Can you get an extension or do you stick a pin in your list & just go for it?

We are not at that stage yet - 37w pregnant - but I feel like that's where we are going to end up!

You don't actually have to have a name to register the baby. You aren't registering the name of the baby, you are registering that the baby has been born.

Plus I believe you have up until the baby's first birthday to change the name if you are really unhappy with it.

I think they just put the name down as 'Baby' - that's why there were several children named Baby on the ONS names list.

Do you need some help from Mumsnetters with choosing a name? What is your shortlist?

Can we help you move forward with choosing? What names do you like so far?

you have to call the baby "Baby" for ever and ever. jolly unfair if he turns out to be a QC.

We have Nina already.

DP likes Freya. I like Rosa & Maria.

Nothing feels "right!"

Glad to hear we might get a bit more time

Nina is lovely :) Rosa and Maria also very nice.

How about Marina, Rosemary, Rosina?

Not a fan of Freya personally.

I'm sure we registered dc3 at 6 weeks 3 days or thereabouts and nobody batted an eyelid. Not sure how far you can push it but I'm sure I've heard something about having a year to finalise a decision

I went to register my DD last week (at 7 days old - the name chose itself at birth ) and my ever-inquisitive DS2 asked the Registrar the exact same question. "What happens if you don't register your baby?" and she just said that they will be registered anyway as "Baby". So, technically, their official name will be Baby. As others have said you can then change that to a proper name within 12 months, although it will appear on the Birth Certificate in the "name given after registration" box, rather than in the usual place.

But don't leave it too long. Just choose a name, for goodness sake!

I don't understand it you have 9 months and 6 weeks to find a name that suits you and your baby

How do you plan on prouncing Maria - Mar -ee-ar or Ma - rye - a? Prefer the first pronounciation and think it is the nicest name on your list, though Nina is ok.

what about Marissa, Maribel, Malia, Nena/h, Liv,

Hope you find something you both like

How about Sacha? I like that name, very pretty

Consider yourself lucky to have so long! In Belgium we have just two weeks, and it is incredibly hard to change it after that.

What about variations of Maria:
Mia
Mara

I don't understand why you would want to leave it so long. At 37w we're not 100% but within 24hours our twins will have their names. I think it's important for bonding imho.

I don't think there's any suggestion the OP wants to leave it till the deadline, just that she thinks it might happen. Great if you have made your mind up but we aren't all in that position.

Sometimes it's hard to make important decisions. Not everyone finds it as easy as you clearly do. Go easy on the OP, she's obviously not finding it easy to settle on the perfect name!

"I don't understand it you have 9 months and 6 weeks to find a name that suits you and your baby"

"I don't understand why you would want to leave it so long"

'she's obviously not finding it easy to settle on the perfect name!'

no of course she can't settle on the perfect name. It's near enough impossible to find the perfect name that both parents agree on. One of my dc has the perfect name; the other two have lovely names but they were more compromise on my part.

OK, the right name for her baby then.

InstantAtom it doesn't matter if you call it the right name or the perfect name, the principle is still the same - parents trying to find that elusive perfect name - that simply might not exist.

Choosing baby names is supposed to be a joy, one of the privileges of parenthood, not something to get so stressed out about, particularly as I said further done the thread it's very easy to change the name in the UK if you do get it 'wrong'.

I think we've got crossed wires belgo. By "perfect" I just mean a name the OP feels she can settle on and be happy with for her baby :)

Of course no-one wants to be stressed about baby names but it does happen when you can't seem to find a name you like enough.

Thanks everyone. I don't have delusions of there being a "perfect" name, but we still need to find something that feels okay to us both. Last time we settled on Nina quite early but never managed to find a boys name, so I guess we've got form. Lucky she was a girl!

I am resisting listing all the other things we have been doing in the last 9 months instead of ensuring bonding at birth by poring over baby names

In Scotland we only have 3 weeks and I have 3 dc and each time I have worried that we were not going to have a name but we always do in the end.
DS2 was the longest he was a week old but we did choose one in plenty of time.

Stella goes well with Nina, as does Flora.