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Original poster

Unpleasant comments you have received when revealing baby name

270 replies

Polkadotfanatic · 17/02/2012 09:49

My friend has just had a daughter (Monday morning, all new and pink and fresh and gorgeous). She has chosen Alice Elizabeth, (imo) a timeless classic name which wont age.

Her mother's comment:

''Oh. Playing it safe are you?'' Hmm
''Well I suppose someone has to use the boring names so the braver people can use the nicer ones...'' Shock

I mean as comments go, it's not the nastiest, but the timing (Alice was about four hours old and friend was in blissed out baby loveness) wasn't great.

Just wondered what, if any negative comments you had when announcing baby name...

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Plonker · 17/02/2012 17:06

My dad about dd3's middle name ...

"Hmm, its a bit Peaches Geldolf, isn't it?!"

The name is Hope Hmm

Alice Elizabeth is beautiful btw.

Milliways · 17/02/2012 17:13

My friend was told her DS's name was like a "scap metal dealer's"!

My problem is DD is getting married and MIL actually fell about laughing and asked us to stop joking - in front of her Fiance - about his surname (which is not actually that bad or unusual).

AThingInYourLife · 17/02/2012 17:29

It was rude of her, but I know that names like Alice and Elizabeth seem really boring and rubbish to my Dad. He had aunts called those names and he just thinks they are horrible.

I think names we think are lovely and elegant like Alice and Elizabeth seem hickey and frumpy to our parents.

Not that they should say anything, of course, but we should be prepared to stay schtum when our grandchildren are called Pauline and Sheila.

pixelpeeper · 17/02/2012 20:07

My Nan said "oh. I like Rory. I think you should have called him Rory"
My Mum said "Oh. You have given him a dogs name"
Sister "That's a dogs name over here"

Jasus I didn't call him Fido

Newtothisstuff · 17/02/2012 21:18

My step M told me I'd better have chosen a decent middle name for my DD Lily because it was a silly name and she will want to use her middle name when she's older haha !! Thanks Angry

tryingtoleave · 17/02/2012 21:36

When dh told mil our planned second name for ds (happened to be my surname) she said 'that is an unlucky name, all the babies with that name have DIED in our famiky'. I didnt believe her, but couldn't bring myself to use the name. I made damn sure I didn't use the ones she wanted instead though.

misslinnet · 18/02/2012 00:47

Alice Elizabeth is a lovely name.

We also got told that we had picked a "safe" name for DS by some random acquaintance of the in-laws.

And DH's uncle said, perfectly seriously, that we'd wasted our chance to name DS after him (the uncle).

DerbysKangaskhan · 18/02/2012 01:20

My mum went on about how DS1's middle names were going to get him beaten up in school and why couldn't I pick out lovely names like she did. I bit my tongue hard not to remind her that my sister and I hate our first names, were picked on badly because of them, and she'd picked them out of thin air with a lot of help from Grandma as she hadn't bothered to pick out any girl names (before the time of ultrasounds, she just thought we were meant to be boys).

None of the rest are very unpleasant:
FIL still calls my DD1 "slices" after my MIL told him her middle name was 'salami' when DH called her to tell them the news (it is Salome).

Bounty lady "Well, aren't you the family with posh names" (My Alexandra has actually gotten that a few times, I still haven't figured out how Alexandra is posh).

Candy store lady "You always go for unusual names, don't you?" followed by long chat about names the butcher in the next stall.

Friend of a friend "Well that's a mouthful" after wanting to know DS2's full name. The middle name is Hebrew, which can be hard if you're not used to it, but it was very much the wrong thing to say to me in a one week post-natal state.

FoofFighter · 18/02/2012 04:38

My grandmother didn't like my son's name "It's a black man's name!" She wanted to use his middle name and addressed birth card to that. it went in the bin and I assume someone had a word as was never mentioned by her again ;)

My own daughter has been telling me some of the names they have picked out, the boys names are lovely, the girls are... not so. I've just said they are all lovely :) upto them and nothing to do with em and I would never in a million years say I didn't like whatever names they choose

Ample · 18/02/2012 04:57

'Oh No'

From my mil.

nooka · 18/02/2012 06:49

My mother got very upset when I told her dd's middle name (her mother's name) and said I should have picked my other grandmother's name instead. I pointed out that I didn't really like my other grandmother, so that would have been an odd thing to do.

Apparently my dh's name was a 'dog's name' according to most of his family - it was the No1 most popular name for boys that year...

spottyock · 18/02/2012 10:04

Alice Elizabeth is beautiful.
I think families believe they have a claim to names just like strangers think they have a right to touch your belly...

We love Edith for DC3. DH's family have literally screwed their faces up at it. As sweet as they normally are, it makes me like it even more.

wheredidiputit · 18/02/2012 11:08

DerbysKangaskhan Sat 18-Feb-12 01:20:59

Bounty lady "Well, aren't you the family with posh names" (My Alexandra has actually gotten that a few times, I still haven't figured out how Alexandra is posh).

I had the same plus I must think i'm important to name my children after 'royality' Hmm.

I have an Elizabeth Anne, Alexandra Grace and Robert David.

The girls names were the only ones we could agree on and DS is named after his grandad's.

Newmummytobe79 · 18/02/2012 13:23

we kept our names secret as we only had one boys and one girls name and couldnt face anyone putting us off them.

Everyone says they like our DC's name to our face

They all commented on how dreadful our other name was.

Both me and DH are hoping that if we are lucky enough to have another baby we can use it ... even more so now we know how everyone feels about it! Blush's all round if we can use it! Grin

BillyBollyBandy · 18/02/2012 13:27

Midwife " Oh, did you have to name her after someone?"
Me "Err, no."
Midwife "Oh"

It's Claudia btw

NeedlesCuties · 18/02/2012 16:22

Not unpleasant, but a bit annoying...

DS is called Adam, the name of the first man God created in the Bible, so quite an old name, eh?

Not according to an elderly relation who came to visit when DS was 1 day old.

"Ohh, that's a very modern name...." This lady doesn't like change and is a bit of an antique herself.

I think she likes the name Adam now....

PercyFilth · 18/02/2012 16:38

Personally I think it's fair game, let people give their honest opinions. I find that more interesting than when people just blandly pretend to like everything to avoid "giving offence".

We all have different tastes, and our experiences in life tend to colour our attitudes to names. Saying "Oh, why don't you like (insert name) can bring out some good stories :)

chipmonkey · 18/02/2012 17:40

dd was Sylvie-Rose. When FIL heard it he made a face and said, "Who's that after?" and then "What is it, Silvery Road?"
But in his family, everyone is called after someone else wherease in my family, no-one is called after anyone else!

CPtart · 18/02/2012 18:13

My inlaws were "very disappointed" that we hadn't called my first DS a family name passed name that my poor husband has been saddled with....

TheSecondComing · 18/02/2012 18:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Shoopaloop · 18/02/2012 19:07

'But its a Muslim name, isn't it?' said with horror by my (ignorant eejit) stepfather when we revealed our DS's name.

Frikadellen · 18/02/2012 19:12

my mum about ds' name "Thats HORRIBLE" geesh tnx mum your name choices do not thrill any of your 3 kids btw..

with dd2 she went "oh"

years later during a conversation. Me:"well you and I have very different name likes" mum: "thats not true I quite like that Eloisa" (dd2's name)

ds Definitely has a marmite name (Conrad) we have had some err interesting comments but my mothers was the most extreme. Many also comment on his mn (paul) why did we pick such a oldfashioned name.. "err because dh loved his brother that passed away when he was only 20???"

dd1 got told by my aunt (I feel sorry for her to have such a long name) she has 4

dd3 is still at age 8 called Fifi by my mother (she is Aoife)

My lovely father repeatedly said "oh thats nice not very Danish but I like it" for each of our childrens names. grins.

Coconutty · 18/02/2012 19:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Purplehonesty · 18/02/2012 19:34

Sister in law said "thats a name for a ginger. Are you planning to send him to school in a kilt"

MaggieAtwood · 19/02/2012 10:41

After dd3 was born my first outing was to the hairdressers. I told her it had been a difficult decision as we had many names on the list but the one we finally went for was Clementine. Her response?..... "Well, you can always change it can't you?" Shock

And, on texting everyone on Clementine's arrival one of my friends replied...'Hmmm, not sure about the name, I'll have to see a picture of her to see if it suits'.

Even Clementine's Godmother thought we were joking when my other dd's announced her name......"Clementine? That's a fruit! What's she really called?"

When we went to register Clementine the registrar said "At least it isn't a made up name". Back-handed compliment or what?

My Mum openly admitted she didn't like Clementine's name and proceeded to list half a dozen others which we should consider. However she was very vocal about some of the others on our shortlist which she didn't like either.

All the above made me question Clementine's name for quite a while but I'm so glad we stuck with it - it suits her down to the ground. Even my Mum has warmed to it after watching something on the TV about Clementine Hambro. She conceded that "it sounds nice when you hear someone else say it" I suppose that's the best I'm going to get.

BTW OP, congratulations to your friend - Alice Elizabeth is a timeless classic. No doubt if she had picked out something more unusual then she would've been slated for that as well. Sometimes you just can't win.

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