Everyone laughs at my babies name......thinking of changing it????

[KidderminsterKate]

Well, title says it all really. DS is 10 weeks old and is a handsome smilng chap already so gets alot of attention. My parents hate his name but are sort of used to it...my other DC's love the name but its HVs and shop keepers and friends and friends of friends that usually just eh and then oh.

I wasnt bothered at first but now its starting to get to me. I do love the name but am a bit embarrassed now.

Would these sort of things make you change the name??? I'm thinking of changing it to Edward (Ted).

Why on Earth would you do that to your child??? Change the name, and use it as a nick name if you so wish, but don't give a life of hell to your baby (sorry)

Don't change it. My son has an unusual name (although more common now). Someone once told me that you have to be really cool to carry off an unusual name. Having an unusual name makes you instantly cool in your teen years. There are so many unusual names out there- Apple? Blue? but they work because the more you say them the more normal they get to feel.
I also read recently that people with unusual or names people remember are more successful because people think of the person/don't forget them etc.
Bear is fab!!!

Arthur (on your list) means Bear.

I think Bear's nice actually. Rather than changing it, I'd add Arthur or Edward or Bjorn (something from which one might reasonably extrapolate Bear as a nickname!) as middle name.

Then he can choose to use the more conventional name if Bear just doesn't suit him when older (if he's a beanpoley bespectacled geeky type for example.)

Lydia - you don't imagine someone in town planning called Bear. Are you suggesting that town planners are boring????
I like the name Bear but I think changing it to Edward on the BC would be a safe option and then he will have the choice of whether to keep it or not.

some names create a weight of expectation,image of what they will be like

bear is such a name, it's v animalistic,outdoorsy....what if wee bear is a clever indoorsy chap

apple Martin gets called Alison (middle name) I read somewhere

I dont think you should change it to Edward on the bc unless you love Bear Grylls as it will just look like you stole the whole idea from him!
I think you should make sure he has a more user friendly middle name (my DS's both have what would be seen as nicknames but they have very average middle names to compensate!!).

BTW I really like the name Bear and am shocked at how rude some of the posters have been about it.

well tbh,it's a funny ole name
and given the rl and mn reaction I'd say it's proceed a reaction

Bear. Why???? It's a bloody ridiculous name

monkeyhandbag. Having an unusual name makes you instantly cool in the teenage years. . Don't think it works quite like that, I take it you've cursed blessed your kids with unusual names too?

We always give each kid one normal name and one or two less common ones so in extremis they can change over if they hate the one we originally used for them. I think as you can legally add extra names during the first year it would make sense to add a more conservative extra name for this reason. But ultimately I find kids grow into their names, and given that I have taught a lot of rock stars' children with totally bonkers names, who never batted an eyelid, I think you should stick to your guns if you like it and you think it suits him.

Yeah I want to be all cool and say I like it, but it is pretty stoopid. FWIW in this house Bear is a term of endearment as we don't like Dear/Darling etc, but there's no way I'd have called a DC that as their actual name.

I think Edward so you can keep Bear as your family name is cool, but honestly can you imagine him being introduced for an interview in 20 years with Bear s his moniker. He'll fucking kill you.

BTW ignore the people who say he'll never get anywhere in life with a name like that. If you can have a President of the US called Barack Hussein Obama, then anyone can do anything.

I quite like Bear. But agree that you would have to be quite thick skinned to pull it off; Bear isn't Bear Grylls actual first name AFAIK. Changing it to Edward would be a good compromise.

Sparky/spanky (apologies on iPhone, been up since daft o'clock not sure if I read an r or an n) - you have EXCELLENT taste in DS2 names.

I have just moved to a new town & the first child I met was called Dolly....

Yeah but Bear Arkwright just hasn't got the same ring, know what I mean

Liking the name Bear is one thing, having the guts to actually name your child it is quite another.

I like Bear, I also like Ursula.

Anyway I would use it as a nickname and have something else on birthcert for all the reasons mentioned above.

Has anyone mentioned that Bear Grylles isn't actually called Bear yet?

Biased, but I'd go for Arthur with nn Bear. And Suzy - it's in the high 80s in the name charts I think now, so expect to meet some small Arthurs (or Arfurs) soon!

I love Bear as a nickname, at any age. As a full name, I think it would work for a baby or small child but might become a bit embarrasing after that. It would depend on your DS and what "kind" of child/teen/man he becomes as to whether he could carry off Bear happily throughout life. Personally, I think I would need to have something else on the BC for him to use "officially".

Mind you, I couldn't even get my DH to consider something as unusual as Marcus so I'd have had no chance of getting Bear into the equation in the first place .

I love Bear. I don't think it's cutesy at all it's a good strong name that can be grown into, and as for piss taking at school, kids will always find something.

If he hates it when he older, which I doubt he will, does he a middle name he can use?

I like Bear. I have a male friend called Blue and no one made fun of him. Kids these days have reet random names, I would give him a more demure middle name though in case he grows up to be an accountant or something.

Saying that Milo is our name of choice if this baby is a boy so I'm partial to slightly unusual names.

I think it's a great family nickname but a very tough name to carry through life. Personally I think if your instinct is to change his name maybe you're right to protect him from the hassle. Life is hard enough not to set out to face the world and people are laughing as soon as you get introduced!
I think the slebs who call their kids quirky names like Apple and Honeybunny tend to send their kids to schools in Muswell Hill, Islington etc where loads of the kids are called Quasimodo and Esmerelda-Lilibeth and the child thinks nothing of it. But where we live it might be a bit mean to call a child a very distinctive name. A family nickname of Bear is great tho.

Imagine being a 15 year old bloke, trying to pull girls and having to tell them your name's Bear.

People laughing at you every time you first introduce yourself would get a little wearing after a decade or two...

I would change it. I think he will get very tired of pulling out his ID over the years and explaining that " yes, it really is my name!"

Nn is fine, but at least give him the option of something else for later on in life.

I think what you have to remember is right now you are the person feeling embarrassed and fed up with the poor reaction that your baby's name is getting. Your child may well have that for the rest of his life. It's not great is it?

Personally I would wonder what on earth you were on if introduced to your 'bear', and might well find it hard to give a positive reaction. I really like unusual names (I have one myself) but there is unusual and then there is silly, and to me 'bear' is just silly.