If you "settled" or compromised on your DC's name...

[Fishpond]

Did you regret it?

I am American and the surname / profession / place name thing here is the current trend. I confess, my top name at the moment is a surname but it is a bit strange - definitely everyone will have heard of it but it's not a "traditional" name in the sense of the word. I think it's about 200-ish on popularity lists.

My family I know will balk a bit but friends so far have loved it. I'm hesitant as I value family opinion and worry that they will spout things like "wow...really?" and other general unpleasantness.

But anyway - if you compromised or settled, or changed your number 1 pick due to something like this did you come to regret it?

I can't really help as both OH and I loved DDs name and we're still going round in circle for this one.
I think the important thing is how you feel about the name. If you love it and want to use it then do - otherwise you might regret it. There are several posts on here about people wanting to change baby names as they followed tradition or tried to please others.
Don't tell your family if you think they may pass judgement as it's not their baby and you may be put off.
Wait until they'er born and just introduce them - your family will love it because it's associated with the little one (or at the very least they won't be rude enough to pass negative comments and will get used to it)

We had awful reactions to our DS's name because no one had heard of it.

I was all set to change to a more 'acceptable' name but DH was sticking to his guns and now I am so glad we went with our first choice.

However, we have to repeat it several times when meeting new people and DS will always have to spell it for people.

But the people who love him most think it suits him, and we love that his name is so special to us.

We also think that naming your child is sort of the first thing you do to almost 'officially' introduce them to the world and start raising them. Compromising on what we wanted for him was not a place we wanted to start from...

I don't think something that is 200 on popularity lists is that strange at all. Surely it is reasonably well known?

Anyway, if you and your dh like it I wouldn't worry about your family. When they meet him, they will love him regardless of the name.

Nobody was wild about dd1's name, which 11 years ago was quite unusual (Iris), and my Dad called her something else for the first two weeks, but they got used to it, and love it because it is her name (actually, nobody liked ds's name either!)

I woudl never compromise because of family/friends. If dh didn't like it, I would compromise, as he should have an equal say in naming, but your parents have named their kid already - now it's your turn.

I know perfectly well both our families, parents in particular, will loathe our baby-to-be's name - they will never have heard of it, and will find it weird and pretentious, and probably make a big deal of not knowing how to pronounce it.

To be honest, this doesn't say anything about the name, which is plainish, easily pronounced, and Biblical (though not a Biblical name that seems to be used a lot in the UK - have never seen it mentioned on Mn) - just that our parents just don't have much of a frame of reference outside the most frequently-used Irish names from thirty or forty years ago. If asked, they would be anxiously suggesting the most often-used names they could think of, for fear of standing out in the crowd.

So, we have no intention of being swayed by familial disapproval, as long as both like the name, which we do.