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Original poster

Changing baby name upon seeing baby...

29 replies

Polkadotfanatic · 19/03/2012 13:47

Mum and I were talking at neice's birthday party this weekend. Couple of pregnant ladies there and they were discussing names. She said to me, you were going to be Carly, all the way through the pregnancy - Carly Josephine - then when you were born I burst into tears and decided you weren't a Carly and named you Kirsty instead as it was the middle name of the Scottish midwife...

(Josephine is also not my mn.... lol)

Has this happened to any of you - changing your baby name upon seeing newborn, for whatever reason?

(nosey emoticon)

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DefiniteMaybe · 19/03/2012 13:50

I wanted to with ds but everyone had heard his name for weeks and weeks and all his cards and presents were sent in his name. OH wouldn't let me change it either. 3 years on I couldn't imagine his name not being what it is.

BeckyBrandonNeeBloomwood · 19/03/2012 13:53

Not to me but I know a few friends who have named their little ones whilst pregnant and have been adamant that is their name, then when they arrived thought...hmmm s/he doesnt look like a ....
2 examples off the top of my head.... little boy was Kobi all the way through until the day he arrived. He is now Ashen - they knew he was a boy though.
Another friend's little girl was Erin all the way through pregnancy (although I dont think they knew it was a girl) but ended up being called Tia.
Don't think its that unusual. Personally, I would have plenty of ideas but not dead set on one name.
I dont understand why people get so wound up about having a name ready for a baby before they are born! wait to meet them - thats the fun part - seeing what name they look like!

justhayley · 19/03/2012 14:21

Apparently I was Katrina all through my mums pregnancy & the first few days of my life - mum said it just wasn't right so changed me to Hayley - to the surprise of my dad lol

Iv been calling my bump Mason and only in the last few weeks I don't feel like he's a Mason, so now at 34 weeks am going to wait and see what he looks like & work it out from there.

I think it's quite normal for people to change when they see the baby

babyblabber · 19/03/2012 14:27

i would never name a baby while still pregnant, of course you have to see what they look like! for DS we didn't know what we were having but we only had one boys' name picked. he looked nothing like it so we had to go back to other names we'd been thinking of and the name we picked was perfect for him.

i think you should always aim to have a favourite, but a coupe more in reserve.

HappyAsASandboy · 19/03/2012 14:40

Yes Grin

We had names picked for our twins. When we went in to hospital, DH suggested that we not tell anyone the names, just try them out for the few days we stayed in then make a final decision. Out chosen name suited one twin perfectly. The other name just didn't feel right despite two days of using it. So we changed it.

The new name is exactly right Grin

Flubba · 19/03/2012 14:46

Yes, with each of my three! DC2 & DC3 didn't look like their likely names when they arrived, so new names were made. DC2's name came to me in the middle of the first night - texted DH at home and said, "what about X for her instead?" and he replied and DC3's name took three days to be decided upon. Had thought DC1 was going to be a boy - she wasn't. So she definitely didn't look like the name we had planned for her Hmm :o

rachel234 · 19/03/2012 14:49

But ALL babies look pretty similar (and not particularly pretty when they're new born Grin), don't they? Does one really LOOK like a John or a Mike??!

EsmeRosesmummy · 19/03/2012 23:44

I had my heart set on calling our little girl Honey, but as soon as i saw her she became Esme x

Alligatorpie · 20/03/2012 15:46

After my dd was born, we decided that she didn't look like any of the three names we had narrowed it down to. it took us a week to chose something that we liked.

PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 20/03/2012 16:06

With all four of the boys they were going to be something else until they were born. With DD, DH picked her name (well a girl's name, we didn't know which she was until she arrived) early on and we stuck with it.

OriginalJamie · 20/03/2012 16:11

Didn't change his name, and actually, it is still my favourite boys' name, but after DS1 was born I did have a bit of a wobble about the name but then thought I couldn't change it because I was so attached to it ...

I think there is an argument for remaining slightly ope-minded and giving yourself some time to confirm to yourself that it is the right name.

I think the wobble, for me, was linked with the birth not having gone at all to plan, and then him not looking at all like what I had imagined.

OriginalJamie · 20/03/2012 16:13

There is that old joke about waiting to see what they look ike - in which all babies would be called Winston or Yoda

lockets · 20/03/2012 16:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pinkgirlythoughts · 21/03/2012 07:35

We'd narrowed it down to three boy's names (and about ten girl's names, so good job he was a boy, really!), with the definite middle name of Frederick. When we saw him, all we could agree on was that he definitely wasn't any of the names on our shortlist. After talking about it for a day, we agreed that what he looked most like was a Freddie, so Frederick got bumped up to first name slot, and we chose a new middle name.

Apparently I was Kate all the way through my mum's pregnancy, then just before the end she changed her mind to something else. She 'confessed' last year that, 25 years later, she still thinks she made a mistake and should have stuck with Kate :)

You could always do what my mad auntie did, though, and choose one name all the way through the pregnancy (she new she was having a girl), tell it to everyone, then after baby is born change it to something else and absolutely insist that that was the name you'd planned on calling her all along, you'd never even mentioned the first name that you told everyone she was going to be called!

pinkgirlythoughts · 21/03/2012 07:35

*knew she was having a girl

nappymaestro · 21/03/2012 07:38

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sparkle12mar08 · 21/03/2012 09:03

Yes, with Ds2 - he spent three weeks without a name because we couldn't agree! He had been Christopher David, to be known as Kit, since about 7 months, my husband loved this and I liked it so we decided on it. Then I took one look at him as he was born and thought 'bugger that, you're not a Christopher in a million years!' I knew immediately that he was a Callum, and it took three weeks of some very difficult soul searching conversations between us to decide together that we would have that name. And it was a joint decision - ultimately dh knew that I loved Callum more than he loved Christopher or disliked Callum, and that for me it was a deal breaker. So because he loves us both we went with Callum.

Hpbp · 21/03/2012 11:09

I find it strange to name a baby that is not born yet. Superstitious ? maybe a little bit. We have a nickname for the baby although we have already agreed and decided, but will be using the nickname until baby is born.

strawberrypenguin · 21/03/2012 11:20

Yep, we hadn't fully decided on a name for our DS, we had a short list of 3 but one was definitely at the top of the list. Both myself and DH looked at him and said no he doesnt look like X and used one of the other names for him instead and it fits him perfectly.

puzzletree · 21/03/2012 11:45

We didn't properly decide until they were born, but that was more to do with DP not having a proper conversation about it! Then pretty immediately when they were born we gave them a first name, my top name choice :), so we could announce the birth with a name. Middle names took a bit longer, DS2's was decided on the journey to register him.
Incidently my boys looked really different at birth, and DS1 was nothing like I'd imagined a baby of mine to look, so I'd definitely disagree that all babies look the same!

winkle2 · 21/03/2012 17:34

My mum did this with my bro. He was Michael till the day he was born. She then changed it!

Mama1980 · 21/03/2012 17:40

I did with my ds decided quite early on william James for a boy, when ds arrived very dramatically at 27 weeks this just wasn't him so I called him Jem after a character in Jamaica inn which I read to him while in scbu

Machasma · 21/03/2012 17:46

We named our son before he was born and it suits him perfectly Smile

Mikocat · 21/03/2012 17:56

My brother was going to be Sam all the way up to birth, then my Mum decided that he didn't look like a Sam. So now he is Jack!

5inthebed · 21/03/2012 18:01

Both DS2+3 had different names before they were born, decided they did not suit those names when they were born though.

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