How do you test out a baby name?

[EmilyRoo]

Besides the obvious, I mean. Do you imagine yourself shouting it out across the supermarket or hearing it at their wedding? How do you get used to a name, when it's not attatched to a baby yet?

I use it for a month as my pc password - with my surname and sometimes I add a mn. That way I have to type it several times a day, and rehearse it in my mind :)

We used the method where you refer to your bump as Dr baby's full name. If they can carry off the doctor test it's a good name!

Try writing the first name and surname together a few times. And say them slowly and quickly a couple of times. Either you'll love the combination or you won't in my experience.

I'd imagine the child was 25 and think would he/she be quite happy with that name. Which is why I'm not keen on these trendy made-up names. But some people called by very unusual names like them, so I suppose it is a matter of taste.

I go with a gut feeling, we went over and back and found it hard to finally be 100% set on DD's name, but, in the end we went with the first name we had thought of and the one we kept coming back to.
I knew when I started dreaming about it that it was the right name for her.

We tried it on the baby for a few days.. found we didn't like it.

This was a different name to what we'd called him whilst in-bump, and we went for a third name which he just seemed to fit better.

It would be good to drop the 'baby' :o

That is, we should never be thinking or talking of "baby names" but just "names". Far too many people seem to get diverted by "a sweet name for a little girl" or "that name wouldn't suit a little baby".

Well I agree with the dropping the baby idea. Though I would find it hard to get used to a baby called something like Arthur. But the Dr thing is a good idea. On another thread the name Dotty is being discussed. 'Dr Dottie.' That would be enough to put anyone off the name!

Well, they are babies only for the blink of an eye, aren't they, and you can always use a silly cute nickname for the early days

I tried the name in several "scenarios" in my head and out loud, like "X get down from there!", "have you got X's coat?", "X, can you pick up that toy please", "this is my son X", "hi, this is X from such and such a company calling". Sounds nuts, but it made me happier that the name suited

My test: would I like to be called it? IMHO plenty of parents don't seem apply that test. Some horrors in the playgrounds of Brighton and Hove I can tell thee... naming no names of course. I'm pregnant so don't have a hard hat to don any more . I mean me as me now as well, as a 40 something professional woman. That cuts out most of the wheat from the chaff.

Also you can try the name with Judge and see how that goes down?

Agree with poster who said they're only babies for a little while. 4 years as an infant and hopefully around 70 more as someone with a name that's got to suit them if they're a chartered accountant or something!

Or a Bishop :)

Bishop Poppy
Bishop Jayden
Bishop Junior
Bishop Princess Tiaamii

:o

Percy

This one's easy. You put the name into the three Big Questions:

1. Can X come out to play?
2. X, will you marry me?
3. Do we think X is ready for promotion?

If the name fits with all three, it's a keeper. See, I don't think Jehovah can come out to play, I can't imagine asking a Wilfred to marry me and call me a snob but I think Destinee isn't ready for promotion...

You know what though, despite all this snobbery (and it IS), the fact remains that there are people out there with all sorts of weird and wonderful names, being doctors, judges, going for jobs, promotion, training, vicar-school, voting Conservative...

Our country is increasingly culturally, and socially diverse, no matter how white and middle-class Mumsnet remains. There are LOADS of doctors and lawyers with non-British, non-classic names. Their not all called Charles, William, Harry and Diana are they????

The idea that a child, from a caring, nurturing, involved, engaged, and forward thinking family background would be held back in life based on their name just seems so unlikely to me. If anything, it might help them stand out.

Aaaargh! THEY'RE!!!!!

Badgerina - I COULD NOT agree with you more!

Someone once told me to imagine yourself on a plane ... ''Ladies and Gentleman this is your Captain xxxxxxx speaking'' say your name in place of the xxxxxxxxx and imagine yourself feeling 'safe' in their hands.......... works for me!

Can you imagine it shouted across the supermarket and as a BBC news presenter!

hmmmmmmn Supermarket only the other day i heard of a 'youlittleshit'

'All rise for Judge Cordelia Maynard............'

'All rise for Judge JavenRavenKai-Kaven Maynard.........'

'this is Sebastian Kimber, News at 10, in the Gulf.........'

I always imagine calling it up the stairs, as in "X, dinners ready!"

Never realised before, but that's how I 'test' names :P

Also check initials, anagrams and all manner of shortenings/rhymes. That way you avoid being P Nurse and having initials ARS (I know both of these!).

Our country is increasingly culturally, and socially diverse, no matter how white and middle-class Mumsnet remains. There are LOADS of doctors and lawyers with non-British, non-classic names. Their not all called Charles, William, Harry and Diana are they????

I don't think it's non-British, non-classic names some posters here wish to avoid; it's ones that are spelled creatively, made-up, or not traditionally names. Some real life examples I would say fall into this category: Honey-Mai, Kaydee-Leigh, Armani, Spike, Chace, Lexie-Lou, Kaeden, A-Jay, Izzy-Mae, Jazlyn, Fifi, Echo, Baylee, Sookie, Miami... These names wouldn't pass my own tests. Names like Filip, Abdul, Ahmed, Omar, Mustafa, Maryam, Zuzanna, Amina, Mohammed and Yusuf wouldn't be ones I'd pick as they don't reflect my cultural heritage but I can imagine doctors, judges, and BBC news presenters with those names.

I always looked ahead to my two applying for their first jobs, and filling those roles.
Stellan makes a good point above there, but in 20-30-40 years time, we might be old and be treated by an amazing surgeon called Spike, or A-Jay, or our grandchildren might be taught chemistry by a Kaydee-Leigh; we could have our news brought to us by Baylee Jones....these names will come to seem normal as the children grow into them.

I remember an elderly relative being practically floored by the name of one of my nephews......Nathan.
To her it was from the ends of the earth.

If you'd feel a bit of a prat shouting the name across a playground, it's not the one for you.