Partner and I like opposite names. What to do?

[BettyBi0]

Everything I suggest is either too posh or too weird apparently. Instead my DP prefers pretty traditional names like Katherine and Elizabeth.

I'm quite shocked as we seem to have very similar taste in lots of other stuff like home decoration, food etc and even renovated a whole house together without arguing or having any taste clashes.

What do you do when you just can't agree?

I don't want my little girl to have a really boring name!

you just have to keep looking!

what I did was make a list of every name i liked (sat down one evening with the name book and make a huuuuuuuuge list)

then DP went through it and marked them as definite no, maybe and yes... we narrowed it down that way

Oh god, having flashbacks to dd2. I liked Genevieve, he liked Emma. We just had to keep looking. The name we found is not my absolute favourite name, but it's dd2 now so I love it as part of her.

My dh and I struggled for weeks with the same problem, in the end we both wrote lists and cross matched and then had an argument :)

Pick a name each and use them on alternate days?

my dh is very vanilla with names too
we made lists, didn't agree...then we saw her and suggested things to each other that suited her. In the end we chose names we hadn't previously considered, they felt so right looking in her silvery eyes

I love those two names!

Looong, looong lists of names that you both look at and start crossing out ones you really can't stand, and eventually you find a middle ground!

What kind of names do you like, OP? Could you find a more unusual name with a more traditional shortening? Elizabeth into Elisabeta etc?

And also, if you both don't love the same name then you are probably going to have to compromise on a name you both just like. It quickly becomes the baby's name anyway. DD's name is not one I remotely imagined I would have a daughter called, but it's her now.

You should print out two copies of the top 500 girls names and then get busy with your highlighters and then cross reference. Surely your taste will collide somewhere!

HOURS of fun!

Keep doing lists, swapping them over, checking them (sometimes you see a name in a new light and may consider it when you woudn't have done previously) then ultimately compromise.

The thing i wouldn't want to do is to take it on turns to chose the names with the other parent having no input if it's not their 'turn'. I would rather compromise than live with my child's name that I dislike even if I could have the name of my dreams as well for one of the dc.

What about trying to find a longer traditional name your DH likes but which has a pretty nickname you could use, that you like?

Good ideas guys. I'm going to try printing out the top 500 and seeing where we match.
Love the idea of finding a traditional longer name with good NN potential.

It's so strange what you learn about someone by the kind of reactions they have to names.

Aim for what I call unusual but not weird names that way you can likely find something you both like.

If he likes
Katherine and Elizabeth.

How about something like

Louisa, Vivienna, Nina

Keep going in that type of lane until it satisfies your need for " unusual" and his need for traditional.

Had it been down to me my oldest 2 would have been named Aida & Lakme' dh refused point blank.. (spoil sport)

Agree with all the above. Its v common not to agree. Life is about compromise and this is just the beginning. For my first DD we eventually found something we liked. The second DD was much harder.

Having said which: whose surname is the baby getting? Are you having a middle name too? And ultimately if you tell him during or just after labour he'll do anything you want to make you feel better. It's your final trump card!!