Name regret? Maybe it turns out well sometimes!

[Molotov]

Dd1 is now 5yo. We couldn't agree on her name at first. My first choice became her middle name and she has always been called by both names, something like (but not) 'Freya Belle'.

She told me this morning that she likes Freya, but not Belle, so can we please just call her 'Freya' alone from now on? She also wants school teachers to just call her Freya.

The thing is, I really wanted to call her Belle. I regretted her middle name not being her first name for ages, and still occasionally get a pang of regret if I see the name written down elsewhere, or someone else has a Belle. Her middle name is still my favourite girl's name ever.

I know children can be fickle, but it was a relief this morning to hear her say that she doesn't actually like Belle It felt good.

I wanted to share as I've seen a few name regret threads on here lately.

Possibly, although she volunteered a reason as to why she specifically doesn't like Belle (an association with another word, which she views negatively).

She may well hate Freya in 2 weeks time, such is the fickle nature of 5y olds!

I too think it's two names she didn't like. Imagine that mouthful in the classroom when everybody else has a short moniker. You'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Kids do do this. They change their names around and all sorts [drin].

It would be so much easier if we could just let them choose their own names at 12 or something. (and then maybe change them at 20).

I've ended up with a kid with a super-popular name-top 10-that when she was born I'm not sure was even in the top 100. A super popular name does feel less individual to me. And it came out of nowhere really-there's no reason why some names get very popular and others don't, as far as I can see.

[drin]? must preview.

I guess regardless of the reason, the fact that she prefers her first name is what ia significant for me. I've had 5 years (to varying degrees) of wishing I'd held out to call her my name choice. It was nice to hear from her

Molotov I am in the same exact position regarding name and middle name. We couldn't use my first name choice (her MN) because of something to do with DH's surname and I often wonder if I did the right thing, and feel the same as you when I see it etc. It didn't help that DM and MIL indicated they preferred the MN when I made the mistake of confiding this to them, after she had been born... Nice to know I am not alone and that my slight regret won't necessarily pass onto my DD!

That's good OP I think you can feel sure you made the right choice :)