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Scruples question - stealing baby names???

152 replies

kizzie · 14/04/2004 12:25

hello - just a little scruples question for everyone.

When my BF and I were both pregnant I said very early on which name I would choose if I had a girl.
Its quite unusal so not one that would quickly spring to mind.
Anyway few months later BF rang rather sheeplishly and announced that her and her DH had decided that they really liked it and it was now their favourite.
Few weeks later they had a girl and did give her this name.
As it happens I had boys so wasnt that much of an issue (and apart from this she is a wonderful friend so would never want something like that to ruin our relationship)BUT have to admit I did think it was a bit odd and nothing that I would have done.

Anyone else done something similar - or if it happened to you would you be a bit miffed????

As I say its all water under the bridge but my sister just brought it up in conversation at the weekend when she joked about it.

Kizziex

OP posts:
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MADDI · 14/04/2004 21:59

Wouldn't life be much easier if we all lived in The Red Tent with no men to hassle us?

sobernow · 14/04/2004 22:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Blackduck · 14/04/2004 22:02

I'm very into Jewish names...but not Jewish...Issac, Leah, Rebecca etc.

Vee33 · 14/04/2004 22:04

It's still my favourite girl's name (and you like Reuben too - we have the same taste!). my dh prefers more traditional names and wouldn't agree to names like that. I couldn't even sneak Martha in as a middle name!

Ghosty · 14/04/2004 22:04

Just going back to the 'stealing names' thing. I had a long chat with a very good friend about names about a month before she was due and 3 months before I was. I mentioned my favourite name which was Rosie ...
When her dd was born she called her Rosie. I was a bit gutted ... but then when thinking about it I thought that as we live 12000 miles away from her it wouldn't matter.
As it was, when DD was born we decided she wasn't a Rosie after all and we called her something else.

On the other hand, a work colleague of mine called her baby the same name as my DS (quite an unusual name) and I was very flattered ....

musica · 14/04/2004 22:05

Yes, Red Tent, Anita Diamant, about Dinah who only gets a little mention in the OT - daughter of Leah and Jacob. Joseph is her brother. Note - not father of Jesus though. This was Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. Really good book - really enjoyed it! Also is kinder to Leah than the bible was!

eddm · 14/04/2004 22:14

Janh, snap! If ds had been a girl he'd have been a Lottie (Charlotte officially). Sister and I are both determined about this, even if she gets there first any future dd of mine is going to be called after my wonderful aunt

aloha · 14/04/2004 22:33

I've always loved my name. Thought about Joseph for ds but dh wasn't keen. Stil think it would have suited him though, as does his actual name. Wish we'd given it as middle name though.

InternationalGirl · 14/04/2004 22:49

Hi!
I'm fairly new to MN but here is my take on names. Life is too short AND there are soooo many names out there!! I am sure if 'my name' was used by a BF or a SIL I could probably find another name I would enjoy equally. But the boys name after a cat and someone was miffed - I don't know!! If I was picking name of someone else's I saw all the time maybe I would want to reconsider.

I love Reuben for a boy - in fact Reuben James - don't know why just like it. James is in the family anyway.

I think to some extent you have to consider several factors - like I love Lucy Elizabeth but nowadays she could be called 'Loose Lizzy' MMMMM - don't know if I would like that for my little girl.

Also what would their initials be?? That can be important as that might turn out to be their nickname. Lots to think about.

My daughters are Taylor Jean and Ashley Amanda and any of you are welcome to hijack 'my names' if you like. I had the people at work help me choose Taylor's name!!

Ashley was almost called Jessica - DH and I happened know a Jessica who was a real 'tart' and we just couldn't face using her name at the time. If we had another girl it might be time now - UNLESS ANYONE ELSE HAS PICKED THAT NAME!!

ONLY JOKING - we are happy with 2 little girls and are not planning any more for now. But DH keeps talking about adopting a boy - I don't know - LIFE IS TOO BUSY!!

Linnet · 14/04/2004 23:17

My dd has an unusual name. When we named her nobody had ever heard of the name but in the past few years we have heard of one or two others. Most confusing one is someone I work with who's dd is 4 years younger than my dd and has the same name although spelt differently I didn't work with her when I had my dd.

My next baby which is due in around 4 weeks is also going to have an unsual name. We haven't told anybody what our choice of name is for this baby and won't be telling anyone until after it's arrived.

Nobody has even asked what names we are considering and I'm quite glad as last time I would get really annoyed when people asked and you told them then they would say oh I don't like that name/I knew a person with that name/why would you name your child that, etc...

Must say that if I mentioned a name and a sister/best friend was pregnant at the same time as me I would be rather miffed if they pinched the name that I was wanting to use.

throckenholt · 15/04/2004 09:22

I haven't had time to read this whole thread - but wanted to stick in my 2p's worth. Warning - this may trun out to be long

Firstly basically everyone has the right to choose the name of their children regardless of what others may think - which is probably why many people don't announce names until after the birth - to avoid any comments !

Secondly in the past many people had the same names, and often the same surnames, even in the same village (which makes family history research a nightmare sometimes).

I think it depends on how often you see the people, how much confusion it would cause, and to some extent how common the name is - if you have gone out of your way to choose a rare name then you might have more cause for grievance. If you are adamant that you don't want anyone to use your name you should tell everyone that and get their agreement not to use it first (doubt if that is possible).

My personal experience - I researched my family history, found 5 generations of the same name (very common boys name), liked it, thought I will call my kid that one day. Later got married and coincidentally this name was the only one my DH and I could agree on (no kids on the horizon at this stage - we could come up with loads for girls). We told this story to DH's sister who had 1 child at that stage. She said - yeah - that's a nice name.

About a year later she had another child - called by this name (different surname to us). I was disappointed because I thought we can't use it now, but thought no more of it. Later we discovered that she was well aware of our preference for the name, and given her intense sibling rivalry with DH we assume part of the reason she chose the name was to stop him using it.

We had a child the next year and reluctantly decided against using the name again (because it would upset her). We settled for a name that neither of us particularly liked but neither hated. 18 months later we had twins and had to come up with another 2 boys names (nightmare - we just couldn't agree on boys names). Finally after much discussion we chose a name DH loves and I can
tolerate for one twin, and also a slightly different version to the original name in question (that DH's sister had already used) for the other twin.

A year later we had an email from Dh's sister demanding we change our child's name, because it belonged to her, and her's was the only one in the world (note a very common name). She claims we have stolen her son's identity. If we didn't change it she would start a family feud. They live the other side of the country (we only see them about once a year), different surnames. We told her very politely that we were keeping the name, that it should have no effect on her child's identity. She hasn't spoken to DH since.

A sad situation - hardest of all for Dh's parents who are stuck in the middle.

Jimjams · 15/04/2004 09:51

throckenholt- it sounds as if your SIL would have had a falling out over something if not that.
DH and I were talking about this the other day - I said if we ever had a girl I would like to call her Alice. He said that he thought his sister may use that name for a girl (she's pregnant now). She lives the other end of the country and we see each other about 3 times a year. Obviously they would have different surnames. I see no problem with 2 Alice's- there were cousin's in my family with the same name (on the same side). I suspect SIL would see a problem though.

I did know 2 brothers (kind of- friend of a friend) One called James Thomas and one called Thomas James. Now sorry but that is just mad!

throckenholt · 15/04/2004 10:18

jimjams - got it in one

In our family there are already a number of duplicate names through marriages (mine included) and we all seem to cope ok.

Whilst doing family history research I recently found a man who married twice, he had children by the same name with both wives - now that is confusing ! Not sure if they all survived childhood though.

Benjaminsmummy · 15/04/2004 10:44

Both my sisters in law have the same name as me (except they spell their first name with a C and mine is with a K). We can end up getting a bit confused when all of us are there at once!

On the naming babies subject, my sister (8 years younger) has decided she wants to call her DD (if she has one) Rebecca Louise. I like the name Rebecca, but felt I couldn't use it due to her thoughts. Luckily DS was a boy.

Fennel · 15/04/2004 10:44

Jimjams, maybe it was pressure from the first ds. dd1 wants the imminent dd3 to have the same name as her and gets quite tearful about it, insisting it would be a good thing to have big dd1 and little dd1.
meanwhile dp wants to call dd3 after our (male) cat who was run over a few months ago. it gets really silly in our house, you'd think there were only about 2 girls names in the world....

musica · 15/04/2004 10:47

This isn't the same thing really, but I know with both of our children we had a boys name and a girls name ready. If we'd told someone our girls name (particularly that one, as it is more unusual than our boys name), and they had used it, but we had only had boys, I think dh and me would (quite illogically) feel sad that they had OUR girl. With a logical head on I would say don't be ridiculous, but feelings aren't always logical! I think if one of our close friends or family had used our girls name then we would have felt we couldn't use it - to us it would have felt like copying, even if we had chosen it first.

florenceuk · 15/04/2004 11:26

Well, my sister did this to me! If DS had been a girl he would have been Olivia - lo and behold, six months later my sister had a girl and she was called Olivia....and somehow I don't think we'll be calling our next one Olivia if we do have a girl. I was a wee bit miffed at the time, but don't care now. Just spend my time speculating as to what to call my next one - I quite like Joshua for a boy but DS has a cousin called Josh already - maybe Joseph? Josephine for a girl?

eidsvold · 15/04/2004 13:00

i has something similar to this - when married to ex dh we talked about baby names whilst attempting to get pregnant - one girls name - I absolutely loved - he subsequently was having an affair with best friend and went off with her - got pregnant, married and lo and behold their daughter was called the one girl's name I absolutely loved. It felt weird at first when I found out. Now 10 yrs later - have a beautiful dh and dd and no way was I going to call her that name - I just did not like it anymore (?!?!)

In fact, I love dd's name ( first chosen by her dad, middle by me)... and I will know if anyone has nicked it ( so watch out!! ) ) as it is very unusual - for the UK. Sorry can't tell you what it is as that would give her identity away....

For me - if I really liked the name - I would use it anyway.... life is too short. throckenholt - tell your sil in go jump - there is no such thing as copyright on a name and for goodness sake - how can a baby steal someone's identity!!!

Janh · 15/04/2004 19:51

Here are some lovely unusual baby names (celebrity ones of course):

I name thee... Pilot Inspektor!

Freckle · 15/04/2004 19:58

There should be a law against some names. I believe there is in France.

Frenchgirl · 15/04/2004 20:03

yes, in France you can't give your child a name that would be insulting or that would sound ridiculous. A couple with the surname Renault wanted to call their daughter Megan.....I believe they weren't allowed to do it. I'm not up to date with all this though so it might have changed a bit. I think it's a good idea though.

Jimjams · 15/04/2004 20:29

This has become apt. My best friend from when I lived in London is due to give birth in 2 weeks - she has just phoned to say they are thinking about using the same name as ds1. I don't mind a bit I think it would be quite nice. Her dh's favourite is ds2's name.

Bozza · 15/04/2004 20:57

Well you've all been coming up with alternatives. Does that mean that you think we should ditch Samuel?

I like a lot of the suggestions - Rueben and Isaac for instance, but DH is against. So no progress there.

For a girl we are settled on Caitlin Mary. Mary was Dh's grandmother's name and SIL who is also pregnant has said that if she has a girl she would use Mary for a middle name. And we agreed that this is perfectly OK - for cousin's to share a middle name.

twiglett · 15/04/2004 20:59

message withdrawn

bundle · 15/04/2004 21:02

we liked Louis for a boy (have 2 girls thank goodness, names seem easier) and I now quite like Matthew (though common), Simeon and Rowan