DM says she won't have anything to do with new baby if we call him

[Jackieharris]

Sean Patrick (ok the Patrick bit was a wind up as she hates Irish names)

But I don't think of Sean as that Irish anyway.

I started another thread a while ago about the awful baby names she has suggested and they just keep coming:

Richard (Dick?! Are you kidding me!)
Paul
Douglas
Donald
Egbert
Edward (ned = chav in Scotland)
Graham

She says these are timeless names but they aren't. They are horribly dated baby boomer names.

we are aware our DCs will probably see them as trendy

tell her you are calling him Shadrach, or Obediah. Or go new age on her, and say the child we be Phoenix or Apple or Skye. Keep up with the pretence until after he's born. Then tell her you changed your mind and you are calling him Sean. She'll be so relieved, her objections will quietly slip away.

Call your child whatever you want, your dmum had her chance with you to pick a name.

I sympathise, when I told my mum I was thinking of the name Sophie she exclaimed 'That's a Hanoverian name!'

You choose the name you're happy with. If that affects how your DM relates to him, then she's being unbelievably petty, to her own detriment.

Tim isn't an Irish name!?!

I know it isn't.

squoosh

Spell it Sîon and tell her it's Welsh.

MY DM had such a fit at one of the names my sister and her husband were seriously considering for DS2 that they dropped it. Such a shame, it would have really suited him.

As a result my DH and I refused to tell anyone the names we'd chosen. I know she doesn't like DS's name, and I don't care. I don't like my name, which my DM chose after DF vetoed several even more prissy and stupid suggestions of hers (thank heavens).

But do I say anything? Of course not. Actually carrying some sort of grudge about a name (unless there are very specific reasons for it being a bad idea, e.g. calling your child Stalin Hitler Smith) is very childish.

What a sad woman. give her an Irish nickname

can you get her to write and sign that statement?
see what she says then

She didn't like dc1's name either.

She wanted me to call him Malcom!

We do just have very different tastes. I hate the name she gave me.

Actually you should call baby Sean Patrick Leonard. what a great actor!

Sean Connery did quite well for himshelf too

We're Scottish and my two ds have VERY Irish names tell her you're going to call him Brennan or Eamonn or Connel, or on the off chance the baby may turn out to be a girl, it'll be Orlaith

Edwards lovely.
Richard and Paul are fine and much much with Sean.

She sounds a loon. Whats her beef with Irish mames?

It's a west of Scotland thing.

With dc1 they said 'well he won't be able to go into xyz pub with that name'.

Good. I say.

(I think her gr grandfather had to renounce his Catholicism to be allowed to marry her gr grandmother)

She had an Irish maiden name ffs!

The West of Scotland makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes. God forbid he'd be prevented from entering the Louden Tavern.

My feelings exactly squoosh.

We keep well away from the sectarianism that goes on. Thankfully DP isn't a football fan.

I think you should get her hopes up, so you can have a quiet life, then surprise her with the real name after you've given birth. So, let her know the compromise name-to her taste, but also with Irish connections-is Desmond, with Keith as the middle name. And let her tell everyone that if she wants to. When you baby arrives, announce little Sean and when she is shocked, say 'Oh, Mum, as if! Couldn't you tell I was joking?'

Or Gerard. I secretly like the name Gerard. The only Gerards I've ever met were both slim, likeable and very camp Irishmen wearing loafers.

distract her with these

Yes! Gerard's are always slightly camp priests!

See, that would make me definitely call him Sean and I consider not giving him a middle name unless there was one I really had to have.

I'd also make sure his first babygrow had Sean across the front in big letters

And make sure you remember the fada. For added Irishness.

Seán.