Can you grow to love a name?

[Shemozzle]

I'm 37 weeks and don't know the sex. We have a shortlist of boys and girls names, I really love all the boys names. The only hard bit would be choosing just the one.

I really like the girls names but don't feel particularly excited about choosing any of them. I've been scouring and obsessing for well over a year for girls names after struggling with both my previous dd's so I don't think I'm going to come up with anything else now?

I think you can do if it's someone else's child. If it's your child I think you need to love it from the start, or you'll end up thinking you could have chosen better.

Order a couple of new baby name books, look at the credits of films, ask your kids 😁

Oh I have done it all, I always read name credits scouring for names and have done for years! I have tonnes of name apps, scour name websites several times a week . Hopefully one of the shortlisted names just suits them, if it is a girl. Dp has a strong favourite of them so maybe just go with that.

I'm the same way. Also about girl names. Boy names seem so easy by comparison. I like and then go off girl names so quickly.

My DD's name was one I liked before she was born. I didn't love it like I loved my sons' names. But it was the one that kept making the cut when I narrowed the list down. It fulfilled the criteria I was after too (not too long, not easily shortened, intuitive in pronunciation and spelling, and not too popular), so when she was born, I went with it. Her middle name is the name of a song, and I had no regrets about that because I loved the song and the connection.

I have grown to love her name over time as it's now her name. A part of her. I love it like I love my sons' names.

What I would advise though, OP, is not sharing your list of names with anyone other than your husband. I made that mistake and peoples' criticisms really affected my view of the names.

I was dead set on naming DD Chloe, but after two people told me it was a "cat's name", I went off it. I do have slight regret for not just going with it, but not as much as I regret telling people I was considering it!

Take your list with you to the hospital, and when your baby is born, just talk to them using the names you've got. It may be that he or she looks like a name you'd never even considered! I have a friend who this happened to. Her baby just suited X, but that name had never been on her list. They went with it anyway. Or, you might find that they really look like one of the names on your list, or that they really don't look like a particular name.

Congrats!

How is Chloe a cat's name?!?!?!

I think you can grow to love a name. I really struggled with ds2 - I loved ds1's name so much nothing else came close. I had a few names I liked, but none I loved. Dh really loved one name and I liked it and thought it was a good choice, so we chose it. 6 weeks on I'm starting to really love it as it's his name. I've had a few doubts but I can't imagine him being called anything else now. X

Before I had children, I would have denied ever being able to name any son of mine Conrad.. I thought it was a harsh and very strong (too strong almost) name.

FFW a few years I met dh and well we struggled with boysnames ... Conrad came up and I thought hmmm Conrad Asked dh who said " hmm Conrad...."

Once he was born he was so clearly a Conrad. He is now almost 15 taller than me and working on a 6 pack... Heavily into sports and mostly rugby

i LOVE his name.. I just absolutely adore it. I think it is fantastic its that perfect " no one knows loads (or often even 1) but everyone knows the name " type of name. Its a strong name yes, however he is a strong lad who makes me and his dad very proud.

So yes you can grow to love a name you didnt before.

With one of mine I was 'meh' about every possibility until she put in an appearance. That was the only pregnancy for which I didn't know the sex, oddly enough. Maybe it was just too unknown and theoretical. The others were firmly named while still in utero. I was prepared to change our mind on meeting them but we didn't.

I still don't love dc2s name (ds) however I didn't love any boys names. Loads picked out for girl.

So we just went with dhs favourite and I'd only have vetoed it if I actually disliked it.

He is over 2 now and I still don't feel like it's his name but dh does and so does ds haha

I'm the same with names, was relieved when DS was a boy as I loved our boys names but was a bit meh about the girls. However even though I'd loved the name we picked for years, it still felt strange on him for a few months, perhaps because of other people's surprise at it (it's only recently become widely used). Now it's completely 'his' name and I love it more than ever. I just worry about finding as good a name for DC2!