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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Changing your mind about names once baby arrives

73 replies

KittyB52 · 16/02/2017 17:42

We are still undecided about baby names for our daughter (37 weeks today!) and quite a few people have said that we will probably change our minds once we see her anyway. This gives me hope about pencilling in the names I love (which DH does NOT love) just in case she suits one of them.

So, please tell me if you chose names before the birth and then decided baby didn't suit them and had to choose something else. Does this really happen that often?

Sorry if this has been done loads before, advanced search still isn't working.

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Awwlookatmybabyspider · 16/02/2017 18:25

I chose my dds name before birth and stuck with it. Its almost like she'd already named herself though, as. She just had her name written all over her. I think a lot of people change their mind because. The baby just doesn't suit the name. Like I said. A lot of babies name themselves

Chocolatecake12 · 16/02/2017 18:29

I had 2 names I really loved and couldn't decide between. When ds1 was born he was definitely an Oliver.
Got to use the other name on his brother 5 years later!

paddypants13 · 16/02/2017 18:39

I didn't use either favourite name. For dd we used our reserve name and for ds we used a name that I had suggested but dh was not keen on. Ds' name was my third choice on a list of three.

We named both of them as soon as we saw them, they suit their names so well.

mrsnec · 16/02/2017 18:59

I had favourites for both and stuck with both and they both suit their names now but do admit that when hospital staff started calling dd by a nickname based on her looks which is a popular name on here in its own right, I did nearly change my mind even though it wasn't on our lists but it didn't go with the chosen middle name so We stuck with what we had and I'm glad we did.

I had difficult births with both and we found it hard to agree on names. I wanted to decide before because I didn't want to be arguing about it in recovery!

afatalflaw · 16/02/2017 19:00

I think a name can be really lovely but not be imaginable as a name for 'my' child iyswim. Had names on a shortlist then was presented with an actual person just didn't seem right.

Can't imagine changing the name once we had told people though, I make my mind up pretty quickly but rarely change it later.

Hayls17 · 16/02/2017 19:05

Watching with interest, I could have written this post myself kitty we are also waiting until after our daughter is born to chose a name out of our shortlist. Me and OH like very different names so I'm secretly hoping she looks like a name from my list!

measles64 · 16/02/2017 19:10

3rd son, 4 days old, we were sat at home still going through boys names, his hospital tags said baby ..... we did decide on one that day though.

KlingybunFistelvase · 16/02/2017 19:12

DH chose DD's name before she was born (I chose a boy name for I find we'd had a DS; we didn't know what sex she was till she arrived).

We stuck to it and we love it. She probably didn't suit it at birth in hindsight, but she does now strangely. At the time, it never crossed my mind to change it and I never thought much about whether she suited it tbh, as it's not a very descriptive name, if that makes sense. If we'd chosen Joy and she'd looked like a total grump or something then maybe we'd have had a rethink!

bingandabong · 16/02/2017 19:24

We had a list of 5 boys and 5 girls names, then when DS was born the midwife asked if we had a name and DH said a name that had only recently been added and i was like yeh that's it! Don't worry tho if even when they are born you can decide as I have friends that didn't decide for weeks after the birth, plus children grow into the name. Just look at people you know named Barry for instance I'm pretty sure no baby has ever look like a Barry from birth light hearted I have nothing against anyone called Barry!

SuperBeagle · 16/02/2017 19:34

I didn't choose a name beforehand with either of my DDs, so I took my long lists to the hospital with me. The names they ended up with were not names on my shortlist. I waited until they were about 12 hours old to start looking at them and pondering about names, because prior to that they're a bit puffy and swollen looking.

The top name on my list when DD1 was born was Grace, but she ended up being Emilia. The top name on my list with DD2 was Lillian, but she ended up as Lily Rose - close, but not quite the same.

MoonDuke · 16/02/2017 19:40

DS1 we had 2 names on the list (each had a favorite) when I first saw him I just knew he was DH's favorite name and not mine. Suits him perfectly.

DS2 I knew as soon as I tested positive what his name would be if he was a boy. Took 9 months to persuade DH though!

MrsPringles · 16/02/2017 19:45

We had a name and stuck to it, we really struggled to agree on a boys name so thankfully when DS was born, he suited the name

WellyMummy · 16/02/2017 19:50

Yup, had a shortlist of 5 names for DD1, but used one to refer to her, but ended up using a different one from the shortlist. Then called DD2 the name originally expected to use for DD1, it just suited DD2 much better. No regrets on either name but they work this way around.

Original poster

KittyB52 · 16/02/2017 19:51

Thanks, all.

Klingybun I am convinced that baby will be a bit mardy, as my husband is an uber grump. I am hoping to counteract this with my love of nonsense and childish humour.

bingandabong I love the name Barry. I suggested it on the monkey name thread. I have convinced a few people that Barry is short for Barold, which is also an excellent name.

Annoyingly, we had a boys name chosen that we both loved. And no, it's not one that could be tweaked to make it a girls name, sadly.

OP posts:

AliceThrewTheFookingGlass · 16/02/2017 20:08

We couldn't decide on a name for DS2 before he was born and hoped one would jump out at us once we had seen him. A few days after he was born we picked his first and middle name and text family to let them know. We then decided his name wasn't quite right and changed both of them when he was almost 3 weeks old.

theclockticksslowly · 16/02/2017 20:11

We had two possible girl names picked out that we were sure were our firm choices to pick from should baby be a girl. Well baby was a girl but after a week of deliberating she didn't 'look' like either of those names and we happily decided on a name that had long been discounted! And her middle name ended up being a name we'd never even considered beforehand!

wineapotamus · 16/02/2017 20:14

I'm having exactly this problem too! We have a shortlist of 4, all of which I like, but none of them feel like THE name. My favourites don't really work; one rhymes with my husbands name, one is too similar to my name, and one sounds a bit funny with our surname (although the shortening of it is fine) so I'm holding out little hope for my shortlist. DH says we aren't talking about it for a few days-it's driving us both crackers! What are your names kitty? Go on, I'm nosy!

Rollonbedtime7pm · 16/02/2017 20:15

I loved Ivy through the whole of my pregnancy, found out she was a girl at 20 weeks - excellent, I can use this name I love.

She was born and was just not an Ivy whatsoever! I can't explain it other than she had a lovely round face and I suddenly felt Ivy was too 'pointy' for her!

Luckily we had a back up which suits her perfectly.

Original poster

KittyB52 · 16/02/2017 20:46

wineapotamus There are a couple of names I really love - one is Beatrice. I can imagine calling her that name.

Until she is born, and looks like a Sophie/Claire/Barry/Mard-Arse.

OP posts:

Upyourdaisy · 16/02/2017 20:55

Dd4 was called Connie for the majority of my pregnancy (private scan at 16 weeks said she was a she 😁) then came across the name Romy (Romany). She's now 11 weeks and I 100% can't imagine her being named anything else, I'm not sure if it's because we're used to her name or she just genuinely isn't a Connie.

wineapotamus · 16/02/2017 21:12

Ha kitty Beatrix is on our list of 4!
One of my faves that we can't use is Kitty, would you believe! We have similar taste in names!

YellowCrocus · 16/02/2017 21:14

Both times I reduced the names down to a shortlist of four or five that were acceptable to both of us - which was hard! Then when baby was born it took a a while to decide on the one that fit best.

KlingybunFistelvase · 16/02/2017 21:41

Barry Mard-Arse is perfect kitty!

Buntysoven · 17/02/2017 01:30

I wanted a Nancy Ramona as soon as I knew she was a girl but OH said no. Flung lots of other names around, had a moan on here and when she was born, OH looked at her and said "Oh she's definitely a Nancy Ramona" so there's hope OP!

bingandabong · 17/02/2017 05:26

Would it be barold mars-arse kitty?

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