What’s wrong with Tabitha???

[Rjd13]

So I’ve learned the hard way that sharing your names with family and friends doesn’t always give the reaction you expect. If I’m having a girl I love Tabitha and so does my other half. I’m due in early October so think it suits the season too.

Everyone I’ve told hates it. HATES. IT.

I really don’t understand why it’s so contentious and it’s really upset me. I get a lot of ‘that’s a cats name’ yet I know of pets called jasper, molly, tess etc and there doesn’t seem to be the same concern. So even if it is associated with cats - why is that so bad?

My mum and nan have joked about using the middle name instead and other people have laughed or even gone as far to say it’s cruel. Am I mad? I don’t like anything else half as much 😩

1. NEVER TELL ANYONE YOUR FUTURE BABY’S NAME
2. Screw what anyone else thinks, when the baby arrives no one will be rude enough to tell you they hate the name
3. see 1
4. I love the name
5. See 1.
6. See 1
7. SEE 1!

^^ what Shirley said.

Love the name Tabitha!

Nothing wrong with it. I love it!

I work in a school and we have a Tabatha i love it. If you and your partner like it that's all that matters it will grow on them x

Exactly what Shirley said! I didn't tell anyone my daughter's name until she was born and when my husband phoned my mum to let her know we had a baby girl she said 'what kind of name is that?' . Anyway she grew to love the name as much as she loves my daughter.

I think it's quite posh for a cat's name! I think of it along the lines of Mathilda. The Tabitha I know of is called Tabby for short and has a brother called Felix so it's a surprise that Social Services haven't been involved

Personally I love the name Tabitha. DS would have been Tabitha if he'd been a girl.

I've heard a lot of negativity towards it too, and DH wrinkled his nose up when I suggested it, but I can't understand why.

I like it because it's a bit catty and witchy and pixie-ish. Perhaps those are exactly the reasons others hate it.

When I was pregnant with DD1 I was SO excited. We already had the name picked out (Beatrix) and we told MIL during her birthday party (when she was drunk) and without missing a beat she said 'oh I don't like that'. I was so hurt. Still haven't really forgiven her.

LOVE the name!

Never ever tell people your baby names I've learnt that myself (thanks MIL for telling MY news before my baby was born)

My Cabbage Patch Kid was called Tabitha.

Tt's not really a name you can shorten very nicely though, and full name sounds quite precocious, yelling it at a park, for example.

But, your baby, your name....

Ah are you getting a kitten??
What about Tamsin instead?

I love it. I wanted to call my girl Tabitha Katrina which might have been a bit much but DH vetoes Tabitha altogether.

Personally if I hear Tabitha I think cat, but that's not to say that's a bad thing. I'm not sure there's much you can do about it really, if you love it you love it!

My DS is called the "short" version of a long name (EG Max instead of Maximilian, though it's not that) and that always gets derided on here. I don't give a shit. You do you.

Shirley - where were you 3 months ago? School boy error!

Worstmotherintheworld - this has cheered me up no end.

I genuinely thought people would like, and if they didn’t, I certainly didn’t expect them to think I was setting my child up for a lifetime of misery.

It’s definitely made me more determined to not like anything else. Naming a child out of spite is fine, right?

I love it! I didn't use it because I already have a Felix and even I can see that might be too much. But it's a lovely name!

Nothing, I love it. It does make me think a bit of cats and witches but I like that! I have a good friend (late 30s) with the name and it suits her - bit different,bit posh. Another friend’s teenage daughter is also a Tabitha but goes by Tabby.

I love it. And what Shirley said.

I love the name Tabitha, you have a very strange family! It was on my shortlist, as was Agatha but neither went particularly well with my surname.

Tabitha is fine. It's the same type of name, in my opinion, as Matilda, Martha, Jemima, etc. I think people associate it with cats and witches because there's a Beatrix Potter cat called Tabitha, as well as the association with tabby cats, and then there's the TV series Bewitched with Tabitha in it.

Love it

I've always found Tabitha very sweet, but probably because my closest friend in school was named this (her elder sister was Samantha, they were named after Bewitched).

honestly there's nothing wrong with tabitha, it's not even very uncommon in the uk, (it's at #211 for 2016, with 249 births, so it's not too popular, but also not unheard of)

I'd say screw them and just choose what you love!

I think it's a very unattractive and prissy name, and I don't understand the MN love for it, but it certainly isn't cruel.

We had a short list with DS and everyone we told either had something negative to say or just pulled a face. They weren't even out there names (think Arthur, Tristan etc). I found it really upsetting and it put us off all those names. With dd we have a name we love and are not telling a single soul. And everyone is being all "that's so unfair, I promise I won't say anything". Nope, sorry, they all had their chances to behave with common courtesy the first time! Really shocked me how many people would think it appropriate to say unkind stuff. I get it on anonymous forums when people have specifically posted for opinions, but to just sound off in RL to someone's face when they haven't even asked for your opinion... nuts!

Tabitha is fantastic!

I had a name I loved but everyone I mentioned it to hated it. Called DD something else.
Got a cat, called it this name! (Not Tabitha btw)
Keep names to yourself! Only you and your partner need to know.

Nothing wrong with it but I know 2 cats called Tabitha. Then again I know cats and dogs called Tilly, meg, Bella, Evie, Alice, Bob, Oscar, frank, terry, Amy, billie and a reptile called Delphine.