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Baby names

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

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Original poster

How did you come up with names

22 replies

Emmafh3 · 27/07/2018 22:40

It's a good thing our dd turned out to be a girl, the only names we liked and agreed on was her full names. Couldn't find any boy names we liked.....
But now the prospect of having to figure out any name at all for another unknown gender baby is daunting

How did you come up with names for dc2+
Especially when you had no "back up" names

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kayakingmum · 27/07/2018 22:44

I think there's a lot to be said for finding a list of top 100 most popular names and looking at those between no.30ish and no.70ish. I.e not really common and not really odd.

amilosingitor · 27/07/2018 22:54

I got my sons name from watching the godfather.....and I heard someone call their daughter when I was shopping at lakeside once and the name stuck in my head so that's what I used for my daughter!

This time around we love a game of thrones inspired name for a girl but we're struggling with a boys name! I think we have finally compromised on one now although I'm worried about over usage as happens to be the name of a certain new prince!

Raines100 · 27/07/2018 23:02

DC1 was the name DH had always wanted for a baby since childhood.
DC2's name was the only one we both liked.
DC3 was my choice. I wrote down all the names I loved and realised most had a common sound. I chose the simplest name with that sound.

Iwantaunicorn · 27/07/2018 23:05

We had DTs. DD was a pre picked name by husband after a family member, DS was one of a choice of 3 - when we found out the sex at 16 week scan And we were asked does DS have a name, I just blurted his out and that was that. They’re both named after family members no longer with us.

I’ve already started work on future names...

MumOfTwoMasterOfNone · 28/07/2018 10:35

Luckily we were pretty much on the same page for girls names. We had a DS first though and that was very hard work. His name is the only one we could remotely agree on but it was a compromise and was much more DPs choice.

DD's name is a family name and I love it. DP gave in because he had really chosen DS's name. He loves it now though as we shorten it to a cute NN.

GreenTulips · 28/07/2018 10:40

We had two possibilities for DD1 and DH 'got in first' the minute she was born when the ME asked her name
Next DS we argued over his name and couldn't agree on any - so I suggested his father middle name which also turned out to be his great grandfathers name - MIL asked if he could also have her fathers name as a middle name - which we liked and used
DD was harder and has an unusual name, my DN wanted her to share her name, we declined but used her middle name as DD middle name - she was delighted!!!

FairfaxAikman · 28/07/2018 10:51

For DS we used the names together website as a starting point for names we liked.
The name we went for wasn't on the site but had a similar feel and is, in part, after the church we got married in.
Middle names are after his grandfathers.
Our potential girls name was harder to settle on as we disagreed big style. In the end If he had been a girl the name would have been one adapted from DHs favourite TV show.

user1472377586 · 28/07/2018 10:53

We chose names that are in (my!) family tree - went back 3 or 4 generations.

PepperSteaks · 28/07/2018 17:33

We had zero names for boys. We had no common ideas at all. For girls we liked two names a lot. After we found out she was a girl we sat in the car and OH said “I like X” and then that was just her name after that. Middle name is my mum’s maiden name.

BearCubX · 28/07/2018 17:49

@kayakingmum We had the same idea but instead of excluding the top 30 we ignored the top 150. Anything in the top 100 is still so common!

haribosmarties · 28/07/2018 17:55

We looked at the names of people we admired and also names from mythology or literature that had interesting tales attached to them.

We ended up naming our son after a poet and middle name after a castle which we had visited on our first date which was also used in a film we both loved.
Our daughter we named after a princess from mythology of whom there was a painting which we had seen on another particular date we had been on early on in our relationship, and middle name after another writer we both admired.

bridgetreilly · 28/07/2018 17:58

Ask on Mumsnet. ;)

MiriAmmerman · 28/07/2018 18:00

We gave DS the name that I have wanted for a boy since childhood - I have always loved it, and nothing else would do. Luckily DP also liked it! His middle name is the one that DP would have called him if I hadn't been involved

We didn't have a girl's name picked out. We just had a list of lots of names that we thought were nice, but nothing seemed right. The name issue was a lot simpler when we found out he was a boy at the 20 week scan.

We probably won't have another child, but if we do it's the same story. We have 2 or 3 further boys' names that we really like, so could very easily name another DS. God help us if we ever have a DD though.

Original poster

Emmafh3 · 28/07/2018 22:09

Perhaps I'm just going to have to pick a random fruit to call this child by....
I usually exclude the top 100names....and then another 100....and then I keep going until I find one I sort of like and then veto it because actually, I didn't like it 🙈. And then of course any I do actually like, dh doesn't!
Boys names are a whole new ball game.... Not a single one I like so far, nor does dh.
I've had a long look through lots of mythology (before I was even with dh too!) for names, and not found one that suits us yet. And I'm constantly reading all the credits and producers names on TV shows and films.
But it's a good call on authors and poets and the like, perhaps it's also time to dig out a family tree!
Almost makes me want to find out the gender... Almost 😜

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unhappyhusbandunhappyfather · 28/07/2018 22:35

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BoyInTheOven · 29/07/2018 01:50

May seem strange but when I was pg with dd I used to work behind a beautiful Victorian graveyard and I loved looking at the names on the headstones. I found (but didn't use) the name Adalaide on one from 190something - I hadn't realised the background of the name before then.
With dd it was a name of a character on a tv programme - the character was funny, a little silly, sassy - but all in a good egg - I suggested it to OH and it stuck. We gave her the middle name Elizabeth as it was a close runner up to the name we gave dd. And we liked the regal connotations.
We have found naming in utero ds much harder - the name I think is the front runner is more commonly known as a diminutive of a more common full name but I have since discovered that it is also a name in its own right. His middle name will likely be James which is my brothers name, also used a lot in my family, and it also has the regal note that DD's middle name has.

Cineraria · 29/07/2018 02:32

We had first names lined up before the pregnancy each time but found middle names more tricky; both were finalised on the day we'd booked to register them.

I got DS1's name from an art exhibition. Lots of the art was created for or during the reign of a particular ruler and his name struck me as being a perfect name if ever I had a son. Luckily DH liked it too. His middle name was after a schoolfriend of DH's who died young.

DS2's name was a suggestion DH made for DS1's middle name. It sounded nice but both were long names and so we decided against it. His middle name is a family name on my dad's side, so my Grandad and my brother's first name.

If we'd had a daughter, DH had a favourite name that he'd first heard of in a song to be used as a first name and her middle name would have been a name that combines DM's name and MiL's name, something like choosing Amelia if they were called Amanda and Celia.

DiegoMadonna · 29/07/2018 03:16

I read the top 3000 for the previous year.

I read the top 100 for about 19 different countries.

I read the top 100 for the UK in about 19 different decades.

I read the top 50 nature names, the top 50 traditional names, the top 50 hipster names, the top 50 strong names, the top 50 caring names, the top 50 musical names, the top 50 celebrity names, the top 50 artsy names, the top 50 classical names . . . ad nauseam!

Pemba · 29/07/2018 03:58

Books, films, TV shows, songs, people you meet. There are lots of names floating around there, haven't you ever found yourself thinking 'That's a nice name' and it sticks in your head? And not necessarily at the time that you are pregnant, or even planning DCs.

I don't really agree with a pp's suggestion of looking at names from about numbers 30 to 70 in the most popular 100 names list. And their suggestion that any name placed lower than number 70 on the list must therefore be odd(!) What is wrong with a bit of originality?

But at the same time be aware of how a name is thought of and what connotations it may have. And how it goes with your surname, and if the initials spell out anything unfortunate!

DwangelaForever · 29/07/2018 08:50

Totally understand this feeling, my and hubby only agreed on one name last time and that's my daughters name - Charlotte, we didn't like anything else 🙄

Having a boy this time and I only like Louis 😂 but I'm not naming him that, I got enough royal baby questions after Charlotte (even though she's named after a band!)

bridgetreilly · 29/07/2018 09:20

Perhaps I'm just going to have to pick a random fruit to call this child by....

Fruits are girls' names; cheeses are boys' names.

Papaya
Plum
Guava

Gorgonzola
Roquefort
Stilton

Sorted.

Original poster

Emmafh3 · 30/07/2018 21:53

Funny you mention your dad's name, boyintheoven - it's the only name I've found that I love and dh really doesn't!
We do. Lot of headstone reading too! It's where we didn't find any names when I was expecting dd! But maybe we need to get looking again!

bridgetreilly, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Thank goodness you opened my eyes to the the boys name, otherwise I'd have done something silly like called a boy durian or feijoa! 😉

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