DM not keen on our name list

[demureandgraceful]

Me and DP are due to get married in the new year. So far the names we like are Levi Matthew, Conrad Erwin for boys or Ophelia Innogen, Eira Guinevere and Victoria Elizabeth for girls. DM is not keen on any of those names and has not failed to let me know so. I am somewhat disappointed that she did not like the names we picked. Is there anything genuinely wrong with them.

@ChampagneCommunist also love your user name

Please don't use Innogen. Yes it's clever to know that's it's the original form of the name but seriously the poor child will have a torrid time!

Is Erwin a name? Hate Levi but that's personal preference. Also, not sure I would put the two most common names together (Elizabeth Victoria) when the others are all so unusual - mix it up a bit?

But essentially, do whatever you like - it's nothing to do with your family or anyone else.

It's you and your partner's choice.

If it helps my mother chose my name which I love, her mother hated it. I am so glad she went with her heart and it kind of makes it special that she did that. My GM was quite a formidable woman!

I have a friend called Guinevere, her mother was told by in-laws that she should have been called another name and said thank god they didn't listen to her!

BTW, I love all the names you have in mind.

@diddlediddle it would only be the middle name so will not be used often. Yes Erwin is a name. It's a German name and my grandfather's first name.

@TheCatsWhiskers thank you so much

@ChampagneCommunist Innogen IS a name. But unfortunately most people will think like you and assume the OP made a mistake.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innogen

Erwin is a name. My only association with it is that it’s the first name of a convicted murderer Erwin Monaghan who used to write a column about prison life for the Guardian. (I once introduced him at a literary festival after he was released after 20 years of a life sentence and wrote a book, but the details of his pre-prison life and his crime were not yet in the public domain — he published under the name Erwin James — and every single Guardian reader I know asked me whether I’d asked him what he’d done time for. I didn’t.)

I think it's lovely that you seem to have put some meaning and thought into the names.

I don't necessarily like all of them but none of them are especially horrendous.

I think Eira isn't always pronounced correctly so that might be an issue.

Otherwise to go against MN opinion I like to know my family's thoughts on my children's names. I'd rather know what they think than have them pull faces and talk about the choices behind my back once the baby is born.

Hi OP, I love all your names. If DD had been a boy, she would have been Conrad - I think it's the single best boys' name. She is Miranda and the cat was lumbered with Cordelia - almost Ophelia. I do agree with the Innogen comments though - everyone would assume it was Imogen misspelt.

Choose the names you love and don't mind what anyone else thinks. They'll get used to it.

@demureandgraceful in that case, I like Erwin. In fact I like all of the names a lot except Innogen and Levi.

On a personal taste level, I agree with your Mum. I'm not keen on your choices, but I have had my turn at naming children, just as your Mum has had her turn.
Never a good idea to try to 'get approval' from others - people will never all agree, but if you offer up the names then it is an invitation to comment on them. Best to just present the ready named baby once they are here.

Not her baby, not her business. You’ll know when you actually get pregnant not to discuss names with her.

We deliberately wound MIL up when it was our turn. She still made it clear that she disliked the names we chose.

And your DP has great taste. Conrad is an awesome name, but it’s possible I’m biased

Thank you for all the insight. I do think I am never going to please everyone and though I would like some in put I must prepare not everyone will love them as much as we do. They are a reflection of both me and DP and as long as we are happy people will just have to get used to it. I feel bad my mum never had her turn choosing a name but that is not my fault. I did say I will let her pick their Chinese names as I trust her taste and she will know better then me when it comes to them.

I seriously cannot understand why other people expect to have any input to babies’s names ! When did this become a thing ? ExH and I announced DC’s names after they were born and that was it !
Save yourself any grief OP and only discuss with the baby’s Dad .

It’s fine to think about names in advance but it’s risky to let anyone else (in your family or circle) to think they get a say. We didn’t know what we were having so had several options for boys and girls with a top choice for each. In the drug addled haze after she was born we could only remember one of the girls names so that’s what she got and we loved it. When family asked what was on the cards when I was pregnant my SM said she hated the girls name and suggested a totally random other name a neighbour’s Granddaughter had. When we named DD she was still off about it and when she was about 3 months SM said - with massive fanfare - that she was coming round to the name. I had to stifle my laughter as her reticence hadn’t exactly been keeping me up at night and said with a beam on my face “oh goooooood”....

@AnneLovesGilbert really love your user name. big fan of the books. i did let her know though I value her opinion they are the names we like and that is the end of it. She did never bring it up again which I know is her accepting the names we picked and that's that. I am sure she will learn to love them when the time comes.

Thanks! I got to comment on a thread where someone was considering Gilbert for her son which was my best MN moment ever

That’s completely fair enough if you invited her thoughts. FWIW I love Matthew and Ophelia was on my list (not that I remembered at the time!)

As I said with my SM, no guarantee people will like your name even when faced with your gorgeous new baby, but it’s typical of her to have a strong opinion on something that’s nothing to do with her, love her though I do. She’s also picked her grandma variant which no child would ever be able to pronounce so we’ll tackle that down the line...

I’ll stop derailing now!

Inergen is a type of gas used to put out fires.

But these are all moot points as you’re not pregnant yet.

Dislike Levi, Conrad and Innogen (also thought it was a typo)

Isambard Copernicus*
or
Tuppence Dorcas*

In deadpan manner, you and DP need to regularly bandy those combinations around within your mother's hearing.
By comparison, any eventual, genuine choice(s) will come as a pleasant surprise to her...

• NOTE No offence intended if anyone's loved ones truly are proud possessors of said names IRL.

Jokes aside, though, I really like Eira as a name. I'd not heard it before.

First four are try hard names, Victoria Elizabeth is fine.

DH's dad said the other day "Your not calling the baby that name are you??, you younger generation" and rolled his eyes! Cant wait to send a pic of baby in his PERSONALISED HAT to FIL now 😁😁😁

(I had to laugh FIL is 18 years older than DH, were he gets younger generation is beyond me)

Just FYI, Gwyneira is Welsh for Snow White. It's a complete name in itself