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Baby names

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

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Original poster

When did you figure out the name?

25 replies

CedarTreeLeaf · 21/08/2019 23:11

Did you choose your baby's name before birth, during early pregnancy, after you found out the gender, right before birth, or after birth?

I'm just trying to figure out what's typical...

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Cantrip · 21/08/2019 23:28

With my 4 previous pregnancies we made a shortlist of 10 or so (boys and girls as never found out gender) early on in pregnancy. Narrowed down to 2 boy & 2 girl names by around 35 weeks, then made the final decision when they were born.
In the “long list” stage with current pregnancy - have 10 boy and 11 girl names that we’re seriously considering (plenty of time to think about it as I’m only 10 weeks 🙄)

DramaAlpaca · 21/08/2019 23:34

With the first one it was the day after he was born. I was so convinced I was having a girl I hadn't given boys' names any thought. It was easy to find a name we loved, though.

DS2 got the name we didn't pick for DS1, so we knew from the 18 week scan what we'd call him. DC3 was also named after the 18 week scan when we knew what we were having.

ABitOTT · 21/08/2019 23:52

DD's name was a choice of two we had during pregnancy. We went for the lesser popular name
DS's name was chosen even before we decided on a baby. Never changed our minds & still love it now

darkcloudsandsunnyskies · 21/08/2019 23:56

At the time of registering which we had delayed as long as possible. DH gave the name to the register and told me afterwards. Up till then neither of us could decide. I was shocked when he told me.

I got used to it and like it. At the time it was not that common but it is probably still not.

ineedaholidaynow · 22/08/2019 00:01

In the delivery room. We had a couple of boys name ready but when DS was born we didn't think they suited him, so came up with a name that we hadn't ever considered before

Junoon · 22/08/2019 00:06

Both times we’ve had a shortlist of 3-5 names by late pregnancy, edging towards 2-3 by the very end of the pregnancy.
Didn’t find out sex.
Knew within minutes of birth with both what the name would be out of our choices. ...

Snoopy90 · 22/08/2019 00:06

When both daughters were around 5 weeks old.

SingingSands · 22/08/2019 00:08

First baby, DD, I came up with when the midwife asked "what are you going to call her?". We'd settled on a boy name but not a girl name so when it popped into my head it just felt perfect.

Second baby, DS, I knew I was carrying a boy. I've never been more convinced of anything in my life, despite not finding out his sex at any scans! We settled on a name pretty early on, it was the one DH had always wanted and were delighted when he was born that we got to use it!

It wasn't easy picking names - DH works in paediatric healthcare and a lot of names were vetoed because they reminded him of his patients - not always in a good way!

99bb · 22/08/2019 03:56

First time, as soon as we knew the gender. On the drive home from the scan we both said it was what we wanted. My all time favourite and he loved it too. We had a couple of backup names I think in case it didn’t suit...although I’m not sure exactly what it would have taken to convince us to change it 😂

This time, we also pretty much decided early on. We vetoed each other’s first choices, started with a list of candidates for a while, DH suddenly really gravitated to one and it’s a name I’ve always really liked. I’m 95% certain it won’t change.

hexagon01 · 22/08/2019 06:22

With my son, we decided on a boy and a girl name before the 20 week scan - we only liked one boys name so he was that.

My daughter was trickier. In theory we liked loads of girls names so we had a 5 name shortlist but none of them really clicked. I was talking to my mother about names the day before she was born - 3 of the names on our list began with M and we were jokingly mentioning other M names (mostly ridiculous) but my mum said one and it was immediately “the one”.

Clettercletterthatsbetter · 22/08/2019 19:18

DD - we had pretty much decided around 20 weeks, but had a list of back-ups in case we changed our mind on the day. We stuck with the original choice.

DS - we were down to two names. When he was born he didn’t really suit either but we plumped for one of the two and now can’t imagine him as anything else.

DC3 - currently 16 weeks. Have shortlists for both girls and boys names. Have a front runner for each but nothing set in stone yet.

Frith2013 · 22/08/2019 20:53

Finalised at about 3 months pregnant.

Pinkblueberry · 22/08/2019 20:59

We brainstormed during pregnancy, sort of made a decision but were open to changing it if we thought of or came across something better - so we didn’t tell anyone what it was. We didn’t change it though, so that’s the name DS ended up with.

singymummy · 22/08/2019 22:47

With my first ds it was the day after he was born although a name I liked before
With my second it was 5 days after he was born and the name only came into the mix on day 3

Tillygetsit · 23/08/2019 00:20

DS1 I just insisted all the way through my pregnancy.
DD1 Compromise of what I wanted and what exh wanted...eg Roseanna/ Suzanne = Susannah
DD2 Settled on a name with help from MN she arrived and didnt suit her name at all so named 2 days later.

Kinsters · 23/08/2019 02:07

I texted my DH at 15 weeks saying "I quite like this name" and he agreed that it was nice and that was that. Didn't really have much discussion. Have to wait to see her face to make sure it suits but I think we're pretty much decided.

We haven't told anyone the name and aren't going to so there's time to change it plus we don't have to listen to months of "you're calling her THAT?!" Maybe people wouldn't say that...but I kind of think they would and I don't want to listen to it.

Wineandchoccy · 23/08/2019 02:52

DD1 - We decided on a boys and a girls name whilst pregnant and we named her straight away at birth.

DD2 - We had a boys name but picking a girls name was trickier so we had a shortlist of 3 and she was a few hours old when we chose her name. Oddly it was the name that was last on the list and was never the front runner but I can’t imagine her as anything else now.

whattodowith · 23/08/2019 10:07

With DC1 I liked a name from the off but then had lots of self doubt during the pregnancy so kept a few in mind, he was named the first name I chose.

DC2 wasn’t named until birth. I had a few in mind and honestly couldn’t settle on one at all so decided when I saw her.

Didn’t find out the sex with DC3 and had wrongly guessed she was a boy so only had a vague girls name in mind. It was a last minute name choice ‘just in case we’re having a girl’ but it does suit her well.

DC4 was decided when I was about 24 weeks pregnant. We’d been debating it for weeks when I suddenly said ‘this name is lovely’ and DH thankfully agreed. I think we decided not to change it again because we’d both disagreed so much, it was nice to finally agree!

cheekimonkeys92 · 23/08/2019 15:00

I knew my sons name years before he was born, I didnt have any idea on any girls names though so i am very lucky he was a boy :)

ThighThighOfthigh · 23/08/2019 15:23

With ds1 we had a name picked out early on but i grew to hate it during labour and decided on a similar name.

With ds2 we were completely stuck between 2 names and didn't register him for as long as possible so we could decide. I love our final choice.

Champagne791 · 23/08/2019 22:21

My first borns name was the name I named all my baby dolls as a child and used as the main character in the stories I wrote as a teen. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew it was a girl. It’s quite an uncommon and I have no idea how I came across it as a child. DH liked it too, but we agreed that we would wait to see her before we decided, but I couldn’t really consider other names. When she was born, IDH agreed it suited her perfectly.

Echobelly · 23/08/2019 22:28

DS's name we had before sister was born (we never found out sex in advance) - he's named after two of his great grandfathers and the first and middle name reflect their heritage.

Girl's name was much harder... in the end, about 10 days before her due date, DH suggested a name that he'd met a girl with at a work party recently. It was along the lines of the names we'd been thinking of, and not too popular (we'd discounted anything in recent top 10 names) but I'd heard of a few young kids with it, so it wouldn't be totally weird either, and I was happy to run with it. Middle name for a girl was always going to be after DH's grandma who'd literally died a week before I found I was expecting DD - it was never going to be first as it was actually a top 10 name and although I quite liked it, apparently his grandma had never liked her own name! And it worked well with the first name.

CatteStreet · 23/08/2019 22:38

Dses were both named in the second trimester, dd from 8 weeks (obv we didn't know she'd be a girl, but we had the girl's name chosen by then). There was some dithering about one of her middle names, though, right up until we registered her, whereas the boys' had been settled at the same time as their first names.

Oysterbabe · 24/08/2019 05:33

It's was a few weeks before birth.

mumtobe1984 · 28/08/2019 09:58

I thought I had a name set in stone but lots of friends and family have put doubt in mind so I have a list and once my boy is born I will see what suits him best 💙

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