Has anyone been set on a name for years, then changed it once the baby arrived?

[KatnissMellark]

DC2 due in a couple of months, first girl. We've had a name picked out for years, probably a decade in fact. I do have a short list, and this particular name is top of it.

With DC1, the name was absolutely set pre conception, no chance it would be changed whatsoever.

The name for DC2 feels inevitable, we've loved it forever. I'm thinking about ordering bits for her room with her name on, but worried I'll change my mind post-birth. There's no rush really, but it's always good to be organised...what do you think?

I had the same worry - we'd had DD's name for literally years (both our dads have the same name, so we picked the female version - think Georgia for George) and when she was nearly here i started getting really stressed that i wouldnt like it once she was here... but I did and i do!

I wish I’d just picked a definite name and stuck to it

Having a few and seeing which a baby “suits” didn’t work at all for me. It’s a baby. It didn’t suit any name. Next time I will decide in advance and avoid all the indecision after birth when you’re an emotional mess anyway and shouldn’t be making decisions (just my opinion and based on me!)

Hmm, seems like perhaps we should just settle on the name now. I agree that baby's (to me) don't really 'look like' a name.

I couldn't get DH to definitively agree to a girls name and I didn't realise how unable to make decisions I would be after the birth. With DC2 it was easier as there was one name only for a boy.

@Whatsyourflava I agree with that. My children’s names were set pre birth. Neither of them suited them when they were born but it’s not like they suited anything really because it seemed ludicrous to give a tiny, squishy baby a grown up name.

I did, however, discount the name we’d set on for years when I was actually pregnant though. I guess for me it was once it was all real it made me think “do I REALLY want to name my child x?” / “will I ever regret that?” and we changed it after a few weeks discussing (still had a name before she arrived though).

I had a name set for my DS before he was born but had some back up names in case I didn’t like when he was born but didn’t worry whether or not DS would ‘suit’ it.

I changed my mind.

I'd been fixed on a name for years but knew my Dad didn't like it. I was determined to stick to my guns until my baby arrived and then suddenly felt the connections between her and the rest of my family so strongly that I couldn't do it to my Dad. I don't regret my decision at all and love the name we chose.

We picked three names we liked equally then after we met the little one decided.

I picked a girls name years before I even met my DH and luckily he liked it and we decided to have children in 2006, chose thst some for a girl and decided on another for a boy. 2 years later DD was born and she had that chosen name, then 4 years after she came our son arrived, and again we chose the original name we'd picked - never been unhappy

Picked daughter's name 6 years before having her. Referred to her by it through pregnancy, so it didn't feel wrong when she was born anyway as it was who she was from the start

Yes. We changed our daughter's name about four hours after she was born, despite thinking all along of the original one. It just didn't seem right once she was here and we swapped it round with her middle name.