How do you deal with negative reactions to your baby name?

[micc]

So I made the error or telling people the names we are thinking of calling our next baby due soon. I guess I'm just really excited and didnt see it as a big deal. As I did with my DD and I got mixed reactions then and I really didnt care, now everyone loves her name. I dont know what I'm having this time. We have got a top name for both, we love them. But we have had about 90% bad reactions, we have only told immediate family and a few close friends who ask.
I am not necessarily thinking of changing my mind, but nothing is set in stone. But lets say I do change my mind, everyone will be like oh thank God you didnt call her that for her whole life. I guess it's my fault. I should of kept my mouth shut. But its starting to put doubts in my mind slightly. In no way are my names offensive IMO, its not like Lucifer or anything Haha, not that that's offensive IMO! I have mentioned the names on other posts and got mixed reactions but I'm looking for more advice moving forward. Did you have a similar experience? Do people get over it? Did anyone say anything once they were born to you?

Love Clementine

Roxana is too close to Roxanne which is a prostitute. Literally the song Roxanne from Moulin Rouge is about a prostitute.

"Roxane, you don't have to put on that red light.
"Roxanne, you don't have to walk the streets tonight."

Very popular film people my age (25) did at GCSE.

I have come across two girls called Rukhsana. Urdu/ Arabic? One went off to be a dentist.
Lovely name.

@micc I don’t think many people would know to pronounce it “Rox-ah-na”... I think most would say “Rox-Anna”.

Just putting my little oar in as Ive had a lifetime of correcting people on the pronunciation of my name and it gets a little wearing.

I thought it was going to be something much worse than that, Roxanna is a perfectly nice, normal name, to me it sounds neither chavvy nor stripper-like, and I don't know what song people are talking about. If you like it go for it!

Clementine and Roxana are both beautiful names. From your 'clues' I thought the names were going to be awful! As you know, you made the mistake of telling people before the birth. For some reason people think they have a right to warn you off names if you tell them before the birth. They don't (unless it's something truly horrific that is actually damaging). At the end of the day, opinions on names can only ever be subjective. There is no objective way to make a decision about what to name your child. I have friends who have named their children names that I think are truly awful. I've smiled and said what a lovely name! It's literally none of my business. You need to grow a thick skin, accept that whatever you name your children some people will hate the name, and move on!

@CorianderLord love that 25 year olds think that song comes from Moulin Rouge 😆

@bluemoon2468 definitely, I'm definitely feeling better about it. I had much more of a thicker skin with my daughter, I dont know why its irritating me so much this time round. Thank you for the advice, and I'm 25 and although yes i have seen moulin rouge I would of thought of the police song first? Thought it was an odd reference Haha but again i know the song, I am aware of it, it honestly doesnt bother me but it bothers other people more Haha

I like Clementine. I don't like Roxy or Cody. To judge by the comments on here, you'd also have a problem with Roxana (pronounced Rox-ar-na), as everyone seems to think it's Roxanna.

When there are so many lovely boys' names around, it would seem a shame to use Cody.

I like Roxana, though would want to spell it Roxanna. That is just my preference.

I'm not keen on Cody, but have heard worse. If you like it then go for it.

@EttaKett this is the kind of comment about a name that's just so ridiculous. There's no such thing as an objectively 'lovely' name. OP might think Cody is a lovely name... if she's considering using it then I assume she does. Just because you don't like it personally doesn't make it a shame to use it. She might think your kids names are a bit of a shame 🙈 It's not like there's an agreed list of lovely names and a list of crap ones and people are going out of their way to choose crap ones 😆

Personally I think super common names like Oliver, Jack, Thomas etc. are really boring and unoriginal. I would never personally call those names 'lovely'. But I am sensible enough to realise that clearly other people like them, and the world doesn't revolve around me and my opinions...

Rant over 😆

If people have been commenting that Clementine is 'chavvy' they've obviously missed its regular use by the upper classes, there's Clementine Churchill & her great granddaughter Clementine Hambro (Diana's bridesmaid) for a start.

Personally I prefer Rosanna to Roxana but it's still a nice name with a bit of an edge. I don't like Cody I do think that's chavvy, sorry 🤭

Roxana is very nice but I prefer Xanadu Disco Rocket Wheels. But sorry you can’t have it because I’m saving it.

Roxana is nice. I really like it.
I’m not so keen on Cody. It’s a very different style of name to Clementine.

@Elouera

On the other posts where you asked about the name, what comments did you get? Does it mean something else in other languages, sound like something else, hard to pronounce etc?

Cousins baby girl is called Jovi. I can't stop thinking about Jon Bon Jovi and 2yrs on, still feel its unusual. Nothing to do with me though. When she was born, I did ask if they were fans of the band, or where they got the name from, but it didnt even have any significance or association with the band

This might not bother you but the name that you mention is so rare for girls that your post is very identifying.

Not sure why so many people keep spelling it Roxanna on here when you’ve stated it’s Roxana with the ah-na pronunciation! Anyway, Roxana is lovely and I think it goes well with Clementine. Great choice

I love the name! And your eldest too. Ignore everyone and go for it. If you have another baby don't tell people before they are born! FWIW over the years I have seen both of my daughter's names referred to as stripper names on MN but in real life it's never happened

Roxana with that spellling and the ah-na pronunciation is lovely. It sounds a bit Russian/Eastern European

It's strong, with a cute nickname and no modern child is going to associate it with a song using a different name sung nearly 40 years ago.

Stick to your guns @micc It's a million times better than the eleventy billion Evie mae, Lily Rae etc that are about. Clemmie and Roxy go well together.

Cody is nice too - another slight 80s vibe, but pretty cool.

I think they’re both fine.

I know a Romanian lady called Roxana who pronounces it how you would - Rox-ah-na. I think it’s lovely, not stripper! Roxy hmmmm..... I supposed Foxy Roxy could be where they are coming from on the stripper thing? I don’t know.

I’m not a fan of American names at all, but I actually quite like Cody. Even if people don’t love it, it’s not like he’ll get bullied over it so I say go for it. Have you considered Rory?

I can see why people would make the prostitute reference. Roxy is either a prostitute or a dog in my mind. I think Clementine is MUCH nicer name.

For what it's worth I really like that name OP.
You can never win with names, in my opinion!
We have a baby DD who we named Alexandra. We couldn't agree on any other option, we aren't into flower names, I knew she would be tall as we are a tall family, so I wanted a very big strong name. We were toying with something more out there but we used that as a middle name.
Almost all our friends clearly weren't fans of the name at first! We had a lot of 'hmm what made you choose that?' I think because it's not fashionable maybe? However now she is here, she is absolutely fitting her name. There is no other name that could have suited her!
And I think when she is older she will be pleased that we named her something with lots of shortening options too.
Your baby, your name choice! Go for it if you like it. Take care.

[quote bluemoon2468]@EttaKett this is the kind of comment about a name that's just so ridiculous. There's no such thing as an objectively 'lovely' name. OP might think Cody is a lovely name... if she's considering using it then I assume she does. Just because you don't like it personally doesn't make it a shame to use it. She might think your kids names are a bit of a shame 🙈 It's not like there's an agreed list of lovely names and a list of crap ones and people are going out of their way to choose crap ones 😆

Personally I think super common names like Oliver, Jack, Thomas etc. are really boring and unoriginal. I would never personally call those names 'lovely'. But I am sensible enough to realise that clearly other people like them, and the world doesn't revolve around me and my opinions...

Rant over 😆[/quote]
Goodness. I am not sure how you get from my relatively flippant comment about Cody to me apparently thinking the world revolves around me and my opinions.

Mumsnet can be very odd.

We agreed not to tell anyone until the birth was announced. We knew someone would be rude and I couldn't be bothered with that. We both loved the name plus middle name and it's meaning, so it's a non-issue if someone doesn't like it. Our friends didn't wait to tell and their IL and parents were rude, they loved that name but ended up changing it because of that, which was a shame.

In response to current rude responses, I'd just say "Well, lucky she isn't your daughter, eh!" Clementine is a beautiful name and who cares re the song. Firstly, there are plenty of children who won't know that song and secondly, every name seems to have some sort of song or rhyme or celebrity or TV character or a word that sounds similar that someone won't like. Choose what you and your DP like and ignore other people's opinions.

This is why we dont tell people our choices before we announce the birth!

Honestly people will always have something to say. Lots of people weren't keen on our son's name. I don't care, i wasn't naming them so their opinion AFAIC is irrelevant!

I think asking on here is a good idea. There's a thread where the first name and surname don't really go together, and it's good to have pitfalls pointed out.

MN wasn't around when DC were due, but we'd have stuck to the names regardless of probably comments of 'overused' or 'boring'.

There's a tendency on here for people to either love or hate the names.