Did you name your child AFTER they were born?

[iloveyoubutilovememore]

Like a few others on here, I am really struggling to settle on a name for our second son. There are a few we like, but none that really stand out. A friend told me to chill and that the name will come once he's here. So looking for some reassurance I guess, has this happened for anyone else?

Yes, all three!

We had some vague ideas, but none were named till we met them, and we swapped DDs twice in the first week

Yes every time.
Dd1 and dd3 were within 24hrs
Dd2 2 weeks
DS took a couple of days.

1 was named by 20 week scan, 1 we had a shortlist and chose after birth, 1 we didn’t find the right name til a couple of days old.

We didn't name our son until 6w and 5 days

Yes, we had a shortlist of names in a note on my phone. Once DS was born, we sat in recovery and worked out which suited him. It wasn't the name that I'd been anticipating calling him and wouldn't have picked beforehand but it's so totally and utterly right for him.

We had two options & as soon as he was born, I said straight away one of the options to DH.

DNephew wasn’t named till he was 4 days old & only because he had to be moved onto SIL’s health insurance and needed to be named. DNiece wasn’t named for a week.

Yes. .took 2 weeks!

Yes, took me about three weeks with DC1. I think you need to know what suits them.

I was adamant on a name for DC2 but when she was born she didn't look like that name so completely changed it to what suited her.

We had a name all lined up for dc1 but when he was born we changed our minds and it took a good few days to decide on an alternative. Dc2 was much easier but we took much longer on deciding whether to give him a middle name, and if so, what!

Yes, with both dds.

No, had it settled from about 7 months pregnant

Yes, had some names in mind but didn't decide until baby arrived.

Yes, we couldn’t decide on names for our twins and they were born early. Their first name bands say twin 1 and twin 2. Think they were about a day old when we decided.

Never understood how you can name a child before you’ve met them.

My first, we had a girls name we liked but no boys names. Still discussing final list in labour!

My second, we had a boys name we liked and a list of girls when he / she arrived.

No decisions made until we’d met them

Yes, one took 2 days, the other 2 weeks! Both names were absolutely the right choice for them

I couldnt decide on a name for my second. I kept changing my mind!! It took me 5 weeks to finally come up with something I really loved.

Well this is reassuring...

Yep! Number one didn't have a name for 3 days, we had a list of 5 we liked & eventually settled on one.
Our second baby was named when we found out the sex

Yes we had a shortlist but decided to wait until he arrived to finally decide. He ended up with a name that wasn't even on the shortlist but was perfect for him. Took about a day and a half.

Of course! That’s what people always used to do in the days before ultrasound scanning.

We didn’t find out the sex of either of ours but had one name picked out for a boy and one for a girl. Named them both at birth. It was really lovely actually and if we had another (we won’t) I’d do exactly the same.

I feel oddly superstitious about really naming babies before they are born. One of my colleagues recently sent around her 20 week scan pic with ‘introducing James Arthur Jones’ (not the real name!) & that sort of thing makes me feel uncomfortable. Don’t know why really as I’m not normally particularly superstitious!

Anyway. With DC1 we had a girls name ready but no boys name, as she was a girl we named her at birth.
DC2 even though we knew she was a girl in pregnancy we didn’t choose her name until she was a week old.
DC3 was probably about 2 days old when we decided on his name, had 2 boys name to choose from - lucky he was a boy as our girls name list was about 10 long & would have taken us ages to decide!

We had a name we were pretty certain of but didn’t want to finalise it until we’d met the baby. Chatting to the midwife during labour and we mentioned the name.
Baby was born and the midwife said ‘hello ‘name’!’ Then as time went on we realised all the paperwork and the baby’s hospital bracelet had the name on, so we didn’t feel we could changeit at that point
So we sort of just went with it and that’s her name.

2 out of 3. Poor ds waited about 2 weeks!

Yes, because I didn't know if it would be a boy or a girl both times. But we did have some names lined up. DS2 was "Baby Branches" on his wristband because we hadn't named him yet.

Yes, I had a few names I liked for all four of my dc’s but I didn’t actually choose until they were born. Didn’t know their sex either.
Two of mine were named completely off the cuff when they were born - they just “looked” like their names.

I don’t really get the whole finding out the sex and telling everyone the name before the baby is born - isn’t that part of the build up and excitement?