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?

[grammarwoes]

Yes. DC1 - we came up with a name in the first couple of hours after they were born but didn't confirm it for a day or two after we'd had a good think.
DC2 - was nameless for about 7- 10 days I think.

In both cases, we didn't know what sex the babies were until they were born. I didn't bother making an official list / shortlist of names as we both felt it would be difficult to name a child we hadn't seen / met.

[MrsAvocet]

Yes. Our third wasn't named until a few days after he wss born. Our second was named when I was in the second stage of labour, so not quite born. Our first was the only one named well in advance.
My parents changed my name on the day I was registered. I had another name for the first 6 weeks of life and my Mum kept putting off going to register my birth as she didn't think it suited me. So they changed it en route to the registrar's office! I'm pleased. I'm sure I would have accepted my original name if I had known no different but I much prefer the replacement!

[lollipopsandrainbows]

Yes, but only due to superstition and not because I didn't like any particular names. My niece was named from from the point of an early scan. Everything was personalised, every conversation mentioned her by name. It was like she was already here, and we had all bonded with her massively. She was stillborn at full term, and perhaps i found it harder because she already had an identity. I was petrified that would happen to me.

DD1 was born and her name literally came out of no-where and was never on a shortlist. DD2 was originally given her now middle name, but I changed it after a few days as it was incredibly popular.

[LouNatics]

I couldn’t name them before they were a real breathing entity.

[scrivette]

Yes, we didn't discuss names much at all, especially with DC1.
DC2 the name came to me as soon as he arrived but DC1 took about an hour.

[ImNotWhoYouThinkIam]

Yep. We had a short list of 3 boys and 3 girls names each time. With DS1 he suited our top name. DS2 ended up with one from my "definitely not" list.

Interesting that people have said about the names being on baby's wristband. I seem to remember them saying "baby surname" even though we had named them, but it was 14 and 16 years ago so I could be wrong.

[Enko]

We had a shortlist of about 5 girls names for each and err perhaps 2 boys names max (dh and I really struggled to agree on boys names good thing we only had 1 or we would have a teenager known as baby Enko [grins]) then when the baby arrived we used the name that felt like was theirs.

with DD1 we were pretty certain the one of the 5 we would use was Elisabeth.. The first words DD1 heard in this world was " well that's not Elisabeth" said simultaneously from dh and I..

[MixedUpFiles]

We had a short list with a top contender. I’m so glad we didn’t finalize our choice. The instant I saw dd I knew her name. It was on our list, but it was not our top contender. The csection was a bit busy and I didn’t really have a chance to talk about it with DH until a couple of hours later. It turns out he had exactly the same thought in that same moment. I’m so glad we waited to meet her before making a decision.

[Bythemillpond]

We had a name before my eldest was born but when they came out it just wasn’t the right one for them. Changed immediately to something we hadn’t even thought of. 2nd we really hadn’t a clue and he was called after a Bob the Builder character for the first few weeks

[Ineedcoffee2021]

Yep
had a shortlist but decided after, the others on list didnt seem right once she was born but 1 stood out and fit her

[babynamelover]

We didn't know gender but had decided on a girls name and used that one.
I don't really believe newborns "look" like a name.
But I do understand the importance of cultural names relating to time of birth.

[Longdistance]

I had a list of a few names. Dd1 was born and we picked one that suited her. With dd2 I heard her name on a tv program and it matched dd1’s name and mine (shan’t talk about dhs dreadful name). So she was named at 5 months pg. Although it does suit her.

[floweryscarf]

First born was about 3 days old before she was named. I had a baby name book, I had settled on a name, told all my friends what it was. Could I FUCK remember it when she was born? Couldn't remember at all. In fairness, the birth was traumatic (EMCS) and I was trying to breastfeed. I think I went into total shock and my memory just went to hell. It was only when my 2 friends came to visit and said 'What about xyz? That's a lovely name?' that I went 'That's the name!!! I couldn't remember it.'. Nurses were actually getting annoyed with me as they kept asking me her name and I had to say, I don't know yet. She was 'Baby floweryscarf' for 3 days.

[Bythemillpond]

I don't really believe newborns "look" like a name
But I do understand the importance of cultural names relating to time of birth

I agree some babies don’t have the look but eldest was quite distinctive as a newborn and the name just seemed appropriate. We both thought of it at the same time. It wasn’t on any list

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

Yes both times. We didn't know what we were having but had a definite boys name and a short list of 5 or 6 girls names both times. Both were girls and we named them immediately on seeing them, one from the shortlist just seemed to fit.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

@babynamelover

We didn't know gender but had decided on a girls name and used that one.
I don't really believe newborns "look" like a name.
But I do understand the importance of cultural names relating to time of birth.

I disagree. My eldest also had a very distinct look that made us choose here name as soon as we saw her.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam

Yep. We had a short list of 3 boys and 3 girls names each time. With DS1 he suited our top name. DS2 ended up with one from my "definitely not" list.

Interesting that people have said about the names being on baby's wristband. I seem to remember them saying "baby surname" even though we had named them, but it was 14 and 16 years ago so I could be wrong.

My eldest is 14 and had her full name on her wristband, youngest is 10 and had Baby Bloomingdale despite us naming her immediately. They were born in different hospitals though, so it could be down to local procedure.

[Ihatemyseleffordoingthis]

"I don't really believe newborns "look" like a name"

I think it is less that they look like a Betsy or a Leonora but more that you try calling your own child a name you'd imagined and see how it feels.

[FolkSongSweet]

With my first we didn’t know the sex but couldn’t choose a girls name so only had a boy option. Luckily he was a boy and it was nice having the name when he arrived.

We found out that my second would be a girl and despite the 4 months notice couldn’t choose a name so decided to wait til she was here. Actually I think that made it even harder because when she was born and my hormones were everywhere I felt like no name could do her justice, and the longer it went on the harder it felt. I was majorly preoccupied with it for the first 6 weeks of her life and I think it made it harder to bond. We settled on something the day before we registered her and I’m still not happy with it tbh.

I wish we had chosen something before she arrived!

[TheVanguardSix]

DC1 yes, we named him after birth... he's 19 now and I want to say we didn't name him for a month but maybe we just didn't register him until a month after birth (he was born in California). But he definitely was nameless for a couple of weeks after his birth.
DCs 2 and 3 were with my second husband, who was really into naming the kids!
DC2 (DD) was named during pregnancy.
DC3 as well was named pretty much from the moment we found out he was a boy- has the boy's name DH and I wanted for years.

[RunHobbitRun]

We had a list of mutually agreeable names (after the veto process which was much needed for the inclusion of Thor and Zeus for any male babies!)

When DD1 was born we agreed immediately on her name. It just worked. DD2 took a couple of days, but we soon found one that was perfect.

On the flipside my mother was always going to call her first daughter me Roxy. She took one look at me and said "Well she's not Roxy" then spent weeks trying to figure out what I was called

[speakout]

Yes- I wouldn't want to decide on a name before my baby was born.
Even at an early age they have their own little personalities, and a name may not "fit" with the baby.
I had some shortlists each time, but my DD was 2 weeks old before we decided on a name that wasn't even on the list.
We decided on DS name when he was 3 or 4 days old.

[Tempusfudgeit]

No, all three were named around the 20 week mark. Still love all six names and wouldn't change a letter!

[SportsBlah]

Ds was named before but dd was named after, we had a name picked out right at the start of my office but we changed it after she was born, I just got bored of the first one.

[stellarfox]

Yes I definitely couldn’t decide before they’re here! Last time we still had such a long list it took us a few days. This time I’m hoping to narrow it down to a bit of a shorter list!