Ugh, why do people get so funny about baby names? When I was pregnant and we found out we were having a girl I knew immediately that I wanted to call her Olivia. (I thought I was being clever as I knew NO Olivias! It was 2011. Olivia was the no1 girls name that year and I think has been in the top three ever since.... doh! So I didn't get the 'individual' name I was going for
)
BUT, more to the point. When we told my mother in law that we were going to call the baby Olivia, she got totally riled, like angry with both of us, and kept saying it was too posh, too middle class, it was a horrible name, she hated it, our child would be a snob etc etc. Oh God, she made me so upset and angry!! I told her so too! 🤷 I never warmed to my mil much because of that and (thankfully?) she ended up falling out with my husband a few years later so we don't have anything to do with her now!
I am SO glad I didn't listen to her and named Olivia the way we had chosen, as it suits her completely. She is know as Liv or Livvy also. Her middle name is Rose, and as there is another Olivia in her class (of 32, largest class in village school of under 200!) she prefers to go by Olivia Rose at school rather than Olivia surname initial.
I don't know how I would have reacted if it had been my DH vetoeing my favourite name tho. I expect I would have been sad. I do remember I presented him with a list, and said these are my favourite names, tell me which ones you like. And Arabella, Isabelle and Amelia were my other top ones I believe.
DH did want to give her the middle name Nancy (after his grandmother) and I vetoed that. It's not that I didn't like it, I actually do, I just didn't feel like it went well with Olivia tbh. AND it was a bit ridiculous set of initials with our surname.
Funnily enough Edward has always been my pick for a boys name. It's my DHs middle name, and a family name for me too, so it would have been lovely to use, but we've not been blessed with a second child and DD is nearly 10.
So DH picked Olivia off my list as one of his favourites, and I think he vetoed Arabella. And was okayish with the rest. He never came up with any name suggestions himself though!!
Perhaps you could make a list of names you like for your DH, say 5 or 6, and give him 2 absolute vetoes and 2 'favourites' and 2 maybes, and ask him to rank them?
BUT then get him to write down some names he DOES like. He can't be vetoeing all your ideas and not contributing any of his own. That's not on at all.
And ask him what his problem is with your kid having a 'middle class sounding names anyway, whatever that is? Shouldn't we be stopping each other from judging people at face value or on the basis of their names nowadays? I'm a Victoria, I've never liked to be a Vicky, and I find it the height of rudeness if I introduce myself to someone as Victoria and they immediately call me Vicky. They may as well call me Bob. It's just not my name! But the number of times I have been called, to my face, a snob, posh, demanding, rude etc etc etc because I've asked people to use my name correctly.... honestly, I couldn't even tell you! Less now, probably because of the times we live in but also I think it's less so as I get older. It happened SO much in the work place when I was late teens/20s. In various different workplaces too. And I was SO reticent to ask people to use my name correctly, and never ever would have been rude about it. But got told I was!
Whereas nowadays I'm a lot more confident and probably AM a bit rude when I tell people off and make them use my actual name, and yet people usually grovel and apologise. It's a funny old world isn't it??
Sorry for the long post. 😅 I have issues with names! I think it's important to use people's names properly, and I think it's a serious business naming a child. A serious responsibility!
So if I were you, and there's a name you're especially fond of, keep pushing your hubbie on it. Explain why you're so fond of it. Ask him to explain why he isn't in more depth. If he can't, then tell him how special
the meaning and long lasting your desire to use it has been. He may not understand that yet.
Or he may be like my husband and just a big dope!! He did announce our daughters birth on Facebook by writing 'welcome to the world OLIVE Rose' after all ..... yep, predictive text my friends... such a pratt. Hahaha. Worst part was, I got all these messages from friends and whatnot saying how much they LOVED the name Olive and how different it was. And when I corrected them and said it was Olivia most of them were all disappointed and like 'oh, well, that's OK too I suppose....' lol.
So you can't win. There's always going to be someone who says something that annoys you about your kids name, or makes a stupid comment about it (like my mil!). If your DH hasn't got a name he himself is set on, or any other strong opinions, then I would keep trying to win him over with the names you like.
Again, sorry for the essay like reply! Us Victorias are known for them.... xx