Fed up.

[WeasilyPleased]

This weekend, not so dh said that seeing the scan made him realise this baby is a real person 🙄 and as a real person can't possibly have the name Mabli.
He's suggested really boring names which I won't put here for fear of causing offence.
I never knew he was so conventional. I'm afraid I overreacted and cried. We spent the rest of the weekend hurling names at each other, his getting increasingly safer and mine wilder.
What would you consider middle ground?
I'm still very fed up about Mabli but I suppose it can be a pets name. 🤔

I think he's being tactical with Hilary - he's suggesting names he has no intention of following through on in order to wear you down.

Then one day he'll say 'Emily?' and even though it's not what you were looking for in a name for your baby you'll be so bloody relieved that you'll say yes to it. You'll even convince yourself that you love it (compared to the Hilary, Doreen, Pam, Hyacinth, Marge and Barbara suggestions he's been coming up with for the rest of your pregnancy). And then you'll be back on here in a year's time wondering if it's too late to change your baby's name. Do NOT get sucked in to his trap!

@WeasilyPleased

This weekend, not so dh said that seeing the scan made him realise this baby is a real person 🙄 and as a real person can't possibly have the name Mabli. He's suggested really boring names which I won't put here for fear of causing offence. I never knew he was so conventional. I'm afraid I overreacted and cried. We spent the rest of the weekend hurling names at each other, his getting increasingly safer and mine wilder. What would you consider middle ground? I'm still very fed up about Mabli but I suppose it can be a pets name. 🤔

Can you post some of the names he's suggested anyway? You don't have to say that they're boring, just that you don't like them for your baby/they're not to your taste. I'm not sure if you mean (e.g.) Anne, Mary, Jane or Olivia, Sophia, Amelia or Rosie, Evie, Ellie or Barbara, Patricia, Deborah.

(I mean, names he genuinely likes/considers suitable, not what his mum wants.)

My mil hated the name we were considering and suggested nuala instead 🤣🤣🙈🙈 so I can commiserate on the Hilary front. My advice is to give the name search a break for a bit

I met a little girl called Mabli at my friends daughter’s birthday party a few months ago. When I first heard her name said I pulled a face (inside my brain anyway) but she ended up being one of the funniest, most intelligent little people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. And now I’m completely sold on the name!! 🥰

Hilary? That's so dated! The only one I know is over 70. Unless it's a family name?

Suggest Illyria as an alternative ;)

Lara
Marianne
Miranda
Cecily
Verity
Allegra
Esme
Phoebe

Marnie?

Do you favour welsh names? Names starting with M?

Anwen
Carys

Maeve
Meriel

Manon ticks both boxes!

@WeasilyPleased

Mabli is unfortunately not happening. It turns out he'd told his mum and she put him off. Stupid man. Her suggestion is Hilary. See what I'm working with?

If he has changed his mind thanks to his MUM'S influence I would go absolutely batshit.

NO. The decision is between you two, not with her elbowing her opinions in.

Seeing as before he became his mum's mouthpiece, he liked Mabli, then as far as I would be concerned, it's still Mabli.

I agree with @Skeumorph that the decision of name should be between the parents of the child only, but nothing else she says. I think the advice given is rather toxic.

The MIL has clearly said something to influence him away from Mabli, but that doesn't mean that the husband hasn't genuinely changed how he feels about the name. I loved the name Fleur for years, mentioned it casually to my sister and she said it was like Cilla Black saying "flare". No harm meant, but it has forever changed how I feel about that name, and I could never use it now. (I would recommend to OP that they keep all future names between the two of them until baby has arrived though)

Also, even if it hadn't been following a conversation with his mother, the OP's husband is allowed to have a change of heart. How many times on this board do people post asking for help as they went cold on a name they previously thought was the one? It's not uncommon to see threads about changing names after officially registering the child, and the mothers in those threads are unanimously supported.

In terms of actual suggestions, names I love that are reasonably uncommon yet familiar/classic are:
Bridget
Claudia
Dolores
Imelda
Marina
Rowena

Tell him he gets to pick the surname, so you get to pick the first name

@toastofthetown

Would you consider using the name app Kinder? Works just like Tinder but for names and you'll get alerts if you match on a name. It might help break the pattern of you rejecting his boring names and him rejecting your out there names, because you are both just saying which names you like. I agree with a pp though, that a week or two of no name chat might be helpful.

Yes get an app like this, there's a few out there. Then you don't have to discuss the names

Hilary 😂
Tell him it’s not his mothers baby so she doesn’t actually get a say.
Just say for now baby can be Mabli and see how you feel in the coming weeks.

I am a Hilary!

You may grovel now.

I like Hilary..

I'm due in a few weeks and we've decided on mabli if it's a girl. Really shocked my husband likes it because he's English but I'm welsh and we live in England. I have been worried isit too babyish but there's so many other names like ending in that sound that people use so it's no different

Thanks all. Now you know why I burst into tears.
The name he really likes is Belinda. I just think Bellend. Twice.

Belinda is a very plump name.

Tell him that.

Belinda isn't great either. Makes me think of My Dad Wrote a Porno!

Marley?

I loved the name Fleur for years, mentioned it casually to my sister and she said it was like Cilla Black saying "flare".

That genuinely made me laugh out loud!

Belinda is a very plump name.

What do you mean by that? I'm genuinely curious ?

Obviously something wrong with me because I love
Hilary
Nuala
Belinda

Sorry OP!

Belinda is possibly a bit dated but it's not that bad.

What about Mabel? Bella? Melinda? Eluned?

I loved the name Fleur for years, mentioned it casually to my sister and she said it was like Cilla Black saying "flare".

I love that!

Belinda? Baby Bel for short…. Stick to your guns with Mabli OP