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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Worried we chose a bad name!

79 replies

GCG1 · 14/12/2021 12:22

Our DD is now 10wx- and I’m seeking a bit of external verification that we chose a nice name. Seems silly but I feel like her name hasn’t ‘stuck’. My husband is 100% that it’s her name but I feel like I trip when I say it! Is this normal/weird! I didn’t do this with our son!

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SomethingBeginningWithX · 14/12/2021 14:01

It must be something in the air, I have a 9.5 week old DD and naming her has been such a struggle. I cried at the registry office when getting her birth certificate Blush with my others I just had a gut feeling about their names but with this one I've been back and forth and tried all different names with her trying to get it right. People still pronounce it 'wrong' constantly but I've made my peace with it!

Original poster
GCG1 · 14/12/2021 14:45

I know this is of zero help @SomethingBeginningWithX @SoapySnowflake but this makes my situation feel better- that I’m not the only one!

I wondered if it was a touch of PND As I’ve become quite obsessed? But admittedly I’m better now than at week 5!

What’s troubling me: I think I wanted Annabelle and my husband wanted Sophie and the final decision was made whist I was being stitched up (literally!)

And I’ve just thought about it over and over. I think I’m worried there will be like 10 others in her class!

OP posts:
Original poster
GCG1 · 14/12/2021 14:49

Just to clarify it’s Sophie (Annabelle is middle name) but I weirdly say the whole lot as I think I can’t let go of the name I think I wavered more!!!

I must admit, much of tge anxiety over her name has faded but I do still feel like ‘trip’ when I say it!

OP posts:
Classica · 14/12/2021 14:56

I have to say that I don't get the rush to settle on the name immediately (still being stitched up!). You're not exactly in the right space to think about it clearly. If a couple aren't in agreement on a name what harm is it to wait a week or two? I'd be miffed if I felt I'd been pushed into accepting a name I wasn't mad about under those circumstances.

Skeumorph · 14/12/2021 14:59

Honestly?

Sophie is a million times better than Annabelle, especially spelled that way! It's Annabel.

Sophie is beautiful, classic, timeless. And really pretty. And while Sophia seems to be everywhere (far less nice imo), I don't know any young Sophies at the moment.

Annabelle spelled this way looks unnecessarily fussy and just isn't in the same league. It's not terrible. But it's not classic.

You made the right choice.

CrispAndFrosty · 14/12/2021 15:10

It's fine and it's not overly popular with babies right now, I don't think. She probably won't have another in her class.

I can see why you are feeling this way though - rushed into a decision while literally being stitched up, and letting go of the name you really wanted! Not really fair on you.

Original poster
GCG1 · 14/12/2021 15:17

I think in the oxytocin drift I was like ‘yes! Great name’ and then reflected and thought ‘hmmmm’

Lesson learned!@Skeumorph thank you!

OP posts:
Saltyquiche · 14/12/2021 15:18

Sophie is gorgeous

This time you decide the first name and DH decides the middle name

Babyvenusplant · 14/12/2021 15:20

I really like it Smile

prettypinkflamingo · 14/12/2021 15:24

I know an annabel. She was shortened to Belly as a child and it's stuck. Not the best nickname and it's ruined the name for me slightly as it's all i think about when I meet another one!

Pinkchocolate · 14/12/2021 15:24

Sophie is a lovely name and not common anymore. Sophia is much more “fashionable” so there are loads. Annabelle is fine. I think you’re stressed and tired and over thinking.

hivemindneeded · 14/12/2021 15:24

It's lovely. I'm biased. If I'd had a daughter she would have been Sophia nn Sophie as I think it is the most beautiful girl's name ever.

Chersfrozenface · 14/12/2021 15:31

I (mother) called my two by pet names for ages when they were small - think "Snugglyboo" type of thing. I swear I only used their given names when talking to the elder about the younger and vice versa. I was told that my father also called me by a pet name for ages. Babies definitely grow into their names.

Original poster
GCG1 · 14/12/2021 15:48

Thank you- to you all. You have have been kind when I’m feeling Xmas Confused Thank you for not dismissing me or telling me to ‘get over it’

This parenting is a bloody minefield and feeling like you’re on the back foot from day one with ‘the wrong name’ is hard!

OP posts:
ironorchids · 14/12/2021 15:53

"What’s troubling me: I think I wanted Annabelle and my husband wanted Sophie and the final decision was made whist I was being stitched up (literally!)"

Not Ok!!!

So this would upset me a lot and most of all I'd feel that I'd been taken advantage of whilst in a diminished state. After doing 99.9% of the work by being pregnant and giving birth, I was then cajoled into using a particular name by someone getting me to agree to it while my oestrogen and progesterone levels crashed back down from the 100s of X their normal levels that they are at whilst pregnant, and at the same time the oxytocin was at a euphoric high and I was suffering from exhaustion?

No, that wouldn't fly.

I would explain that to DH and then see if he'd agree to us changing the name on the birth certificate and swapping the order of the names to Annabelle Sophie.

I don't think that's unreasonable at all.

I think asking such a newly postpartum woman to make any intellectual or impactful decision at all is unreasonable and for me it would seriously affect our whole relationship.

MrsMiddleMother · 14/12/2021 15:54

Sophie Anna Annabelle is a lovely, inoffensive name
Annabelle always makes me think of the lovely baby dolls instead of the horror one if that helps x

MrsMiddleMother · 14/12/2021 15:57

@MrsMiddleMother

Sophie Anna Annabelle is a lovely, inoffensive name Annabelle always makes me think of the lovely baby dolls instead of the horror one if that helps x
Sorry not sure why there's an added Anna in there Blush
WhoppingBigBackside · 14/12/2021 16:22

Sophie is lovely. Annabel isn't my style but it's perfectly fine and a middle name doesn't get used much

Classica · 14/12/2021 16:25

@WhoppingBigBackside

Sophie is lovely. Annabel isn't my style but it's perfectly fine and a middle name doesn't get used much
That's kind of her issue though. The name that doesn't get used is the name she actually likes.
PineappleWilson · 14/12/2021 16:39

By the time she's 9, you'll just be referring to her as "Soph" anyway, as you bustle her out of the door. You can call her something else, Annie maybe, if you prefer. I had a nickname that I used for our girl when she wa a baby - Zi Zi. It's not related to her name, but has similar sounds and only I used it, but it helped me to connect to her. You could do the same.

girlmom21 · 14/12/2021 16:43

Sophie's definitely the nicer of the two names.

If it helps, I still doubt our name choice for 15 week old DD even though we decided when I was about 24 weeks pregnant!

flapjackfairy · 14/12/2021 16:44

For what it is worth I love it!

WhoppingBigBackside · 14/12/2021 16:56

@Classica, Annabel is fine, but I'm not keen on the Annabelle spelling.
If she prefers Annabelle then maybe she could swap the names around.
Annabelle will probably get called Anna anyway.
I'd stick with Sophie

trumpisagit · 14/12/2021 17:02

It's a lovely name, and for what it's worth, I think she will be grateful for being Sophie rather than Annabelle (also a nice name but a bit of a mouthful).
DS, age 14, is genuinely grateful we gave him a 'normal' (top 10 baby names) name and says it is one of the few things we have got right....

NdujaWannaDance · 14/12/2021 17:06

Sophie Annabelle is really lovely. It's not groundbreaking admittedly, but it's a very pretty, very classic name that will endure and not date too badly, and no-one will hate it, which is not something you can say about more trendy/edgy names.