Name worries

[Boo122]

My baby girl is a few months old and I’m having a wobble about her name (it’s Hallie). Although we had quite a few names on the shortlist throughout my pregnancy, I never felt I got to the “love” stage with any of them. Hallie was DH’s favourite name by far, so we chose that. I didn’t feel 100% sure but I also didn’t have another name that I felt really strongly about either.

I think part of the problem is the reaction from people. I’ve found that people our age/younger tend to have a really positive reaction, saying how nice it is etc. However, with older people, although they don’t say anything outright negative, we get a lot of blank looks and comments about it being “unusual”, “what made you choose that”, “is that foreign”. It’s making me anxious to say her name to people and worried me that we’ve given her a ‘weird’ name that people will question all her life.

She’s obviously registered now and although I know you can change names for the first year, I don’t want to do that and I don’t even know what other name I would choose! I’m not really sure what I’m hoping to get with this thread, just felt I needed to say how I’m feeling somewhere as I don’t want to mention it to people in real life.

@Boo122 , it's a modern name, and older people won't be familiar with it.
I can remember about 15 yrs ago a colleague announcing that his son was Theo and people remarking that it was 'a bit different', and 'unusual', and I thought it wasn't either of them, just fairly recently trendy.

Once they get used to the name, they'll love your Hallie and like the name.

It's quite normal to worry if you've chosen the right name, but if you find that it is troubling you, think about an alternative.

They are unimpressed because it's modern name that they are not familiar with. They are just being faze out-ed by modern kids.

Don't worry, it's nice name and it's cute.

But, if new names might feel you more at ease, how about Helena?

I though Helena or Helen too, or Harriet, or Hala (arabic:halo) or Halla

Hal- names for girls

I love the name Hallie! Soon she’ll just be her name and no one will even think about it. I certainly wouldn’t contemplate changing it because a few older people aren’t familiar with it.

How do you pronounce it? Is it the same as hayley

It's a beautiful name and not weird - some older people may not be as familiar with it but anyone under 60 I would have thought was fine

Presuming pronounced Hally, like Halle Berry?

Hallie is a lovely name, OP

Surely Hallie is pronounced Hall-ie. It's different to Hayley.

Thanks for your comments. I think I’m just having a down/anxious day which is making me overthink and worry about it more than normal.

Yes it’s Hal-lee, as in Halle Berry, not Hayley. The Hayley mispronunciation was one of my worries when we chose the name but we haven’t actually had that in real life x

I love it

Love it. No one at a school would raise an eyebrow these days to this name but older generation maybe. I'd move on and try and not focus on it

How can anyone get 'Hayley' from 'Hallie'? Two completely different sounds.

I like it, and I'm generally on the trad side of naming preferences.

Agree that it's a gorgeous name and that nobody would raise an eyebrow. In my Son's school, here are some of the names that have raised a couple of eyebrows:

Red
Lyric
Kitty
Storm
Shyloh

To name a few x

I love the name and instantly think of Halle Berry who has been around for ages.

There will always be someone who doesn’t like a name - that’s on them. All you need to do is come on Mumsnet and see everyone has different preferences. As long as you’re happy with it - that’s what matters.

Love it op! I think it's beautiful and shouldn't be that unusual for the older generations because of hallies comet.

My daughter has a very unusual name. Frequently met with "sorry what?" By strangers. I don't care. We like it and she suits it!

26 years ago I announced my dds name snd got funny looks and comments that it was old fashioned. Unfortunately it is no number 7 but in the charts.

Hallie is a very modern name. If you like it, then fine

I like it OP! Hallie is one of the very few names that I would be happy with myself. I wouldn't mind being a Hallie at all! I think you've made a good choice.

I think you just can't win with people. If you had gone for something traditional, some people would've been underwhelmed and bored by it. People are just difficult to please, so it's best not to try!

Congrats on baby Hallie 💖

I don't know about you, but I stopped caring about other people's opinions when I realised that their opinions do not pay any of my bills. People will always have an opinion. Negative/positive who cares!

I like it.
I

It’s a new name. The same people probably wouldn’t like Harlowe for example. It’s very popular though, certainly not unusual.

I like it as a nn for Harriet (which it was originally) but not especially as a full name. So if it’s bothering you, change the birth cert to Harriet, and carry on calling her Hallie as a nn.

As someone in the 'older' generation I think it is a lovely name.

I think the older generation not approving it is actually a vote in its favour.
I mean, do you really trust the taste of people who thought Ian, Paul, Tracey and the like were nice names? (Sorry to any Ian's Tracey's or Paul's reading!)
I like Hallie. It's modern, it fits in with the current cohort, it can suit a baby, teen or adult. It's not too try hard. It is made up of nice 'sounds'.
If it helps, I felt unsure about my son's name for the first six months or so, probably due to older gen wrinkling their noses, now I love it and feel it was a lovely choice. I think for some people these things take time. You are so overwhelmed after giving birth you need time to resettle.

Love it. If you were having doubts that would be different but you've said you don't want to change it. Go with that and stand firm.

Some people will love your baby's name, some won't - the only question to ask is what do YOU want. Then do that.

Good luck with you gorgeous baby. Btw we changed our baby's name twice so I can understand the doubt and wonder!

Hallie is nice. People are just getting info on it because they don't know it well. They are not expressing negativity. Everyone's favourite name is very specific so chances are no one chooses the same very favourite name, afterall there are thousands of names.