If you knew / met someone who had just had a baby would you tell them you didn't like it's name ?

[lilyloo]

I am just wondering. Since dd was born 4 weeks ago we have had lot's of people comment on her name. Both close family and friends.
Fair enough if it isn't what you would choose but i could never say to someone i don't like your choice after they have called their child that.
We have had plain ooh i don't like that to omg that's a name of a 90 year old woman.
Poor dp who chose it and now i am thinking poor dd !
By the way it's Martha!

Don't push her back in. She has a glittering future on MN.

I agree that it's rude and also hurtful when people make negative comments about your kids name. It was particularly bad for me when dd was just born, the last thing you need are disapproving looks and comments when your beautiful new baby has just arrived, but now I just ignore it.

What surprised me was the people who were quite mean were close friends and family but people from baby group or mothers groups have all loved it. The worst came from my parents - my father initially refused to call dd by her name. Her name is Charlotte Pepper and we call her by her middle name, Pepper, which dh and I love - and it suits her perfectly. I know it's unusual and not everyone's taste but then they don't need to chose it for their kid. AND yes it is a real name which a lot of folk seem to need me to tell them!! Sorry - ranting a bit, topic brings back unpleasant memories.

Very rude indeed, I would never comment. Martha is a lovely name, we would have had it but it didn't go with our surname.

My dd has an old fashioned name and I think they are lovely (Grace).

We had quite a lot of this with ds2 (Guy) and he does sometimes get children who comment unfavourably (he is 6)I know its not that common but its not that unusual either,actually my first choice was Ned and I still think he would have made a fantasic Ned but dh vetoed that!

we know quite a few Marthas and they are all gorgeous,I would have thought of it as a classic.

I wonder how long it will be until we start seeing Beryls and Viviennes and Ritas again

Yes I got the 'couldn't we change it?' comments as well.

Just say 'Next time you go through x hours of agony to bring a baby into the world, YOU get to name it. OK?'

Very, very rude. Lovely time and nevt time you should tell them you are not asking them to like it so can they keep their comments to themselves.

My dcs have fairly common Irish names and I am forever being asked if we have made them up. When asked this now, I regale people with the etymology of the names which goes back thousands of years. They shut up then.

Uhh, that would be lovely name, not lovely time. Wonder what I was thinking about when typing.

I wasnt keen on nephews choice of name for his daughter but I would never have told him that. At the end of the day its your choice. Martha is a lovely names for a little girl.

You have great taste and its a lovely "evergreen" name.

People can be intensly rude can't they! I made the mistake of discussing names with dh's v.posh grandma. When I told her I liked flower names for girls (Lily, Rose etc) she snapped at me that "we don't have servant names in this family." Apparently that also includes Molly, and Millie but not for some reason Sally! I was then given a list of acceptable names. She was a laugh that lady!

Floaty, I love middle-aged chic. Belinda, Vivien, Sylvia, Lois, Nancy, Margot...

I love the name Guy. It's short but strong, classic but not boring, unusual but not what did you say?

Oh we do get the "what did you say" and the "is it a nick name" I do know of an 18mo called Sylvia and i think its lovely .Susans and Suzys seem to have dissappeared as well

I cannot imagine EVER telling someone that I did not like the name they chose for their baby...

All comments are off-side once a baby is named.

I am sorry that you are being subjected to this kind of abuse.

FWIW: I can remember when people used to make negative comments about Emily and Jessica being names for 'old women' and before long both of those names soared to the top of the baby names' lists in North America as well as in the UK. Theses things tend to go in cycles BUT the bottom line is that she is your daughter and you have given her a beautiful, traditional, biblical name. Try to brush it off.

Susie is another name that would make me pause and think ooooh if I heard it now.

At least some of those Sophies should be called Susie or Sylvie I think!

(not knocking the name Sophie btw, it is very pretty).

I've got used to the American boards now, but they still think of Eleanor and Alice as being in the same category as say Edith or Mabel. Not mainstream yet. Coming back, but not popular yet. Alice and Eleanor seem current to me.

My boyfriend's friends names their daughter Beau, which I think is ridiculous because it's a masculine word meaning "handsome" when used to describe a person, right?

I wouldn't tell them though! It would be very rude and unecessary.

named*

Yeah that would make me think several things and none of them very good. They have less French than an 8 yr old would be one of them.

My name was shortened to Susie, it is awful, I always thought I was named after one of those yuk plastic dolls they used to sell in the 70s. The ones with really big heads and nylon hair that wouldn't burn properly.
Eww.

It's one thing to have a quick eye-roll to yourself about someone's choice of name, quite another to not have enough social awareness to keep it to yourself. I'm ashamed (or not) to admit that I've done this (the eye roll) with both SIL's dcs upon first hearing what she'd called them, but I'd never be so rude as to actually say it to her face. And actually, after that initial WTF?? I've come to appreciate both names on the children. They're still not names I'd choose but they are simply her children now and thus likeable and loveable.

Next time someone says something, tell them to go and get fucked

Martha is a lovely name. The only Martha I know is a very talented novelist (and also v. pretty).

I hate some names but would never say so. I think that Martha is lovely.

Nylon hair that wouldn't burn properly? What on earth were you doing to your dolls, Flight?!

Ah, but my name was shortened by family to Susie and I really like it. My full name is for friends and for strangers alike, Susie is how I am known by my family. And a complete mispronounciaton (so much so that is a different name entirely) is used by people who can't be bothered to listen and my MIL.

I have a new little niece called Martha, I think it is a lovely name! Last year I had another little niece and I really didn't like her name (very modern name) but there is no way I would have said because I'm not rude and thoughtless! The name is growing on me because my neice is lovely but it is still not a name that I would choose myself.

N ot read the full thread. But I would absolutely not comment on a childs name once it was called that. I think you should say to people that you think it is quite rude actually to comment on DDs name.

If you chose it, it's cos you liked it. Ignore the people or tell them that you think it is rude to comment on her name... I like Martha as it happens - not that it is ANY of my business by the way!