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Baby names

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

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Original poster

anyone really regret the name they chose?

56 replies

littlegreyrabbit · 18/02/2008 22:22

Ds is 9 now so it's just a little late to change his name but I wish I'd stuck to my gut feeling and tried to persuade dh on my first choice name.

Instead we compromised on a name that was second choice for both of us. There are 3 boys in ds's class with the same name and it's a name that doesn't even match our surname very well.

Anyone else feel the same?

OP posts:

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mouseling · 19/02/2008 10:19

All our 3 DCs names were a compromise but I don't think there was any other way round that for DP and me!

Of the 3 of them the name I like the most has caused regret because DS at 4 1/2 still cannot quite pronounce it himself - it has 'L' and 'R' in it - difficult sounds for young children.

wolveschick · 19/02/2008 10:31

Yes, started to regret DD2s middle name a few days later. Unfortunately only confessed this on the car park of the council offices going to register her birth. Poor DH had me in baby blues tears, said I could change it, then DD1 started howling because she liked the middle name. As a result DD2 has 2 middle names but I refer to her (on those occasions when a full name is called for) by names 1 and 3! And then she spent the first few months being called Bundle....very cold winter, so wrapped up a lot!

littleboo · 19/02/2008 10:34

just heard someone speaking on our local radio called RUPERT BEARNE ( pronounced bear...ne) siad he got a load of stick when he was younger, but has really helped him in business.

evenhope · 19/02/2008 12:24

I named DD1 and DS1, and DS2 was a joint decision. 22 years on I still love their names. DS3 I had a name and at the last minute DH said no way. After 3 weeks as The New Baby we were desperate to find a name that neither of us actively hated, and just picked the first one that we both said was "OK". Registered him, had him christened and thought "no actually, there are loads of other names that would have been better".

Same story with DD2. Knew she was a girl from the amnio but couldn't agree. Had 2 names I had set my heart on- DH says no. The DSs didn't like it either and when I mentioned it to my brother he said the same. 2 weeks of unnamed baby. DH finally says "oh call her what you like" so we compromised. (why didn't I go back to my first choice?!) She is 11 months and I still prefer the other name. Trouble is she has a passport and too many people know her to change it now.

branflake81 · 19/02/2008 16:36

My mum always says (rather tactlessly) that she regrets the name she gave my sister and wished she'd gone with something else. My sister is 24 now!

bluenosesaint · 19/02/2008 22:56

Yes. I really can't get used to my dd3's name at all. She is 7 months old.

I don't think it suits her and its just doesn't feel right.

I think its mainly down the fact that i didn't name her, dh did. I named my dd1 and 2 and i love their names!

I'm really really hoping that i grow to love her name, it really bothers me that i may spend the rest of her life not liking her name

Minkus · 20/02/2008 16:15

Don't regret sons name, but really wished we had called him the full version rather than "just" the short one. Full version sounds more formal and although we would have rarely used it, it would have come in blimmin handy for when needing to tell him off . He would have so known when he'd done something I really didn't like if I used his full name

shaqpe · 25/02/2008 00:11

We called our little boy Tyler Jay. He's only a year old but I love it as much now as I did when we picked it - completely suits him - took us 42 weeks (LOL) to come up with one we did like though!!!

frannied · 26/02/2008 23:10

I love my dd's first name, but I wish I hadn't given my daughter the middle name 'Frances' - my first name. What possessed me to do it? I don't even like my name, never have really and I feel embarrased to tell people her middle name, like it's egotistical to have called her that. I'm always considering changing it, but it seems too scary and that I'll be making her life complicated.But I do feel I've wasted a 'name slot' - there are so many girls names I love.

Also having problems with my 17 week old ds's name - he's registered as Gabriel James, but then people (including my 95 year old Gran) said he'd be teased (Gay - briel, Gay boy etc) so we've been calling him James. Now, every where I go I hear the name James, and I don't want him to be 1 of 3 Jameses in his class, and I still love the name Gabriel.Oh what to do??!!Husband thinks I'm insane and is sick of discussing it, but he'd go with whatever I insisted on in the end.

God,I'm a freak - don't know anyone who's ever had name issues! Any opinions on the teasing etc welcomed.

UniversallyChallenged · 26/02/2008 23:29

am glad we keep dd the name she had for her first day of life - BRITTANY think it's a lovely name but thanks to miss spears,think she would have a whole load of teasing

think my mum went a little odd when she had me - normal names for bro and sis( e.g. Paul and Joan )then crazy with my name - think Anastasia but weirder

hormones eh?!!

UniversallyChallenged · 26/02/2008 23:30

first line should of read "didnt keep the name" - think it's my bed time!

Rowingboat · 26/02/2008 23:55

Frannied - I love Gabriel as well. I personally don't think it's worth worrying about what children will call him for a short time at school. I recall kids would tease each other about absolutely anything, being called James is highly unlikely to protect him from name calling during that 'delightful' period of adolescence.
Besides which, you sound as if you are being advised by some rather homophobic individuals - don't want to listen to them too much.
Do you call him Gabe incidentally - I love that too.

overthehill · 27/02/2008 00:01

My dh has a problem with names, and changed his own as he hated it, so it was never going to be easy naming our dc's. The strange thing was that, unlike my mother, who had favourite names for me and my db & used them, we ended up with names for both our children that came from goodness-knows-where. Dd was born 2 weeks before Christmas and we finally agreed on about Christmas Eve - and it was my choice, although as I say, one that came out of the blue. With ds, we had the pressure of only having a week to decide as it had to be inscribed on a commemorative brick(!), and again we ended up with a shortlist of 5 names that I'd never even considered before (hormones working??). The only logic to them was that the initials spelled LARGE, and he was a very big baby!

I do really like dd's name & think it suits her, but still have doubts about ds's and wonder how we came up with it - again, as I'd chosen dd's first name (dh chose her middle name), it didn't seem fair for me to do so again, & dh vetoed my favourite at the time (Gregory), which does now seem a bit posh, so we compromised. We were going to call dd Dominic but didn't choose that for ds as some friends had 'bagged' it, but they moved away many years ago & sometimes I wonder if that would have been better - although that's also a bit posh, I think.

The other problem we had was what surname to choose: dh wanted to use mine as his is boring & we agreed on that, but mine starts with a vowel & sounds ridiculous with lots of first names and also excludes some I liked starting with vowels. My MIL had a very unusual surname & we have wondered since whether we should have used that - although it would have been odd for the dc's to have had a different surname from either of us...

Heffa · 27/02/2008 13:45

Frannied - my nephew is called Gabriel (Gabe for short) and it's a beautiful name. He doesn't get teased for it all (but then I've never known anyone be bullied for their name tbh). It's in the top 100 now as well, so it's not that rare.

mumtobe2 · 02/04/2008 23:10

Hi anyone who has changed there childs name in the first 12 months how did you go on changing medical records and child benefit records etc?

Islamum · 02/04/2008 23:28

So glad its not just me, dh said no way to loads of my names and wanted his gran's name as a middle name, so now we have an Isla Eliza, doesn't go and I agreed to it whilst recovering from pethidine, which I think was unfair, still too late really so many people know it now, shes 5 months I hope it will grow on me, my first choice was Tegan, going to fight harder next time.

runningonplenty · 02/04/2008 23:33

I was a bit delirous after childbirth and gave my DD a delirous middle name... poor thing - i cringe when people ask me if she has a middle name so I dread to imagine how she will feel when she's older - especially because her first name is so unusual and spelt differently too - damn hormones!!!

I advised my cousin whose 9 months pregnant and without a name - not to do the same! Choose! Choose now! Before it's too late!!!!

mumtobe2 · 02/04/2008 23:36

Hi anyone who has changed there childs name in the first 12 months how did you go on changing medical records and child benefit records etc?

MissPaulaYates · 02/04/2008 23:38

oh yes - regret dc 1 and 2

by ds 2 i had learned not to listen to the world but to go with my gut - so love dc3 4 and 5

its a hard process naming!! go with heart not head!

MissPaulaYates · 02/04/2008 23:39

i changed my dc2 name (now known as)

i changed dc4 spelling (and on birth certificate)

i changed 5 dcs surname when eldest 14 and youngest 4 months

hatrick · 02/04/2008 23:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bluenosesaint · 02/04/2008 23:44

Agree Paula. Wish id have gone with my heart for dd3

BEAUTlFUL · 03/04/2008 00:24

For our first son, DH & I compromised. I like the name but it's everywhere.

For our second, I was much ballsier about insisting I got a name I loved. DH stammered that it was only fair that we agreed on the name. I said, to make it a fair representation of the pregnancy-effort split, he could choose the first letter & I'd do all the bloody rest.

Bit feisty, eh?

LarryVeestAdamAntSpawnChorus · 03/04/2008 08:52

I do regret DS's name. I love it deeply, but I was genuinely unprepared for how much negativity we'd encounter. (It's not made up, but it's an ancient and v uncommon name, with (positive IMO) references in modern popular culture).

Anyway, it was a toss up between that name and another name which I also adore, but is more commonplace. For the sake of ease and non-confrontation and worry about 'teasing at school', I'd should probably have gone for the latter.

marriedtoatwunt · 03/04/2008 09:06

frannied i love gabriel its gorgeous and unusual and only real twats would call him gay-boy. I love ds name as it is unusual over here. It also means the guided one.

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