Baby name regret years on

[Highandloww]

Not looking to change the name (regret not doing it when dc was young) but just curious, if anyone is living through the name regret for years, perhaps into their adulthood. Name that turned out not fitting into your (other than British) culture, too trendy or discovered it may have lousy meaning or connotation. Are there any of you dear mumsnetters? How do you cope?

Well I hate my name but it's just a name and my mum and dad choice it.

I felt that way after my baby was born for a good few months, I did consider changing it but so glad I didn't as looking back I think I was suffering from PPD and anxiety. Are you worried your baby wont like their name? I know a few who use nicknames or middle names instead of their legal first name. Within my family two people use their middle name everyday, people are shocked to find out they have a different middle name!

I have a bit of name regret, nobody knows though. After enough years, it really doesn't matter what I (or you) think about the name anymore. It only matters what the owner of the name thinks.

Would any of you share why you have the regret or dislike your own name?

Well I don't like my first or surname.

Not only that, they both sound quite silly together as I have an awful surname.

Always thought I'd get married so it wouldn't matter, but never have, so I'm stuck with it!

Mine's not so much name regret, because I do love my daughter's shortened version of her name, but I do long for the full length version of another name we favoured.

In my partner's culture, it's very usual not to use the full length name, so we opted for the shortened name I liked the most, but the full length name I'm not in love with. Whereas there's a full length name I absolutely adored, but the shortened version would have been mispronounced, misspelt, etc., so often, so we opted for the longer name with the shortened version I liked the most.

I don't regret my daughter's name but there are SO many of them now and it pisses her off a bit now that she's 17. I didn't know a single one and we named her after DH's grandma so it wasn't like we were plucking from a baby name book.

But I still like it and you can't predict these things.

A friend of mine called her son a unique Italian name after a distant family member and barely a month after she had him a Disney movie came out with the name as a main character. Absolute bummer.

You can change it if you like! Very easily, by deed poll.
So don't be stuck with it 😊

I don't like my name. I think it was a more common name in the early 1900s but never been popular or particularly used since. My parents chose to use it in the 1960s for me though. It's not a name of my generation. It's not a pretty name. It's just an old meh name.

My parents chose it because it was so common, there were no fewer than five of us in a class of 30 all through primary, so it felt generic and I never responded to it, because the chances it was me being called were slim. Plus it’s very difficult to say with my surname. Clearly they never said it out loud.

So what are these names that people dislike?!

If it's Luca it was far from unique even when she chose it. It was firmly in the top 50 already, the film just helped boost it even more into the top 20. Definitely not 'unique' though.

Obviously you might not be on about Luca but I can't think of any of Disney films off the top of my head where the lead is a male with a name that has since risen in popularity.

After enough years, it really doesn't matter what I (or you) think about the name anymore. It only matters what the owner of the name thinks.

Exactly my thoughts. We don't own our children's names, they do. Once we've made the original choice, it's then their name to do what they wish with. Their opinion becomes the only one that matters.

If someone doesn't like their own name, find a nickname you do like.

You can change it by deed poll.

@SantoriniSunrise "Always thought I'd get married so it wouldn't matter, but never have, so I'm stuck with it!"

Changing your name by deed poll is significantly cheaper, easier and quicker than getting married. You could have a different name by lunchtime!

I still have slight regrets 28 years later! Thankfully, she prefers her name to the two that she nearly was...

I don't like my first name because it places me squarely in my mum's generation. Think Jean (but it's not that). I decided I was going to use my middle name at uni and my plan was to introduce myself to everyone using my middle name. After I had been there a week I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to do it. Sometime in my 40s, I would say I eventually became accepting of my first name although I still don't like it but I am less bothered by it .

I don't like my first name because it is at the older end of names for women of my generation. As a child and now as an adult in my early 40s, I still feel embarrassed to say my name and would have much preferred to have been called Laura, Sarah, Rebecca etc.

Luca was number 45 the year before the film was released (and 28 year of release) so it definitely wasn't as rare as you might think.

It's now number 12 so the film definitely sent it skyrocketing.

Wish we had thought through the nicknames a bit better.

The nickname everyone uses for him now I don't really like. We also had Daniel on our list and I really wish we had gone with that as I much prefer Dan to what he gets called.

But he's 19 now so I have to suck it up!

I'm a Catherine - although not spelled that way. In high school 9 of the 75 girls were called Catherine. Was v dull. Am pleased I avoided that for my kids.

I dislike mine because it can't be shortened.

I deliberately chose names for my 3DC that COULDN'T be shortened!

Mine is always abbreviated, and I love the long version.....that no-one ever uses.

I played it quite safe with my children's names - not too 10, but classic names with multiple shortenings/nicknames they could choose.

My grandmother (who I lived with) and my school allowed me to change my name unofficially at 14 and I changed it by deed poll the second I could. Being saddled with the name Starlight by drug addled parents wasn't fun at all.

I hated it for as long as I can remember. Especially as my older siblings had very normal 70s names

Always hated my name. It's a shortening of a very popular 60s/70s name but spelt differently to the "normal" nickname.
At school there was always at least one other pupil with the longer name & teachers always thought I was the longer name but being awkward when I refused to answer to it.
It's constantly assumed that the long name is my actual name. I was signing a contract once & got told "this is a legal document please put your proper name". Yet again had to say this IS my name.
My middle name is an old, never popular name which I detest even more than my first name.

Just to add to it sibling was given a lovely full name that couldn't be shortened and a normal popular 60s/70s/80s middle name.

There were 5 Lucas at my daughter's nursery - they're down to 2 now as one left and two have gone to school but the remaining 2 are in the same group.