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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Has anyone not had a name lined up before the birth?

35 replies

littlelamb · 07/05/2008 16:52

With dd I only had one girls name, so when she was born there was no question what her name was! This time I am having more trouble. Pretty sure its a boy, but am undecided which name to give, and if it does turn out to be a girl I will be completely stumped. Has anyone not decided on a name before the birth? And how long did it take before you decided on a name?

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MerlinsBeard · 07/05/2008 16:54

me!!

We had NO IDEA. made a list the night before of maybe names. we couldn't find one we agreed on at all. We chose ds3s name within an hour, only because we needed a name to to tell his brothers! I am still not sure on it and it was my suggestion. will grow on him i am sure

wheresthehamster · 07/05/2008 16:57

Dd2 was about a week with no name. I wanted to call her Eliza and dp didn't like it. I held out thinking he would change his mind bu he didn't and we settled on Eleanor in the end.

I still prefer Eliza

MrsTittleMouse · 07/05/2008 16:57

We didn't have a name lined up for DD, but we did have a shortlist. It seemed strange naming someone before we met her, but we wanted to avoid giving her something completely bizarre due to post birth exhaustion!
We decided within the day, but not soon enough for the name to go on her hospital records, so she's down as "unknown" which seems a bit sad. Other than that, there were no disadvantages.

LittleWonder · 07/05/2008 17:01

We didn't have names - DD was 2 months prem anyway - but you have to see the baby to know what their name is!

wheresthehamster · 07/05/2008 17:01

In our area the babies in hospital are all called 'Baby mumssurname' even if you have decided on a name.

All the dds thought it was great because for a few days each of them had my surname instead of dp's

ButterflyBessie · 07/05/2008 17:02

with all our dcs we waited until they were born to choose their names, found it too difficult to name an unknown

testosteroneoverload · 07/05/2008 17:02

we have thre little monkies and its been different each time the first we knew what he would be called pretty much from conception the middle one we could decide he was baby no name for a couple of days then harvey for a couple more day before deciding for good what to call him the with number threewe had a couple on our list but no middle name untill he was a few days old then decided
everyone is different and you know what ....thats cool!

VanillaPumpkin · 07/05/2008 17:03

No name for dd2. Had a shortlist of 6 girls names and 4 boys.

hanaflower · 07/05/2008 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Psychomum5 · 07/05/2008 17:04

yes with two (DD2 and DS1), nope with the others.

was convinced that DD3 was a boy, and I suddenly decided on girl while in labour with her, so we shouted names back and forth thro contrations.....I needed gas and air as DH suggested Natasha.....and as it was the last name mentioned he decided it was THE name......suits her well so t'was a good choice.

DD1 had a name chosen, but I didn;t like it when she was born so said Megan, which wasn;t even any choice yet it was the name that sprung into my head.....tis her name too as she IS a megan.

Jacob, again, was covinced he was a girl, and then we had him, obviously a boy!!! jacob sprung into my head, and it has stuck!!

hatrick · 07/05/2008 17:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Pollyanna · 07/05/2008 17:07

me! I have only had a name with one of my 5. we got to the 6 week deadline with dd2 and we only named ds2 (4 weeks) last week. This is because dh doesn't discuss names before they are born, and then never likes the names I suggest, so we have to go through a whole compromise situation.

snowleopard · 07/05/2008 17:09

Yes. We had a girl's name decided, but nothing for a boy. It was a boy! We spent about 2 days without a clue what to do and really came up with our name by chance. It had been on our list earlier but we'd dismissed it as too odd - then we saw a way it could be shortened. It just came to us during a discussion and we made a decision within minutes and named him there and then. (I'll always remember and treasure that moment actually - sitting there with him turning over different names for him - it was a lovely time that we wouldn't have had if we'd been sure from the start, IYSWIM.)

jk1 · 07/05/2008 19:39

We had a nightmare it took us the full 6 weeks with our daughter and they phoned to tell us we would be prosecuted if we did not register her on time. Was an awful experience not to be repeated.

Think it is best to have some ideas as making such an important decision is so difficult when you are exhausted from birth and lack of sleep.

Good Luck

AHLH · 08/05/2008 08:34

FIL is doing his family tree, and has discovered that, before his father there were six generations of the same name. First baby due in Sept. If it's a boy (sonographer thinks it is and he found a willy) then that'll be his name. FIL has mentiond this a few times "If it's a boy, he could be the 7th xxx". Luckily xxx is my favorite all time boys name, and with FIL on my side, DH can't (and hasn't) put up any opposition.

On the other hand, we had friends who had 7 or 8 months of pregnancy to think about it, then 6 weeks, and finally called their son John on the last day they could register him.

belgo · 08/05/2008 08:41

Wheresthehamster - my dh is also vetoing Eliza - but I may still get my way yet!

eenybeeny · 08/05/2008 08:44

We always knew what our sons name was. I didnt feel like I was naming someone I hadnt met I felt I knew him already. And his name suits him so well! We are umming and awwing about next baby's name if its a boy we have a great girls one lined up. I'm not pregnant yet just TTC! I guess its different for everyone!

ajandjjmum · 08/05/2008 08:50

Had a shortlist of 3 for ds, but it was on the last day for registering before we absolutely decided! So for the first six weeks he was nameless, except for his nickname, which we infact used for the first two years!

For dd we had 3 again, but had sort of settled on Robyn - had some cards saying 'welcome to the world Robyn', then we changed our minds. I do still like Robyn though, but dd's name probably suits her more!

Amapoleon · 08/05/2008 08:52

We didn't have a name for dd, we named her when she was about 2 days old, when we found something that fitted. With ds, we knew what we were going to call him, luckily he was a boy or we would have been stuck.

Sunshinemummy · 08/05/2008 08:59

We had a name right up to just before DS was born and then went off it. And then, when he came out he would never have been that name anyway so we were really glad. Took us the rest of the week to come up with the name he has and we love it - it really suits him.

Heffa · 08/05/2008 09:25

We weren't going to pick a specific name, but there's only been one name we've found that we both absolutely love so it feels pretty set in stone now. I guess we may well change our minds yet, although my DH has been calling the bump by the name for a while now. We haven't told anyone though, so we can change our minds easily if we decide to.

WhatSheSaid · 08/05/2008 09:38

We had a list (of about 20 possible girl's names - knew it was a dd), couldn't narrow it down to one. Finally decided about 3 days after the birth.

You have plenty of time to make a decision after the birth - don't rush it.

We had a few people saying "Ooh, haven't you named that baby yet" but I just ignored them.

colacubes · 08/05/2008 09:43

My ds was named all the way through pregnancy, people would ask how he was doing by name!! but dd, had no clue, took about a week after birth to decided.

ninedragons · 08/05/2008 09:57

Our daughter wasn't named until a week after she was born, and then only because the registrar kept coming up to my room every day to see if we'd made our minds up.

We settled on the one that was closest to the top of both our lists (number one on his, number four on mine).

We thought we'd wait to see what she looked like. She had fuzzy black hair so I thought she looked like a little bear and wanted to call her Ursula, but DH said no way. So waiting for the baby to pop out and tell you its name telepathically is not a solution, IME.

branflake81 · 08/05/2008 10:00

Just out of interest - what did those of you who hadn't got a name for your babies call them until you had decided?

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