What do you do if you can’t find a name?

[purplespink]

I've spent a lot of time on baby name websites, talking to DH and thinking about names but I CANNOT find one single bloody name that I’d like to call my DD (due in a few weeks). I have one DD and knew what name I wanted straight away (not a childhood dream name, it just came to me as soon as I found out I was pregnant) but I haven’t seen one name I would want to call this DD. I don’t know if it’s because it’ll be my last dc for sure or DH’s lack of suggestion (although we have different ideas of what is a ‘nice’ name!) but I seriously can’t see anything I like. What do I do? I have seen a few names that are nice enough, they’re okay but I wish I could find a name that I love as much as I loved DD 1’s name, I feel bad that hers just came to me and I loved it so much but I can’t find anything I like for this DD I’ve scrolled every ‘Top 1000 girl names’ but I still can’t find anything I don’t have anything sentimental that I feel the need to call her (neither does DH).

I love floral names (DH doesn’t but DD1 is a flower name), it needs to have an I in the name. Willow and Emily are examples of names I like but not enough to make me think that it’s the one. The only name I really liked is Rosie but DH doesn’t like it.

Louisa - classic, underused has an i !

I would use the baby name app and both of you need to agree to be flexible. You might suprise yourself and the name you choose eventually might be something you didn't originally consider

It doesn’t have to have an i in it, and it doesn’t have to be a name you’re in love with, so you may find if you take those arbitrary rules away your perfect name might show up.

We struggled for ages to find a name for DD because by the time we had her all our fave names (all 2 of them) had been used in the family. So I know the struggle!

If you’ve looked at all the Top 1000 names, look outside of them?

Get in touch with SJ Strum on instagram or YouTube - she doesn’t seem to be doing consultations at the mo but I bet she’d help you if you send her a quick message!

If your DH is saying no to everything you have suggested he needs to be coming up with some himself . Tell him to put forward 3 and you put 3 and then see if you can find a similar one you can agree on .

elise
eloise
rianna
arianna
arielle
willow
astrid
iris

Sylvia

For example if you take PP’s lovely suggestion of Louisa - why would you also discount Chloe and Zoe, which have the same sound as the i in Louisa? Feels like you’re restricting your pool of acceptable names unnecessarily.

What about Heidi - has two Is for you!

Ivy
Ilex (Latin name for Holly)

My daughter has a flower name with an i in it, which hasn't been mentioned yet. (Think Mervyn Peake 😉)

Print off the top 1000 names and take turns crossing out 10 names at a time whilst you’re sat on the sofa of an evening. By the time you’re down to 10 names you’ll have collectively eliminated 990 names that you like less than your shortlist so there should be some very strong front runners and no names that either of you hate! But I don’t think you have to love the name. We only had 1 we both liked, but didn’t love, for DS so we went with that and he grew into it perfectly!

Dahlia. It's beautiful and rare. If I had another dd, I'd go for it.

Tilly
Bonnie
Heidi
Harriet (Hattie)
Tabitha (Tabby)
Frieya
Ivy
Daisy
Indina (Indie)
Paisley
Imogen (Immy)
Georgia
Dahlia
Tamsin (Tammy)
Winnie
Connie
Ellie

What I sound do you like?
Names with I could be Naomi, Iona, Violet, Lily, isabel, Olivia, Sophia etc, but the sound of the I varies.

Inès

Channel your inner Elon Musk and choose a number?

In less flippant tones, just wait until the baby is born and your DH will probably be so overwhelmed with how amazing you are he’ll be happy with any of your suggestions (ask me how I know this…)

Felicity
Louisa
Elizabeth
Imogen

Olive
Iris
Willow

Willow and Emily are both lovely, and if you end up going for either one of them I bet you'll end up loving them.

Some rarer botanical names: Zinnia, Azalea, Sylvie (means from the forest), Briony, Amaryllis, Fleur, Magnolia, Juniper, Briar, Marigold

Some names based on sound/vibe: Seraphina, Olympia, Calliope, Evangeline, Piper, Athena, Lilith, Josie, River, Indigo

Ingrid
Iris
Ivy
Isobel
Ishbel
Isla
Imogen
India
Claudia
Lily
Patience
Faith
Marianne
Mirren
Abigail
Laine
Katherine
Maia

Hello, please don’t feel rushed into naming her as soon as she arrives. I felt similarly, I was so confident with our first child’s name then didn’t understand what was wrong with me & could not decide at all for our 2nd child. My husband liked all the names on our list & said I should chose, which added to the pressure & made my indecision worse! As they were born close to Christmas I felt pressured into quickly picking a name combo which was perfectly nice but after a few weeks I regretted it & we swapped her first & second names around! (After being inundated with lots of Christmas cards addressed to her original name…) so long story short, please don’t rush naming her, try a few out loud when she arrives & give yourself time! Goodluck x

@Norastroud totally agree.

I had picked a girl and boy name. DH announced the name to staff and I broke down. We called her something entirely different.

just enjoy her, snuggle her and it will come to you.

ours was Maisie.

from jemima.

I’d try putting it out your mind for a week (easier said than done, I know) and then coming back to it.
I found when I’d been looking at lists and lists of names everyday they all just turned to letter soup and I couldn’t decide how I felt about any of them.

Okay so,

DD1’s name has been suggested a few times at least I came up with a list of names I like and DH vetoed all of them. DH suggested about six and I really didn’t like any of them there is a name that we both like but don’t love and I have a feeling that’ll end up being her name. I just wish I really loved it, but my top 5 DH doesn’t like and I wouldn’t force it because his suggestions were really not something I would want to call my DD.

My DD1 I'd known for years it was what I wanted to call a girl if I had one (and luckily very fussy DH liked the name too!).

With DD2 I massively struggled to find a name I liked nearly as much, and ended up going for a name that both me and DH thought was quite nice rather than brilliant (and we both had names we liked much more but sadly these didn't overlap at all!). She's now 8 months and I can't imagine her being called anything else, so please don't worry too much about it!

Oh it’s so tough! Then one day you just hear a name and it clicks! My suggestions are:

Naomi
Delphi
Halle
Liberty
Lydia
Iris
Ivy
Romilly
Romy

Florina

Willow

Iris

Ivy

Violet