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Baby names

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

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Original poster

How did you decide baby names?

33 replies

yellowflowers · 09/04/2010 13:51

I literally got my bfp a few days ago so I am a) emotional and b) it is such early days, but I wanted to start discussing names because I love thinking about names (as you will see from me posting on baby names thread even while ttc). DH thought way too early and also he thought my [plan of us both looking at baby name book, both making a list, then comparing list and seeing what we have in common was ridiculous. He said he thought we could just suggest names as we think of them and see what we like - but I am worried we'll miss a good one that way.

So, just wondering - how did you decide the names of your children?

OP posts:

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mistressploppy · 09/04/2010 13:56

Heh heh - I thought the same as your DH but we ended up doing the baby name book/list thing - worked BRILLIANTLY because then you stop panicking that you've accidentally missed the BEST NAME EVER.

There are some brilliant name books out there, buy a couple and snuggle in with 'em

You'll do this process several times of course, but a theme will emerge...we started before I was pg, over beers, and did the final one on holiday when I was 30wks. We've kept the list for the baby book - and for the girls' names in case we have one in the future!

mistressploppy · 09/04/2010 13:56

Oh, by the way, congrats again for you bfp - I saw your previous thread and my fingers/toes/eyes are crossed for you

Original poster

yellowflowers · 09/04/2010 14:01

thanks you mistress plopply - me too! Though hoping it sticks!!

OP posts:

Intergalactic · 09/04/2010 14:05

What we did (and it sounds like you may like this method too!) is download the latest baby name lists from the Office for National Statistics website. They list every name given to more than two children in the past year - which means there are thousands of names on each list! You can see how each name ranked and how many babies were given each name. I went through them first and crossed off everything I wouldn't consider. Then we went through them together a few times, crossing more off. However, we still have about 12 names on each list and DC is due on Monday!

Intergalactic · 09/04/2010 14:07

Lists are here.

notso · 09/04/2010 14:08

Congratulations.

Dh and I started with the books but found they just lead us to laugh at names like Mungo or Gaylord (no doubt loads of people will come on here now with twins named this so sorry in advance)
Anyway we ended up just saying random names to each other and writing down the ones we liked.

SusieCarmichael · 09/04/2010 14:09

a random name popped into my head when i first found out i was pg that we both liked, we went through thousands of names (mainly me looking at websites and suggesting some to dp) but the one that stuck was the first one ever mentioned and thats now dd's name it was meant to be...

Original poster

yellowflowers · 09/04/2010 14:19

Thanks all - and for the list - I've been so excited about this bit for ever!

OP posts:

SqueezyB · 09/04/2010 14:52

thanks for the lists, Intergalactic, I've only found the top 100 lists before so this is ace!

Lovethesea · 09/04/2010 14:54

It is fun - but my DH is not so keen on it all so your partner is not alone. I worked my way through 2 baby name books and marked all I quite liked or was interested in. He then vetoed anything he hated. DH added suggestions that I put on the list and over the months we whittled it down to a few.

When DC1 arrived we didn't know gender so it took us 24 hours to choose the first name from the girls shortlist, then another 24 hours to match it with its middle name.

Fun :-)

This time we know DC2 is meant to be a boy so we have gone over names left from last time. DH is not keen on a backup girls name as he thinks it a waste of time as the sonographer was happy it was a boy .... I'm just preparing to send him home for the name books as fast as possible if a girl arrives!

Once I got to know his style of names, and he mine, we soon found loads were too modern/old fashioned/bleugh to us that the other liked. That really helped to thin the list too

stupidgreatgrinonmyface · 09/04/2010 15:38

Well, we had two methods. Firstly, when we were first dating, we were talking about names and discovered that we both loved the same first name for a boy, so decided there and then that if we ever got married and if we had a boy, that would be his name. Reader, we did marry ( about 5 years later) and we did have a son ( a further 6 years down the line) and at that time, we invested in a really good name book. DH sat down and went through it making a list of names he liked. I did the same. We then went through our lists to find any that we had in common. There were only about five girls names and four boys names. We narrowed it down to four of each ( in case we had twins). And when DS! was born, we went with the name we had chosen nearly 11 years earlier! When DS2 was expected, we just dug out the original list, decided there was nothing we like better so decided to go with either our remaining bys name or the favourite of the two girls names on the list.

I know many people like to wait until the baby is born to see 'what it looks like' but personally I would have ended up calling both mine ET had we done that!

Angela82 · 09/04/2010 15:54

Mine all similar to the above methods ! But like stupidgreatgrinonmyface we also just thought the name Jacob was nice when I first got pregnant (so not 11 years ago but at the start anyway !), trawled through all the name books/statistic making lists etc... then called our little boy Jacob. Second time made a list again and then just decided we liked the name Sawyer and used that.

This time we are having a girl and are pretty much already settled on the name we first liked when I was first pregnant with Jacob which was Jemima.

I'll probably still trawl the books/stats and make lists etc and then I reckon we will end up back at Jemima again !

But this is the fun part right ??

MamaLazarou · 09/04/2010 17:02

We spent the whole 9 months suggesting names to each other and discounting the ones we couldn't agree on. We tested all suggestions under the following criteria: a) instantly recognisable as a name (rather than a thing, or place) b) easy to spell and pronounce c) uncommon enough so that they will be the only child by that name at school.

We ended up with a shortlist of 3, and just picked our favourite.

We didn't use baby name books, as we found them uninspiring.

We are very pleased with our choice and have no regrets: it's just the best name ever!

toolly · 09/04/2010 18:07

Names will come to you through the ether, seriously. Read books, newspapers, a name will just pop out at you and feel right. It is supposed to be fun and you have up to six weeks after the birth before you commit to your choice of name (and even up to a year you can still change)
Relax, chill and BTW congratulations

MamaVoo · 09/04/2010 18:15

We just suggested names as we thought of them - with lots of joke suggestions thrown in for good measure. The only boys name we could agree on was inspired from watching Star Trek one evening

CantThinkofFunnyName · 09/04/2010 18:27

I read books and made lists. DH looked at said lists and crossed off the names he didn't like. I kept adding and removing names too. I put it on noticeboard in kitchen for 9 months and about 3 weeks before due date, another girls name sprung to mind - and that's what we ended up going with. We finally decided on boys name as I was on op table for c/sec! However, a girl it was !.

With my second DC, as soon as I found out, DH said XX for a girl and I said oooh, I like YY. So we decided on XX YY for first and middle name. That quick.

First DC was a name I had picked out from when I was a nipped .

TottWriter · 09/04/2010 20:42

We struggled all through my pregnancy for a boy's name. I was actually desperately hoping for a girl because we had a girl's name but not a boy's. We just couldn't find one we both liked which wasn't already overdone in one or both of our families, or which didn't clash hideously with the surname. I would have loved to name a sone after my grandfather, but then he would have wound up with the name of a major department store, so that was out.

We chatted to a friend who had a son, and she said all through her pregnancy she called her baby 'XXX' because she knew he was a boy, but when he was born the name just didn't fit. She jokingly said that we could have the name, and lo and behold, when my baby was born and turned out to be a boy, after about half an hour of umming and ahhing, XXX he became.

Everyone had to turn it over in their heads a few times, as it did seem very different to the sort of names we'd been considering - the likes of David and George had been thought of but discarded due to family overusage - but everyone agrees that the name really suits him now.

Mind you, god only knows what we're going to do if my current bump turns out to be a boy as well. We've still got our girl's name handy, but the boy's name is a very tentative one.

letsblowthistacostand · 09/04/2010 22:25

Both times, I came up with 100,000 names that DH either vetoed or refused to discuss until 20 wk scan (we found out gender). Then one of us suggested The Name (me for DD1, DH for DD2) and that was that--we knew it when we heard it. Didn't really use name books, but they are awfully fun to look at!

MrsvWoolf · 10/04/2010 00:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KristinaM · 10/04/2010 00:13

congratulations!

i mostly discussed it on munsnet or with my friends - i find that most men are not that into the whole name/buggy/car seat choosing thing [sweeping generalisation i know]

my Dh is very simple so i presented him with a short list later on. it takes then a bit longer to grasp its really a baby IME

hattee · 10/04/2010 02:29

It was a nightmare! DH has awful taste and vetoed every name I suggested. He decided that he liked x. I didn't like x at all, but he continued to veto my suggestions so when it came to the birth, x was the only name on our shortlist. I liked y, but it didn't really go with the middle name (which is a family name), so DS became x.

After a few months we changed it to y x original middle name, as I just couldn't settle on x at all. So its still his second name, but thank goodness he now has a first name that I love (and DS likes it too)

I seem to be the only person that really didn't like this baby naming lark

Psammead · 10/04/2010 17:59

DH and I are from different countries, so our method was a little different (although very similar to many posters here). We printed out the top 250 names for both our countries and went through them, crossing out, or ticking names which we liked/disliked.

We then cross-referenced the names with the other list to make sure the names we liked were known/pronounceable/not too common/not too weird in each other's countries.

We came up with a beautiful name, (imo!!) Lucia.

Middle name was something which my OH really didn't care about so much, so I basically went through on my own and presented him with options. Very happy with the one we ended up with.

Good luck! Thinking about names was my very favourite thing of my whole pregnancy. I LOVED it.

Psammead · 10/04/2010 18:06

More detail - once we had a shortlist, we gave the names marks out of 10 in various categories - meaning, popularity in my country, popularity in his country, prettiness, how nice it sounds with surname etc.

Then with our second shortlist, we pinned it to the wardrobe door and looked at it for ages before we choose. I think we ended up with 4 names in the end.

I first came across the name we finally used (Lucia) here on the mumsnet '10 random names' bit on the baby name finder page!

SirBoobAlot · 10/04/2010 18:17

It was the only one we could agree on Surname and middle names were sorted quite early on, but I fancied things such as Dmitri, Harvey and Elijah, whereas DP liked Oliver. Bryn was the only one we could properly agree on, so Bryn he is called!

Ineedsomesleep · 10/04/2010 18:20

Didn't. DH said if our first DC was a boy he wanted him called George as its a family name. DC was a boy so he got his way.

With DC 2 he refused to agree on a name and vetoed lots and lots of my suggestions.

He waited until I was in the 3rd stage of labour and said how about Emmeline and I said yss. Although to be fair it had been one of my suggestions.

Please get him to decide before you give birth!

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