Who won the name game in your family?

[Anonymous]

Curious if you ever hear a kid's name and think, “Yup, the mom won that one.”

In your family, who won the "Name This Baby" game? You? Your spouse? Your MIL? Their big brother? Or was it a totally egalitarian decision? Is everyone happy with the outcome, or is someone still secretly simmering away in anger that Oliver isn't Maverick?

[Anonymous]

For the first baby, it was solidly a joint decision. The second baby was adopted, and DH wanted to use the birth mom's initials in the baby's name in some way. I wasn't super enthusiastic but he felt strongly so I gave in. I'm fine with it.

[Anonymous]

In our family, I came up with the list and husband could veto. He vetoed my #1 choice, but we agreed on the second. No one else was involved, nor should they be.

[Anonymous]

How would you know the mom won, vs. the dad? (Not including Juniors and III etc.) Does Mom = weird name? That seems unnecessarily sexist.

[Anonymous]

My child's birth mom and my husband's mom won. We just wanted a child. The name wasn't that important to us.

[Anonymous]

My DH. I like our DC's name (it was my suggestion, actually). But we landed on it only because my DH vetoed literally every other name in the history of creation. He would not even entertain a single other name, even though I really wasn't 100% sold on this name. Then two weeks before the baby came, he finally suggested a single name (I had been asking him for months to make a list of names he liked so we could talk through them, rather than me suggesting names only to have him shoot every single one down). Which I liked but felt unsure about. Plus by then I was honestly just frustrated and mad at him for kind of ruining what I thought would be a fun aspect of having a baby, picking a name, by being very non-collaborative and stubborn.

We gave our baby that first name, and it's a good name, and I'm happy with it. But I do sometimes wonder if one of the other names I suggested, and especially one of the names from my shortlist that he wouldn't even consider, would have been better. I also sometimes wonder if the name he suggested would have been better! I basically have name anxiety, and I fully blame my DH for being a huge PITA during the name-picking process for that. I didn't really feel like we chose a name so much as I just got tired, which is not the best possible circumstances under which to choose your child's name.

But no one would know any of this from our child's name. Which again, I like! Sigh.

[Anonymous]

My children’s birth mothers named them.

[Anonymous]

First baby: DH. I wanted to name her after my mom or my sister (and that’s what we had agreed on before I got pregnant) but DH said never mind, I actually just really don’t like your mom and your sister and I don’t want to name my kid after them. Luckily I didn’t care that much.

The name for baby #2 was chosen by our oldest, and I love that.

[Anonymous]

I won on the first two girls. He won on the third and that's why you have a fourth Isabella in your child's class. I basically hate her name.

[Anonymous]

I'm the mom and kept my maiden name. We both decided early that our child would have his last name and my last name as the middle name. Then over time we both threw name possibilities at each other...if someone said no that choice was done. Both of us think we brought the name we ultimately chose to the table. But after we shared the name with my MIL, she said my FIL (who passed many years ago) originally wanted to name my H that name, and changed his mind at the last minute. So in our case, I fully believe my FIL won the name game in our family, sending us that name from the other side. And it's the perfect name for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I won on the first two girls. He won on the third and that's why you have a fourth Isabella in your child's class. I basically hate her name.

WTH? Isabella isn't actually that common, PP. You need to chill out.

[Anonymous]

Kids got my husband's last name, so I pulled together a list of first names and we jointly chose one that we liked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you know the mom won, vs. the dad? (Not including Juniors and III etc.) Does Mom = weird name? That seems unnecessarily sexist.

What a strange conclusion. In the jr. III that’s definitely the “weird” name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious if you ever hear a kid's name and think, “Yup, the mom won that one.”

In your family, who won the "Name This Baby" game? You? Your spouse? Your MIL? Their big brother? Or was it a totally egalitarian decision? Is everyone happy with the outcome, or is someone still secretly simmering away in anger that Oliver isn't Maverick?

What a strange way to think of winning or losing while naming your baby! Why such a zero-sum game? Both my dh and I chose our kids' names and we are both happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you know the mom won, vs. the dad? (Not including Juniors and III etc.) Does Mom = weird name? That seems unnecessarily sexist.

OP here. I know it's unnecessarily sexist, but I can't help myself. It just pops into my head whenever someone introduces kids. For example:
Annabel (mom)
Jordan the girl (dad)
Gerald (the in-laws)
Moana (3-year old Annabel).

I have synesthesia for the origins of names. Does anybody else?