Baby name regret?

[Anonymous]

We decided to name DD something classic, that has a fun nickname that was also the name of a great aunt my husband was fond of. When she gets older, and she thinks her nickname is too babyish, and her "classical" name is too stuffy/dorky, she can go by her middle name, which is something kinda modern and cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... Just tell he grandparents to chill and tell them you are going to get her to call them something really bad for grandparent names if they don't just let you make the decision. You are the mother!

Ha, I'm the OP and this made me laugh because my mom is sooo funny about being called a certain "grandma" name and nothing else. Hmmmm....

[Anonymous]

We named our daughter Gabrielle (born in 2003). She was going to be Madeline--we'd "decided" years before--and then I was on a baby names board, and came across a woman who named her daughter Gabrielle. I mentioned it to DH in passing, and he fell in love with it. He preferred it to Madeline, and I was evenly torn. We went with Gabrielle.

I sometimes regret not sticking with Madeline, just because there's something about Gabrielle that somehow feels less classic and timeless to me. But I'm not really stressed about it. Gabrielle has never gone by a nickname (thankfully, she won't stand to be called Gabby and politely corrects anyone who does it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Do you love it because you wanted to name your child for a specific person, or is it a name that just happens to be in your family that you like a lot? I'm just wondering because I really want to understand why people end up behaving like such sheep despite their best intentions. You might not have liked Sophie at all 10 years ago, and may not have thought of it as a name you would use until recently when it became so popular. I think that people just think they like names because of their own tastes, when really they are inadvertently just adjusting their tastes to trends. I'm just asking because I find all of this interesting. I don't know--Maybe Sophie is your favorite grandmother.

I think this is interesting, too, because I inadvertently became one of these people. My grandfather's name was Harold, so I needed an "H" name for my daughter. I have always loved the name Haley, but my husband's cousin used that for her daughter, so it was out. I have bad associations with several people I have known named Heather (no offense to the Heathers out there), Heidi was too closely associated with the book/movie, Harriet is my mother's middle name (and she abhors it), Helen is lovely but too 'old' for me...so what was left? Hannah. (And it's a palindrome and I love palindromes). The only Hannahs I knew at the time were in the Bible, Hannah and Her Sisters, and one girl from Iceland I went to camp with. That's it. Once I was well into the pregnancy and my husband and I were attached to the name, I found out how popular it was and I was devastated. I didn't want her to be Hannah First Initial her whole life. But I love the name and it is her name and I have gotten over it. And one of her best friends is named Hannah and I think it is so cute how they have progressed from calling each other 'the other Hannah' to 'Hannah Last Name'. But really, I don't know how it happened...and one of my all time favorite names since I was a child is Ellie and I know that is super popular right now. Again, a mystery, but it is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Many of my Jewish friends have named their children after their grandparents only if they are not still living and only by using the first letter of the grandparent's name, not the full name. What would a Jewish person do whose grandparents were all living? PP--were you kidding? This doesn't sound right to me.

The tradition is not a grandparent per se but a loved one who has died. You can use either the full name or just the initial. Or just the Hebrew name. My English name is just one that my parents liked but my Hebrew name is for my mother's grandfather. My brother's Hebrew name is after my mother's close friend. My DD1 is named for my maternal grandfather (first letter) and my husband's maternal grandfather (same name, different spelling). DD2 is named for my husband's paternal grandfather (female version of his name) and my grandmother's favorite aunt who was special to me (same name).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I think this is interesting, too, because I inadvertently became one of these people. My grandfather's name was Harold, so I needed an "H" name for my daughter. I have always loved the name Haley, but my husband's cousin used that for her daughter, so it was out. I have bad associations with several people I have known named Heather (no offense to the Heathers out there), Heidi was too closely associated with the book/movie, Harriet is my mother's middle name (and she abhors it), Helen is lovely but too 'old' for me...so what was left? Hannah. (And it's a palindrome and I love palindromes). The only Hannahs I knew at the time were in the Bible, Hannah and Her Sisters, and one girl from Iceland I went to camp with. That's it. Once I was well into the pregnancy and my husband and I were attached to the name, I found out how popular it was and I was devastated. I didn't want her to be Hannah First Initial her whole life. But I love the name and it is her name and I have gotten over it. And one of her best friends is named Hannah and I think it is so cute how they have progressed from calling each other 'the other Hannah' to 'Hannah Last Name'. But really, I don't know how it happened...and one of my all time favorite names since I was a child is Ellie and I know that is super popular right now. Again, a mystery, but it is beautiful.

I'm one of the Heathers out there; if it makes you feel any better, I've always hated my name! That said, I was one of three Heathers in my grade (2 classes 25, for 50 total)--and our last names all started with the same letter! But, we also had two Johns, three Michaels (at least), a couple of Amys... so, we just all got used to it. We really never used last names until we need to clarify. So, I never referred to the Amys as Amy A or Amy C; it was just Amy until someone asked "Which Amy?" If a teacher called on someone, they tended to be looking at the person, so they never needed to use a last name. For whatever reason, we never really thought twice about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Do you love it because you wanted to name your child for a specific person, or is it a name that just happens to be in your family that you like a lot? I'm just wondering because I really want to understand why people end up behaving like such sheep despite their best intentions. You might not have liked Sophie at all 10 years ago, and may not have thought of it as a name you would use until recently when it became so popular. I think that people just think they like names because of their own tastes, when really they are inadvertently just adjusting their tastes to trends. I'm just asking because I find all of this interesting. I don't know--Maybe Sophie is your favorite grandmother.

You're being a little insulting, you know. To come to a forum where people are admitting their fear that they did a bad thing to their child (in giving a common name), and to call them sheep? It's inappropriate and unkind, and I wish you'd either choose your words better, or find someone else to pick on.

I was just saying it would be interesting to understand why poeple who think they are just following their own tastes end up following the crowd. We all do it with out hairstyles, clothes, etc., but in those instances, I think we all know that we are trying to wear what is "in." In the case of baby names, no one ever says they are trying to pick what's "in," but names end up following trends, too. "Behaving like sheep" means following others' behavior as almost just a matter of impulse. Sorry to offend. I would think that people would want to understand the origins of their own tastes so that they don't end up with multiple kids with trendy names when they thought they were just going with personal preferences.

I think you're the same poster who went off in a different thread talking about how people are being trendy modern and trendy traditional. In many families, naming a child after a grandparent is expected. So we're seeing some names come around after being gone for a generation. Try to get over it, ok?

No, I'm the poster on the different thread that talked about trendy modern and trendy traditional. I was just pointing out that going traditional is a trend in itself. Maybe I am slightly jealous because quite honestly we didn't have much to choose from that we wanted to go with in the grandparent pool - there was a southern name also the name of a Little House on the Prairie character, a name that was very close to my own name (almost same spelling as my nickname but a slightly different way of pronouncing it), Dorothy, and a name that is popular and also my middle name but would have felt as if we were choosing one grandparent over the other. We even looked at middle names of grandparents - and no dice. I may have secretly felt like if we had an Emma or Hannah in the mix we could have picked a family name but well the cards weren’t in our favor.

But anyway, I agree that there must be some reason why everyone is influenced to pick the same names that they don't even realize it. Is it that there was the wave of Jennifers and Amy's that said for their child they wanted to make sure they didn't have a popular name so they all decided to pick a grandparent's name/or go retro for the name rather than a modern/trendy name. Did someone have an unusual name growing up and really wanted to name their kids something more common. Also when people talk about names they have liked forever - I loved Isabel and Gabriella as a young girl and swore that was what I wanted to name my girls some day. There was a pretty, romantic feel to the name. We have two friends that have used Isabel/Isabella. There has to be something to it that so many other girls that grew up in the same era also had the same names in their mind.

So back to the OP's question - we are happy with the names we picked - but I have to give my DH all the credit with the names. It's funny because on one hand the greatest compliment is "wow, I love those names - why didn't we think of it". On the other hand - we don't want everyone else to use them My DH somehow managed to pick names that are easy to spell, not that unusual, but somehow not very common. I think everyone is wrapped up in the whole name game so to speak because it is the first official act as a parent and you feel like the name has your hope and fears for your child and how they will be perceived in world i.e. does this name say could be head of the student government or throw down at the playground. One of the things I remember one of my co-workers telling me was that kids will be able to find things to make fun of any name or anybody. His name was Michael and there was some stupid playground rhyme about Michael Michael motorcycle and something about turn the key and make him pee. As a person that has an unusual name and always hated the way people could never spell it, would mispronounce it, would make stupid jokes (I actually changed my name on my name tag in my grocery store job as a teenager so I didn’t have the hear the same witty comment from every tenth customer), swore to my mom more than once I would use my middle name (to which she would reply that if someone called me on the phone by that name that she would say that person didn't live here AND she didn't use nicknames or middle names) - I even seriously thought about going my my middle name in college but after 18 years I thought I was used to responding to my first name. So anyway the point of the story - after all the name angst - I think I am a relatively happy adult and maybe in the end the name did fit but it just took me years to grow into it and be able to stand up for myself politely and it started with my name. The fact my mom didn't want to follow the crowd at the time of naming me was pretty much keeping with how she raised us - (trust me we were the kids without the latest sneakers in 5th and 6th grade). So OP - stand by your choice - you have a reason or feeling why you picked it. The rest will work itself out over time.

[Anonymous]

PP here - just to clarify in case you think my name is Apple, my mom picked an ethnic been around for centuries name so in a world that wants to blend, that in itself stood out.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have a child who uses their middle name (instead of first) and is of grade school age? I'm just curious what happens when you hit school. Does the teacher automatically call the first name on roster? My son goes by his middle name exclusively and might even be embarrased if someone called him on roll call by something else!!

[Anonymous]

Ok, so getting back to the subject, I actually searched this post because I am having major freak-out regrets about the name I chose for my DD! At the time, I loved it, and still think it is quite beautiful.

Thing is, no one can pronounce it correctly (it's an Israeli name) and I happen to have found another name I like better in the process of freaking out!

Oh no!

It is good to see on this listserv that some folks have gone and actually changed their child's name, but I have a feeling my husband would plotz. He can barely handle me getting a haircut, let alone changing our baby girl's name! I love my son's name, it's also Israeli, but works in English as well as Hebrew, so it's not a big deal. Anyway, we're having her naming ceremony (ha ha!) on August 2, so I'm now even more obsessed with names. Can anyone else jump in and relate their experiences with changing a child's name (vs. popularity of a name...)

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Yikes! mom to be here, with a "short" list of 8 names for girls and a due date of July 25. (d'oh!).

We don't know if we are having a boy or a girl and have picked the name for our boy (fairly unusual but not made up or anything) and are struggling over the girls name. I think the neo-classic names are beginning to return. My name was never super popular, but it peaked in 1943 and then plunged off the charts. I was given the name in 1973 and I've only ever met one other person within 15 years of me named the same thing. I've always loved my name, which I think is classic, and I think that is why I am drawn to classic names of the same era. Unfortunately, these classic names are now the trendy names. I still prefer these to the made up names (agree with PP way back who goes crazy over "unique" spelling of modern trendy names like Maddysyn, Ryleigh, etc.

When I was in college, my chosen kid names were Hannah, Grace, Jack and Grant. Wouldn't go there now on anything except Grant, and we can't use that becuase my husband has a good friend named Grant (but not such a good friend that we can name the kid after).

Anyway, we had a front runner for the girls name but are having misgivings. At least we're having them now, before the baby arrives!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Do you love it because you wanted to name your child for a specific person, or is it a name that just happens to be in your family that you like a lot? I'm just wondering because I really want to understand why people end up behaving like such sheep despite their best intentions. You might not have liked Sophie at all 10 years ago, and may not have thought of it as a name you would use until recently when it became so popular. I think that people just think they like names because of their own tastes, when really they are inadvertently just adjusting their tastes to trends. I'm just asking because I find all of this interesting. I don't know--Maybe Sophie is your favorite grandmother.

You're being a little insulting, you know. To come to a forum where people are admitting their fear that they did a bad thing to their child (in giving a common name), and to call them sheep? It's inappropriate and unkind, and I wish you'd either choose your words better, or find someone else to pick on.

This thread is so annoying. What's the big deal if your child has a popular name? My children both have classic names. They are both popular and we knew it when we named them. Did we choose them because they were popular? No. Actually, we chose them both before we had really heard of many others with them (i.e. before the spike) but they became popular before we had the babies. They were certainly not "unique" names, but we didn't want "unique" names. We wanted beautuful, classic names that wouldn't look ridiculous on a resume when the child becomes an adult. I don't feel like a sheep. In fact, it makes me laugh that someone would judge me for chosing to name my child the name I did. Perhaps the PP who is caught up on calling everyone else "sheep" has issues with her own name or something.