OP I think this is a funny post, just to offer a counter perspective to those who are taking it VERY seriously.

Both names were mutual decisions. We have 2 boys.

I love the name we chose for DS1. It is a real name but not too popular, and has meaning in our extended family.

The second name is just okay, but I could not think of anything that I really liked and we basically had to pick a name to get discharged from the hospital. I think I was texting friends and having them vote at that point.

It's a very trendy boy name and there are a bunch of kids with the same name, and it just screams suburban family trying too hard. But, what's done is done.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same for us for our first child. Our second child was the same gender as #1 and we used the third name on the same list.

DW here. I “won” both. And DH loves both now (though he still would have liked a George)

Anonymous wrote:I won for both our kids. My FIL is still upset our DS is not the 4th, but he got to name his kids and I get to name mine. The 4th was not happening.

I couldn't do the 4th either. My parents took it in stride.

Our kids have DH's last name, and I spent 18 months pregnant with them, so I had the ultimate say for their first and middle names.

No one "won."

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is how we named our kids, too. We also used one of my girl name picks DH has vetoed as our daughter’s middle name. He liked her first name so much, he didn’t really care what her middle name was - plus he liked the initials so that was an extra bonus for me.

This is funny but we were just talking w/ my husband, listing the names. And my son name was the first we both agreed.- yes

DH and I agreed on the names of all three of our kids. We never entertained the idea of picking a name the other one disliked.

We didn't know the sex of our first two; thankfully, the oldest was a girl and we'd had a girls name picked out for years. For the second, a boy, we had a short list of names and independently liked the same one after he was born. And for the third, also a boy, we used one of the names on that shortlist for our second, because we still liked it. Easy.

Weird post.

We had mutual veto power. Agreed on our only but I think DH originally suggested it. I can’t be sure of that. I actually suspect most people would think it’s “my” name. But it really wasn’t like that at all.

My husband and I both made lists of names privately and then we compared. For my daughter, we both had the same girl name on our list so it was easy. Another name that was on my list because her middle name, but that's also because it was my grandmother's name who passed away the day before my daughter was born.

For my son, we had a tougher time because neither of us "loved" any boy names and no names appeared on both lists. We both like his name; we don't love it but it's fine. For his middle name we took my maiden name and picked a "first name" that is similar.

It's not a zero sum game.

I won for both our kids. My FIL is still upset our DS is not the 4th, but he got to name his kids and I get to name mine. The 4th was not happening.

I did. My ex insisted on naming a boy after himself. I flat refused, and because we weren't married threatened to leave him off the birth certificate.

Instead we came up with a fantastic name that I love, that is NOT his own, and we used a family name from my family for the middle name.

Anonymous wrote:We are an ethnic family and my dh and I were the first to have kids. My SIL has accused me of ‘taking all the good names’ and not leaving any for her cuz I took girls names that sound feminine and names that can be anglicized.

Wow! I am so excited to hear how many dozens, if not hundreds, of daughters you have!

We have 3 kids.
Kid 1 - named after a relative of DH, but I was ok with it - we are Jewish and it was someone close to him who passed away and before I was even pregnant he said if we have a boy I want to name him this and I understood.
Kid 2 - joint - boy
Kid 3 - he had a boy name he liked, and I had a girl name I liked. The agreement we made was if boy he could use the name he liked, and if girl, I could use the name I liked. She is a girl.

We are an ethnic family and my dh and I were the first to have kids. My SIL has accused me of ‘taking all the good names’ and not leaving any for her cuz I took girls names that sound feminine and names that can be anglicized.