I don’t know about anyone else, but choosing baby names in our house is a huge battle. Hubby and I have completely different tastes in names. His suggestions make me cringe and visa versa. Of course my suggestions aren’t cringe, us women are always right 😉
Choosing Lambs name was pretty difficult too. I had a shortlist of names I liked, but again hubby had his own preferences and we couldn’t agree.
The name we went with was actually hubby’s suggestions initially. We knew we wanted a name beginning with J but I just didn’t want the usual names like Joshua or Jacob. As lovely as these are I just wanted something a little more unusual. I also wanted to find something no one we knew had used. Which was of course impossible as J names are hugely popular.
The weeks went by and I finally decided to go with the J name that hubby like initially, however by this point he had gone off it and wanted to choose something else! You see, he does this a lot and it really stresses me out! I finally think we’ve agreed on a name and suddenly we are back to square one!
About 2 weeks before Lamb was due hubby finally agreed that we should call him the J name. Phew! I had my heart set on it and it felt right. We were sensible though and had a back up. When you finally meet your little one the name you’ve chosen just might not suit them. Believe it or not our back up was Freddie. To us, Freddie was a cute name that would suit a little blonde boy (we assumed Lamb would be blond as both hubby and I are) and knew we wouldn’t end up hating his name if it was Freddie!
When Lamb was born I remember hubby asking if I still liked the J name for him and luckily I did. It was perfect. I loved it then and I still love it now.
Fast forward 3 years and we are back to the baby naming battle with baby number 2.
I actually love a name that was on my shortlist for Lamb in early pregnancy. I’ve gone back to it and really think our little boy will suit it. And guess what, hubby initially suggested it this time like he did with Lambs name. Of course, in usual hubby style, a few weeks later he goes off it and my heart broke a little.
Choosing a baby name is so, so difficult, especially for boys! We found choosing girls names so easy with times, but of course we were having boys.
On Wednesday evening we had a 4D scan (I’ll be writing a post about this soon) and we got to ‘meet’ our baby boy. OMG he is absolutely gorgeous. I mean, of course I’m biased, but he’s seriously cute and the name I want for him is just perfect. It’s the only name I can see myself calling him. You can suggest as many names as you like, I just won’t like it enough. It’s not his name.
We went out for dinner after the scan to celebrate; we were on such a high after such an amazing experience. Looking at our 3D scan photos I knew the name I wanted was his name, I just had to convince hubby.
His issue is, he doesn’t want a name that people would make fun of, but we all know there’s a huge craze for quirky and unusual names, and these are actually more ‘normal’ to hear. The name I want isn’t even that unusual, although I only know one person with that name.
I’ve told a couple of people the name I want and it’s had a really positive reaction. I’ve told hubby this over and over, and although I feel bad for trying to force the name on him, I just know it’s the right choice.
At dinner after the scan I can happily say we’ve finally agreed on baby number 2’s name (unless he changes his mind again, there’s still time!). We have his first and middle name and I love it. Like with Lambs name, the first name is a little different and the middle name is very traditional/old fashioned, but this works really well and they sound great together (not that you say middles names very much).
Of course I’ll be keeping his name a secret until he’s born, especially as I’m not convinced hubby is totally happy with it.
If you are unsure about a name my trick is to imagine telling someone what your baby is called. For example, picture yourself bumping into someone you haven’t seen in a long time and they ask you what your baby is called, then reply with the name you’re considering. If you can image telling people this name and it feels right then go for it. If it sounds cringe then it’s not ‘the one’.
Who else struggles with baby names? It really is such an important decision, well I think so anyway. Your child has to live with it for the rest of their life, but you do too. You have to say it millions of times and the last thing you want is a name you end up hating.
Fingers crossed we stick with the name I want! 😉
Ax
Oooh I want to know what the J name is too now!! We never really struggled as such, we narrowed both of them down to two names and waited until they were born. Jack was going to be either Jack or Noah, but I’m so glad we chose Jack as i’m not keen on Noah anymore and Phoebe was going to be either Phoebe or Poppy and it was actually the midwife that said you can’t call her Poppy it’s far too popular and i’m so glad she did as I love Phoebe. Middle names were always a given, William for Jack and Willow for Phoebs x
Aw I’m so glad you’re decided on a name (for now!) and I can’t wait to find out what you’ve chosen in a few months and see some cute newborn photos, eeeekkk! 🙂
I love Lamb’s name so I definitely think you have good taste when it comes to that sort of thing X
Ahhh thanks Hun! I think I’ve got pretty good taste too! Nothing too common, but nothing too unusual, a nice balance! Lamb has a name he wants to call him so that might be his middle name but we haven’t decided yet! Xx
In my pregnancies I think I more or less had the names for girls sorted before 20 weeks, boys on the other hand I found so so hard! It’s hard to get the cute baby name and he’s guna be a man with this name one day balance! Thankfully I had girls! haha xx
We never had a struggle with names. Ours were all decided quite early on it pregnancy. It allowed us to get closer I think.
My youngest was Baby Bass for over a week as we couldn’t decide on a name. Hope you don’t change your minds again.
Aaw that’s great you’ve decided on baby boy’s name! Fingers crossed your hubby doesn’t change his mind! We found it really easy choosing a name for our little girl and I couldn’t imagine her being called anything different other than Sophie. I hope it’s just as easy next time around! x
it is so tricky! We had an option that one of us chooses the first name and one of us the middle name. The husband gave my daughter my name for her middle name – so creative haha 😉
I’m pleased you’ve agreed on a name! Picking our kids names wasn’t too hard actually we went with family names I’m pleased that we liked them actually! and i was totally set on Alister from day one thankfully Graham agreed!
Woop! Fingers crossed hubby doesn’t change his mind! Our argument is Ivermiddle names but hubby is standing his ground and baby girl won’t have one, which I dislike! We’ve had our names picked for ages but I think because it’s all so close now I’m panicking and looking at alternatives just to be sure!xx
Oh completely! It felt such a huge responsibility to give another human being the right name. What if we picked wrong?
With my first we deliberated for weeks, both coming up with names that the other just poo-pooed, only for us to both say the same name at the same time, Marla (the name of a roadhouse and town in Australia we once lived in). Initially we then laughed and said no, but then the next day I realised that that was it, so job done.
But with our second nothing like that happened. As we got closer and closer do my due date I started to get more and more stressed.
I have friends who told me to wait until she was born to see what she looked like, but this stressed me out even more. I like to be organised and the thought of not having a name before birth terrified me – what if when she was born we still didn’t know?
But finally we came up with a list of possibles that we would both be happy with and started picking them apart – names that were too common, unusual, or even those that were mentioned in news articles as most likely to be trouble makers at school, all got crossed off, until we were left with one. Hurrah, all was well. We had a name – Summer. And then she was born and I started calling her Phoebe! Well thankfully I got used to it eventually and Summer fits her name beautifully. But I’ll always wonder if we got it right.
With James he was always James as it eas my grandads name. When it came to Freddie we struggled with boys names. We still loved the girls name we had had when I was expecting James we struggled to find something we liked it wasnt till i eas about 28/29 weeks we finally decided on Freddie