Name Decision Timing

[katiek]

I'm wondering how many people decide 100% on their baby's name before the baby is born. I see a lot of nurseries with the baby's name on the wall, so I assume it's somewhat common to have it picked out before.

H and I have narrowed it down to two names, and we're both leaning towards the same one. H is reluctant to make a final decision until he's born, but I want to call him by name for the next 17 weeks. H is worried he might not look or seem like a Milo when he's born, but I don't really get that, because I don't know how people can look like a name.

Why did (or will) you decide when you did?

[IndiaInk]

Mar 27, 2014 10:22:01 GMT -5 katiek said:

I'm wondering how many people decide 100% on their baby's name before the baby is born. I see a lot of nurseries with the baby's name on the wall, so I assume it's somewhat common to have it picked out before.

H and I have narrowed it down to two names, and we're both leaning towards the same one. H is reluctant to make a final decision until he's born, but I want to call him by name for the next 17 weeks. H is worried he might not look or seem like a Milo when he's born, but I don't really get that, because I don't know how people can look like a name.

Why did (or will) you decide when you did?

I'm with you on this one.  I don't quite understand how a squishy-faced newborn can look like he/she will fit one name over another.  I feel like I'd just be more confused if I showed up at the hospital with a list of names.  Plus, it seems like a big decision to make while exhausted from labor and possibly in a state of sleep deprivation!

[katiek]

Mar 27, 2014 10:24:28 GMT -5 IndiaInk said:

Mar 27, 2014 10:22:01 GMT -5 katiek said:

I'm wondering how many people decide 100% on their baby's name before the baby is born. I see a lot of nurseries with the baby's name on the wall, so I assume it's somewhat common to have it picked out before.

H and I have narrowed it down to two names, and we're both leaning towards the same one. H is reluctant to make a final decision until he's born, but I want to call him by name for the next 17 weeks. H is worried he might not look or seem like a Milo when he's born, but I don't really get that, because I don't know how people can look like a name.

Why did (or will) you decide when you did?

I'm with you on this one.  I don't quite understand how a squishy-faced newborn can look like he/she will fit one name over another.  I feel like I'd just be more confused if I showed up at the hospital with a list of names.  Plus, it seems like a big decision to make while exhausted from labor and possibly in a state of sleep deprivation!

This is a lot of my reasoning! Like I need one more thing to think about int he hospital, lol. But I guess a lot of people do it, so it can't be that stressful. My parents switched my name when I was born because I looked like a Katherine. I like my name, but I know lots of Katherines, and none of us are anything alike. And I sort of just looked like an alien when I was born anyway.

[demelza]

I couldn't decide on a name. I waited till the 2nd day in the hospital.

[Deleted]

We didn't want to pick a name definitively before the baby's birth because I think the emotional aspect of seeing your baby for the first time might give a different inspiration for a name. But we found a name at about 6 months pregnant and since then nothing else seems to be quite right, but I still reserve the right to change the name just until the last minute (ie putting her name on the birth certificate).

[mandymay]

For my first child we took a while to figure out what we both liked. I had a name I really liked, but my husband wanted a name that started with an M so I finally swayed him with an M middle name around 35ish weeks, I think.

I'm going to wait until I know if we're having a boy or a girl to start worrying about names, but I hope we'll decide by the 35ish week mark again because it was nice to use the name when we were talking about the baby (we didn't tell family or friends until she was born though because we didn't want to hear anyone's opinions about it--- we have very opinionated family members).

[mrssandro]

We had a couple options picked out but we did not make the final decision until we met the baby.

[kermit]

I really want to decide before so I can do a name thing on the wall, but I'm worried that I'll do it and then I won't like the name when she's born. So I don't know.

[Saudade]

We had a name picked out for DS, with a couple middle names that we couldn't decide on. However, once he came out it just didn't feel right. I think we had him named a few hours later (can't remember due to post c/s fog) but it was a name that wasn't even on our list.

[catsarecute]

We were firmly in the "decide when she is born" camp but at about 34 weeks, we both decided we liked the same name. We had two on our list. Neither of us were ready to chose earlier and in that moment, it felt right.
I love the name but I can honestly say that I have no problem changing it if she is born clearly not that name. Does that make sense?

[katiek]

Mar 27, 2014 12:34:52 GMT -5 Saudade said:

We had a name picked out for DS, with a couple middle names that we couldn't decide on. However, once he came out it just didn't feel right. I think we had him named a few hours later (can't remember due to post c/s fog) but it was a name that wasn't even on our list.

This is so interesting! How did you come up with the name if it wasn't on your list? I'm glad it worked out

[mrspost08]

As soon as we know the gender the baby will have a name. We have both names picked out already.

[Saudade]

Mar 27, 2014 14:03:08 GMT -5 katiek said:

Mar 27, 2014 12:34:52 GMT -5 Saudade said:

We had a name picked out for DS, with a couple middle names that we couldn't decide on. However, once he came out it just didn't feel right. I think we had him named a few hours later (can't remember due to post c/s fog) but it was a name that wasn't even on our list.

This is so interesting! How did you come up with the name if it wasn't on your list? I'm glad it worked out

I have no idea! I can't remember well enough and I was so so so high on drugs that who knows what I was saying. But apparently it was good enough to get DH to agree to it. I really wish I had a video of that time so I could see all the crap I was saying. 

[flgirl]

I like to call "it" whatever the name is. I think it helps me to start the bonding process. We have always had them named within days of the AS. This 4th one took a little longer...is taking a little longer because our youngest doesn't like the name my DH picked so we are trying to get used to it and see if it sticks.

[CrazyLucky]

We were team green with both kids. So I wouldn't say I knew their names before they were born, but we did have one girl name and one boy name picked each time. I didn't mind calling them "it" while they were still unborn. Partly because it annoyed the hell out of my mom. But she insisted on calling both babies "she" while they were in utero, probably because she knew it annoyed me!

[katiek]

Mar 27, 2014 14:25:02 GMT -5 Saudade said:

Mar 27, 2014 14:03:08 GMT -5 katiek said:

This is so interesting! How did you come up with the name if it wasn't on your list? I'm glad it worked out

I have no idea! I can't remember well enough and I was so so so high on drugs that who knows what I was saying. But apparently it was good enough to get DH to agree to it. I really wish I had a video of that time so I could see all the crap I was saying. 

It's a good thing you didn't pick something terrible in your drugged state! That's such a cool story

[statlerwaldorf]

Considering dd looked like a Gollum when she was born, it was probably a good thing we named her ahead of time. Lol. We were set on both a boy name and girl name before we even found out the sex.

I'm hoping we will have a name before this baby is born, but nothing feels 100% right.

[bluelikejazz]

I know the girls name we will use (after my late Grandmother-as long as my Brother/SIL don't use it first), and I think we will use our father's name for a boy (our dad's have the same name). Middle names are undecided though.

[linz]

We've had our names decided even before we started TTC. We don't plan to announce them though (we aren't finding out gender either). I know some people debate but we both have our favs so shouldn't be too hard.

[loira]

Mar 27, 2014 11:55:04 GMT -5 mrssandro said:

We had a couple options picked out but we did not make the final decision until we met the baby.

This is what we'll do. I think we'll have 2 frontrunners and decide once we see the baby. It may be the name we really preferred all along, but I don't want to choose before baby's born. This is partly because I don't want to announce beforehand and then have us change our minds (and I don't trust myself not to spill the beans). It's also because H and I have very different colouring, and I think when we see what baby looks like (brown hair? blond hair? etc) we'll know exactly what name fits best.

[scribellesam]

Mar 27, 2014 15:23:41 GMT -5 linz said:

We've had our names decided even before we started TTC. We don't plan to announce them though (we aren't finding out gender either). I know some people debate but we both have our favs so shouldn't be too hard.

Yep, this was us too, except we found out the sex with DS then called him by his name for the last half of my pregnancy. We've got a name for each option ready for this time around too. I'm a bit obsessed with names so I needed to have those things nailed down early! Waiting until baby is born to decide would drive me crazy.

[curbsideprophet]

We were team green the first time. We had a girl name picked out but not a boy name. It was a girl so I guess you can say we had the name picked out beforehand. We had not told anyone the name though.

We know this one is a boy and have still not decided on a name yet. We hope to have one picked before he is here, but I suppose that might not happen.

[rbp]

Mar 27, 2014 14:35:23 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

We were team green with both kids. So I wouldn't say I knew their names before they were born, but we did have one girl name and one boy name picked each time. I didn't mind calling them "it" while they were still unborn. Partly because it annoyed the hell out of my mom. But she insisted on calling both babies "she" while they were in utero, probably because she knew it annoyed me!

My family gives babies silly in-utero names. My sister was Beauregard, etc. LOL. We've followed suit with our baby. 

We are kicking around some actual baby names, but I don't think we'll make a decision for sure until he's born.