Wednesday 18 July 2012

What's in a name?

I don't know about you but I find it very daunting choosing a name for your child.

Names I like James doesn't, names he likes, I don't. I can go off names in a instant by seeing/hearing something that puts me/us off. If there's someone we didn't like at school for whatever reason we automatically associate that name with them and therefore dislike it too. Peoples reactions when you say the name may also give us doubts.

We did struggle with choosing Alex's name, and as we didn't find out the sex before he was born we obviously had to pick out girls and boys names we liked and agreed on. Typically I had a big list for girls and only very few for boys, the main name we agreed on was Alex, although he is Alexander on his birth certificate (James won on that debate, but I am quite happy about it as it gives Alex the option to use whichever variable of his name when he is older). It was slightly awkward when we first told James' parent's that, that was one of our names we had on our list as they had still born baby girl at about 23 weeks who was named Alex (or Alexandra I'm not 100% sure)-I wasn't aware of this until later when James told me. But I think Alex being a boy it sort of disconnects the association for his parents, at least I hope it does anyway, and they said it was ok for us to use the name if we wanted much before he was born.

The name we had decided on for a girl was Isabella/Isabelle and although I do still really like the name now I am not sure if I like it as much as I did 3 years ago. And as for my list of girls names I had before Alex was born-I don't like them any more at all!

So we are a bit stuck, James is too busy at the moment to even give it much thought, I have been through one baby name book and not really found anything that grabs me, and online sites drive me mad with their separate lists and then not being able to go back and easily find a name that may have caught my eye. Typically a couple of names I do like are already within the family, even if they are cousins children it sort of feels like we shouldn't use that name too!

I know we have have 20+ weeks to decide or at least have a select list of names, but at this stage of my pregnancy with Alex we definitely had Alex and Isabelle on our list already.

Names are something that stick with us forever, so I don't want something that isn't going to suit them when they are OAP's or something that will go terribly out of fashion and them to be laughed at school etc (I do feel sorry for a lot of celeb children)!

How did you decide on your children's names?  Was it in advance, or did you wait a few minutes/hours/days/weeks after they were born to get a feel for it?

I would love to know, and if you have any name suggestions please do share :)

9 comments:

  1. Good luck! I had my son's name (Harry) in mind well before I was pregnant. I wouldn't say that he is named after Harry Potter, but it certainly put the name in my mind! We had terrible trouble with a middle name though, we had narrowed it down to three but it wasn't until after he was born that we made the final decision.

    My daughter's name (Mia) was the girl's name that we had chosen when pregnant first time round. It was my choice, but I've no idea where it came from! Like you, I wasn't so sure about it still next time round, but my husband still liked it. I quite liked the name Sophie instead, so we went for that as a middle name.

    I am hopeless at choosing names, it's not on the cards but if we had another boy especially I would have no idea what to call him!

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    1. See they are both lovely names. But yes middle names are also a nightmare to find/agree on too!

      Boys names are certainly much harder-there seems to be such fewer boys names about!

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  2. We're in exactly the same position. When I was pregnant with Pip by 15/16 weeks we'd decided on both a name for a boy and a girl. We did find out the sex at 20 weeks with him and so then our girl choice (Isla) was discounted.

    As the birth approached, I wavered on the name we'd chosen for Pip, but my husband was determined. That would be his name - and it was. I'm glad we didn't change our mind.

    This time we're struggling alot. If it were a girl I think it would be easier, whilst I still like Isla, I wouldn't choose that now. Mainly because it's enjoyed a real surge around here, and every baby class I go to is full of Isla's! A personal thing, but I like my children to have names that aren't too popular. Boy names are proving very difficult for us. I like things a little bit leftfield! I veer towards 'cool' biblical names or at the moment, old roman names. Husband is having none of it. He's far more conservative. It is a tricky one!

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    1. I like that girls name too-but James doesn't and it doesn't go with their surname either anyway!
      I know that Alex is a really popular name, but I am with you on the fact I don't like names to be too popular (bur I found that is much harder with boys names)!

      Sounds like our partners are quite similar, James seems to like quite traditional names that I find a tad boring! Good luck finding ones you like!

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    2. I very much like Alex as a boy's name. In fact, that has always been on my list. But hubster's best mate is called Alex and he reckons he'll get a big head and think we called him after him! Good luck with your choices. Husband did actually volunteer one name for the first time ever last night. I took great joy in vetoing it straight away!!

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  3. My two - April Josephine and Esther Ellen - are 'unusual' but not off the wall crazy! I didn't want run of the mill names, but I also didn't want something that they'd always have to spell or repeat 3 times for someone to understand it.

    I also liked Seren, Violet, Martha, Sophia, and I'll come back to you with some more.

    Boy names, I prefer much more 'strong' traditional names. Had April been a boy she would have been either Reuben or Thomas, and Esther would probably have been Alfie or Thomas.

    Let us know when you narrow it get to a shortlist! X

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    1. It's nice to go for something that is a little different isn't it, but like you say not crazy! Thanks for the ideas x

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  4. We sat outside the registrars on the last possible date still deciding between Evan and Oliver. Its funny because later I found the name Evan crops up a few times in our family tree if you go back two generations. I like that family association, his middle name is my late fathers name. I am a sentimental person at heart. But I completely identify with what you are saying, choosing a name feels like a massive responsibility to me! Good luck!x

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    1. Oh really, it is nice to have a name that runs in the family some way or another. I haven't come across a family name I really like as yet...perhaps I need to get searching on old family records! Thanks x

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Thanks for taking the time to comment :)