[name]Do[/name] most people have a single name picked out and ready for their newborn? Or do most people choose their top two or three and wait to meet their new little one?
I’m due in [name]August[/name] and have only one name that DH and I agree on for a boy, if she is a girl, we have 2 or 3 to choose from. I can see the pros and cons of both strategies. I’m starting to have “cold feet” about all the names, I think because we are getting so close!
Anyone else start to doubt their name choices near the end?
I would love to hear people’s experiences! And my friends and family think I’m crazy for thinking about names so much, so I would love to hear from people who are interested/fascinated by names too! Thanks all
Good question.
It’s funny that as soon as I’m pregnant most names sound weird to me and I find it hard to choose. However, I have done it both ways; I’ve had a name all ready and I’ve had a list. I do prefer having a name all ready as with a list I start to second guess whether we’ve picked the right one! Hubby and I tend to create a list of names we like then we veto until we get to one we both like. With DD2 we were left with 3 and hubby let me choose. I spent a week wondering if I chose the right one…but 18 months on, I know I did
Good [name]Luck[/name]
With both of our children there was one name for a boy and one for a girl that we had picked up since we started getting serious. Well honestly I had the girl name picked out from the time I was little and my husband agreed to it only if he was able to use his favorite choice for a boy’s name. We have one of each so it was easy walking in with one name. I’m not sure what will happen if we have a third. I kind of like the idea of meeting the baby and seeing what fits but I also like to plan in advance. I’m not pregnant or even TTC yet I already am thinking about what to name a third.
We have done it two very different ways. With our eldest we didn’t even consider any other name seriously and with our second we didn’t even have a name list to take to the hospital just a bunch of names I liked and my husband hated. The first was so so so much easier! I’m 22 weeks and we find out tomorrow if we are having another girl or our first boy. If it’s a boy the name has already been chosen but if it’s a girl we don’t have a single name on our list which is stressing me out!
We’re both worriers and pre-planners, we want to agree before the baby is even conceived! (We’re TTC now)
My husband says he doesn’t want to argue with a pregnant woman, lol. But really, no, we just don’t like uncertainty. And I don’t really go for the whole “the baby looked like/didn’t look like” their name thing.
We had the names (boy and girl) picked out pretty early in the pregnancy. I am a planner as well and, once, we found out the gender, I liked referring to my son while I was still carrying him by his name.
Each time we’ve had a list of about 3 but with a firm agreed on favourite for each gender.
And each time we’ve ended up going with that favourite… But I still like to have a couple of extra options ready just incase we change our mind once we see the baby…
I replies to the article on the home page (Yay OP! Great thread idea). The TL;DR version is that though I have no kids yet, I have a zillion lists and like to look at names from every angle (syllable count, vowel patterns, etymology, lists of middles, family names etc). I don’t know if I’ll be this way when it’s an actuality, but i think I’d like to go in with (if sex is unknown) one name for each, or (if we know what it is) two or three possible ideas. I like the notion of having it pared down to “a boy [name]WILL[/name] be____, a girl [name]WILL[/name] be____” to have that simpler at the time of birth. I also don’t think I’d be hung up on whether or not a squished up, red faced, puffy eyed newborn “looks” like a certain name or not. I think they grow into their names.
I absolutely agree.
We’ll be going in with an agreed-upon favourite.
With our daughter we definitely agreed on what her first name would be, and kept changing our minds about her middle right up until she was born (but that was more just for fun). I think it will probably be the same with this pregnancy.
Thanks for all the great and thoughtful responses! This is exactly what I was interested in hearing about. Very reassuring, helpful and fun to read!
I feel better about having one boy name picked now, instead of feeling like I have settled (definitely have not! we look at names ever single day, and its the only one we have ever agreed on).
I’m a resident and have been on the baby catching side plenty, and have always wondered how parents sometimes would say “oh they look like a so-so”, cause to me they all look pretty much the same, especially when fresh! (i don’t mean that callously at all, every baby is extremely special!) But I have yet to be on the other side and i was wondering when its your own newborn freshie you have a better sense of what name might suit it. I’m glad people commented on that perspective. I was telling myself I would pick from 3 names when I saw her, but deep down I think I was just delaying making a final decision/commitment. I think I’m going to go ahead and work on choosing a single girl’s name before the big day!
