My mom probably would have no rules except that names with difficult connotations are not okay with her… sadly she’s specifically mentioned [name]Ophelia[/name] as a no go on her list and I clearly love it. We do have some family traditions that go back at least 4 generations that I know she’d like me to keep (and I want to keep as well). But I don’t know how I’d react to being given rules I didn’t agree with.
I’m not pregnant and we’re still not quite thinking about kids yet but…
I’m pretty sure for both my mom (a retired social worker) and my in-laws (retired teachers), their only “rule” will be that the name is not spelled kre8ivly. Not a problem.
Since DH & I plan to use some form of family names, they should be happy with our choices anyway.
For me it was good to tell Mom my ideas. I had a lot of “safe” names that I liked (not loved) because I felt they were more appropriate. She thought they were terrible and was shocked that I would use them. She said “No old lady names.” Then I told her the names that I loved and she said “Now that sounds like you.” And she was right. I was going with what I thought was appropriate not what I truly wanted.
What if I hadn’t announced the name until the child was born? [name]How[/name] awful I’d feel if I found out years later that she would have loved [name]Lotus[/name] & [name]Shea[/name] but I wimped out and named my kids [name]Charlotte[/name] & [name]James[/name] instead.
Oh and she thought [name]Tallulah[/name] was atrocious and she hated my “safe” nn, [name]Lula[/name]. But she likes the nn that I initially thought was too out there, [name]Tu[/name]. Now [name]Tallulah[/name], nn [name]Tu[/name] is growing on both of us
This is me, exactly.
My husband told me he didn’t like common names. When I pushed him to give me an example of what he did like, it was [name]Isabella[/name]. LOL!
He’s 43 so to him “common” is [name]Katie[/name] and [name]Kim[/name].
And yeah, if I were to say [name]Imogen[/name] to my family, they’d probably go, “[name]Imagine[/name]?! What?!” I told my mom I loved [name]Luna[/name] [name]Mariella[/name] and she and her cousin-in-law sat around and laughed about it for an hour. She still has her heart set on [name]Gillian[/name] (her name is [name]Jill[/name]) and that’s not off the table for girls #2 and beyond, but girl #1 is [name]Elizabeth[/name].
Your mother would hate me! Haha, my top girls are [name]Melody[/name] [name]Marie[/name] and [name]Georgina[/name] [name]Grace[/name]. To be honest but Mum is pretty relaxed, she openly hates every name I like but she doesn’t keep on about it or make me rules which I have to stick to. We’ve come to an agreement that if I name my child something she doesn’t like she’s allowed to give them a nickname that I don’t like, for example she doesn’t like [name]Georgina[/name] very much so picked [name]Grace[/name] as a middle name so she can call her [name]Gigi[/name] instead, but only my mum will be allowed to call her that as I deteste [name]Gigi[/name]!
My mother has very very different tastes in names than my own, and it does worry me a bit when it comes to introducing her to her future grandchildren. But, on the other hand, no amount of worry could have me naming my child [name]Alexis[/name] or [name]Adrian[/name], which are two of the names she has suggested over the years. I am not too concerned over all, I might have a very unusual and eclectic taste in names, but they all have very accessible nicknames when it comes to the girls names. As for the in-laws, it could be tricky, my m-i-l and I have at best, a strained relationship, and aren’t very similar in tastes in any way, and I can see her being extremely opinionated about the name of her first grandchild. His dad, on the other hand, would probably just be highly appreciative if we use a family name, because genealogy is his major passion. My dad, probably won’t care either way. I don’t plan on telling any of them the name beforehand, and I don’t want to take suggestions or opinions of any kind either. Hopefully it goes smoothly when the time comes…
I love hearing about how every avoids these convos or what they’re like if they have them.
Talked to my dad today. He said go for it, just nothing kre8tive or embarrassing. And he can always do nicknames, he’s got one for a [name]Leopold[/name] already and it isn’t [name]Leo[/name]!!! So for him all the names I like should be good.
Have you considered [name]Rupert[/name] or other cultural variations of [name]Robert[/name]?
[name]Both[/name] sides are very good about names. First I don’t think they’d dare to give us naming rules, and second they are very respectful of my DH and my decision. I’ve discussed a few with my sister, but she’s very opened minded about names. Other than that I’ve had a few suggestions from one of DH’s younger brothers, but he has decent taste so it’s not horrible. For the most part, we don’t discuss names with family. Now and again the subject pops up, but we never say the actual name we are thinking about.
I’ve given behindthenames list of them a once over but none really caught me eye. [name]Rupert[/name] is nice but I think that ones firmly in old man territory for [name]Martin[/name].
And even if I was to use [name]Robert[/name] my younger sister thinks she has dips on the name since it is also the name of her OH. It would be WWW 3 if I used it. She plans on her first son being [name]Robert[/name] [name]Charles[/name] [name]Jr[/name]. But he can’t be called [name]Robert[/name], [name]Rob[/name] or [name]Robbie[/name]. So it leaves [name]Bobbie[/name] since [name]Bob[/name] is thoroughly off limits.