I am curious how many Nameberry Mommas took a list of a few names into the delivery room to decide after birth what to name their little ones. Did this help you to be sure of the name you chose?
Alternatively, if you made the decision beforehand, how did you “know” you chose the right name?
We decided before baby was born as it just felt easier to connect that way. I feel like it’s an odd kind of pressure to pick the right name for a baby that you practically know nothing about. After having [name_f]Alice[/name_f] I questioned her name for at least a few weeks until her personality started to really show. No other name felt more right so we stuck with it and now she’s very much an [name_f]Alice[/name_f]. This time around we chose ahead of time as well and I find it helpful to hear her name spoken by others as opposed to just DH and I. It makes everything so much more personal to me.I also believe that if we had made lists to take to the hospital DH and I may not agree upon meeting baby. I think as long as you find a name you and your partner love you won’t be disappointed.
We had three girl names and two boys names we had agreed on (we were team green). We actually thought we had settled on one of the girl’s names but when our daughter was born, it was such a big surprise! I said to my husband, “What should we call her?” And he said one of the other names and I agreed with him straight away. She just didn’t look like our first choice! I know some people who have had a name ready for months and others who have taken days or weeks to decide. I think you will know what is right for you.
This is what my fiance and I are planning on doing. With my son we kept the gender a surprise, so we went to the hospital with 10 names… We found out DD’s gender so it should be a bit less stressful.
It was a little more anxiety inducing than what I would have liked, but it was worth it. This option let us get to know our baby for a couple of days, and then we decided on [name_u]Finley[/name_u] because it fit his personality.
Five years later, it still does!
We had a shortlist of five names for our son. We felt like each had a sort of image or personality, and figured we’d pick the one that fit him best when he was born. We thought we were going to use one name, but then when we saw his face, we both privately felt that another name fit better. We agreed on that name, and “tried it on” for about two weeks before announcing it to everyone. Fifteen months later, he looks nothing like he did as a newborn, and of course his personality gets stronger every day. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though I love the name we gave him and I do think it fits him well, I also feel like he would have grown into the name we thought we were going to use.
I currently have a top three for a girl and a top five for a boy; it’s a collaborative list but leans more toward my favorites than my partners’. I know which ones I’d pick if I found out I was pregnant tomorrow, but we plan to wait to announce a future kiddo’s name until after their birth, just in case the ideal name doesn’t fit the real baby!
We didn’t have a physical list, but we didn’t name the baby till birth. I knew which name I wanted before she was born, but my husband and I agreed that there was a possibility we’d see her and it wouldn’t fit, so we didn’t want to tell everyone and then be like, nope we changed it, haha! In the end we went with our first choice, but felt so much better that we waited to see her.
We decided very early on what our top boy and girl names were for each pregnancy. We’ve talked about names a lot over the years and have some favourites we can agree on, but they changed for each pregnancy. For instance if [name_u]Finn[/name_u] was a girl, he would have been [name_f]Natalie[/name_f]. But with [name_m]Leo[/name_m], we were loving [name_f]Kate[/name_f] more. It helped me bond more with the baby once I knew what the name would be.
With [name_u]Finn[/name_u] we knew it was the right name because we both loved it. [name_m]Leo[/name_m] was trickier, because I love it but my fiance thinks it’s just okay. However, there was no name that he loved as much as [name_u]Finn[/name_u], so in the end he let me have it. There were several months there though of not being sure what the name would be and me being upset at the idea of losing the name [name_m]Leo[/name_m]. Hormones certainly didn’t help!
We’ve already decided the name of our third baby even though I am not pregnant yet. We just work our way down the list and use the names I would be sad about missing out on the most. We actually refer to the future baby by those names, which makes it seem real already!
In theory I like the idea of waiting until you meet the baby to name them, but I know I am not patient enough to actually do that!
We took a top 2/3 combos in for both sexes, both pregnancies. With our daughter, we ended up choosing one of the ‘underdog’ names as opposed to what we were relatively certain we were going to call her. It just felt better. Our son we did pick our front runner although there was quite a bit of back and forth over his middle name. Being team green both pregnancies it didn’t feel strange to not have named the baby before they were born, I think it would’ve been weirder for me if I had certainly named my bump both a boy and a girl name - if that makes any sense! I also think I would’ve felt quite stuck if we’d chosen a name or combo and then told anybody during pregnancy.
We were confident on our boys pick, but I just couldn’t decide between two girls names. Turns out we had a girl! We stuck with our top pick, but I needed my DH to reassure me. She’s a toddler now and I am so happy with our pick!