[name_m]Hi[/name_m] Everyone…I was thinking about this recently and was wondering if you guys are going to announce the name you have chosen for your baby before they are born. I understand that some people won’t find out the gender or maybe will wait for the birth to completely decide but if you are definite on a name will you share it? I was discussing this with my husband and we are considering just telling our family and close friends until our child is actually born. I am not pregnant yet but we are trying to conceive. I have heard mixed things on this, some don’t want the outside influence on their decision or the negativity. I also know a few people are concerned about name thievery. What did you do or what will you do in the future? I was also thinking that maybe we wouldn’t tell anyone because then we don’t have to worry about it getting out.
For all of ours, we only told close family and friends the baby’s initials, and everyone else had to wait until the birth. Only one person besides my husband and I has ever known the name before the birth. We told my great-grandmother [name_u]Nico[/name_u]'s name because we knew that she would most likely die before [name_u]Nico[/name_u] was born, and she was very excited to have her first great-great-grandchild. But unless there is a situation like that (God forbid), I think we’ll be sticking to close family and friends getting initials. Besides, it’s fun to watch them guess, and see who actually gets it right.
I’ve had 3 babies and each time I have shared the name differently. Our 1st baby no one knew until she was born. We gave hints about our second baby’s name (it’s a family name). For our 3rd baby everyone knew his name before he was born. As you can see, we became more relaxed with each baby. I think it depends on your family situation. Are family members going to criticize or pressure you to choose a different name? If so, then don’t share.
We’re not telling anyone the name. I am overly concerned with what other people think, so I’d rather pass on the “feedback” I might get. Also, it’s nice to have a little bit of information just for the two of us.
I kept my daughter’s name a secret. Well, I tried. We didn’t choose names until I was like 35 weeks. And SO, who’s terrible at secrets, told his dad and brother (who just said they’re nice names).
I also told one of my best friends, who had been drinking at the time, and I didn’t think he’d remember them, but he did and told a few other friends. They all liked them, though (or at least pretended to).
I didn’t tell my mom because I knew she’d have a negative opinion if whatever I chose, and didn’t tell anyone else as I thought they’d tell my mom. I also really really enjoyed my family and friend’s name suggestions.
Next time, we’ll likely find out the gender (dads choice, I got my way the first time around). So I’d like to keep the name a secret for the same reason + to add more anticipation for family and friends, but since my SO can’t keep secrets like that very well, it’s unlikely.
Plus if we have a boy we’ll probably use the same choice as this time, and we told everyone after the fact
I would absolutely never tell anyone! People think they can judge your name before the baby is born because it’s not “officially” named yet and, if they don’t like the name, think they can talk you out of it and into something else. Or they go in the opposite direction and buy everything monogrammed for the new baby, which is too bad if you change your mind at the last minute! I’ll probably run a few names past close family or friends, but certainly wouldn’t tell anybody the baby’s name before it’s born. I think that’s pretty uncommon in Australia, anyway.
It really depends on what the people in your life are like. If they’re kind & supportive & respect peoples boundaries & don’t enjoy criticizing everything around them I think it’s great to tell them. If they’re like my friends and family it’s best to say nothing until the name is attached to a live human being that they will all fall in love with immediately.
I talked names early in my pregnancy and they roasted everything I mentioned. My sweet little grandma completely ruined several longtime favorites as I will never unhear her critiques! I stopped talking names & would just let them rattle off suggestions. I ended up using a name that they had all made faces at in the beginning and they all LOVED IT once we announced it! I personally couldn’t handle all of the opinions.
People can be really inconsiderate in their responses if you tell them your choice before the baby is born. We told a few people before Azula was born and were pretty disappointed by some of the comments we got. Once the name is attached to a baby I think people tend to keep any negative opinions to themselves.
I don’t think when my time comes I’ll tell anyone. Maybe just our parents if anyone. But then again I’d be nervous about telling my mum, we have completely different styles, and she often moans that “Your kids have names from the eighteen hundreds!” I just know that once its already on the baby, my family will be accepting, and they’ll love the baby no matter what’s its name. If I am honoring a particular relative, like one of my best friends and mentors (I am considering using her middle name [[name_f]Claire[/name_f]] and honoring her by using [name_f]Clara[/name_f]. Especially since her first name is spelt the same way as my mum’s; but pronounced very differently.) Anyway, if it was someone I planned to honor I would consider telling them, but otherwise its a secret. I think people are overly critical and don’t always recognise that this isn’t a rash decision, people put a lot of thought into it! Best of luck 
I only told my Mom and a few close friends what we were going to name her. The other day, someone on my Facebook announced the full name of their baby after they had the 20 week anatomy scan, like literally 10 minutes after… haha. And it was super boring, [name_f]Hayley[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. Ugh.
Never told anyone before they were born, not even our short list. We might give them a batch of names with the short list (usually 2 for each gender if we haven’t found out) among a random selection but I get fed up of people’s random comments, so never narrow it down. [name_u]Haven[/name_u]'t chosen the middle for my recently born baby yet, and won’t even discuss middles with anyone.
I think I’ll likely tell my friends and family names that are on our list, but not the actual names we decide on. We don’t plan on finding out the gender of the baby until birth, and I don’t want any outside influence on his or her name.
I don’t have kids but I likely won’t tell anyone what the name is before the birth. At least not anyone outside the immediate family. I’m another one who’s easily upset by negative comments so I wouldn’t want to deal with that. Also, I’m not a big fan of monogramming so I’m not worried about that.
I’ve seen the name reveal go bad in other ways, too. My ex’s sister announced a name before the birth and then changed her mind when she “met” her baby, so everything that was monogrammed ‘[name_m]Caleb[/name_m] [name_u]Tyler[/name_u]’ was useless, since his name is [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] [name_u]Curtis[/name_u] (neither of those two names were on their list before the birth, btw… they were considering [name_m]Caleb[/name_m], [name_m]Jackson[/name_m], and [name_m]Malakai[/name_m]). Of course, my cousin told everyone the name of her daughter just after finding out the gender and stuck to it, and it was very well-received. But our family is very polite lol… no one would ever say anything negative to her face anyway! I know my grandfather doesn’t like the spelling, but says it’s a very pretty name anyway my father’s side of the family is a different story, but I doubt they’ll get more than a birth announcement after the fact, so nbd.
We had [name_m]Weston[/name_m]'s name picked out from the scan… we didn’t “announce” it, but told people who asked. And it made it more real to see it on the cake at his baby shower, 3+ months prior to his birth.
for these little boys… I’ve thrown names out there, and there are some definite favorites. But one of my favorite names pretty much got shot down, and I don’t know what to do. It actually hurt my feelings. And I think it’s because we already had baby A’s name picked, because we always felt/knew he was a boy. But I thought [name_u]Baby[/name_u] B would be a girl, and we had that name picked and everyone loved it. So when I suggested one of my favorite boy’s names and it wasn’t well received… it just hurt.
I may not announce on Facebook. I will probably announce here. and tell the Godparents, and maybe a few close family. I liked that [name_m]Weston[/name_m] got monogrammed gifts at this shower.
We didn’t announce the name until after she arrived…which led to some great nicknames from family members including [name_f]Misty[/name_f] (short for [name_f]Mystery[/name_f]), [name_f]Laverne[/name_f] (just because), and Darba (after our dog, [name_u]Darby[/name_u]). I decided I didn’t want feedback once we made up our mind and really, who’s going to criticize a name once there’s an adorable little person attached to it?
Never never never! It would be a really odd thing to announce it in NZ anyway. We did tell a few people ideas last time and learnt pretty fast that everyone will feel happy to blast your names (and put your right off them) before the baby is born. Afterwards they won’t say anything because it’s a done deal.
Last time we decided on the name in advance and we told everyone. I felt like we better claim it before it got used. My cousin was pregnant at the time and we did not want anyone else using it. In our family it is absolutely without question rude and deliberate name stealing to use a first or middle that is not a hand me down family name for anyone else in the family. The first person to claim the name or use the name gets it and is then seen as off limits completely. However, not everyone’s family and friends views naming that way but I would be pissed if someone used my name after I announced it!!! There are hundreds of thousands of names out there get your own!!! Anyway, this time we are probably going to go with a list of names to the hospital as there are not going to be any family or friends or church goers pregnant at the same time this time as they are all just now having their babies or just had them. We will find out the sex if we can but won’t pick the name until we see the baby. I do want the air of mystery when people come to see the baby for the first time unlike what we had last time.