I’m back, Berries. Still here battling name regret 
I have three daughters: Leni Bloom, Ru Ines, and Frances Plum. I can’t for the life of me feel good about Ru’s name. She commonly goes by Ruru at home, or just Ru. I struggled finding a name I liked at the time I was pregnant with Ru. Looking back, I can see now that my problem was there were so many names I liked but I constantly analyzed them and became fixated with how they paired with Leni’s name. I challenged if they were too mainstream or popular or so on and so forth. Instead of just picking something that I knew in my heart I liked, regardless of opinions or popularity.
We loved Lou and this was the name we were calling her while she was in utero. Kind of last minute, I bailed and became resistant to have a Leni and Lou. It felt so matchy and I knew we’d have another kid and it felt not right to have two L names, and then a third without. This now seems so silly and such a non-issue.
We named Ru, Ruth. I picked this name a few weeks before she was born (in the middle of the night lol), and liked how timeless it was. My husband is Jewish and I thought it was one of those old lady names that come back and are so sweet on a modern day girl.
When sharing the name, I asked that everyone refer to her as Ru for short. Then about two weeks later, I decided Ruth didn’t work for us and we should officially call her Ru, since everyone was calling her that anyways.
Now, two years later, I still am consumed by this decision. Often when sharing the name with strangers at the park, they respond, “Oh, interesting, like Winnie the Pooh? Roo??” Which immediately makes me hate the name. Then I’ll tell them my third is Frances and they say, “I love that name!!! So great!!” Which almost affirms how strange Ru is.
I feel totally pigeon holed. She’s 2 years old. She also honestly LOOKS like a Ru lol. The name really suits her. But I regret it so much. I hate that it’s 2 letters. I hate when I go to type it it’s like not recognized and that always makes me feel stupid. Like I gave her this weird name that is just a sound. And I can’t let it go.
Sometimes I think about just giving her a longer first name, like Ruby or Rooney or Ruthie. But I oddly get scared to do that. I guess I feel like, I wouldn’t have picked Ruby either as a top choice, it’s more just a solution to this problem and allows us to work with Ru.
I still wish she was Lou. Every time I hear this name, my heart throbs. The one that got away. I love it so much. But I don’t know…. Is this just the consequence and outcome of naming? We have to just accept and move on? Or do I still have the right or the option to change it?
Leni, her older sister, is 3. So she would have to re learn a new name, though we could explain that we intentionally changed it. I know this isn’t a great thing to do at this age though to either of them.
My husband says he loves her name. He thinks it’s very unique and cool and fits her perfectly. My friends- bless them- all say it’s such a great name and so chic and special and they adore it. But I can’t get on board and feel like everyone’s just trying to make me feel better lol.
Sigh… can’t believe I’m still talking about this after so long. Also immediate regret for not just changing it at the time of my last post saying this very same thing, when she was 7 months!!! Which seems so young and acceptable now by comparison 
Thank you for sharing.
[name_f][/name_f] I do think she will be too attached to her name and identity to change it at this stage.
[name_f][/name_f] (For what it’s worth, I think the Pooh [name_m]Bear[/name_m] connection is actually adorable!)
