I don’t have children yet, but I have spoken about names I plan to use with family and mostly get the “That’s nice.” with raised eyebrows. My poor children are going to have names like [name_m]Alaric[/name_m] and [name_f]Rosemary[/name_f]. :rolleyes:
I’m curious about the bad and good reactions from family and friends when your children’s names were announced.
Thanks!
I don’t have any children, but since my taste runs toward the more unusual, I’ve been sort of prepping my family by telling them the most extreme names on my list. That way, when I eventually pick something sorta weird, they’ll be so relieved that it’s not over-the-top, insanely weird that they won’t make a fuss. Or so I hope.
I don’t have a kids yet, but every time I’ve told someone our chosen boy name, they really like it. [name_u]Haven[/name_u]'t met one that has an objection! And I’ve told my parents, friends, and some coworkers, about 12 people total. With girls, we haven’t settled yet so we’ll see 
I don’t have children (and won’t be having any for a while), but I do have a name book with my fave combos, and names. I actually showed it to some of my friends (only about 5), and surprisingly, only got one “But your 15!” but mostly "Let me see it!.
Anyway, I got a bit of a raised eyebrow for Caesura (a word we learnt in English), one of my friends went crazy over [name_u]Kai[/name_u], but that’s because she’s one of the members of her favourite band is called [name_u]Kai[/name_u]. The worst reaction was probably for [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m], when another friend said “[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t call your kid [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m], he’ll get teased”, and when friend-who-freaked-over- [name_u]Kai[/name_u], and I, asked why (XD), her reply was “He just will”. Not particularly helpful. It actually made me laugh, because the very first combo in the boys section was [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] [name_m]Sherlock[/name_m] [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], and she had no comment on that! I’m done rambling now. 
[name_f]My[/name_f] partner told his family the names we had chosen for our unborn baby, got negative reactions for both the boy and girl’s name - I was really annoyed, tbh I think some people’s reactions are just plain rude. We had a beautiful baby girl and used the name (with absolutely no regrets) that they made negative comments about…but quite frankly I really dislike their children’s names, I’m just not rude enough to say so.
We will be ttc next month and this time around I don’t want to share any potential names.
When we had [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Hope[/name_f] we got all positive reactions (apart from 1 person who was disappointed we were using [name_f]Hope[/name_f] for her middle name as they had planned to, in they end they never used it)
With [name_f]Annabelle[/name_f] [name_f]Cadence[/name_f], I think everyone was just relieved she finally had a name, lol. Most of the comments we got were about the spelling we chose.
When I had [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] we went through a long long list of names and changes. We had all good comments, and I think my family were relieved we didn’t name her [name_f]Guinevere[/name_f] or [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f] like we had originally planned (she just isn’t a [name_f]Gwen[/name_f]!) People have been confused about the pronunciation, and a lot of people just don’t ‘get’ that [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] and [name_f]Madeline[/name_f] are different names.
I’ve gotten a lot of different reactions for our daughter’s name, [name_f]Isis[/name_f]. Family and friends were mostly positive, with the exception of one set of very [name_m]Christian[/name_m] great grandparents who went with “That’s very different” when we announced it. Funnily enough, each year this couple writes a [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] letter to and about everyone they care about - family, extended family and friends - the year she was born we made the letter. It went something along the lines of “Our Grandson and his wife have been blessed with a beautiful baby girl with the very different name of [name_f]Isis[/name_f]” I laughed.
From random strangers I think you get a more honest opinion. Some people look genuinely confused. They never say they hate it, but you can tell they have never heard it and they aren’t keen. People who know who the [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] [name_f]Isis[/name_f] was, or have some grasp on ancient history generally think it’s cool. Some make remarks about how that’s an awesome name that will inspire her - and hey, I really hope so! - and I’ve been asked if we plan to name a brother [name_m]Osiris[/name_m]. For the record, no, most certainly not!!
I’m having another baby within the month and I can’t wait to see people’s reactions to his or her name. (We never tell before it’s on paper, I don’t want to deal with people thinking they should change my mind.)
I mostly got comments like “Is [name_u]Mika[/name_u] her nickname or her full name?” or “Does [name_u]Mika[/name_u] stand for [name_f]Michaela[/name_f] or [name_f]Dominika[/name_f]?”. I guess It’s understandable that both sides of the family had to get used to our naming style since there have only been classic names like [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] (me), [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] (DH) and [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] (my niece, 2 years older than [name_u]Mika[/name_u]) used untill then.
We also got some comments about that people would’ve preferred [name_f]Felicity[/name_f] instead of [name_f]Felicia[/name_f] for her middle.
[name_f]My[/name_f] DH and I are currently expecting our first baby. [name_m]Prior[/name_m] to becoming pregnant I had toldy husbands grandma some of the names we liked, she was like you like those old names? She wasn’t too much of a fan. Needless to say we discuss names with family and friends, but we have decided to not tell the actual name until the baby is born.
We had a bit of a family issue when we were naming the twins since the girl are adopted and came to us with there very top 100 names. Partner and I just finally told everyone hey this is our choice and if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all and it seems to have worked. [name_f]My[/name_f] mother has sent over stuff from Finland with babies names on them. [name_f]My[/name_f] mother in law very proud on my ever growing belly talk to them using there first names. Teemu is not even on this site so it is very uncommon in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] but I think you need to go with what you think is right choice for you and your partner and every one else can suck eggs
I won’t be having kids for a long time (or ever) but when I told my sister I liked [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m], [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], and [name_u]Darcy[/name_u] (for a boy), she said she felt sorry for my future kids and they’d get beat up at school! At the time she liked [name_f]Tiffany[/name_f] and [name_f]Vanessa[/name_f], I think. Obviously I know my favourites are usable but that still makes me so mad to this day, years later. Disliking is one thing, saying they’d get beat up is another!
It depends a great deal on your family and your relationship to them. I didn’t share my choices with many until they were born just because I knew they wouldn’t be favorites with most of the older relatives. But they were nice once they were born. The names aren’t too outlandish though, just “old lady” and “old man” names to my older relatives. [name_f]My[/name_f] peers and same age relatives are naming similarly to me so there wasn’t much to be said there.
[name_f]My[/name_f] son [name_m]Bennet[/name_m]! had overwhelmingly positive reactions. The reaction to my daughter [name_f]Clara[/name_f] were very mixed. A lot of people, including famt, thought is was too old fashioned. But then the other half if people agreed about it being a gem.
I would rather not share names with others, but my husband tells everyone who will listen the names we have decided on for our future children. (I think I prefer to keep it quiet because I don’t want any one in the family to “steal” them! Haha.)
The response to a future daughter, [name_f]Elena[/name_f], has been only positive, with everyone saying it was very pretty and exotic. The response to [name_m]Henry[/name_m] has been mostly positive, with my mother being the only objector. She can’t understand that he will be [name_m]Henry[/name_m] and not [name_m]Hank[/name_m]. She laughs at me when I insist that it will be [name_m]Henry[/name_m] and says I’m just like my aunt who insisted on her [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] not being a [name_f]Jen[/name_f]/[name_f]Jenny[/name_f]. Umm. Yeah, but [name_f]Jen[/name_f] is basically an automatic response - it’s the first syllable. [name_m]Hank[/name_m] is so far away from the sound of [name_m]Henry[/name_m] that it is totally avoidable. No, Mom, not the same.
I got mixed reactions when I used [name_f]Alice[/name_f] for my oldest daughter. It wasn’t really in style yet. Now I get nothing but positive reactions.
The reactions to my first daughter ([name_f]Amia[/name_f] - pronounced AY-mee-a) were mostly “oh, that’s interesting!” It was a totally new name to everyone and I think it took a while for most people to get their heads around! No-one every said anything discouraging, but I could tell from some people’s reactions that they were trying to be nice but thought it a bit weird.
The reactions to my second daughter ([name_f]Vienna[/name_f]) were overwhelmingly positive! It surprised me as it was about 10th on my list (the only one me and hubby could agree on), whereas [name_f]Amia[/name_f] was my favourite by a mile.
I’ve never told people the name before they’re born and I think its best that way, because once they’re already named relatives don’t get the feeling that they have some choice in the matter!
I feel a little sorry for my mother in law, because I’ve never met someone who dislikes her own unusual name more than she does! So I’m pretty sure she was unimpressed by the fact that I gave my children unusual names. When I was first pregnant with my first child, she commented “you wouldn’t name it something really weird like [name_u]Sky[/name_u]!” and I had to admit that I actually quite like the name [name_u]Sky[/name_u] (but would probably only use it as a middle name)
We obviously get mixed reactions. Understandably because so many of our faves are pretty out there.
We got a lot of hate for choosing Azula at first - but people love her nicknames (zuzu, baby zu, or just zu). And after some time people got used to her name & now they love it. People seem more OK with [name_f]Indira[/name_f], not sure if that’s cause they know to expect something unusual from us now or cause they like her nickname ([name_f]Indie[/name_f]).
Waiting til after the baby’s born to announce is a good idea if you’re picking something uncommon… if you can wait that long.
Before [name_f]Maeby[/name_f] was born, everyone tried to change our minds about using it, to no avail. Everyone has accepted it. When strangers ask her what her name is and she tells them, they look to me and ask “what did she say?” and then we go through the whole spiel about how to spell it and where it came from. Worst reaction was a woman at a photo place who asked her what her name was and after she told her the response was “oh, maybe you’ll tell me?” Haha you’re so original, lady!
With Saela’s name, we’ve only gotten positive reactions. Everyone tells us how pretty it is. But after [name_f]Maeby[/name_f]'s name, they were all pretty open to whatever we would throw their way!
When I was pregnant with #1 I once mentioned the name [name_f]Cambria[/name_f], and my whole family basically flipped out. They really disliked it and were really sceptic.
But when our daughter was born and we named her [name_f]Anna[/name_f], they only had good things to say. And they were telling us that we “made the best decision after all”. This kind of pissed me off.
And also outside the family I heard nothing but good things about [name_f]Anna[/name_f]'s name.
I’m 18 and no kids in the forseeable future for me, but one day I said to my mum ‘If I have a daughter, I’m calling her [name_f]Matilda[/name_f]’ and she said ‘after [name_f]Tilly[/name_f] Devine?’
I kind of have a fear of people ‘stealing’ them. And plus I honestly don’t care what other people think… I’m happy with them. I could never post a ‘what are your opinions on this name’ in case it ruined it for me.
I have decided, with all the wisdom that comes from being 18, that I’m not going to tell people the name of the child until it’s born. That way, if they don’t have anything nice to say they probably wont say it to my face because once its done, its done and people seem to be more accepting of it that way, from my experience. I’d hate to have people try and change my mind or suggest names I would never use, I feel guilty quite easily and I don’t want to be impressionable with all those hormones running through me.
Plus when people post on facebook the name before it’s born, I feel like it takes away from the surprise. Everyone is so quick to post the gender and name when the baby comes out theres really no surprise, which I love. I love the ‘was it a boy or a girl?!’ and the whole 9 months of wondering, and the thinking ‘hm i wonder what names they will use’ and I usually make a list and then when the baby comes out I see how close I get! [name_f]My[/name_f] closest has been [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] [name_u]Jay[/name_u], and then called her [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] [name_f]Jade[/name_f]!