Are you telling family and friends your name choices?

CatMaria

One the one hand, I'd love some feedback.  On the other hand, do I really want people to trash my beloved names?  What has been your experience with telling people your short list of potential name choices?

bakingkitty

I didn't say anything until I was sure about what the name was going to be. I spoke with my parents and the child's father but that was it.

TripMomma

We share, and so far no one has said anything neg. This may be because they know we wouldn't care or stand for that.

5LittleBears

Welp, my first few babies I didn't tell anybody the names because I didn't want to hear it. But now that I'm on #5, I'm throwing it out there like it ain't no thang because I just.don't.care.anymore. 

kk2bkd

Not at all! I don't want to be swayed by anyone and I know that I would be second guessing everything if I was subject to 'feedback' from everyone! I have told 2 or 3 very trusted friends who I knew would be supportive. Aside from that, no one knows!

Brie2010

Nope.  I really just don't want to commit to a name until we have to.  I reserve the right to change my mind at the last minute.  I don't want to say, "We're naming the baby X!" and then, a few weeks later, decide to do something else and have to explain that to everyone.

gapgirl972001

we don't tell a sole because we don't care what people think. 

 

ariaforte8

Brie2010:

Nope.  I really just don't want to commit to a name until we have to.  I reserve the right to change my mind at the last minute.  I don't want to say, "We're naming the baby X!" and then, a few weeks later, decide to do something else and have to explain that to everyone.

This. We reserve the right to change our minds, and if no one knows it is much easier to go with what we want. 

ClarissaExplainsItAll

My dad told me about 300 times that Wyatt was a dog's name.

 

We aren't telling anyone this time around. 

wastricklin

I have had awesome feed back. But ours our family names first name from his side (cousins, uncles etc) and middle my parents middle names. We have a boy and girl name picked out but just one of each.

LadyXaverian

We shared after we decided- not while we were still throwing around ideas because I wasn't looking for feedback.

Manderlin923

We will share potential names but keep the final choice a secret until after the birth.

plunderb

CatMaria:

One the one hand, I'd love some feedback.  On the other hand, do I really want people to trash my beloved names?  What has been your experience with telling people your short list of potential name choices?

We didn't tell anyone our name, though we did keep a ridiculous name in reserve to feed to nosy people who could not stop themselves from badgering us about it.

If you really want some feedback with no risk, post the names on this board. You'll get some honest feedback and have a chance to hear what other people in your life may be thinking (whether or not they express their thoughts to you). And in the end, we're just anonymous internet strangers, so it doesn't matter what we think. Low risk, high reward.

mlf625

No.  We didn't tell with the other two.  We started out as team green this time, and figured we'd tell the names so not to be total AWs about everything.  I regretted telling anyone anything.  We've since found out the sex and tossed out our entire original girl name list, and won't be sharing.  I do bounce ideas off of a few key people in our lives just to make sure we don't get too out there or miss something obvious, but we won't share the name with anyone else until birth.

alehayes

My mom knows all "our names", but I don't know if I want to share with the rest of the family.  I'd like to say that we'd at least keep them quiet until after the anatomy scan, but I'm bad at keeping things secret when I'm really excited about them.

trojas

Well...we have told family and friends and the reactions are 50/50. Some love it, some are like "oh...that's original" which means they don't like it. Either way, I don't care. 

I've never hesitated to say our name to people. 

kacelle

I've told a couple of people (my sister included) what our top names are for baby #2, but I'm not sure if we'll announce the name we decide upon for sure when the time comes.  We did announce with DD, and didn't always get the reactions we'd have liked.

DawnJM25

We did not tell friends and family our name choices.  DH and I had a boy name and a girl name picked out that we loved, and we didn't want anyone to turn up their noses or tell us they didn't like the names.  Even though we loved them, it would have hurt my feelings to know that our families didn't like them.  I asked a VERY trusted friend who is another baby name nerd for her opinion, and I also posted on this board and asked for opinions or things I hadn't thought of.  I have several friends who wished they hadn't told their families the names!

 

lizzybean

I got some feedback from my Mom but thats it. After we decided around 17 weeks that her name would be Ella (early elective u/s for sex determination) we announced her name to family and told people if they asked.

In my experience, people dont diss the name as much once its been decided upon. 

Sunidaze

We shared and actually asked for input from family and friends.  As we had normal name choices, we didn't have people trash the names.  And too, in our case, we had a lot of people around us having babies around the same time, and our first choice girl's name was also on the short list of one of these couples.

Mamaofthesea

Nope. No one knew with DD, and no one will know with this baby either. My reasons:

1) I am not decisive enough to be absolutely positive about my kid's name before their birth, and I want complete flexibility to change my mind with wild abandon and "try out" numerous names in the privacy of my home without comments from others.

2) Before committing to anything, I want to make sure the name feels right for my baby after I meet him/her. 

3) People have a tendency to make rude comments about name choices, even if it is unintentional, and I just don't want to hear it. I don't want the added stress of naming my baby knowing for a fact that a certain family member or close friend hates the name. As much as I want to say I don't care what anyone thinks, it would upset me if, for instance, I knew my mom hated our name choice.

4) I want the decision to belong to my husband and me and not be influenced by family and friends. It is a special, intimate thing my husband and I share, naming our child.

5) Everyone knows the sex of the baby, so there's no surprises there. Waiting until the baby is born to announce the name not only makes for a fun surprise/announcement, but it also feels like a bit of a right of passage for us and the baby. It's like a celebration of the child's entrance into the world to announce his/her name when he/she is born.

I also agree with pp that if you do feel like you need some feedback on something, this board is a good way to get feedback from total strangers.  

Notwifezilla7

No. 

We chose names with both PGs that aren't really too common. We didn't want any unnecessary feedback from people, suggesting alternatives or the like. Plus, we figured once the kid was born most, if not all people would keep their opinions to themselves if they didn't care for the name. 

 

austenfan919

Mamaofthesea:

5) Everyone knows the sex of the baby, so there's no surprises there. Waiting until the baby is born to announce the name not only makes for a fun surprise/announcement, but it also feels like a bit of a right of passage for us and the baby. It's like a celebration of the child's entrance into the world to announce his/her name when he/she is born.

This. DH and I think we need to save something to tell for when the baby is born (but kudos to those who wait to know or tell the sex until then, too). Also good to avoid any negative comments ahead of time. People are less likely to criticize when they see the baby, I think.

We did share our short list with a couple people before we decided to keep it a secret with DD, but since then, not a word.

ElinJ

We haven't said a word.  We definitely don't want their opinions!  In fact, I'm not even sharing them on the Nest!  LOL

Being Team Green has helped people not push the issue when we say we aren't sharing names.  I just don't want to put all our name options "out there" for family & friends to know, if we don't know if we're having a boy or girl.

MommyMelRN

I have told a few people that I could care less about, just to see what there reaction would be (no worries, our names aren't totally out there...I don't think) but DH has a friend who had a terrible experience when they shared, so so one close to us really knows what we have been thinking about.

CutieBean79

Once we decided, we shared with everyone (FB).  We would probably do that again.  I do discuss choices with close family/friends, but I have a tough skin so I don't care what anyone says lol.

Pictures29

I told my parents & SIL our choices and all of them were pretty straightforward with which names they liked & didn't but it doesn't really bother me. 

KitchenElf

Nope.  They can find out after the baby's born.  I don't really want their opinions and what if we change our mind when we see the baby?

chris&kendra1

I am telling my friends and family our name. The reason is because we chose the name (and believe me, it was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for us to agree on one) and we both love it. I think it's so rude when people offer unwanted opinions about someone's baby name, so if someone said something about my name that was rude, it wouldn't make me feel badly about the name. It would just make me realize that the person was a jackwagon and probably shouldn't be a close friend anyway. And secondly, I really enjoy calling her by name now, and I think it will be more natural to us if we've already been calling her by name for 4 months. I do know that some people feel strongly about not sharing the name, so it's definitely a personal decision. Good luck!

m21megs

CatMaria:

One the one hand, I'd love some feedback.  On the other hand, do I really want people to trash my beloved names?  What has been your experience with telling people your short list of potential name choices?

 This is the ONE secret my husband and I will share. We will tell gender, etc....but the name will be announced at the birth!