Need systematic way to decide on a name...

mouse10031978

I keep coming up with ideas for names for DD and DH has nixed almost all of them.  He has only suggested 3-4 and I honestly can't tell if he is joking or not, as he often throws in other "silly" names.  The names he does suggest seem odd or dated to me, such as: Ria, Susan, Jamie, Adrianne.  My choices are more like: Carys, Maren, Meredith, Audrey, and Allison, all of which he has said no to.  The only name I have suggested that he likes is Brooke.  I like it, but I am not convinced.  The other night he claimed that I don't listen to him when he has made suggestions.  Is there a nerdy way for us to get both of our names down and systematically approve or disprove them, etc.  Has anyone used a spreadsheet or some other system to make it"fair" and get all the options out on the table?  Ideas please. 

Notwifezilla7

Get a baby book & 2 highlighters. Go through separately & highlight names you like in one color & ones he likes in another.

TheWop

Make a list, put it on the fridge. He can only cross off a name if he adds one of his own.  If you don't like his name, cross it off and add another.  Keep doing this until you find a common ground.

Soap1

Okay here's my nerdy systematic math way:

Put all the names you like on a list.  Have DH do the same.  Veto the ones that you absolutely will not consider until the list is manageable.  Maybe 15-18 names?

Rank order the names 1-15, with 15 being the best. Have DH do the same.  Total your ranks (aka, if your rank was 2 and his was 12, that total would be 14).  Cross off the two names that score the worst/lowest.

Rinse and repeat until you're down to 2-3 names.  Then you can either talk it out or wait til the baby comes for a final decision!

We're doing that with our girl list because we are struggling so much with girl names! 

MRads

PP have good suggestions.

H and I had REALLY different ideas on names. He liked Amber, Ashley, Kimberly, Alison, etc. I liked Georgina, Genevieve, Josephine and Juliet.

Instead of doing a list, I asked him what he liked about the names that he did like. He said that he was particularly drawn to A names for girls (we had a boy's name picked out). I came up with a list of A names that I liked. He narrowed that list down to 3-4. Eventually, we came up with a name. It didn't matter anyway, because we're having a boy, but I truly thought there was no way we could come up with a name, but we figured it out.

 

Serendipity117

DH and I each made a list over the course of a couple weeks. We then went through and got rid of all the names we didn't like. Once we did that we combined the lists. I think we had like 22 names all together thatwere ok, we liked or loved. From there we each chose our top 17 out of the 22 names. All the names that were chosen by both of us were added to the next list. We kept narrowing it down like that until we got our top five. Once we got to the top five we ranked the names and said why. We eventually had a top name and a back up.

Good luck! 

mouse10031978

All excellent ideas!!  

TKtravels

DH & I have been using a google spreadsheet since we started TTC.  We pull it up and talk it over every so often, and edit the lists as needed. 

I've noticed only feminine-sounding names listed by you and YH, and was going to say that generally, knowing the sex may make it easier (or at least narrow down your battles), but that may not be the case for you guys.  

mouse10031978

I am 33 weeks and we are having a girl.  We had a boy name picked out- no problem. LOL