How many of you decided on a name when the child was born?

B&C03 · July 2012

If you knew the gender, how many of you went in with 3 or 4 names in mind and were able to decide once you "met" the baby? Or was it you just felt pressured because you could not leave the hospital without one? We had DS name picked out weeks before he was born. Do you any of you regret your name choices? If so, why or why not? Did any of you go in with one name in mind then changed at last minute? Why?

Littlejen22 · July 2012

I have an old friend that did not agree to the name until the hospital, when she was still groggy from pushing out her child her SH asked to name their son after his father and she agreed, she hates the name and would never have agreed before and regrets it. We agreed before and love their names. But we thought we would call Nathaniel Nate as a nickname but that stopped when he was born for some reason, I love the nn but it has not fit him yet but I would be fine if he told his Kindergarten friends to call him Nate.

dearash · July 2012

Didn't name my daughter until after she was born. I love her name & it fits her perfectly!

Sawyerplus1 · July 2012

We did this with DS1, though not intentionally. We had our favorite name picked and told people that it was likely the name we'd use, etc. But we still had our 'top 3' names in mind. Once DS was born, DH and I agree almost instantly that he didn't look like the name we had picked, but that he looked look our #3 name. We didn't expect that AT ALL, and were totally surprised, but it just seemed wrong to use the name we had planned to use.

As a result of that experience, we went into having DD and DS2 with open minds about names, and settling 100% once they were born.

FWIW, we were team green with DS1 but knew the gender with DD and DS2.

luvmagoldn · July 2012

With the twins we had names picked out in advance. We knew which baby would have which name but we waited to see them after they born before cementing that. Turns out we were right!

For DS#3 we had NO idea about a name going in to the hospital. We were really stressed because we felt like we used up all our boy names with the first two. We named #3 at around 2am the second day after he was born. It came to me out of the blue and I floated it past DH. Winner!

We were worried we wouldn't have a name when it came time to leave the hospital so I am glad it worked out the way it did.

sourapplemartini · July 2012

We did that with both kids. Now we have a name for each sexes picked out and it feels weird. We'll probably add to that list before the baby's born.

jlw2505 · July 2012

I have such a hard time with the whole, we will decide when we meet our baby thing as for me, I didn't really feel like I knew our girls personalities until they were older (just me, not saying it doesn't work for others.). I love my girls names and would not change a thing. With DD#1, we did not know the sex and had both a boy and a girl name chosen. With #2, we did know the sex and had a girl name picked out (and before we found out the sex, we had just about decided on a boy name). We never shared the names with anyone before the girls were born (and didn't share the sex even when we knew) as we didn't want anyone else to sway us either way - we went with names we love and they both totally fit our girls. My older DD was never with me due to complications and spent the 1st week of her life in the NICU, I am so happy that we already had her name picked out.

shouldbworkin · July 2012

We had a list for boy and girl for #3. He wasn't named until he was 3 days old. MH was the issue, otherwise he would have been named the day he was born. No regrets, I love his name. DH does too.

neverblushed · July 2012

My husband and I had our children's names picked out well in advance. The first time we didn't know the sex of the baby, so we went to the hospital with 2 names. The second time, we knew the baby was a boy, so we just picked out a boy name.

However, I know a few couples who ALWAYS go to the hospital with a short list and wait to meet the baby. This really seems to work well for them. One couple who was having their second boy even waited until they got him home for a few days to settle in on a name.

I honestly don't know of any cases in which parents "regretted" their name choices. My DH picked out DD's name, and I didn't particularly love it before she was born. Once it became my baby's name, I really came to feel that it is perfect for her!

tammy79 · July 2012

We new the sex for DS#1, and DD, so we had the names way before they were born, actually DS 1 chose DD's name before we knew we were pregnant. for DS#2, we did not know the sex, so we had one girl name and one boy name.

francophonia · July 2012

With DS we actually struggled with his name our entire pregnancy, and decided on a name about a month before my due date. After he was born, we decided that the name we had chosen just didn't fit him, and he was much more of a Harrison, which was a name on our list that we had rejected for a stupid reason.

With DD we actually made a list of names and gave them to her birthmother for her first name. For her middle name, her birthmother gave us a list of names and we chose one. Actually we paired each one of her names with one of our names, so we would be ready with a name combination when she was born. DD was named shortly after she was born by her birthmother. She actually really surprised us in the name she chose, I really loved the name Thea but I didn't think she would like it.

chchchcherrybomb · August 2012

We didn't know the gender for either of our kids, but only one of them had a name before he was born. I always knew if I had a son, his name would be Lennon (after John Lennon). That's been with me since childhood.

However, my daughter was another story. I had no idea what to name her. Nothing seemed right, and she was unnamed for about a week after she was born. We were home and I was browsing through my old records, and put on the Beatles' White Album. Track two, "Dear Prudence" came on, and it hit me like a ton of bricks - that was her name!

I regret her name just a little bit. I was really impulsive, and wasn't thinking long-term about her name. It's not very popular, and people can be negative towards it. Prudence hasn't even cracked the top 1000 baby names in the last 12 years, according to the SSA. I still love her name, but she struggles with it. She usually goes by Pru or Ru (depending on her mood and who she's with).

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