Name regret

lewispm · September 2014

With my son (2 yrs old) MH and I had a handful of names chosen and decided on one after I gave birth. I had a C-section and was very loopy off morphine and don't even remember 75% of our hospital stay (sad, I know). Anyway, in the midst of all the chaos, I somehow let MH and MIL win the spelling battle and my favorite name "Kellan" became "Kellen". I know it's not a hugely popular name, and the different spelling is not terrible, but it irks me to this day. I am worried that he will constantly be correcting people of how to spell his name and I just prefer the usual spelling of "Kellan". Several of our more distant family members already send him cards and gifts with his named spelled incorrectly. I have seen it spelled both ways, but I feel Kellan is more traditional and would be what people automatically assume when spelling his name.

Anyone else have name regret?

thegoodpotato · September 2014

I regret how we spelled my second daughter's middle name. I had originally wanted the spelling to be "Mareike" in the Dutch way, but DH preferred "Marika" for the anglicized spelling. I really wish we had stuck with the original Dutch spelling.

lewispm · September 2014

dreadpiratebuttercup said:

I regret using Grace for DD's middle name, even though it's a family name. In your case, is it worth the hassle of changing the spelling for you? If so, maybe discuss it with your DH.

I'm sure MH would be totally against it. Plus, he is already 2 and learning to spell his name. I feel changing it could be confusing? I don't know. I'm not even sure what the process is, but I doubt I could rationalize going through it. I'm kind of just hoping that neither Kellan (#367 on top 1000 names in 2013) or Kellen (#395) become hugely popular anytime soon.

DaisyZH · September 2014

We used a superfluous "y" in our daughter's name, it was a last minute pick and if we had done our research we would have spelled it differently.

We love the name, and I don't think we'd go through a name change for the spelling. If it bugs her when she's older we'll absolutely help her change it, honestly pretty much everyone leaves off the "y" already. I feel weird thinking about changing the spelling when she's almost 1.

Amanda&EricB · September 2014

I somewhat regret not using the name I'd loved for years. Girls names were hard for us, we liked very few names. The only one I loved, and I mean loved, was Cara. But over time, throughout the pregnancy, we added a couple others to the list: Tessa and Whitney. I don't know what made me choose Tessa, shortly after she was born.

4N6s · September 2014

^whats her name?

le bebe xo · September 2014

I have only known this name to be spelled Kellen; I thought this was the traditional and correct Irish spelling

greysweatshirt · September 2014

I wouldn't worry about it... my names has been mispelled many times and it's a very common name... nn was spelled with either an ie or a y at the end... some people add an ly or an ley... and with just one letter I don't think it matters much, especially if it's going to cause issues with DH.

==N== · September 2014

My ex bf was kind if a bully so I let him use his spelling. We're actually in the process of changing ds's mn and last name right now and I thought about changing the fn spelling while we were at it but decided not to. He's 8 now so it would be too confusing, plus, it's tattooed on me.

barnwife · September 2014

bromios said:

If I'd known DW would go for Sebastian I would have picked that.

This totally made me smile...That was a long time GP name for me. I never thought I'd be brave enough to use that long of a name with no common nn (and no, Sea Bass doesn't count) and uncommon of a name. I didn't think it would matter because DH would never go for it.

And then he, after LO3 was born, came to me with a list of 3 names. I almost had a heart attack when I saw S. was one of them. I'd also considered the other 2, amazingly enough. But S. just didn't look like one of the names. And I couldn't turn down the chance to turn a GP name into a name to use!

I'll go back to lurking now until S. wakes up from his nap.

kellyfo14 · September 2014

My DD is Lyla. We agreed about the name but not the spelling. I preferred Lilah. But honestly she is 4 now and it really doesn't matter to me at all. But I did not feel as strongly about it as you do. Tough situation.

Beevol · September 2014

I've also only ever seen the name spelled Kellen and only on guys (one in college and one friend-of-a-friend).

brownmouse · September 2014

I have a teeny bit of regret using Isabella as DD's middle name because its SOOOO popular... But it fits her so well, and I love it with her first name, so it's less regret, and more envy of the millions of great girl names I could have used.

brownmouse · September 2014

bromios said:

brownmouse said:

I have a teeny bit of regret using Isabella as DD's middle name because its SOOOO popular... But it fits her so well, and I love it with her first name, so it's less regret, and more envy of the millions of great girl names I could have used.

I LOVE Isabella, and if Isabella Marie hadn't been Bella Swan's exact name we probably would have used it.

I actually do love it too, just not a huge fan of the popularity thing... Same reason why I wont use Amelia even though I love it (aside from the fact that I am having a boy)

I just tend to like names off the chart, now that I know there is a chart. Haha! When we named her, I didn't even know about or consider popularity.

Also, I totally had to look up who Bella Swan was in your reference. Then I felt stupid, because DUH.

daystardreams · September 2014

I've always seen it as Kellen.

whatevs89 · September 2014

I don't regret my dd's name but I almost let her father decide and I would have regretted it! We went to the hospital with the name Aria picked out but I just wasn't in love with it and I knew it was about to jump in popularity! When I saw her the name Ivy just clicked and he agreed immediately. I am so happy we changed it!

LadyXaverian · September 2014

I don't know about "regret", but our daughter's name was a compromise. I wanted her nick name (Nora) to be her given name on her birth certificate. However, we were honoring DH's grandmother, Elinor, and he really wanted to give DD his grandmother's actual name- not just a version of it. So even though we knew and agreed that she would be called Nora, her formal name on her birth certificate is Elinor.

I like that it gives her options, but I was always one who believed that you should name your child what you were going to call them, so this was a pretty big compromise for me.

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