Choosing A Name

November 20, 2013

 

baby name books

Everyone who has ever even thought about having children has always thought about the baby names they would choose. I know me and my husband would discuss our favourite names well before we had decided to try for children. Both times I found out I was pregnant I couldn’t help having a sneaky look though the baby name books and even writing little lists of my favourites. This time the pressure is on, not only do we need two names for our identical twin boys but they need to sound good together. It feels like such a responsibility to get it right! You think about everything; will they like it as a teenager, as an adult? Will they get it shortened to something strange in school? Will the teacher be able to pronounce it on the register? More so now you have to wonder if they will get judged for it at each stage of their life, at job interviews or on application forms?

When I went into have Lucas we had picked out three baby boy names and we hadn’t told them to anyone beforehand. I remember the midwife asking me our names (this was post-epidural when I could talk sense!) and she told us she liked Lucas. When he was born they asked us what we were going to name him, I asked my husband to choose and it has always seemed just perfect for him.

I know everyone has different ways of choosing a name. Some people have them picked out from when they were young and it never changes, some have a family name that has a deep meaning to them, some choose a name because of their heritage and you always hear of people naming their children after cars etc…each to their own! Personally I like names that aren’t too popular but at the same time don’t make people pull a funny face when you say it. I like old fashioned names and I like modern names; some names I absolutely love but they just don’t sound right with our surname. Some of my favourite names get vetoed straight away by my husband; because he is a teacher inevitably some names remind him of certain children, for better or for worse!

This pregnancy I had so many girl names I loved but the boy names were a bit scarce. When we found out it was twins I thought I’d be set…if it was girls! My lists of girls names was out of control; there were so many I loved. Boys names I think I managed about 5 and even then I wasn’t too sure of them. The further through the pregnancy I went the more I thought it was boys and I started to leave my list of little girl names before I became too attached to any! And so, we are blessed with two little boys and choosing their names could not have been harder. We have both wrote our list and compared, but even when we have matching names one of us has dithered about whether we really like it. it has seemed so much more difficult this time, did anyone else find this with their second?

So, after much debate and list making we have managed to agree on a few names; we have two we are pretty certain on and a couple more just in case we change our minds when we see them! Incidentally neither of them are the other names we had picked out for Lucas and to be honest we could even change our minds again!

How did you choose names for your children? Were they names you always wanted, did you let your partner choose or were you swayed by someone else’s opinions?

 

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9 Comments

  • The Reading Residence

    Oh, I feel your struggle – albeit a lovely one to have! With Boo, we couldn’t really come up with any girls names that we both loved, until one day it popped into my head, out of the blue, I said it to the husband and we both just knew that was the one – loved it. With Little Man it was odd as we’d always, always said if we had a boy we’d call him Sam. Then when we found out we were having a boy, we wavered and though it was on the short-list, we went for another name in the end! Both are traditional names, though I wanted them to be out of the top 10 popular names list – unusualish, but not totally random like my name! Best of luck deciding 🙂

    November 20, 2013 at 11:16 am Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      Isn’t it funny how some names that you have been so sure of suddenly just don’t seem right?! It must be a Mother’s instinct. We have always said we will wait to see them before making the final choice like we did with Lucas. I never tell anyone in case they pull a funny face and it puts me off. I just hope these names suit when we see them!

      November 21, 2013 at 11:20 am Reply
  • Alexandra Mercer

    My husband and I find it very difficult to agree on baby names.
    Baby 1 (boy) – was joint choice
    Baby 2 (girl) – was my choice
    Baby 3 (girl) – was husband’s choice
    Baby 4 (girl) – was a joint choice
    Baby 5 (boy) – was husband’s choice
    Baby 6 (boy) – was my choice
    So all in all it’s worked out quite fair so far! 🙂

    November 20, 2013 at 3:51 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      That does seem fair…I’m just not sure I could let my husband loose on a name! That’s interesting though because I’ve always thought your children have a mix of traditional and more unusual names, all lovely I should add! x

      November 21, 2013 at 11:22 am Reply
  • Beth @plasticrosaries

    I think naming the second is nearly impossible and beyond that it must get even harder. I find when I’m not pregnant I have hundreds of good names and then when the moment comes they all feel wrong! I’m still not sure I got second’s right as I rushed to pick something after the name I’d picked just didn’t suit!
    Can’t wait to hear your baby boys’ names 🙂

    November 20, 2013 at 4:15 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      You are so right, names that you loved suddenly don’t seem the same when you actually think about naming your child! I like both of your girls names, they are different without being too ‘out there’ but I do think it is more pressure after the first!

      November 21, 2013 at 11:24 am Reply
      • Beth @plasticrosaries

        Lottie was definitely not thought out properly unfortunately – it’s nowhere near as unusual as Jessamy so I feel mean! Haha

        November 21, 2013 at 11:25 am Reply
  • AK Templer

    i am 28 weeks now and we are expecting a surprise we where fixed on a girls name we had choosen for number 1 but it was a boy so we decided we would use the same name again if nr 2 is a girl. we then had a boys name we already loved for a while but all of a sudden i was speculating if i really like that name that much so we sat down the other day and went through a name list once again and ended up with 7 boys names and 3 different girl names now we want to cut it down to 2 each. it is so much harder 2 time around because we now need to find something that goes with FInn AND the long surname too! good luck choosing! x

    November 20, 2013 at 8:29 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      I think it is harder the second time round, I’m sure if must be pregnancy hormones that makes us suddenly doubt our choices, or maybe it’s just fate that that isn’t the name for the baby! Some I loved early on just don’t seem right now, I’m pretty happy with the two definite we have but if they don’t suit them we will be stuck! I’ll look forward to seeing if you have boy or girl and what you go for xx

      November 21, 2013 at 11:26 am Reply

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