Did You Share Your Unborn Baby's Name?

I had a name picked out for a boy or a girl, and I told people. When I found out I was having a girl, the name was the name I had picked. Although my sister said to me at one point, "What if she comes out, and she's not 'Caitlin'?" I just stared at her. I know people are entitled to their opinions, but you just don't share that type of opinion. It's rude! My cousin picked a....well, different name for her little boy (Cosimo, they call him Cosmo), and while it's not name I would have picked, it's NOT MY CHILD TO NAME! It's your baby, and if other people don't like it, or don't like the way you spell it (my issue), that's their problem! This is just my opinion, lol.

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Some people really don't have a specific name picked before they have a baby. With both my second we didn't know gender until birth and had a list of about 10 first and middle name combos that we liked. I would say a name and look at him to see if that's what he "looked" like. He was about 2 hours old before he had a name.

With my third we didn't know gender again and had about 5 or 6 combos that we liked. He didn't look like any of them at all! Finally my husband suggested a name I'd loved the whole time but he didn't like it (until babe was born) so it didn't make the list. It was still 3 days before we picked a middle name.

We are now expecting our fourth and do plan on finding out the gender but if by some chance we do pick a name before birth we won't be sharing it. Besides the date and weight I would like something to be a surprise to our friends and family.

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I think it is good to get reactions to the name before hand. It might alert you to something you didn't think about. But if you really like a name, and you don't agree with the criticism, then why would you care what others think?

One of the names I picked out constanly got the reaction, "That is a stripper name." I had never seen it in that context, but since so many other people did, I decided I didn't want to name my daughter something that caused most people to react negatively. But if people just didn't like the name, it wouldn't have mattered to me.

Another friend of mine chose a name and someone else pointed out that the initials would be P.I.G. She hadn't considered that and decided to keep the name, but change the order. Maybe not a big deal, but maybe it was. By putting her name out there, she was alerted to the situation.

What we name our children DOES matter. There are plenty of studies to prove it.

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We shared the name we had picked out for our son. (Mostly cause I can't keep a secret.) I didn't care what others thought, but was a little nervous that a couple other pregnant couples we knew might steal the name. No one did. Funny thing is the only person who kinda didn't like the name we had picked (Henry) was my mother-in-law and that just made me like it even more. :) Now she acts like it is the name she would have picked out if he were her son. Oh, but that's probably a totally separate story.....

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That's ridiculous that people would have to worry about their names being criticized. (Unless it was something really horrible, like that kid named Adolf Hitler Campbell.) I have a cousin with a name no one can pronounce on the first try. She'd probably slap anyone who bothered her about it. People are such judgmental idiots sometimes.

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Not only did we not reveal either of our daughters' names before birth (we didn't know the gender beforehand, so we chose names early on for both a boy and a girl), we didn't even do it immediately after birth! We're Wiccans, and we believe that a name and the meaning of the name is the most important gift you can give your child and should therefore be given at the naming day with a formal ceremony that such an important gift deserves. That was held on the first new moon or first full moon after the child's birth, and had a formal ceremony to go with it. We did fill out the birth certificate before we left the hospital, but other than that, we had to instruct everybody on how we couldn't reveal the name until the proper time, and the hospital staff was great about going along with that. The naming ceremonies were beautiful, and it was wonderful to be able to give our daughters rich and good names with strong meanings. This was not like a baptism, but giving the most important gift to the baby and asking the Goddess and God to watch over him/her until he/she is old enough to decide which religious path to follow at adulthood.

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When I was pregnant, my husband and I had picked out a boy name and girl name. We shared those names with close family. We had a boy and named him Elijah Blue. The close family we shared our baby names with is now having a girl and is planning to name their daughter the name we shared with them!!! I am very upset because that girl name was chosen by my husband and I because what the meaning of the name symbolizes. The close family says they don't remember us telling them.... I don't believe that.

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I had my daughter's name picked out from the day we found out we were expecting - Tova Marie. I actually had a boys name picked out as well. When we had out gender ultrasound, I called the grandparents and told them that Tova would be arriving in February. No one (atleast to my face) complained about it and now (Tova is 4 months old) everyone has either gotten used to the name or they just don't care anymore. I wanted to have a name picked out so that my baby would have an identity, not just be called baby girl. I've actually ran into some people since her birth that have been very rude with their comments so I've had to shoot something back about how I wanted something unique and a family name. I don't care about peoples opinions.

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