Baby name help

[F1Julie]

DH and I found out we are having a boy. While this is great news, we are now at a stalemate on the name. We had a girl name picked out that we both loved but we cannot even come close to agreeing on a boy name. If any other Dis'er had this same problem, how did you resolve it? I like more unusual, unique names and DH likes traditional names. He thinks my names are weird and I think his are boring. Also, our last name has 3 syllables, so I think the first name should be a one syllable name. DH keeps picking out 3 syllable names which I think sound too wordy. Any advise would be appreciated!

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We had this problem with our 3 yr old and with this new baby. We just kept looking and looking until a name came along that we both loved and agreed on. With our 3 yr old it was 3 days after he was born. We were getting ready to be dismissed from the hospital and were watching MTV. We heard the name Abram, and just looked at each other, we both loved it.

With the new baby, I was bored one night and told DH to sit down and we were going to sit until we named her. He wanted a trendy popular name and I wanted traditional so it took awhile, but we finally both agreed on Isabel

All I can really say is dont stress about it. Our oldest 2 were named when I want into the hospital, but the names were changed once I saw them. The names we had picked out just didnt fit them LOL. So all the stress of naming them was in vain, since the names were changed anyway. Good luck!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

We had the same trouble when we had our ds. With dd, we came to an agreement pretty easily but when we found out our second baby was a boy, it was a challenge to come up with a name that we agreed on. Our last name also has three syllables, and we both agreed that the middle name should be one syllable. Anyway, I had dh make write down all the boys' name that he would consider, and I wrote down all the names that I like. We then narrowed it down that way, and did come up with a very short list of "acceptable" names to both of us. That was of course a few months before ds was born. Then, one night..dh asked me.."How about the name Peyton?" and while it wasn't on either one of our list...I thought about it and i love it...so ds was named Peyton!

Good luck!

 

[becky_AK]

We had the exact same problem. I had a girls name picked out and was certain I was having a girl. When I found out I was having a boy we had no idea what we would name him. We had lists of names for several months and nothing seemed like the right name. We finally narrowed it down to three names and when I went into labor we still had no idea. The day my DS was born was the day we made the official decision of what his first & middle name would be. I thought that I would have been one of those people who has it all planned out by the time I was six months pregnant, but it all worked out perfect and I love the name we ended up choosing.

My advice is to be patient, a perfect name will come along. You'll hear it and know that is the name you want

 

[Neesy228]

We have a long last name too, and I refused to add a long first name. Of our three children, the longest name is 5 letters. It has made it much easier for them to learn to spell/write their names too! I have a friend who's last name is 5 syllables and they named their son a 4 syllable name. Talk about a mouthful!!

Another thing, IMO, boys don't do so well with unique unusual names. I always found that if I pictured a child as an adult with a certain name, it helped me decide if it was a good name to "grow into"....it seemed to me that most of the unusual/cute names for baby boys didn't hold up when I pictured them as successful adult men.

Anyway, my advise is to just wait it out...something will strike both of you and you will be amazed that you overlooked it all this time. Congratulations on the blessing! As a mother of two boys, I can tell you that it's a fantastic, crazy ride!

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

We really didn't have a lot of trouble coming up with a name for DS. We, too, wanted a name that was a little different. We found the perfect name on a baby name site, can't remember what the site was exactly.

Our biggest problem was trying to get our families to accept what we had chosen. We figured he was our baby and we didn't really care what others thought.

His name is Rylan. We paired it with a very traditional middle name, so it all worked out.

Best wishes! I hope you find the perfect name for your little guy.

 

[lucigo]

Maybe you could find a traditional name thats not quite as popular as it used to be, to give it a little flare? Another thought is to use a longer name with a short nick name. (My son Benjamin also is called Ben interchangably). Or a traditional name like Jason but call him Jay?

Good luck, let us know what you come up with, and congrats on having a boy!

 

[jenb1023]

I had the opposite problem!

We were convinced we were having a buy and had a name all picked out - Noah Michael - Noah because it was different but not weird and Michael is my husband's middle name.

Then we found out we were having a girl and had a really hard time. I wanted nothing in the top 20 (I am a Jennifer born in the 70's) and nothing that a nickname could be created from. We wanted it to be different but nto weird. We finally settled on Jordan Elizabeth.

What's funny is that it is the perfect name for her and her personality. Some of the other names that were at the top of the list just wouldn't fit.

So don't worry - you will figure it out and find the perfect name. Just keep looking online, in books, in the media, anywhere and you will one you both love.

 

[guy_davis]

This map of popular baby names (babynamemap.com) from around the world may help with your search as you narrow your choices.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Ok, you write all of your favorite names down on slips of paper.

He writes all his down on slips of paper.

You write the words "first" and "middle" one two separate strips.

Flip a coin to see who goes first.

Whoever goes first picks from the bag with the words "first" or "middle". Say you get to pick, the slip comes up "first". Then you reach into the second bag where all the names are mixed in, his and yours. Whatever you pull is his first name.

Then since your DH got "middle", he pulls the middle name out. Voila, FATE names your kid

And if you hate the name combo that comes out, do it over and over again until you can find a mix you can live with....

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

We really didn't have a lot of trouble coming up with a name for DS. We, too, wanted a name that was a little different. We found the perfect name on a baby name site, can't remember what the site was exactly.

Our biggest problem was trying to get our families to accept what we had chosen. We figured he was our baby and we didn't really care what others thought.

His name is Rylan. We paired it with a very traditional middle name, so it all worked out.

Best wishes! I hope you find the perfect name for your little guy.

Yes, very good advice to first time parents: DO NOT TELL YOUR FAMILY what you've named your kid before it comes out. Keep it between you and your spouse. Trust me, I've seen some of my friends give up their favorite names because a parent pooh poohed it, and then wish they had gone with it.

My parents HATED what we named both our kids, and y'know what? TOO BAD! My DH and I love the names (and they're not unusual names, either-we wanted to find names you could buy personalized stuff for at Disney). They just weren't to my relatives "taste" .

 

[lemondog]

We had this problem too. Except the opposite...when we found out we were having twins we came up with 2 boy names we loved in about 5 minutes. Naturally they were both girls and we didn't decide on final names until the day before I delivered. I ended up winning for the most part...since I was the one carrying twins around for 8 months. Also, I felt a LOT more passionately about my name choices than he did for his.

 

[lemondog]

Yes, very good advice to first time parents: DO NOT TELL YOUR FAMILY what you've named your kid before it comes out. Keep it between you and your spouse. Trust me, I've seen some of my friends give up their favorite names because a parent pooh poohed it, and then wish they had gone with it.

My parents HATED what we named both our kids, and y'know what? TOO BAD! My DH and I love the names (and they're not unusual names, either-we wanted to find names you could buy personalized stuff for at Disney). They just weren't to my relatives "taste" .

Yep...we learned that mistake with #1. I had SO many opinions that we ended up changing her name about 10 times. With the twins we didn't tell a soul until AFTER they were born, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

 

[Bea]

We had a similar issue . DH liked traditional names (Andrew, Christopher, etc) and I wanted something different. So we settled on a traditional name that isn't used as much these days: "Chad".

I feel for you. It isn't easy picking out names. Good luck.

 

[LadyShea]

We looked for names with the same meaning as our mothers names (kinda by accident, our fave girl's name just happened to be a variation on mother-in-laws name...so we ran with that theme)

So I did searches on baby name sites by meaning, and found first and middle names we both loved, and we can say he's named after his grandmas

Perhaps you can find a meaning theme in your own family? Yourselves or your parents or grandparents maybe?

His name is Cade Alexander, BTW

 

[aribelle]

You might be surprised to learn that many names have the same meaning...so your unique name may have a very common related name. Your library (or local book store) will have books that will help figure this out, there are also places on line to plug in a name and get alternatives.

We had twins and had one name picked out immediately....the other we couldn't come up with one that we wanted as seriously as that first name.....and we went into delivery with no concrete name for the second child. However when she was born and the doc asked her name....neither of us hesitated, we looked at each and said the same name.

It'll come to you, so don't stress. Pregnancy has enough stress!

Maybe make a list of all the choices you each like.....post it on the refridgerator or somewhere that you'll both see it a lot (maybe the bathroom, lol)......you might find that one of his names starts to "grow" on you....or he may find one of yours starts sounding "normal" and not so unique to him. Familiarity helps!

Congrats!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

Our biggest problem was trying to get our families to accept what we had chosen. We figured he was our baby and we didn't really care what others thought.

That's exactly the reason why we kept the gender and the name a secret until both our kids were born.

 

[F1Julie]

Thanks for all the replies. We've already agreed to keep the name a secret from our families. We don't need even more opinions to add to our confusion. Also, we have ruled out family names as I don't want to show favoritism to one side of the family versus the other. We already have a middle name picked out too, but it is one the DH picked out the I went along with. That might have to change if we can't agree on a first name. At least we have until October to decide.

 

[puffkin]

We also agreed on a girl name right away, and then found out we were having a boy. Boys names are HARD!

DH was going through all his favorite movies and naming characters. He said Captain Brodie (from JAWS) and I said I didn't really care for that but how about Brady? And it stuck. So, I feel like I still won but he had some input too

Middle name was a whole other story. We didn't want to name him after anyone and were having a really hard time. Finally I saw Kennedy on a website and liked it. I don't think most of our relatives like Kennedy part, but they all like the name Brady so they forget about his middle name.

We also did not tell anyone what our name was until after he was born. I didn't want to hear the critiquing.

 

[bzzymom]

My maiden name is a 3 syllable name, 8 letters, and my parents named me a 7 letter, 3 syllable first name as well, but I've gone by a 2 syllable nickname my whole life. My brothers both have 2 syllable names. I hated my whole name because it was too long. Then, I married a guy with 1 syllable last name(3 letters) and now my last name is too short, and I had a hard time naming my kids.

My brother and his wife just had 2 boys 15 months apart. They went with Charles Jameson for the first son, although he has gone by CJ since he was born. They named him after both of their maternal grandfathers because they both died of cancer while she was pregnant. They used Jameson instead of James because they liked the sound of it better . The second son they named Logan.

Now, DH and I had it easy with DS. His name is Connor and I fell in love with it when I was about 18 or 19 years old after watching the Highlander movie. DH liked it as well and he knew before we were even married that if we had a son, that is what his name would be.

Then, we had a surprise pregnancy and found out we were having a daughter. We couldn't agree on 1 single name for months. I had a dream that I had her home from the hospital and people came to visit, and they would tell us how cute she was and asked her name and I would say that she had no name. Finally, in the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, DH started searching baby name web sites on his own. He came us with a list of about 30 names. One of the names was one that I had given to him that he had shot down So, we used that name, Chloe, as her first name, and then we used the middle name Brielle which was a name DH found on a site that I had never heard of before.