when the name doesnt fit the baby..

[kimber-leigh.livejournal.com]

ok.. so, my mom had a name all picked out before i was born... i was supposed to be Lacy Michelle.. however, when i got here she said i didn't look like a Lacy Michelle.. so, she named me Kimber Leigh...  she said she'd always sworn that she would never name her daughter any variation of Kim/Kimberly because she hated a girl with that name in school... but she said when she saw me i just looked like a Kimber..  

my question is.. 

What if, when your child is born they don't look like your favorite name, the name you've spent countless hours deciding on and falling in love with?   What if that name just doesnt fit them?    Will you have a back up or will you stick to your guns?

Comments

[politicking.livejournal.com]

well... with my son we had a name picked out, Bryan, after my father & my son's father's best friend- who are both Brians. i wanted it to be a tad different, & always liked the Y in there. we seriously did not pick out Bryan until i was 39 1/2wks along lol.

then, all of a sudden, he says he doesn't like Bryan, he wants something else. i'm at a total loss because it took us 9m to agree on a name as it is. so i said, "fine, how about just Ryan?" he didn't say anything, really, & we didn't talk about it after that. when he was born, we just stuck with Ryan, because it was the only name we could even agree on.

i regret naming him Ryan sometimes, because to me, he's a Bryan. i thought about changing it when he was really little, but never did. most people we meet think that he or i say "Bryan" anyway, & end up calling him that.

[jazzyaimsaru.livejournal.com]

I wonder this too. In the last year I've been to two baby showers where the baby's planned name was printed on the invitation. (They were Shayla and Wyatt)

So, if you print it on the invitation and everyone buys you gift/comes to visit with this idea of your baby having this name---would you have the balls to change the name last minute upon looking at your child? lol

even if people bought you blankets with the name printed on, or wall hangings?

[kimber-leigh.livejournal.com]

here i am just thinking how hard it would be to part with a favorite name.. i didn't even consider embroidered blankets and such.. lmao!! that would be kind of embarrassing.. all the emails sent out to people: "vote on my name list!", personalized baby shower invites.. then, oops!! Josephine is now Sara... LMAO!!!

[jazzyaimsaru.livejournal.com]

LOL! I guess it doesnt really matter as long as the parents are happy but I would feel like a doof if I had been the one to buy the name plate/blanket.

haha, its a little like one of the weddings presents I received. My husband's name is spelled Jeramiah (no idea why his mom wanted the 'a' instead of the 'e')and my friend's mom bought us a clock and a funny little stand up plaque that both misspelled his his name as Jeremiah. I never told her the mistake, but I did chisel the stick-on-plaque off of the clock (is that bad? lol) there is nothing to do about the ornamental plaque though, the names are carved on and its made of hard plastic, its currently hidden behind my recipe books haha

[imyourrapunzel.livejournal.com]

I always think about that! A girl I went to high school with just had a baby and I remember looking a pics of stuff she got. Some of it had the name she planned to name her daughter, and she named her daughter something else. I wonder what she did with the stuff she got.

[heather80.livejournal.com]

I didn't have this happen, but I got a personalized gift for my friend. I put it off until she was born, though I looked into doing it sooner. Good thing, cuz she changed the spelling of it :).

[jazzyaimsaru.livejournal.com]

this is funny, I asked my mom just the other day if she regretted any of the names she chose for her three children. She said that she didnt because, the name somehow becomes the child. *shrug*

[smasharash.livejournal.com]

I think I would pick out maybe three names, and hope that one fits the baby! If not then I'd keep my original long name list and try to find one on there.
I don't really like the idea of the baby having a definate name before the birth, so I'd stay open right to the end, but have a favourite (or few) that I'd plan on using.

[kimber-leigh.livejournal.com]

i agree with having a few, just in case.. i'm so glad mom didn't name me Lacy Michelle.. it's just not me..

[imyourrapunzel.livejournal.com]

I'd do this too.

[babyjess8.livejournal.com]

That why we make LISTS...

Personally, i'm not TTC or ATP (about to pop!) but my list is one of names I love. When I have a kid I will use that list to decide (not that i'll need it - i know it by heart!)

[jesus--suburbia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'd just have a few favorites my husband and I had decided on, and then hope one of them fits.

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

Babies change so rapidly. Especially their faces. Who may look a Natasha as a baby, could be a Margaret when she's 20. So, I'm going to give my kids the names I picked out for them, and I think even if they don't fit them as babies, they will fit them eventually.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

very true... same with their personalities. my son was the most calm, quiet newborn baby i've ever seen. he's now one of the most outgoing, LOUD 3yr olds haha. so not only do they change a lot physically, but also their personalties change soooooo much.

[mia80seven.livejournal.com]

I've always heard what you name your child is who they become. Kind of like a destined thing.

very interesting..

[kimber-leigh.livejournal.com]

i've never heard that.. but, i like it.. :)

[so-there.livejournal.com]

eh, babies all look the same fir the first week or so anyway. ok, not entirely true, but someone else pointed out that they change so much in the first 6 months, you can't even really comprehend how they'll look as toddlers, gradeschoolers, teenagers, or adults, so how they look as newborns would never cause me to change a name I've picked.

especially not a boy's name. if I manage to come up with one I like during any given pregnancy, tossing it out would mean starting from scratch, and the kid could end up nameless for 6 or so months! girls' names I have a few I like, but I'd still use them in the order I like them.

[kristinwitha-k.livejournal.com]

My SO has always said he doesn't think names should be absolutely determined until the person comes out into the world and you meet them. :-) Which I think is a really sweet sentiment. We'll probably have a couple prepared for each gender just in case.

I disagree with announcing the name before the baby arrives. I think that steals away a little of the magic. There's so little uncertainty left in this world anyway, why not preserve those few moments we get in life.

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I plan on going into labor with a set of two or three names to pick from when I meet the baby.
My parents had a name picked out for me, (with only a very vague backup...) and when I was born they thought I didn't look like the name they had chosen and picked out a new one. (And for the record--they were right, the name they had originally chosen didn't fit me AT ALL.)

But I am not saying I wouldn't be heartbroken if I couldn't use my favorite name ;)

[farawaysong.livejournal.com]

I don't want to pick a name until I've met the baby, but I don't have just one favorite name, anyway, so it won't bother me to pick one over another. I know most babies look alike when they're born, but I wouldn't feel right choosing just one name beforehand.

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

Yup, totally know what you mean.
I try not to get really attached to names like that. I have five or so names I like equally, and would just use whichever one felt right on meeting them. It's worked out OK for my animal companions at least. :)

So obviously wouldn't announce the name ahead of time; though mostly for not wanting to be talked out of using something, then regretting that.
And it does make the birth announcement more special when everything is a suprise.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

I think the baby would have to REALLY not "look like" my choice for me to change. I think it's just so hard with newborns for even a couple weeks, for them to really look like anything/anyone.

It just seems really hasty at that point. If I were to switch names, that baby would be unnamed for another three weeks, lol.

[jamie-marie.livejournal.com]

My husband and I have had the "perfect" boy name picked out for at least a couple of years. I can't explain it, but it just fits in both of our minds so well. When we meet our baby in another 8 months, it will take a lot to make us change our minds. I really think that we would keep it, and assume that our baby would grow into it.

[juniorfan29.livejournal.com]

I have never understood the "He/She didn't LOOK like an *insert name*" because, truthfully, I don't know what a name looks like. What does a Lacy look like, anyway? I've known different people with that name...and none of them look alike. I've known other people with MY name, and we don't look alike. So...does one of us not look like our name?

I've only ever made a comment like that about one person, her name was Barbie...and when I think Barbie, I think of a stripper who adopted the name. So, no, she didn't look like a Barbie.

Aside from that...the only way I can imagine saying that a person doesn't look like their name is if I were looking at a blonde haired, blue eyed baby with a name like Jahvon/Concepcion/Jawahar/Ming/any other ethnic name that would seem out of place on a blonde haired, blue eyed baby.

[kimber-leigh.livejournal.com]

i think certain names fit some people better than others.. i dont think i look like a lacy.. or a michelle..

i've had someone tell me i look like a Louise before.. (which i don't agree with but i think is funny since that was a nickname given to me by my dad when i was little..) however, the person that said that didn't know my dad called me that.. :) so.. maybe i do look like a Louise.. *shrugs*

[jordle.livejournal.com]

Ha! This makes me laugh because I have had my kids names picked out for years (I'm 27 now and no where near having kids but I've had their names for probably 15 years!)and my sisters always say to me "But what if she doesn't look like an Abigail?!"

I really can't see a tiny little baby who is all shriveled up looking like any name. I think you need to name your baby what you think is right - and if you change your mind after you see it then so be it :)

[xpinkxamazingx.livejournal.com]

I was the same when my first was born.
She was going to be called Melody but when i saw her she looked like a Naomi so thats her name.
I Will have to have a back up for this one but i am hoping she looks like a Honey and the boy a Riley.

[lneef.livejournal.com]

We went into the hospital for my induction with a list of 14 girls' names (and two favorite boys' names, but we were pretty sure it wasn't a boy). We didn't pick one beforehand for this reason.

We were able to eliminate half of them right off the bat (when she was born around 630 pm) because she didn't look like them (or seem like them). Over that first night, we talked and talked (since we couldn't sleep) and it eventually came down to two favored names- one I thought she looked like (and had felt like for me for months) and one he thought.

We couldn't bear the thought of disagreeing so strongly on something so important so we threw them both out, started from scratch around 6 the next morning, and a contender emerged that she looked like that hadn't even been on our list. My mom called around 10, yelled at me because the baby didn't have a name yet, and we looked at each other, nodded, and told Mom the name we'd picked. (See above if you're curious).