Have you ever thought your child’s name was all settled … only to realize you had to pull a sharp U-turn and find a completely other name?
If you saw this post from Swistle you know exactly what I mean. When it turns out your favorite name surfaces painful memories from your parents’ past, well … it’s just not a choice.
But naming u-turns aren’t always the result of such dramatic events.
Sometimes the baby just doesn’t look like your chosen name.
Or maybe a loved one passes away during your pregnancy.
Other times, the circumstances of a child’s birth seem to dictate a different kind of name. I imagine all those children born on airplanes or during blizzards might’ve have another name, until their arrivals made a middle name like Sky or Snow seem appropriate.
Have you ever changed your mind about your child’s name abruptly?
Elsewhere online:
Do you read German? I’m fascinated by the conversations in this name help post on beliebte-vornamen.de. Since I don’t know a syllable of German, I’m using a translator and I know I’m missing a lot. But there’s a whole conversation about C versus K spellings, as well as Johan/n versus Jan versus Johannes. The questions vary across cultures and languages, but they’re also surprisingly similar.
Carrie-Anne looks at Jadwiga, a name from my husband’s family tree that we might’ve used if we had another daughter or three. Not as a first, no – but I find it so appealing in a completely-not-what-people-are-naming-their-kids-now kind of way. (But hey, lately I’m loving Hildegard.)
There’s so much interesting in this set of Name Quotes from Nancy. The story about Beyonce’s name is powerful; and the insights into Inuit naming are fascinating.
Which reminds me: I want to hear the name Solange more! Duana gave it an enthusiastic yes! in this post, and I so agree with all of her comments. Would it bring to mind Beyonce’s sister, the very talented Solange Knowles? Yes. But I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.
This is the smartest thing I’ve read about unisex names. Of course it’s from Laura Wattenberg.
If you haven’t voted in the New Names Showdown yet, there’s still time! We’re down to the semifinal round. Find the boys contest here, and vote for your favorite girl names here.
That’s all for this week. Thinking of you!
Our last child we did two u-turns, once because hearing the name on another small child made me think it was just too weird, and the second time because my husbands grandma passed away.
I spotted another error – you provided a link for the boy’s New Name Showdown, but not for the girl’s.
We had chosen to name my daughter Anneliese. But when she was born, she didn’t cry. She just opened her eyes wide and looked around. Freaked me out. Why wasn’t my baby crying?! Was she ok?
She was fine, just had to do things her own way.
She needed something a little spunkier than Anneliese. We started searching for a new name.
It was a frantic search because we couldn’t leave without naming her and I wanted to go home!
We still loved the nickname of Annie, so we finally settled on Annika.
Love her name!
Since then, we’ve advised all our family/friends that it’s fine to go to the hospital with a chosen name, but have a backup prepared if the chosen name just doesn’t fit for any reason.