What if I change my mind?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2006
What if I change my mind?
7
Wed, 11-08-2006 - 10:36am
Just wondering if this ever happens and how bad it is! I feel like I wont be able to decide on a name for my baby until they are born and I see them and they are a few weeks old. This happened with my puppy, we didn't decide, didn't decide, decided on one name, then a week later changed it to what is now the absolute perfect name for my now full grown dog. You can't do that with a baby though, can you? You can't wait to chose a name and fill out the birth cert. later right? I feel like we will pick out a great name, see the baby and say, no way, that doesn't fit at all.
Kelli in VT
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2006
Wed, 11-08-2006 - 10:44am
I think you can go home with the baby un-named. I've heard of people picking a couple of names, then choosing one after they see the baby. But I would definitely have a couple in mind as it gets closer to your due date...so it's not quite so stessful after you've given birth.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2006
Wed, 11-08-2006 - 12:09pm

You can wait to officially give the baby a name.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Wed, 11-08-2006 - 12:24pm

This is why I always loved the name Elisabeth for a girl - it has so many nicknames that no matter what she turned out like, one of them had to fit. Elise, Eliza, Liza, Liz, Lizzie, Lisa, Libby, Beth, Betsy, Bess and so on ...

And I really like the idea of having a short list of names to take with you to the hospital and even waiting a few weeks to make it final if you need to. Even if you do fill out the birth cert. and change your mind later, I think there's still a period of time when it's relatively easy to get it changed.


iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2006
Thu, 11-09-2006 - 3:36pm
My advice would be to bring a list of a few names that you are considering to the hospital with you. Then you can try each name out on your baby and see which name fits best.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Thu, 11-09-2006 - 5:13pm

hi-
we didnt have to decide on name until the day we were leaving the hospital. i had a csection so i had 5 days to decide. we did go in with 2 names and i spent the first 3 days testing them out, on the 3rd day my dh said "can we please please name her" so we did.

i do know people who come home w/o a name - when you take your hospital tour maybe ask them if they know the legal status on it.

alison

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2006
Thu, 11-09-2006 - 5:42pm
I had a physician who had a large family. Her and her husband didn't name the baby until after the first year (so they said) and would refer to the baby as simply "baby." They were waiting for their child's personality to develop before actually determining a name. Makes sense, but I'm not sure I like the idea of refering to my baby as "baby" for the first year of their life.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2006
Thu, 11-09-2006 - 8:58pm
I felt like I was almost pretending the first couple of weeks, calling my little boy by his name. It helped that we had referred to him in utero as "Baby J" (after his middle name, Jennings, which we knew as soon as we knew he was a boy - I called him that sometimes after he was born). But, after a month - less probably - the name just fit. He reallly fits his name (Soren) now - I think of our other three choices and can't imagine using them now for him, even though I still like all the names, they aren't "right" - although, if we had used them they probably would be. That's the way it goes I guess.