What were your dream names for your kids when you were growing up?

Never Barbara. I really dislike my name. From the age of 3 l called myself Bam. It stuck with my friends till l got married. Nobody used Bam after l left home. Quite nice when l go home and get called by my preferred name. Interesting my Husband never used it.

recklessgran

I wanted 10 little girls and intended to name them after flowers - Daisy, Lily, Poppy etc.
I actually have 5 daughters but none of them are named after flowers.

My son names his animals after flowers. The current cats are Daisy, Lily and Poppy - the dogs Buttercup and Magnolia.

Robert for a boy and our oldest son is, indeed called Robert. My favourite girls' name when I was a child was Deborah and this is what I named my Tiny Tears doll. By the time I had grown up, I had completely gone off it and our daughter was given an entirely different name.

I didn’t have any in mind. My dolls, which I loved, and played with a lot, didn’t even have names! Someone I know was determined that if she had a daughter, she would be called Nicola, but when she grew up and married, it was to someone with the surname Nicol, so that was out.

Sebastian as in Belle and Sebastian - the 1960s French children’s tv series. I was in love with Sebastian as a kid. My then husband was having none of it when I was expecting and we gave our son a very ordinary name in the end . When he was older our son said ‘ Why didn’t you give me a more interesting name - like Sebastian for example ?’ I think he must have been listening to our name debates whilst in the womb.

In my teens: for a girl, Wren. I still sort of like it but my daughter was not named that. For a boy, Dylan (probably because of Bob Dylan) but my son was not named that either, and I don't much like it now.

Tabitha, I was a Bewitched fan. Also, Michelle, after the Beatles song. I also liked the name Charlotte until I met a real life Charlotte at senior school who I didn't get on with.

In my teens I read all the *Building of Jalna books, by Mazo de la Roche.
Two of the characters were called Renée and Pheasant
For years they were the names I wanted for my future children.
But of course when the time eventually came my children had completely different names, much to their relief.

Aldom, funny you should mention Jalna, that's just sparked a memory of how much I liked the name Piers for a boy.

I thought if I had a girl I would name her Joanne. Never thought of having a son. I’d gone off the name by the time I had my daughters.

Never gave it a thought.

Luckily I used all the names I liked then for my pets and dolls.
I had a guinea pigs called Sally-Ann and Donna and a dolls called Erica and Madeleine.

I had girls' names ready but my first three babies were boys. When I got my girl I no longer liked the names I'd had ready for the brothers or they'd been "taken" in the meantime by friends and family.
It took us over a fortnight to decide on her name which she didn't like growing up but does now.

I always liked Harriet but I was perfectly happy with the names the DH and I finally chose. Harriet would have been a bit odd for our firstborn - as he was a boy.

Lilyflower 😂

When I was very little I named my baby doll Wayne!

Deborah - a name I still love. (My DS - only child - says he's very glad that I didn't give him that name....)

My best friend and I both wanted to call our sons Sebastian, but neither of us had the courage at the time. I would now.

For a girl I really liked Antoinette, but my French-speaking father said nobody would pronounce it properly. In the event, I never had a girl, but if I had she would probably have been Caroline. My granddaughter is called Alice, which I really like. One of her middle names is the same as mine and her other grandmother’s - we very conveniently have the same name.

From a very young age I loved the name of the similar age boy who lived next door. He was called James and I thought it was the most beautiful name I had ever heard and I still do. Mt eldest son is James and I always smile when I hear the name. My second son is Matthew. I have never met a horrible Matthew and my Matthew is a delight.

Bukkie

From a very young age I loved the name of the similar age boy who lived next door. He was called James and I thought it was the most beautiful name I had ever heard and I still do. Mt eldest son is James and I always smile when I hear the name. My second son is Matthew. I have never met a horrible Matthew and my Matthew is a delight.

I have a Matthew, too, and love the name. I also like the name James. However, the boy next door to me was called Nigel and he had a high, piping voice and a permanently runny nose. Strangely enough, it put me off the name Nigel for life….

Musicgirl

Bukkie

From a very young age I loved the name of the similar age boy who lived next door. He was called James and I thought it was the most beautiful name I had ever heard and I still do. Mt eldest son is James and I always smile when I hear the name. My second son is Matthew. I have never met a horrible Matthew and my Matthew is a delight.

I have a Matthew, too, and love the name. I also like the name James. However, the boy next door to me was called Nigel and he had a high, piping voice and a permanently runny nose. Strangely enough, it put me off the name Nigel for life….

I had a very good friend called Nigel at college and we have another friend called Nigel, a lovely man.

Aldom

In my teens I read all the *Building of Jalna books, by Mazo de la Roche.
Two of the characters were called Renée and Pheasant
For years they were the names I wanted for my future children.
But of course when the time eventually came my children had completely different names, much to their relief.

I read those books when I was expecting DC1 but the names never appealed to me!

I had two dolls called Monica and Veronica. I'd gone off Monica (sorry M0nica) by the time DD arrived 20 years later, and DH didn't like Veronica so we gave her a name which sounded well with our surname, but not so well with her married name now.
Oh well, you can't please everybody all the time.

Paperbackwriter

valdali

No I didn't think I would have children, but I liked the names Tamsin (out of one of my pony books) and Malcolm.

I'm guessing you were a Monica Edwards reader? Loved her books!
(Sorry. To keep on topic, I too loved the name Tamsin but didn't choose it for either daughter in the end)

I did 😁

Petrova for a girl after a girl in a book (possibly from Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes series) and Ettiene for a boy after an exchange student who was a gorgeous guitar playing hunk staying at a friend's house. I was 6, he was about 14!

My boys have Catholic saints' names. Partly so my MIL would have nothing to complain about, partly because I needed names that would be internationally recognised and not difficult to pronounce (or easy to mispronounce) in other languages and names that were not unusual but not too common or fashionable. If I had had more boys I would have continued the series with Benedict, Constantine and/or Valentine.

DH would have wanted to call a girl Jasmine, I would have liked Daphne

So these weren't really "dream" names but suited the criteria we had set ourselves.

Like most others I never even gave a thought to the subject until I was actually pregnant myself.