Grandchildren's names

In the thirties grandmother had a new niece who was given the name Hazel,very outspoken old lady. She apparently exclaimed-' Fancy calling her after a b** nut when all the b** saints there are!!'

I only have one grandchild, a beautiful 2 year old granddaughter. They chose not to know the sex of the baby beforehand and they didn't discuss names with anyone. They didn't tell anyone what their choices were as they didn't want anybody putting them off the names chosen or suggesting names. Names they have in mind for future children are also kept secret! I think it's a good idea. When my granddaughter was born and they told us what her name was it was a nice surprise, as well as being a lovely surprise finding out what sex the baby was. She is called Emelia Rose, which I think is lovely. Rose is a middle name, not a double barrelled first name, and the names go very well with her surname.

These are very frustrating posts with none of the actual names being mentioned! I had no input into my two GDs' naming, but I didn't expect to. You may well guess the names from my username, and yes, River is a girl, now aged 5, and feisty enough to carry off such an unusual name (for a girl).

I don't think anyone should have any input but the parents. I didn't with my C and neither did they with us.

DGD no2 (first child of DS) was going to be called Rocket if she had been a boy. She was still named after a herb but it is always shortened and it suits her very well. Her sister is also called after a plant and while I am not so keen on that name she has grown into it.

DD chose two good solid ordinary names for her DD and DS.

My own children have typical Scandinavian names, my Grandchildren the same, I dont think we were asked about the Grandchildrens names, but they are all lovely, so no problem there. Must tell, a friend of a friend, has one Daughter with a middle name GERRARD! the latest Daughters middle name YNWA, guess which footbal team Dad supports?!

Can't bear the third child's name. I love her to pieces but haven't come to terms with the name. My son told me the name over the phone and my daughter said it was a good job he hadn't done it face to face because he couldn't see my reaction. Conversely when he rang to tell me the name of the second one I cried because he was named for my father and grand father. I have a friend who burst out laughing when her son told her his baby's name as she thought it was a joke. He has never forgiven her.

My mother died shortly before my daughter was born. There was no way I could have called her by my mothers name it would have been cruel. I did have it as her second name. She has never used it and can hardly spell it! It was used at her wedding and for the first time I was glad I'd given it to her. It made me and the rest of my family (they told me after the ceremony) feel as if my mum was some how part of the day. My youngest granddaughter has both her other Nanna's name and mine as second and third names. I was so pleased it was a really lovely thing to do

My DGD1 told everyone at her nursery that her new baby sister was called Noddy

I don't expect to have input but my face must let me down when some names have been mentioned luckily none used . Like other posters they could be called anything would still love them to bits love it penstemon could have been big ears

I keep thinking about that poor little boy on The Archers - they called him 'Mungo'

No input whatsoever! Nothing to do with me. We were told when advised that the GDs were born. GD1 - like first name, love second name. GD2 - like first and second names. GD3 - love first and second names and there is only one family name between them, and a second name at that! Suits me fine. They are all very much 'their' names now.

Our DS and DDiL didn't know the sex of their baby beforehand, but they had chosen beautiful names for both genders.
We now have a gorgeous grandson, two weeks old today, big beautiful and has the perfect name.....he's a strong baby and has a strong name, it really suits him.
I have an unusual name (French) and DS also has a very unusual name (old English), and grandson is following the family tradition of rare names!

My four all have traditional names, thank heavens, with no input from grandparents. I would have loathed anything with a quirky spelling (e.g. Mickaylar) or one of those many-hyphened affairs as in a birth announcement in our local paper: Tegan-Courtney-Jane.

One of my granddaughters has a name which is very unusual as a girl's name in the UK but is very popular in Australia and NZ. I like it very much and it suits her. My husband has a name which was very unusual when he was a child but is very common now. He was in his twenties before he met another man with the same name.
My name is as common as muck and I usually have to add my surname when I phone someone as there are so many of us. I would love to be called something unusual.

When DD was about eighteen we were having a chat about names she would call any future children,I was horrified with her choices All very modern.Fast forward ten years and when my DGS was born DH and I were relieved to find he was to be called Jack

I am very happy with all my grandchildren's names. My eldest daughter has given her two daughters old fashioned names of the sort your great-aunt might have been called and her son has a king's name - all three names are on the 2015 list. My middle daughter gave her child a beautiful Shakespearean name that she knew was a favourite of mine. The youngest daughter named her two sons for both her great-grandfathers. Initially her husband wanted a ghastly (to my mind) name for her firstborn, but with a little gentle influence he was persuaded into agreeing to a family name. (Also on the list.)

My daughters have names that were unusual at the time, but one was given to a TV character and therefore became popularised. I was not happy, but daughter still loves her name - and her sisters love theirs too. My sons were given slightly more traditional names, but ones that were not very common at the time and again one has since become very popular in both its full and diminutive forms. In fact 26 of the names on the list are those of immediate family members aged from 6 to 52, so were our family trendsetters I wonder?

I don't think it is any business of a grandparent to interfere with the choice of names. When my youngest was born my MIL said her name sounded like a dog's name. As you can imagine we were not happy with her comments. (The name is a fairly common girls name shared by several film stars so really not a dogs name at all).

I read the article about parents later regretting their choice of name. Maybe parents need to step back from trying to please everyone and choose what they really like. The thing is, once chosen the name belongs to the child not to the parents or anyone else. They can always choose to be known by something else when they are older, a middle name, a shorter version of their name or change it altogether.

My brother and I both had names beginning with J and my son and both my nephews have names starting with J too. My MIL once said "Your family have a 'thing' about J's which I thought was unfair as my daughter's name begins with a different letter as do both my children's middle names. However my poor mother used to struggle to remember her three GS's names and often got them mixed up. Whatever names are chosen, whether we like them or not they usually come to suit the child and even the oddest names seem normal after a while.

I have 3 lovely Grand daughters. I was not involved in any of the discussion about the names for any of them, however I guessed what the first Grand daughter was going to be called. They are all lovely names. When I asked my DD what she had she been going to call F, had she been a boy, she said Walter! Was pretty relieved that she had turned out to be a girl although I daresay I would have got used to it!

I didn't have any input into grand-daughters names and didn' t know what they would be until they were born. I like both names very much the one more unusual than the other. I also like how they are shortened. My SIL is English whilst we are Welsh so my daughter gave them very traditional Welsh names as middle names. I can't imagine them being called anything else, their names really suit them.

I gave my youngest a Biblical name, very unusual, because my mother loved it (and I was asking her to come and hold the fort while I was in hospital yet again)
Ten years later that name was extremely common (in both senses) after being used in a TV soap.
I was asked for input about possible names for all my grandchildren, didn't much like some but thank heavens my children had good taste and nothing awful was used.

My son and his ex just couldn't get on well enough to even pick their twins' names. I randomly suggested 2 family names, Edward and Eleanor. Quite solid names I thought. What happened? Neddy and Nellie - sound like a couple of donkeys. Wish I'd kept out of it! And I don't see them anymore.

I love all of my DGC's names and couldn't imagine them being called anything else. I have always hated my name.
I remember my DD saying she loved her name but it's very short and she said she would have liked to have had a middle name . " okay" I said
"you can have my name as your middle name" her reply "no thanks"

I remember DD being very patronising about a local family who had given their children rather old fashioned names - Imogen and Dominic were two of them I think. I pointed out that as she and DS had a long string of fairly exotic Italian names she was hardly in a position to criticise.