Do you like your grandchild's name?

I know of whole a family who fell out really badly over the mother's choice of a child's name - the mother isn't English - and the father liked the name. Surely it's not worth so much bad feeling? Names are important to the parents.

Our grandchildren all have traditional names, and I'm pleased about that.
One, they won't have to constantly spell out an unusual name ( for life) and two, they won't be 'judged' either at school or when applying for a job.

Our grandparents probably weren't keen on some of the names our parents gave us, I know my great-grandmother disliked the names of 2 of my brothers so would deliberately spell them wrong on cards and gifts. I have 9 grandchildren and can honestly say some of their names I too wasn't keen on although I kept my opinion to myself as not to hurt anyone's feeling. Having said that, when you hold them in your arms for the first time, they come with so much love that it no longer matters, they grow into it and so you. Enjoy!

Perhaps the Beckhams were influenced by the author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'...

When my daughter said she was thinking of calling her child River if it was a boy, I burst out laughing, then said, 'No grandson of mine is being called River!" Luckily she had a girl whom she called Layla - a beautiful name. Phew - that saved a family war.

However "normal" a name sounds now, if it is not really common people will manage to mispronounce it. My name is Heather which is not particularly unusual, but bizarre as it sounds most youngsters here in London now assume it is pronounced Heether rather than Hether.

My son had a named planned for our forthcoming grandchild and was put off because someone said it sounded like a dog's name. I didn't think it did, but he then decided on another name, I didn't like to tell him that our cousin actually had a dog with that name - Ha ha.

What ever the name is you will get used to it - unlike my friend's grandchild who is called a different name by his other gran as she refuses to use the one that he was given.

We have 4 Grandchildren and not particularly fond of any of their names!

I gave DD2 an unusual name, I am sure DOM must have gulped, but we were laughing the other day as she has been job hunting and reckons her name gets her interviews as people wonder what she looks like. Of the Dgc 4 have ethnic names, one an Emperors name, one from Shakespeare and one solid English King's name. All the names were a surprise! but we were soon used to them.

My daughter and her husband chose British names for their 2 children, and I was extremely flattered that my GD shares the same name as myself. My son, however, who lives abroad, chose with his partner, a more modern name for their daughter and a British name for their son. Both sets of GP can pronounce their GC's first names without hesitation!

I called my daughter an unusual name in the late seventies and there were a few raised eyebrows within my traditional family who said she would want to change it when she got older. She has always loved her unusual name and the attention it brings. She has a huge personality and is loved by all who know her. She has a successful career and own business and feels that her name helped her get noticed and I think she's right. These days, it is not as unusual to call your child something untraditional so that may not always be the case now.
I have 5 grandchildren and wasn't always keen on their names but I remember how adamant I was years ago and would never have commented. As it happens, I now can't imagine them called anything else.

What's the point of people our age saying a name is old fashioned? We are the old fashioned ones! Just because a name reminds us of great aunt Mabel doesn't mean it's past it. If thousands of young mums are using a name again then it's a modern name. My mum was horrified when my daughter called her first child Oliver. She said everyone would make Laurel and Hardy jokes at him and I couldn't get through to her that nobody the child would grow up with had a clue who laurel and Hardy were. We've had our chances of choosing names when we had our own children, moaning about the current generation's choice of names just makes us sound old and out of touch!

Arriving at the reception desk at the hospital for my appointment, on giving my very ordinary, boring name, the receptionist said, oh thank goodness, a normal name! I think she had been struggling with the spelling of other patients names, and people do get stroppy if you don't know how to spell their made-up names. My mil told me she liked the name Peter, and I thought, well, you should have called YOUR son Peter then.
Of course, we are all influenced by people that we know, so if we know someone who is unpleasant, their name is usually on the "no way" list.

I also have a new GC due in April, my youngest DD's. Her husband's family tradition is to name first-born children after paternal grandparents. That does not worry us but we cringe when we hear the names. Still, we will work on our body language and learn to live with it. What's in a name? Hopefully the child's personality and presence will rise above it...or she (it is a girl) may change her name later! We won't let the name spoil the loveliness of the event( but it does require us to exercise great willpower!).

I did put my foot in it with DGD2's name and wish I had kept my mouth shut . It has grown on me, I love it and it suits her absolutely!
Everyone says 'Oh, I love that name' when they hear it.

Well I'm even more embarrassed because when GS3 was born and my S told me his name over the phone, I blurted out "oh no". He is Alfie and now couldn't be anything else.

I love 5 out of 6 of my DGC's names but the one I'm not keen on has grown on me and is SO much better than her middle name! Having said that her first name is shortened and it really suits her. Another DGD was going to be called something I really hated (a great great and great grandmothers name) and I'm afraid I did say I hated it - luckily my DD called her something else but has said more than once she wished she had stuck by her guns with her original decision - but I think deep down she knows DGD would be teased at school and she made the right choice!! As has been said so many times by other GNetters we love them all not matter what names their parents choose!

My granddaughters both have lovely Welsh names. However even at school they are known by their nicknames. Which are both unusual and in one case unique

The Beckhams' daughter is Harper Seven, isn't she? Perhaps if she'd been born half-an hour earlier she would have been called Seven O'Clock.

When my DiL told me what she was going to call our first granddaughter I freaked out.No one like it and there was a lot of gossip in the family about it.Now nearly 4 years later I love her name it's really special just like her.Don't worry too much, as your love grows for the child so it will for the name.

I'm embarrassed to say, when my son said the name they were calling their baby girl, my husband blurted out "you can't call a baby that"! My son went back to his wife and they changed the name. I feel my husband shouldn't have said anything. The name they first thought of is an old fashioned name, but I'm beginning to hear of it more and more so it is getting popular. i won't say it, for fear of offending anyone.

I love all my grandchildren's names. DS told me early on their choice of name and I immediately loved it, had I not I would never have said anything. DD was completely different - all the family were asked if they liked their choice, and what were our suggestions, once decided it was then how many other children have this name. Then one was rejected because they were both foreign names and she was worried what it would look like on a CV!!!

Maybe if it is an off the spectrum name a careful conversation loosely based on have you thought about how names could be shortened and is he/she likely to be teased at school about it. In which case they would blame their parents for giving them such a name.

I did not like my first & only GC's name at all at first. Everyone else said- What a lovely name! She is now 14 months & I adore her! Of course she is as she is named and now it seems just right! We recently adopted a cat called Tabitha and DD said that had been her second choice for our GD's name! Oops

I like 4 out of the 6 but I must admit I have got used to the 2 I wasn't keen on. They grow into a name. I'm odd as I have always really liked my own name- not of my friends did.

I adore the names of my two grandchildren - Jamie and Eliza Rose. The names suit each child and I wouldn't call them anything else! 'Nuff said!