No matter what names you and/or your partner have narrowed down to possibly name your child, at some point you will inevitably be greeted with a frown, shriveled brow, upturn lip and nose possibly followed by the following words: “you’re going to name him/her that?”
Save yourself the heartache, stress and need to “read” someone the riot act about how you don’t care if s/he like the name you’ve chosen because after all it is YOUR CHILD and not theirs…DON’T EVEN BOTHER SHARING IT.
If someone considers it rude that you politely say, “we’ve narrowed it down, but have decided not to share until we make up our mind.”
Once the baby is here and you announce his/her name, at that point it is too late for the Peanut Gallery to offer any unsolicited advice.
Most people are ashamed to utter the words, “You should’ve called him/her ______” because at that point the interloper should just be mesmerized by a beautiful bundle of joy snuggled in your arms and not be concerned with whether the baby will be teased for his/her name, if the initials are all wrong, or that it doesn’t look good on a resume and the child won’t get a job.
Good people of the world, we know your intentions are good, but a simple smile and nod is more than an adequate response even if you don’t like the name. But of course if you do, please speak up and say so!
Cheers!
And alas, Here are the TOP 10 Things NOT TO SAY TO SOMEONE AFTER S/HE TELLS YOU WHAT S/HE PLANS TO NAME HER UNBORN CHILD:
10. You’re going to name him that? This passive aggressive retort is just plain rude.
9. Why didn’t you select a name that means something? You mean the fact that I took my time to come up with the name isn’t meaningful enough?
8. You know she’s not going to get a job if an employer sees that name on a resume? I guess that is the risk s/he’s going to have to take 15 years from now. Who knows maybe people will realize that bizarre names like oh..Obama and Oprah and Barack can do a decent job. I was at an event yesterday and this woman named “Singleton” was getting an award for being the best executive VP in some company. Now if a woman with that name can get somewhere…I say employers are starting to look past the uncommon names. Ha. I jest.
7. You should’ve named him after your mom/dad? Um I don’t think people are naming their kids Agnes, Merle, Herbert and Dottie any more, but thanks for your suggestion
6. Did you consider a Biblical Name? One shouldn’t assume that the parents would feel comfortable picking a name after the bible if they don’t even go to church regularly, or are oh I don’t know…Buddhists!
5. You want her to be Teased at school naming her that? Why do we assume the worst in children? We use our adult brains to find the meanest taunt that the nastiest child could use hypothetically use to tease another child, failing to realize children are not as mean as we remember and there are loads more different names floating around schools these days than before. Children may just be used to the “off the beaten path” names being heard on the play grounds.
4. Those initials when strung together spell ____. Good thing these days, most people don’t really do monogrammed towels or cuff links for our children for that to be a problem. I don’t recall how many occasions people are judged by what the initials of their names spell out.
3. How do your parents feel about that name? Again, since this is not THEIR child, people don’t really take that much stock in whether their parents approve or not, unless there are some deep rooted, unearthed approval issues and at that point, do you really want to trigger those skeletons?
2. How long did it take to come up with that? Why ask? Was it a competition? Do people get a prize for taking months to whittle down a name. I really don’t get that question at all.
1. Boy is that an Ugly name. No explanation needed.