[BrandyHagz]

For years, we've been trying.

For years, we've talked about names.

For years, we've disagreed on the type of name we want.

He wants something popular - something trendy - he likes "Emily".

I like "Emily" - just not for our child.

He is stuck on it - he REFUSES to budge.

We were able to pick a boy/male name - one we like a lot - and I think he found it so darn easy, because he refuses to believe we will have a boy...LOL

How do you find a middle ground? I am ok with Emily as one of two middle names - he wants it as a first name.

I fear, any child we have (should we have one) or any child we adopt (should we adopt) will come home as "Baby Girl/Boy Hagz"

How can we work together? Anyone have any advice!?

[echaos]

Our approach...

We each got to make a list of 10 girl names and 10 boy names.

We cross referenced for names we had in common.

That became THE LIST.

We then went out to dinner, got a bottle of wine, a notepad and a pen.

We started writting out the names with different middle names (and in our case, different last names).

We kept going until we met on a middle ground.

This may not work for us for baby 2 though!

Hilary loves the name Rosemary (her mother's name).

I like it for my MIL

I don't like it. I like Rose... I like Mary.. but for some reason I always mispronounce RoseMary as RoseMarie...... a name I grew up with.

so.. we shall see.

[numbr1dbcksfan]

This is simple... YOU fill out the paperwork!!

(Kidding....)

Good Luck!

[Jackobanzi]

When I was born, I had a different name every day for a week...Amy, Beth Ellen, and some others I've blocked out. My parents finally settled on Jacqueline, though they joke that I have multiple personalities now and sometimes call me by the other names.

Here's what worked for my sister, but will only work if you give birth... She waited until she was on the table with her guts splayed out (they actually turned her uterus INSIDE OUT to make sure all was OK), and then looked at my brother-in-law and said, "Does he look like a Mason?" My bil took one look at her and couldn't say no.

Good luck!

[SchmennaLeigh]

Oh, goodness, Brandy. I have NO advice there. Why? We're lucky we had a boy. Because we NEVER agreed on a girl's name. Never. Should we ever have a girl... she will come home Baby Girl Hatfield. I swear because we're both stubborn. (Two stubborn Taurus bulls living in the same home? AHHH.)

Best of luck.

Side Note: I am Jeremiah.

[echaos]

You could always wait and let the kid name itself..... Like Peek-a-Boo Street!!!

[crick]

Get your list of "acceptable" names but still can't agree on. Then you bet on something and whoever wins the bet gets to pick the first name.

It's what my brother and his wife did...LOL!

[SchmennaLeigh]

Originally Posted by echaos

You could always wait and let the kid name itself..... Like Peek-a-Boo Street!!!

Or like Frankenstein on Big Daddy. LOL.

Have you had a discussion on why you want to use such and such a name? Nicholas got his name because no one on either side had the name. Joshua was part of tradition.

[megaphonemo]

If you try to convince him of "anything but Emily", you won't get there!! Need an alternative, need to find another name he can fall in love with..... a specific name.

Would it help if he realized that there will be 20 other "Emily"s in her Kindergarden class some day......?? I think Emily is in the top 10 year after year......

And a baby name book too...... get one of those....

[Spydoor]

If there was a name that neither of us would budge on (I love it/you hate it), we put it the middle name list. Any that we both liked went on the first name list. It's been updated a lot in the last ten years.

[JPDakota]

We had no problems with a boy's name. When we were trying to adopt a Kaz baby we had a referral, so we knew he was a boy. When that didn't work out, we were crushed, but eventually decided to keep the boy's name we picked out....my father and dh's had the same name, my dh's name, my mother's father's name. Much to our surprise, when the domestic agency we were working with called they congratulated us with a newborn baby girl. GIRL????? We didn't exactly have a girl's name. So, it was a 12 hour drive. Good thing! We eventually decided to use family names. Big problem. Dh's mother's name was Japanese and difficult to pronounce. The shortened version was pronounced "Gay". Nice name in a different era. We thought it might be a little tough on the playground, even though dd may very well be gay when she gets older. My mother hates her name, so that was out. Both of my grandmas were German. One had the name Wilhelmina Josephina and the other one was Katerina Josephina. We could go with that Americanized to Katherine. Dh's grandmother was Japanese and had an equally difficult name. Fortunately, his other Grandma had a name we were happy with.
Names are really hard. Good luck with your DH.

[bluedaisy]

Brandy, my take is that refusing to budge on any issue is a surefire way to mess up a marriage. Seriously. I'm not saying he's trying to sabotage things, but why is he digging his heels in on this issue? After all it seems you've been through? Hmm.

[paigeturner]

Oh Brandy, I've been there.

Clint named Tara when I was asleep right after delivery. I didn't hate the name...it just wasn't MY first pick.

He didn't get much of a say with Shaylea...He didn't hate the name...it just wasn't HIS first pick. He wanted Jenny (guess he shoulda went with that the first time )

[LisaCA]

LOL! this is why dd was "baby girl" for a week. we tried for months. I had a great list of names, he hated most of them. but since dd got his last name, I got to pick the middle names. since i'm the control freak in the family, it was about getting him to come around to my fav name.

I like the idea of a list of common names. Find one that he likes that you can stomach (or vice versa). or have baby girl/baby boy remain so til everyone screams "Does s/he have a name yet?????". that will force someone's hand .

[joskimo]

this is one area where I let dh's vote have more weight then mine, because there are so many things I decide - I"m a little on the bossy side but I figured since he had really strong opinions, to let him have his way...I don't hate either name - h's is a little trendy for me, but it's still old fashioned so it works.