Name Dilemma | Imamother

amother

Mon, Jul 27 2009, 9:32 pm

Im not sure what to do, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My husband was really close with 1 of his relatives and he really wants to name our next baby after them (if it's the right gender)
I really really do NOT like the name, but I feel so bad. Even as a second name, it's just so ugly embarrassed

On top of the fact that he was close with this relative, I'm also due a day before the person's birthday, so it really does fit in with the time.
Any suggestions? I want to say sure no problem but otoh...

Reality

Mon, Jul 27 2009, 10:59 pm

Can you translate the name into a dif. language? What about a dif. name w. a similar meaning? Is your family the type if it's not the exact name it's not named after? That makes it harder.

Once you name your child after the person the name may grow on you. I gave as a 2nd name a name I did NOT like (& we only call her by her 1st name) & by now it has really grown on me & prob. today I would give it as a 1st name. You come to associate it with your cute baby so it becomes pretty. To clarify, I am talking about a name that I personally didn't like not a name that most ppl. consider weird/ugly etc...

RachelEve14

Tue, Jul 28 2009, 12:37 am

Is it a bad name (Nimrod?) or just a name not to your taste? Is there anyone else named for this person. I think if it's really important to your husband you should allow him to use the name. My dh at one point wanted to name for his grandfather (Meir) since they were very close, even though an older nephew already has the name. I am not crazy about the name (and he knows that) but if it was very important to him I said ultimately it was his choice.

DovDov

Wed, Aug 12 2009, 1:08 pm

I agree with the PP that once it's your child's name you will grow to like it. Both of my sons have names I didn't "like" -- one because it's a Hebrew/Yiddish translation (I don't like that tradition) but that was the way the person he was named after was called, and the other because it's a unisex name and everyone I knew with that name, boy or girl, was either just plain nasty or disturbed somehow. It was my MIL's father's second name, so I was hoping we could just take his first name, but he was called by his second name. So we gave both names with the stipulation that no one was to call DS by the second name and lo and behold, 18 months later, when I'm being silly, I call him by that name! And it doesn't bother me in the least.

amother

Wed, Aug 12 2009, 1:56 pm

RachelEve14 wrote:

Nimrod has got to be the worst name to give a child. My husband's parents (secular Israelis )named him that in the mid seventies. What were they thinking? Clearly he doesn't go by that now, he had it changed.
Both parents have to agree on the name, IMO. I will iy"h soon be having a baby and really wanted to name for a recently deceased very close relative. But my dh simply doesn't like the name. I thought he should just get over it because the person meant a lot to me. At first I was really annoyed and then realized it is just not worth shalom bayis issues and ultimately not fair to him to give his child a name he doesn't like. He did, however, agree to use it as a middle name.