Should I name the baby what I want or what my family wants?
 

As some of you know I am pregnant. My baby isn't due for a LONG time Nov. 18th but I'm in a dilemma about picking out a name. I love my Grandmother's name, which was Arrebell. If my child is a girl I would love to name her a variation of that like Arabell or Arabella. The only problem is that my aunts had asked me the first time I was pregnant what I was going to name my son if he was a girl and I told them after Grandma. They threw a fit and said that she wouldn't have liked that because she hated her name. I did notice that no one else in the family has been named after her, but it might be because it is a little bit old fashioned of a name. I never met my Grandmother, but I know that she was a strong woman and somehow I think she might feel honored that her name is being carried on. I think my daughter would be honored to be named after her. But I have a feeling my Aunts would get mad if I named her this. What do you guys think? What would you do?

I love the name and your variations of it. Very pretty. No one liked the names we picked for our children. We did it anyway. How would your aunts know what grandma would have wanted anyway? Where she is now, I'm sure the thought of it would honor her very much. JMO

Name the baby whatever you want. After all it is YOUR child

Believe me, i'm going through this right now too..

it's not easy when family is involved in naming your child.. but you have to remember it's your child! i say name him/her whatever you want.. like Kelz said, he/she is your kid not theirs! (they did name you whatever they wanted im guessing!)..

hows your pregnancy by the way? how far along are you? i just turned 7 months this tuesday :) it goes by so fast.. have any belly pics!! do share!

I named my youngest daughter after my grandma who was at
the time dying of cancer. My grandma's name was Alice and I
named my daughter Alyssa. In todays world coming up with a
name that you and your significant other agree on is tricky
enough with out bringing extended family into the mix of things.
I say name the baby what you want and if you feel the pressure
is too great then how about using grandma's name as the middle
name? Surely, no one could be resentful about that.

I was named after both my grandmothers...
 

And I have suffered much all the while I grew up. :eek: My name is Gladys Antoinette. Sigh... So I was "glad bags", "glad wrap", "glad a$$", "happy butt", "happy hiney", all the FUNNY things kids can do to torment another!!

I often told my mother she should have had my first name be Antoinette, and then I could have been Toni, and there would have been something else the kids could have chosen to tease me about, lol!:p

I cannot see where Arabella will be turned into taunting. I would name her what you want to!:thumbup:

I was named after my nan.
I have always hated my name Margaret-Anne.
I am called Anne by everyone who knows me but all my passport,bank detail etc is Margaret-Anne, even when i got married they had to say Margaret-Anne, so their was another day ruined over my name.
Growing up with an old fashioned name is hard and it really made me miserable and i would never name any of mine after anyone and after all they are a person in their own right.
But if you really like the name then hey why not people will get used to it.
My hubby named both my kids and i didnt like his choice (but couldnt think of any myself:rolleyes: ) but now i love my kids names as it suits them and they like their names which of course helps too.
The only thing i would say is give her a middle name so if she hates it she's got something else to use

I really like the name. It doesn't sound old fashion at all to me. I would have loved to have had that name instead of Tanya. Can you imagine all the Tanya Tucker jokes I got in school? LOL!:D

do what you think is right!
 

The only opinion that matters is yours and your partners! If you live your life worried about what other people think, life will be pretty long and boring. It is a beautiful name, and all of the older names are coming back really strong. I think originality is on the rise, thank goodness. Whatever you decide just make sure it was YOUR decision. I wish you all the luck and good health for you and your baby!!! Congrats!

I personally think that the name Arrebell is awesome. If anything, it sounds new and fresh. I am sick of hearing all of the "new" cute names like Kailey or Hailey or anything else that sounds like it. I think it would be awesome to have a name grounded in historical context like that!!

P.S. Everyone HATES the names that I have picked out, too. I'm not budging. Good thing I'm not pregnant :)

I LOOOOVE that name!! She could always shorten it to Bell or Bella..I think it's beautiful.

As for your aunts..are they going through 9 months of pregnancy and the birth? They'll get over it..

My philosophy is it's coming out of my body I'm naming it. I'm the one that got sick, got fat, got uncomfortable, & went through considerable pain to bring it into this world I can name it what I want. I even told my husband this. He tried to through a fit & I just told him that if he figured out a way to have a child he could name that one. I haven't had children yet, but you & your husband are the only two people who's opinions matter. Did you tell them what to name their kids? I wanted to name my first daughter Samantha Irene (Irene was my grandma's name) however, with my married last name her initials would spell SIN & I'm not sure that's a good omen.

I personally think Arabella is a beautiful variation & your grandmother would be honored to be remembered whether she hated her name during life or not.

baby girls name !!!!
 

I guess your aunts feel that your grandma hated her name and not to uses it .Give your baby grandmas name as middle name.Maybe on his side grandma name as first name.But it is your baby so what makes you happy use it!:congrats:

this is your child and you name her what ever you want!!!!!!! i love the name

So what I did with my oldest son! When the nurse came in after the delivery (it was a c-section) She asked me to tell her the name of the baby and I said "Dakota Lee" She said ok and took the other information for the birth cerificate. When my husband and his family came in to see me the baby had already been named and it was to late for them to do anything about it! (They wanted his name to be Damion or Lusthefer and I wasn't having it) They were mad for awhile but iventully got over it. It is YOUR baby name it what YOU want! JMO

I had NO say so in naming my daughter and I've regretted that.:( My son, I had every say so in that. Do what YOU want! You're the one that has to call the child by name everyday. It IS YOUR child!

Name your baby whatever you want hun'. I'll be damned if I were to carry a child for 9months and I can't name it what I want to name it. Tell your aunts they can name their child watever they want so long as they are the ones carrying for 9 months. Heck if I'm going thru all that for 9 months and I wanna name my child 'Captain Caveman' no one's gonna stop me! LOL

OMG Spawn of satan! You go girl for putting your foot down! :) :thumbup:

I think you should do what YOU want. My neice had to name her son Edward III and she still hates the name! She always says he is so a Matthew, not an Eddie.
that said, let me share a story. I wanted to name my daughter Mary, after my mother. She kept telling me not to, she said it's such a common name, she always hated it growing up, etc. She like Megan. Well, that's what I ended up going with. If your grandma really hated her name you might want to think of just honoring her with the middle name, or a variation of it for her middle name.
But it is totally up to you. Tell the Aunts they got to name their babies and you will name yours. Be tough...there is nothing they can do about it and they will get over it.

I love the name. I would pick the name you and your husband want. That's all that matters.

Thanks for all of your great replies. But my husband and I have chosen Apple..... JUST KIDDING. I'm glad I'm not a celebratiy. Naming a baby is really tough. The child has it thier whole life. I had a friend who was named Marsha but she goes by Libby. She HATED it everytime her name was called during the beginning of a class. I'll admit I poked fun at her too.
Really though, we will go with Arrebell or a variation of it. I was soooo surprised when I emailed my husband last night and he agreed with me! His words were, guys don't dig the names "JaTawn and LaFawnda." lol. Last time he gave me SO much trouble when naming our son. We couldn't agree on anything, but finally did a week before the baby was born. I guess that isn't that bad since my husband didn't have a name for the first 3 days he was born. I'm not finding out the sex until it is born and I'm not going to tell anyone the names we have picked out. The Aunts will probably complain about it behind their back, but you guys are right, what can they do? They will have to get over it.
It will be the middle name because last time I picked my son's first name, and it was kind of the agreement we had that next time John would get to pick the baby's first name. Last time John had chose the middle name Wesley after his grandfather. I liked the name Wesley, but not as a first name. (I thought it was kind of old fashioned myself) I really liked Dominick because if he didn't end up liking the name he could always go by a nickname variation like Dom, Nick, D, Nicky, I have called him all of those. So I want the same for the next baby. And since he used the middle name of a relative, I want to do the same this time around, but with my own family.
Someone asked before how far along I am. I am almost 12 weeks. It feels like I have a LONG way to go. Last week I threw up for the first time this pregnancy and I was crying because I couldn't eat my fav foods anymore. So there are no belly pics yet, I'm just getting a little pouch.
Thanks for all of your replies. Now it's one less thing I can stress out about. So I'm just waiting for my husband to come up with first names. He will probably wait until a week before I'm due again. But oh well. Here are the middle names I've chosen
Boy: David (I think it's a good, strong name and it's after my father)
Girl: Arrebell, Arabell, Arabella (something like that and I already told you guys it was after my grandmother)

Thanks again guys. And congrats to all of the other pregobuddies I have on YT.

I have one rule about baby naming. She who goes through labor, gets to name the child. Who knows her better than you do?

I think any version of that is a lovely name.

(They wanted his name to be Damion or Lusthefer and I wasn't having it)
My husband had liked those names too! Lusthefer is another word for Devil and everytime I think of Damion I think of that movie where the little boy was possessed or something. I'm so glad you didn't listen to them!
My friend is pregnant and her online boyfriend told her that he wants the baby name to be Zacharia James after his friend. But she doesn't even like the name and she is going with it! And I thought I was a people-pleaser. What if they break up? He is an online boyfriend and they've only met once. :confused: But it's her kid and it's her choice.

Last time you checked you were carrying around that little darling right. Well you go on an choose your name. As long as it's not some name that will cause the child to get picked on at school like "Apple", "Dumpling" or "Rainbow" then you go for it. When I was preggers with my first daughter my mother was more than vocal about how I should name her after her..yeah right. I went right on and let the talk be and named her "Jade" just as I had picked out way back when.

names
 

You know what's funny while you pick a name out and are all set sometimes when you see them something comes to you immediately and you know that is what was meant to be.

I think Arrebell is beautiful and unique!

I love the J names. Jade is really pretty and unique. John likes the name Jasmine but it reminds me too much of Disney's Aladdin.

Every name can be made fun of and EVERYONE has a story of how their name was turned into a nickname or teased in school! Go with a name that YOU love and don't worry about what everyone else thinks!
Funny story... my grandpa wanted me to name my daughter Mary after my mother and he wanted it so bad that he called my pregnant belly Mary and has been calling my daughter Mary since she was born (she'll be 1 next week!) As many times as I've told him "Paw, her name is Mia" he still insists that I should have named her Mary because "She's an Angel"!