Choosing a name is a big, but very exciting, part of having a baby.
A person’s name comes to define them throughout their life so you want to settle on something that feels just right.
What new parents often learn the hard way, though, is that friends and family never shy from sharing their thoughts on your and your partner’s new arrival.
It can start before the baby is even born, as one mum found out when deciding what to name her child.
The mum, writing on US site ScaryMommy, says she regrets telling those in her life the name she had chosen for her sons before they were born.
She and her husband had settled on Benjamin, after her grandfather, during the pregnancy and were considering her husband’s grandfather’s name for the middle name.
They were shocked by the reaction when they shared the idea with family.
“Everyone had an opinion about the middle name—passionate opinions, tearful opinions,” she wrote.
“I understood to some extent: When you are talking about beloved family members who are gone and missed, it can get that way.
“But I had severely underestimated the insistence that certain members of my family had about which names we (the parents!) should choose.”
She and her husband chose his grandfather’s name for the baby’s middle name to appease his family.
When they went on to have their second child, she said, they wanted to go with the name Peter as they loved reading Peter Pan and The Chronicles of Narnia to their first son, but again faced criticism from family members.
“Why hadn’t I learned the first time?
“Some liked it well enough. Some were sort of neutral. And some hated it. No, not just, ‘I don’t really like that name,’ but ‘Please don’t name the baby that.’
“I was so uncomfortable with the reaction that I excused myself from the conversation, locked myself in the bathroom and cried.”
She and her husband decided to get on with it and name the baby Peter anyway.
“Once Peter was here, that was his name, and there were no more negotiations or questions.
“If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t have told any living soul one tiny, minuscule thing about what I was going to name my kids. Nada, Zilch, Zero—no one’s business but my own.”
Ever had to deal with something similar in your family? Share your thoughts in the Facebook comments or on Twitter.
