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Re: Still suffering from name regret-thoughts/advice appreciated (LONG)
I debated telling you what I'm about to tell you because I didn't want to add to your anxiety over this issue. The truth is, although many feel a parent will eventually adjust to their child's name and "get over it," some truly don't and will always feel a sense of regret. This happened with my youngest dd. While pregnant, I adored the name Caroline and my dh loved Anna which I liked but found a little plain. Whenever I suggested a mn to him, he'd immediately dismiss it and would say nothing sounded good with Caroline. We found out exactly at 20 weeks that it was a she and I had the bright idea that we'd go down the alphabet and see what "fit" her. The only other name we were entertaining (other than Caroline) was Elizabeth (nn Libby) so when we began with the letter A, somehow Anna stuck. Even my older dds were calling her Anna. Then both of our families were calling her Anna while I was having serious doubts. To top that, my dh chose the mn, Mackenzie, and I let that go even though I didn't particularly care for it. To this day, I'm not sure why I didn't say anything. When Anna was born, she had some problems and I wasn't focused on her name and as she grew, I found that I was calling her anything but her name. I started out calling her Annabella, then Bella, then Munchkin or Munchie. When she was eight or nine months old, I realized I didn't especially care for either name. I felt sad but thought we were stuck with her birth name. As she turned two, we finally sent off for her birth certificate. There was a mistake with her father's name (he's a junior and that wasn't included) and we needed to amend it. As we waited for the form, we discovered that Mackenzie had a meaning that we found undesirable. I was really frustrated by this point and I tentatively brought up to my husband that since we needed to change the bc, perhaps we could change the mn. I knew I didn't want to change her fn even though the poor child had been called several things by this point. Up until she was two, I had been calling her Bella which my dh hated so I then started calling her Annie. I remember we had a heated discussion where he refused to entertain the idea of a name change, but I pointed out to him that he chose both names and that this was our last child and I felt I should be represented in her name somewhere. Long story short (aren't you glad, lol?), we legally changed her name to Anna Caroline a few months later and I get to call her Anna Caroline or Anna Cara whenever I like. I still get a thrill just writing Caroline. :-) It's a small consolation for me as I still really love Caroline (as does she, btw).Now I'm not saying you're going to feel the way I did, however, I'm saying that your feelings may not be hormonal and may not go away. Your situation is different from mine in that you did originally love Rosalie Violet so you may adjust better than I did. There's also the not-so-small issue of getting your husband to agree with you. Could you bring him around? Finally, you're under definite time constraints so I do feel for you.Sorry this was so long, but I do hope it helps you with your decision whatever it may be.

This message was edited 4/3/2012, 8:25 PM

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Thank you for sharing your story. Oh my, well Caroline is my name and I love it, so I am glad you finally got the chance to insert it! You are right, the situation is different in that unfortunately I introduced the name Rosalie to him and yet now I am the one shying away from it, whereas it sounds like you got kind of bullied into (or out of) your choices.I just now offered him a list of 29 names, (no kidding!), as he wanted to get this over with and didn't want to talk about it or even table it for a week (per others' suggestions) the names were some re-introduced, and others new, which i like as well as or more than Rosalie-he vetoed ALL of them, saying he did not like any. He said he wouldn't go over why he did not like them, he just didn't (most of them he thinks are too on the fringe of normal). I then asked him, so what am I do to do if I am not sold on her first name? He simply responded 'then call her Violet.' and went to bed. So while he doesn't offer any names up, he seems to be unable to agree to anything else, leaving me in the same position as I was before, not feeling certain/passionate about this name but having no other options.I am rewarming to Rosalie as I get more and more kind and supportive endorsements, and many rather passionate responses about how lovely it is. Still, I so very much wish I could have named her one of my true loves. At least I got Saoirse, Schuyler, and Felix all of which were #1 or #2 for me at the time.
As I mentioned- I have suffered mild name regret with most of my children and then managed to come back around to loving the name. the big difference with the others was I really loved the initial choices, but thought the second choices might be better whenever i hit stumbling blocks of pronunciation, etc. and started to second-guess myself. With this name, Rosalie, I am just not feeling the love right now. It's cute, I like it alright, but not dazzling the way Electra or Sapphira would be to me. I don't feel the same way I did about it 7 weeks ago.

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This message was edited 4/3/2012, 9:15 PM

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