Hellobee Boards Topic: Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?

Hellobee Boards Topic: Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 11 May 2026 08:31:24 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-405136 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:06:08 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 405136@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yep absolutely. If I was your friend I would probably reconsider too. JerricaBenton on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-405124 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:53:02 +0000 JerricaBenton 405124@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes if it was a friend or family member but not a coworker unless we were close. shopaholic on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-405110 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:40:57 +0000 shopaholic 405110@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes, I would have second thoughts about a name if someone near us used the same name. Especially if the babies were born close together. We always think about my mom's co-workers who named their daughter the same name as my sister and they were born w/in 2 months of each other. Maybe not a big deal to us, but my mom & them ended up being co-workers for 20-something years! Just kind of strange. I would pick another name. tororojo on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-405087 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:21:18 +0000 tororojo 405087@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Definitely! I want ours to feel original and I'm not a fan of using names that a lot of people (in the same circle) share. hummusgirl on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404582 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:21:19 +0000 hummusgirl 404582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes! I was irrationally annoyed that a DISTANT Facebook acquaintance used the name we had picked out for a boy. Luckily my closer friends pointed out how silly that was and we used it anyway. And it's fine! ScarletJwl on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404562 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 06:15:40 +0000 ScarletJwl 404562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I agree that it would depend on how close I was to that person. Luckily for us, we are the first of most of our friends and family to have a baby, so we get first shot at names! My sister said she was so glad we are having a girl because she really liked my first choice for a boy name! Since she is not even close to ready to have her own kids I warned her that I still could have a boy before her! ;) (Obviously, it is much more of an issue if your sister or brother names their baby something... it would be weird to have cousins with the same name.) Also, apparently my brother is named after our first family dog... at my request (I was five)! sorrycharlie on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404557 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:49:21 +0000 sorrycharlie 404557@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Probably but depends on circumstances - if I'd already made the names I love known & a friend named theirs that name I'd stick w it. But prob wouldn't brainstorm a friends name? mrbee on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404553 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:40:33 +0000 mrbee 404553@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It depends on how common the name is! Oliver is pretty popular, so that probably wouldn't bother me. But if we were naming our son Bartholomew and then there was suddenly another Bartholomew, I'd probably reconsider! lomom on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404552 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:18:48 +0000 lomom 404552@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, we're set on our names. They're not original, so I know other families have and will continue to choose these names. Elizabeth is our girl name. I know it's been in the top 100 since the inception of the top 100 list. But we still love it! I do have a coworker (now ex-coworker, she quit Friday) who called her Elizabeth "Elly" and that's the only Elizabeth nickname I like. So before she quit, I was against calling baby girl Elly, but now that she's gone... I might. She was one of those super competitive, rub it in your face, kind of people. When I told work I was expecting and shared our names, she jumped right in and talked about her kids instead of letting me share my news. Annoying! She'd probably tell everyone I named my kid after her kid (who I have never met) yeah, that annoying. Baby Boy Mom on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404431 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:38:02 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 404431@https://boards.hellobee.com/ yup! Andrea on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404403 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 21:44:01 +0000 Andrea 404403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes! lawbee11 on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404369 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:49:02 +0000 lawbee11 404369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes. Anytime someone I work with has a baby, they send out an email announcing the birth and the baby's name. Since I started working there about a year and a half ago, six of my female co-workers have had babies, and I hold my breath everytime I open the email hoping they haven't used one of my favorite names! Foodnerd81 on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404360 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:42:22 +0000 Foodnerd81 404360@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @MamaBehr: That's not irrational at all! My brother had a dog named Abby so now that name, though I love it, is totally off the table. prettylizy on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404357 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:34:53 +0000 prettylizy 404357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Close friend, yes, but any further out than that I would say "Oh, that's the name we've picked out for our LO is s/he is a girl/boy, you have great taste in names" so they know it's not a copycat thing but you still get to use your name. MamaBehr on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404354 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:23:37 +0000 MamaBehr 404354@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Friend? yes. Acquaintance, probably not. Though, I almost didn't name DS "Bennett" because my sister had a dog named "Ben," who she recently sold. I was worried that DS would think he was named after a dog.... So I suppose that is a little more irrational, not using a name because of a dog... chopsuey on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404342 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:03:15 +0000 chopsuey 404342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yep! Foodnerd81 on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404335 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:59:47 +0000 Foodnerd81 404335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes, but by how much would depend on how close we were and if I liked the person a lot or not. My sister's friend named her baby one of my fave names, and I don't like this woman very much, so it made the name less desirable-- there is a good chance I won't ever even see her again! So it can be irrational... autumnlove on "Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/does-a-name-seem-less-desirable-to-you-if-a-friend-or-acquaintance-uses-it-first#post-404330 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:57:29 +0000 autumnlove 404330@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My friend picked the name Oliver for her son who is due in a few months. Her DH's coworker just had a boy (they were Team Green) last week and they named him Oliver! My friend is crushed so she and her DH are reconsidering the name because they don't want to "copy" his more senior coworker. Her DH isn't even close to this coworker and they never hang out or even talk that much at the office! I told her she should just stick with the name she loves but I wonder what I would do if I were in the same situation! Does a name seem less desirable if a friend or acquaintance uses it first?