Hellobee Boards

@kitty: I've only ever seen this many gender reveal/name announcements on a US forum (and pinterest!) It seems like its the normal expected thing to do, and though the gender reveal thing has become more common here it doesn't seem like its *that* huge as it is in the US. It sounds like its almost part of the rite of passage of pregnancy?

when I was preg with DD I got asked so many times if we knew what we were having/naming the baby - by totally random people who would get snarky if I said we don't know/keeping to ourselves. Dunno why! Its not like it would have any bearing on their lives at all, but people are wierdos

I feel like it's really weird when s name has been decided and it's a secret. There's a girl I knew who was due around the same time that I was and when I asked her if they'd picked out a name she said "oh yes but we're not telling anyone" and it totally rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn't that they weren't 100%, which seems more reasonable. My theory was she didn't want people to tell her anything negative about the name she picked out (which when I did find out I thought it was ridiculous).

We picked a name early, as soon as we knew she was a girl. She's named after her grandmothers, and the first people that we shared the name with was our mothers on Mother's Day last year, when I was about 4 months along. They both cried! After that, we told anyone who asked, and fortunately we never received any negative feedback, likely because I always immediately told people the family connection to the name.

It kind of drove me crazy how persistent people were about us sharing when we made it clear that we wouldn't decide until we met the baby. With DS1 I got negative feedback on a couple names we were throwing around and it just kind of ruined them for me so I didn't want to share any after that. For DS2 I told some people our 2 finalists but we went with a totally different name. I think what worked best was telling people we had no idea but would love suggestions - took the focus off us and on to them.

Before I got pregnant, I had thought Ava for a girl. Once I had my anatomy scan at 18 weeks on Jan 5, Ava didn't feel right for some reason. Her name came to me about 1.5 months later on February 15! I was twenty-something weeks then. I immediately told my mom, then co-workers, his family last. Not to my surprise, mil doesn't like the name, but not my problem. Everyone else loves it, and we love it. We won't share it on facebook until she's born however.

@FliegepilzHut: It is! I started off deleting when my dad commented with the name and eventually gave up. My parents know about our losses and are just so excited.

Twins aren't born yet but since finding out the sexes, I have gotten a few more questions about the names. I have shared them with some family and friends but not all. I have been telling everyone that we'll probably decide their names when they are born.

We picked out names early on and shared. I don't understand the secrecy but if you feel strongly, I'd say something like "we're working on it" or "we're waiting until we meet her". I haaaaaate when people are like "we have a name but we aren't telling".

We had a hard time picking out a name for DD and I think we finally decided around 32 weeks. We did not share until she was born. Currently 30 wks with DS and no name yet.

A few thoughts:
-I didn't want to jinx anything somehow by sharing early
-since we found out the sex and had shared it, I liked having something to announce once she was here
-sometimes I think people ask about names just out of curiosity or to be polite/keep the conversation going, especially acquaintances. My ob asks at every appointment and I am sure she doesn't actually care, she is just making conversation.
-my family would love to talk to me about names but there is so much guilt there with family names and potentially hurt feelings that it was better to just not open that can of worms.

But that is what worked for us. We will do the same this time around. To each their own though.

I really don't get people who get pissy about not sharing the name. Why on earth does it matter if we want to keep something to ourselves? I don't like monogrammed/personalized things, so that's not a good argument for everyone.

@Torchwood: I'm honestly amazed at so many posts about being annoyed with other women not sharing their unborn child's name. Everybody does things differently, and I think it plays into the whole attitude that permeates through motherhood - this person did something different to me, who is right/wrong? Some people love to share every nuance of their pregnancies, other people like to keep things private until the birth... why get annoyed?

we decided on the name fairly early and once we knew the pregnancy was healthy, we told anyone who asked. i was never worried if someone else was going to "steal" the name, or said "oh i know so many babies named _______" or any other odd comment that came out of their mouth. at the end of the day, it's our baby's name whether they like it or not. didn't really care about other people's opinions and their comments would never change our minds.

i don't understand why people don't share if they are certain, however, to each their own, seriously. if people want to remain private, just respect that.

We shared at 21 weeks. We nailed the name down probably 2 weeks before. We had been going back and forth with boys names for a while, but when DH suggested the name we picked, it totally just clicked and that was it.

We shared because after dealing with TTC for 3 years, we had seen many names we loved "taken" by friends! So we wanted to announce as soon as we nailed it down so that it somehow didn't get snatched up. (I have a few friends who are pregnant right now.)

We picked/decided on DS's name right before my baby shower at like 30 weeks? Only because everyone wanted to personalize something for us and needed a name. We planned on sharing anyhow so that wasn't the issue. We just couldn't pick a name with so many of DH's friends with babies.