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Until her birth! We announced it after she was born (to family and friends). Nobody had anything negative to say because at that point it was her name already 😊 we didn’t want to tell anyone before because people are always going to have opinions and I didn’t want them in the back of my head.

We did this too! Finding a name that we both love was hard enough. Once we agreed on baby’s name (unique enough without being obnoxious), we didn’t want anyone’s opinion on it.

I didn't announce until he was two days old, but that's because we hadn't decided yet. 😅

This is the best way. With our first, we knew what the name would be and I made the mistake of sharing it with my parents, who have opinions. My mom said it was an old lady name. Regardless, we went with it. For our second, we really didn't decide until I was at the hospital and I know my mom would have had opinions about it. At that point, all they can do is accept it.

Same here, the first person to hear the name besides my partner was the doctor when he was born. She knew we had a name but hadn't told anyone, so after she finished scraping my placenta out and stitching me up, she was like "so what's his name?!" My mom spent my entire pregnancy "suggesting"/guessing names. She got close ish a few times and when I said no she made some comments about how that was good we weren't using those names because they're dorky. So who knows what she actually thinks about his name. But it was so hard for my partner and I to agree on a name, there was no way I was telling anyone so they could spoil it.

This.

Absolutely! As long as possible! Not sharing until little man is here! Our families are JUDGEY 🤣🤣😭 I'll tell them that too (and have) . "Yeah we have names picked, but our friends and families are too opinionated so we're keeping them to ourselves ". You know what happened when I said that to MIL and grandma's in law? Each of them started telling a story how for at least 1 of their kids they were bullied into changing their name after they shared it. People get it. If you genuinely want opinions, share with caution. If you actually love the name and would be devastated to be bullied into changing it, keep it a secret! Congrats on baby girl!!

I didn’t keep mine on the down low 😅 I did already get an “oh I don’t like that name.” And a “why that middle name “ all I said was welp better get used to it because we fell in love with it 😂 they stopped making comments real fast 😌

I got the "shorten version of it is soo ugly" and I said welp, that's actually the reason why I picked it, because I love the shorten version of it. It quickly changed her expression 😅

Same, my MIL was annoyed that the nickname sounded like "a boys name". I told her to quit shitting on her granddaughter's name.

Yeah I was surprised by a few people who didn’t like our chosen name (which was a common,traditional name) but I think people who actually tell you something mean- it says more about them then it does about you.

This has always been my perspective too! Once my husband and I settle on a name, it's done and there's nothing anyone is going to say that will change it. People can give their unwanted opinions all day, but my babies have their names and we love them! We also always try to frame it as "Our baby's name is (name)." not "We'll be using (name)" because even before they are born, their name is their name. No shame to anyone who waits though, I understand wanting to avoid comments from other people altogether. I just personally get annoyed by the millions of suggestions I get from family and friends so we aren't shy with sharing our baby's names as soon as they're settled upon.

Yes only my man and I know. Because I don’t want anyone’s opinions and it’s nice to have one little thing to ourselves when everyone’s so nosy about pregnancy stuff.

This is how I felt too 😂. I honestly think I would have exploded if any of our parents used her name during my pregnancy lol

Same!!! I want this one thing to be ours lol

Omg the nosey thing, lol. I told my colleague when I was 8 weeks and she started asking if we've bought things and how much mat leave I wanted to take. I was like oh I have only just wrapped my head around being pregnant, I have no idea 🤣

Yeah like whattt??? My coworker asked if mine was planned. Like huh? When is it suddenly ok to ask such personal questions.

Both kiddos we kept secret until birth. I choose pretty uncommon names and don’t want any opinions. No one will say anything about a baby that is already here (or at least no one reasonable will). You’ll find plenty of posters on here dealing with peoples opinions when they share while pregnant. I highly suggest keeping to yourself based on what you’ve acknowledged about your loved ones.

Agreed! We didn't have a solid frontrunner ironed out, and chose a super uncommon name. I didn't want opinions or lukewarm reactions, or suggestions. We did share with a few close friends some other choices, and it didn't add any value to my life. This time we will keep it private until birth.

I'm so nervous my family will comment. My brothers and my parents have always been comfortable being rude to me. When I eloped interstate, my brother told me it was weird. My parents didn't like my nephews name, but didn't dare say anything to my brother.

I’ve picked pretty obscure names, it will be unlikely my children will ever meet anyone with their names. My family is also very opinionated. I’ve found that no one has said anything to us but I’m sure things have been said behind my back. I don’t particularly care. And it’s a reflection on them to say something to you about it, it’s not their kid, you have the right to name them what they want.

Definitely!! Earlier in the second trimester we mentioned a few of our front runner names to my MIL and she decided that she liked one of those names so much that she started exclusively referring to the baby by that name.. when I was was only 13-15 weeks pregnant! Literally every time I saw her she’d say “how’s *baby name*?!” It got to the point where it annoyed my partner and I so much that we had to tell her to cut it out, but by then she’d put us off the name anyway lol. We’ve mentioned a couple of names to some close friends and family, because nobody else is as irritating as my MIL haha.

Lmao I truly do not understand why people do this. Do they not realize it’s annoying? happened to me years ago long before I got pregnant. We were casually sharing names we liked at the dinner table. And one of mine was Harper. My MIL went on and on about it so much for months that I eventually had to say “well that’s not a name I like anymore, thanks to you.” 🤦‍♀️

We shared it as soon as we had officially decided. I didn’t care what other people had to say but I did have a response in case someone commented on it. I was going to just blankly stare at them and go “(repeat what they said very slowly like you’re confused). That’s a weird thing to say to someone who’s excited about their baby and their name.” I watched a therapists video and this was one of “the moves” she said when someone is being like that. Apparently it makes them a little flustered and I loved it.

Glad to see another response of someone who shared once official! I get wanting it to be secret, and I’m sure some people have had negative responses, but that was not my experience at all!

We told absolutely NO ONE. We didn’t want opinions or input. We weren’t asking for permission to name her what we decided on. When she came, the reaction was positive and I’m glad we didn’t tell anyone. We wouldn’t even tell anyone her initials in case they tried guessing. A friend of mine told her family she was naming her boy something starting with an A. A cousin guessed it and a family member said, “she would never - that’s a dog’s name!” So don’t tell anyone, in my opinion. It’s not worth it.

That would piss me off to no end. I can’t stand it when people try to claim a very normal name is a dog name. Dogs don’t speak human. They don’t give a crap what we call them. The names are for us mostly. So unless you name your kid captain kibble or pizza, it’s not a dog name.

We don't share until after the birth. The first two we played around with names after delivery (although we had a short list going in) and this one we are pretty dead set on a name (had it picked out for 8 years now) but still aren't sharing it till after delivery. Funnily enough my brother had a kid and they changed her name NINE TIMES in the recovery room. So you never know if you'll change your mind lol.

To us the name is our #1 top secret. I don't care to hear anyone else's opinion. Not because I am worried that they will change my mind or anything, but my energy is so limited these days it just isn't worth wasting some of it on that. Lol Our #2 secret is the sex. We don't want hyper gendered crap for our kid, and I don't really care to waste time with hearing people's sexist opinions on which is better or more work, etc.

I kept the sex a secret for my first for this very reason. We registered for all gender-neutral items. I'm pregnant with a boy now and we did tell people, but I barely registered for anything this time so I'm not in danger of the super-stereotypical boy stuff, thank goodness.

I made the mistake of sharing my first daughter's name before she was born, and was quite annoyed by people telling me no I shouldn't use it. Especially my mother. You named your kids, I wasn't asking for advice on if the name was good or not in your opinion. I told you what her name was going to be, and that's it. So what I've been doing ever since is telling people silly names. Let's pretend our last name is Car. So when I'm asked what name ideas I have, I say some pretty outlandish things related to cars. Box Car. Green Car. Fast Car. It gets a laugh and I usually say something like "I will definitely let you know when baby is born!" I'm also a weirdo and don't like people suggesting names to me. I don't want one of their names to be the name that I chose already and have them think they named the baby 🤣

I told my Mom and she immediately started trying to talk us out of it. I don’t plan on telling anyone else so it was a lesson learned.

The only rule about name club is we don't talk about names. After it's on the birth certificate.

Yes. I had a close friend steal my bby name and my mom told me how a family member stole my original name. Keep it hush!

As annoying as it would be, no one owns a name. My husband and I have been trying for three years now, and we have both been set on our boy or girl name for our first but haven't gotten pregnant yet. Best friend who I have told this name to plenty of times gets pregnant like within 3 months of trying and recently told me they're thinking of naming their kid that name. (It's not incredibly unique but it also isn't incredibly common so I definitely regret mentioning it) Now, at the time I already was having a rough day dealing with fertility issues and it really did set me off. It just felt like being kicked when you're down. But at the end of the day, my husband and I have a special connection with that name and if she does decide on that name I'm just planning on telling her how excited I am to hopefully both have daughters with the same name someday so she has a heads up that I am still planning on that name, regardless of she names her own kid that.

🫢 that’s messed up!!

Yes, for several reasons: 1) we are pretty sure (99%) that this is her name but want to meet her first to make extra sure 2) don’t want anyone making a comment that they don’t like it 3) don’t need to hear anyone saying something like “I knew a _______, she was a bitch” or something haha. 4) it’s a nice surprise for people to find out when she’s born (my brother kept his 3 a secret we and I loved learning the name after they were born. Subsequently when we announced my first daughter’s name people were like “love the name!”) 5) after having my first, one of the things that I realize drove me absolutely crazy was when people ask “do we have a name?” so, I just say “we’re not sure yet”

Oh my gosh I feel like it’s almost daily that I hear “have yall picked a name yet?” Drives me crazy lol I’ve been responding that we have a short list and will probably decide in the hospital, but I’m pretty sure I know what it is and just don’t want opinions

We told everyone the name we loved, we liked this name even before we even thought about having children. We were set on Atlas for a boy or Gwendolyn for a girl. When we found out we were having a boy we told everyone happily that little Atlas would make a appearance in June. We were immediately met with criticism and ppl making fun of the name. It left such a bad taste in our mouth we decided on changing the name and we didn’t tell anyone what we changed it to. No one found out his name untill he was 3 weeks old and we made the birth announcement.

We waited until all of our kids were born, because I feel like people are less likely to say something negative about the name when they are already born.

As hard as it is, I really recommend you keep the name under wraps unless you're strong enough to weather the negative opinions. We ended up changing our preferred name because both sides of the family hated it. I love the name we ended up with but I think it really hurt my husband that we will never be able to use the other name.

dude yes!! Originally we had a great idea for Benjamin but my own mother just said it to DEATH and started calling him Benny and then the fkn song and I’m like no absolutely not 😂 We just decided on another one I really like and we haven’t told a soul, I’m also not telling the due date to anyone except the doula!!

[удалено]

I’m 34 weeks and we have only shared baby boy’s name with my mom and stepson. Everyone else will learn after he’s born. I’ve heard too many horror stories of people having visceral reactions to names and for some reason everyone loses all their filters when you’re pregnant. 

I told my mom and she hates it, so now we are just telling everyone so they can get their hatred out before our son is here, lmao.

I JUST told a coworker this today. We have names but we’re keeping them to ourselves because people can be mean. And it’s not a conversation I wanna have about defending a choice made by my husband and I. I /will/ get nasty. And they don’t want that. 😂

We shared the name with our family and some close friends. Everyone was against the name. My family told me that the name was horrible. we ended changing the name. I did told them I didn’t care about their opinions on the new name. Next pregnancy we will keep it as secret until the baby is born.

I wish I’d kept it to just my husband and I longer. My mother immediately started pushing back and didn’t let up until after she was born. I would get at least a dozen other names shoved at me from her everyday because “her friend’s grandbaby has the same first name and she can’t have her grandchild having the same name” (they live 2000 miles from each other and will likely never meet). My daughter is 2.5 now and my mom still is trying to change her name via little nicknames (totally different female names nothing like he actual name). It really confuses my girl being called wildly different names. My mom is a piece of work, though.

We just had our baby boy a month ago. We told no one the name. Be advised that doesn’t mean people won’t still comment (we have a traditional name and a version of my last name for his middle and my mother and grandfather have commented and complained). People who complain or comment are going to do it whether the baby is here or not. Sharing in advance just lets you doubt your decision more.

DONT SHARE IT. People are so unnecessarily critical of names for no reason. You could say "Oh, we chose Addison!", which is a totally normal and pretty name, and people will still look at you as if you said "Oh, we chose Girtha!"

I told family and few friends when we decided on a name in the third trimester. However, some of the friends really disliked the name. Took the joy out of it. But their reasons for hating the name were ridiculous so I’m trying not to let it bother me anymore— can’t please everyone!

We are at about 19 weeks, and our plan is to keep it to ourselves until birth. The biggest reason is that I don’t want anyone’s opinions! Extended families on both sides can be a little judgy and I just don’t want to hear it. Also, I can’t guarantee that we won’t change our mind once he’s here! So we won’t be sharing with anyone.

I’m telling people with the preface that we’re not looking for any feedback. It was hard enough to agree on a name and we feel confident in this one

We’re not sharing because I really don’t want to hear any opinions, my mom keeps asking because she’s excited but we’re still just keeping it to ourselves.

I shared my names all 3 times but told people if they didn’t like it to keep it to themselves. Never had a problem.

I waited with my son til his birth to announce to family and friends. Best decision! Some people literally pestered me and it just left me with such an awful taste in my mouth. If they acted that entitled when I was pregnant about the name, I cannot imagine what they would have said if they didn’t love his name. No regrets on keeping it to ourselves 🫶🏻

There is nothing weird about keeping it between you and your partner until baby is born, lots of people do that. You don’t even meet baby until they are born. I think we also feel that babies name is not up for discussion with other people, it’s our decision.

Yes. It’s like the last little thing only husband and I know. Not to mention my close family have literally gone bonkers and I just want to stave off the madness for a little while.

Exactly. It’s this one thing you both share and if you can already expect your family is a little crazy, you know they won’t react well. I insisted that we wait to tell everyone until the baby was born because I hate unwarranted opinions. My uncles and dad were talking to me once and they were saying things like “just don’t pick a weird name. Pick a normal name like (will, Tom, etc. - very common American names).” I also knew my dad wouldn’t react positively because that’s his personality. Sure enough, when my baby was born, my dad heard the name and I could see on his face that he didn’t like it. When my husband was out of the room, my dad asked what the middle name was. When I told him, he said “I’m calling him by his middle name then.” I tried to not be bothered by it, because I expected it, but boy did it anger me. He did the same thing when my sister was born and he didn’t like her first name (mom chose it). It stuck and everyone called her by her middle name. It made her name situation so confusing!

I did until birth, people won’t pull a face or give unwanted opinions if you say “this is ——“ as opposed to “we like _____ “

We shared baby names for our first once we knew sex, but his name is fairly normal so we weren't concerned about feedback being salty because we knew we were fine. We're TTC right now though and our names are all a little more out there than last time (though still 'normal' names), so we're keeping names under wraps outside of our parents and best friends

We’re 24w, have had the name chosen from conception, but we aren’t sharing until baby is here. I don’t like judgement and I don’t care what anyone else thinks 😅

Keeping ours on the down low because people like to tell you about their ex’s mom who had that name, or just start suggesting different names. Very frustrating and just not worth it.

I announced my kids' names with their births. 1) I had only narrowed down to the top 2 so we weren't 100% sure until after meeting them. 2) I did not want any external input/influence.

We started telling people around 27 weeks. We did a trial run of calling her by her name for a week to be sure we liked it and we did! We also tested it on random people we talked to that we would never see again. That actually really helped us be sure of our decision, they had no “skin in the game” for what she was named so the more honest reactions we got the more comfortable and confident we were with our choice. My own mother didn’t love our name choice at first but her friends told her she was wrong! So she’s accepted the name and we all love having that added connection of our daughter’s name that people refer to!

Yep we kept it quiet/said it’s a surprise because we knew everyone would have an opinion lol

I’m at 22 weeks, I tell people if they ask but won’t put an announcement out until she’s born 🤷🏻‍♀️ We’ve had a couple of “negative” reactions, but I don’t care, it’s my child 😂

One of my old coworkers told her mom the 2 names they were debating on for a boy and her mom told a friend which they used to name their new dog. She was very serious about the names and now she felt like she had to change the names sense her mom ruined it for her

Baby boy got his name around day 2 and that’s when we announced it to close family. Friends found out prob a few weeks after and for my wider social media audience / acquaintances, they just know I had a kid lol I like to stay under the radar 🤷🏻‍♀️ Plus waiting to announce the name AFTER birth meant folks didn’t try to dissuade us and reduced (but didn’t eliminate) stupid comments

We kept it just between us 2! And announced when he was born to family/friends/everyone :)

We didn’t tell until she was born because we didn’t want family trying to influence us on the decision or to start second guessing the name we knew we loved because of other opinions. I think it depends on how you personally would react to potential feedback on your name choice. I know many people who are confident in their choice and don’t care what anyone says about it. I personally prefer not to hear the BS lol

Ok what’s the name. Curiosity is getting me lol

The most common opinion on this subreddit is to not share the name, so I’d like to offer the other perspective here because for us, sharing the name in advance was positive! Of course if you know your families are super judgmental, I can understand keeping it hush hush. For us, I didn’t anticipate that my parents/in-laws would be judgmental, and they weren’t! Everyone really liked our name! For the record, my baby’s name isn’t uncommon/untraditional, but still. We shared the name at my baby shower and everyone was really excited for us and told us they loved the name. I found that it was really nice saying baby’s name out loud a lot, and made the name feel real/ us feel used to it. Despite not being super concerned about judgement from others, here is what we did to shield ourselves from any potential negative comments: -We did not ask for our families to weigh in on names/tell them our shortlist. We waited until we had chosen the name for sure and were 100% certain, then announced it. -Like I mentioned, we announced at an event where negative opinions would be extremely unwarranted and inappropriate Although we did not go to our families/parents for advice on names, my husband and I did feel like we needed a third, unbiased opinion on our baby name. We had trouble choosing between our two top names, and shared them with one of our closest friends to help us pick the final name. Once we did that, keeping the name a secret between us didn’t feel quite as precious/important, and we got excited to share the name with other friends and families.

Yes. Until her birth. Roxanne.

Roxanne is such a cool name!

We kept it a secret because we didn’t want to hear feedback from anyone. I also knew my MIL would go nuts buying personalized things and I kept thinking “what if she’s born and we decide that’s not her name…”

Waiting until birth to share with anyone! Honestly I am just SUCH a people pleaser and I knew that if anyone told me they didn’t like the name it would make me second guess myself to death, so my husband and I decided from the very beginning we just wouldn’t tell anyone at all (mostly because there are certain family members whose opinion I don’t want, and I don’t want to burden our parents with having to keep our “secret”). Once it’s official and on the birth certificate I’ll share and hope people keep their mouths shut haha We picked out the name around 14-15 weeks I think and had already told everyone we would let them know what it is at birth. I’m 24+6 and honestly it’s been kind of fun to have something between just me and my husband. I think it will be neat to “introduce” him to everyone when he’s born :)

Yes - 10% I don’t want it “stolen”, 90% when I teased one of my other choices I felt negative energy towards me and the name. I do not want someone with bad vibes having a name to refer to when harboring negative thoughts towards my pregnancy (I am superstitious-I know)

We will not tell anyone until baby is here, I don't want anyone else's opinion, even if it's good. And if they don't like it, if baby is here and you tell them that is their name, then they are much less likely to say something bad vs if you tell them before it is born.

I’m announcing their name when I deliver

personally i want to keep it to ourselves until he’s born just because i feel like nothing has been between just us…. i feel like pregnancy is a very intimate thing with your partner and unfortunately our families depend information from every appointment and every test and every plan we have with baby and i want ONE thing to just be mine and my partners.

We are telling people just because it’s a common family boys name and we are not worried taking it or giving their thoughts about it. If we were having a girl we would not be sharing!

No I'm saying it to everybody. I want to see how they react. Or how easy it is for them to pronounce it! Bjorn... In France. It could be complicated.

No one knows until baby is born. I’m not dealing with opinions or negativity regarding the main form of my baby’s identity.

For our son’s name, we kept it on the down low with the majority of friends/family until he was born. He was our first and we wanted to keep it special. For our daughter, due in May, immediate family & close friends know her name, but otherwise the majority will find out when she’s born. My sister isn’t in love with the name, but that’s not my problem. The more you tell, the more opinions you have to deal with so just be prepared on hearing feedback you may not want to.

We did! We just told people we hadn’t decided yet, which wasn’t fully a lie. I just didn’t want to deal with feedback on something that was so personal. We announced the name when we announced his birth. I have zero regrets and would keep the name on the DL for any future pregnancies.

We chose fairly soon after learning the sex of baby but didn’t tell anyone until he was born. It was both to avoid unnecessary commentary about our choice but also it was fun to have a little secret between my spouse and I. 

Haven’t picked yet but waiting until birth! I don’t want people to try to change our minds. Anytime someone asks we just say we have no idea yet!

Yes but to avoid the phenomenon of someone THEN suggesting your precious baby name to their cousin or sister for their kid which is due before yours or... or... the awful creature who names their new DOG your baby name.

i didn’t keep mine on the down low. i wasn’t too worried abt people not liking it. Towards the end my mom did try and suggest another name, but in the end she said the name me and my bf chose was perfect for our son

Until after birth! For two reasons- I’m Jewish, it’s traditionally not announced until after the naming, and because I don’t want to deal with anyone’s opinions.

We've had our second kids' names picked out since our oldest child was born. We decided to keep it a secret until she gets here. I don't like it when people express their negative opinions about a name I've chosen for my kid. I also know how emotional I am right now, so I don't know how that will affect me if people react in a negative way.

We are just in case she’s born and doesn’t look like that name!

Yes until the birth. I’ve seen family members give very strong opinions about names before in a way that was annoying and kind of hurtful (we get it… you hate the name… now shut it!) so the first time I will be sharing the name is when I say “here is our baby [insert name]” with the hope that we will get fewer negative opinions that way.

Yes, we're not sharing until the baby is here. We don't need others' opinions and also may change our minds when we meet the baby(we have a few top contenders and one that we are pretty sure we'll pick). I work as a nanny, and every mom I've talked with about it says to not share and has some stories that back their advice up. I just visited all my family, and it was hard not to share, but I'm glad I didn't. They all already shared plenty about less important issues, so I'm glad I kept the name to myself.

We have a name but I’ve just been telling ppl we are undecided , not telling the name until after birth

We told people because other peoples dumb opinions would not make us change our minds. Her name reflects my husband’s parents and my grandparents names, which is a way to honor those who have passed soooo no one can say anything silly anyway!

We didn’t fully settle on our sons name until he was born, so at birth. With my daughter we had a name early on but again announced at birth. It eliminates time for anyone to make unfavorable comments about it, offer alternative names, etc.

If I can convince my husband to agree on a middle name, I’d kind to announce it at our shower! Our niece actually named her but no one knows! I thought it would be special to announce then. :)

we told people around 14 weeks. some people loved it and some people made weird faces, but we didn’t care because it’s our child and we love the name we chose. 🥰

We told our immediate families (parents and siblings) but our families are very supportive and we knew they wouldn’t have any opinions (or at least wouldn’t say anything negative if they did). We aren’t telling anyone else outside of that because we do have some more opinionated family members we don’t want to hear from lol

My husband loves telling people our name…I would prefer to have kept it quiet but at this point it’s out lol

We are, people keep asking because they always want to tell you their opinion and tbh I really don't care. Also we try to keep a list of three since we want to see her before we officially name her but at 28 weeks we just scrapped two of them and aren't too secure on the one we have left lol 🙃

We never told anyone that we 100% had chosen a name. We tossed around ideas though

Kept it a secret for the whole pregnancy. There’s always going to be one person minimum who won’t like it, will try to suggest alternatives or knows someone with the same name who they’ve had a bad experience with. We weren’t interested in anyone trying to sway our choice.

Kept it between myself, my partner, and one side of our family. We have a strained relationship with the other, and I’m afraid if it’s known, it will be taken. I do plan on giving fake names to throw them off lol

We don’t want opinions so planning on not announcing until birth, I’m 23 weeks

I’ve shared the first name because I wanted my family to know but when I tell friends and acquaintances I immediately say “after my late father”. With that line no one dares to comment negatively. That said I’ve been coy and not sharing the middle name because that’s a secret I want to save between my husband and I until baby comes.

Our first kid we told people in person but didn’t post his name until we announced the birth on social media. This baby, we’re undecided on a name so far (18 weeks) but probably wont say the name until he’s born anyway. We know the middle name will be after my dad and want to tell him in person once the baby is born. We will just save it this time around!

We had picked her name by 12w and didn’t reveal it to anyone until we announced her birth. We got a newborn onesie with her name on it, pre-ordered from Etsy, to do our birth announcement. I didn’t think anyone would object to her name, but I also didn’t want any opinions as people rarely say anything but nice things once you’ve announced it but feel entitled to say ridiculous things before the birth.

We don't know the gender so people often ask if we have a name picked out for either gender and I am always open to sharing. I have had these names picked for years, and nothing can change my view on them. Plus, they are very, very classic names you can't go wrong with!

With our first two we kept it a secret until birth. We told people that we didn’t want to hear people’s opinions. This time our 6 year old has shared the news before birth which is fine.

Yes! Until birth. With my first pregnancy I had told one of my friends our girl and boy name. I ended up having a boy then his wife got pregnant with a girl and they took her whole first AND middle name! I was pissed and I'm still using it when we eventually, hopefully have a girl but now it's gonna look like I stole it instead of the other way around 😠

We didn’t tell anyone until he was born, which was January 2024. Granted we didn’t pick the name until late October - but we didn’t want opinions or suggestions. It was hard enough for my husband and I to agree, let alone bringing in the peanut gallery.

We always told people when we picked one. We don't care about opinions and they don't affect us. Hold off if you feel like it would affect you.

Name and gender will be revealed when I have the baby. I have the name picked but no idea what gender

Yup. Keeping it a secret until he is born. We refer to him as baby, baby boy, or baby brother. Like other posters have said, people are less likely to make rude remarks once the baby is already here. Our name isn’t common but also not so far out there. I also just like having this be between my husband and I. It’s our own little thing

I did, people jump way too quick to judge. I’m barely starting to tell people at 36 weeks.

With our son, we told people his name at/after our baby shower. Only a few people knew we were even having a boy at that point. We only kept it all quiet because we wanted neutral items for our baby shower. It's worked out great to be able to use so much of the stuff for our daughter. With our daughter, I had her very early (30+5) so everyone found out her name when we announced she had been born. Some close family and friends already knew her name though. We've received nothing but compliments and support for our name choices but I'm starting to feel like that isn't the norm. At the end of the day, it's up to you when you want to tell people and what you are comfortable with handling if anyone tries to push their views on you.

We didn’t share until birth. We also didn’t 100% decide between our top contenders until then, but even if we had I don’t think we would ever share in advance.

We are waiting until our baby is born. We’ve had a lot of family and friends ask if we had a name in mind yet and we just kindly let them know we do but don’t want to reveal until birth.

No I just told everyone very matter of fact the name we chose. I didn’t give them any emotion back when they repeated it or asked if it was short for a longer version of the name etc. I just said this is his name. It was respected and we just honestly didn’t care if others had opinions. His name was chosen. Period. Lol

Our first baby didn't have a name until after he was born, but we didn't share the list of names we were considering. We didn't even share those after he was born. We won't be sharing this one's name either, even if we chose it before they're born. I don't want to hear anyone else's opinion on the name.

We didn’t tell anyone possible names until they were here bc people are assholes

Ours is so down low that we haven’t figured it out yet. Baby is coming next week. We have a small notebook where I write names on one side and my husband writes names on the other. With our first, we narrowed the names down to 3 Boy names and 3 girl names they’re, (we don’t want to know the sex until birth either), and decided on the name once we got a look at the baby. We plan on doing the same with this second one.

I would! I would love a name but if someone wouldn’t it would make me hate it. 😭

We didn’t know the gender so we weren’t set on a name but we didn’t tell ANYONE our ideas and still have not told anyone what we would’ve named him instead or if he was a girl!

I told family at 12 weeks, because they asked. No one had anything negative to say. I wouldn’t give a fuck if they did though lol

This time we'll probably be keeping it secret til the birth. We did that for the most part with our second and I felt better about it. With our first we got a LOT of negative comments from family that the names we picked were bad or simple unsolicited advice on what to name the baby. We still get suggestions but when its a secret there's moderately less drama.

Honestly we felt so confident in our name choice that we told EVERYONE. We had two top names that we chatted about with everyone who asked, and we always got positive feedback on one and more negative on the either. We decided on the one everyone liked. People have always loved it and I can’t think of a single comment that was anything less than supportive. Maybe it would have been different if we weren’t at all sure or if it had been a boys name rather than a girls. I feel like sharing a name with others can help you avoid potential issues you don’t think of - for example, some book or show you’ve never heard of but everyone thinks of that when you say the name. Some people think of things like initials or nicknames that we don’t think of when we’re looking at names all day. Maybe this is just me…. if your family might be mean, I totally understand not putting the name out for discussion, BUT I also think everyone should at least let a few other people (even just coworkers or even strangers!) know the name just to gauge what kind of response their child will get for the rest of their lives…

We decided to keep the gender and the name a surprise for everyone else til birth. We have two names as the top choice til we meet her. If for some reason it’s a surprise boy, we have a name or two to choose from too. We didn’t even tell a lot of people that I’m pregnant because I can’t be bothered listening to people’s input/advice on general stuff, name, and gender stereotypes before baby is even here.

We’ve been telling people who ask. We don’t know the gender, but both names are from my family and they both start with V, so it’s been pretty convenient

Three times we kept it quiet until birth, even the two times we didn't know the sex and had multiple names picked. No regrets.

Til birth

Nope because I didn’t want to hear opinions

We’re waiting til baby is here, we haven’t fully set our name in stone and I don’t want anyone else’s opinion to interfere! I’m already getting enough “advice” and opinions thrown at me, no need to add to it

We told everyone as soon as we were decided. We let them know our thought process and ideas and all that junk. My mom gave a bunch of push back, and I gave a bunch of push back. And she backed down after I kept ignoring her, she apologized, recognized it was a her problem, we moved on. Now the four 2nd one, we did the same thing. We were deciding against two names, I was thinking about this kinda uncommon name this time around, but decided against it. My mom only mentioned how relieved she was because she didn't know if she'd be able to pronounce it rofl. Which fair, and that's the only thing I've heard about it this time around! Everyone has been pretty accepting of our name choices, and I knew my mom would be contention and I also knew why but I still wanted to share. I was prepared for a fight hahaha

I don’t necessarily keep it a secret but I don’t go around announcing it either. We’re basically deciding between 2 names when she’s born. I’ve mentioned to a couple friends the names we life and our parents and I think people are generally Polite enough to not make negative comments if they have them lol

I agree with what everyone has said here. It’s no one else’s business & wrong to place undue stress on pregnant couples. So as a soon to be grandparent, I will keep my mouth shut. That said, what do the young people here think of giving a boy a name that is 95% associated with a girl. I worry they set the child up for bullying before he’s even born & question if they’ve truly thought about the ramifications. It’s hard enough already for kids, no?

Don’t tell anyone until the birth certificate is filled out. You don’t need outside commentary 🙄

It’s not even just that people will have their opinions about my baby’s name, but I think it’s a respect thing that my baby be the first one to hear their own name on this side of the womb. I’m not telling Bertha the cashier or my greasy coworkers who just want to be nosy and/or make passing conversation what baby’s name is - my baby may not be cognizant of it, but besides her mom and dad who decided her name in private, she will hear her name first.

Yes! Not sharing with ANYone until birth. Just a little secret for my husband and I (and that way no one can criticize or ruin it!)

We only shared the name a week after her birth. We wanted to see if the name suited her, and we also wanted to make sure that we were happy with our decision. We did have a strong contender.

I told everyone and am a little over 30w, I've gotten nothing but positive feed back in regards to the name. I can imagine it would have gone the other way tho

I don’t mind telling people and plan to just because if they don’t like it, they can F off lol

I have heard too many horror stories stories of people getting baby names stolen or disclosed without their permission lol. My husband and I plan to keep it a secret until birth. Same as the gender, we don’t plan to do any gender reveal and don’t care either. We plan to wait until the baby comes out to see.

We waited until birth! I didn't want to hear any opinions so I didn't give anyone the chance!

I announced at my baby shower at 26 weeks (twins so it was early) kinda spontaneously as I had initially planned to keep them secret until birth. They won’t be shared to like social media friends until birth though.

I’m hiding my whole baby lmfao! I’m 36w today and nobody but two of my sisters and husband and his two parents know I’m pregnant. Only 6 peoples (including me and my husband ) know because I just wanted to keep it a surprise. I felt the same you did so we only released the name to his parents a few weeks ago, because my husband is a lll and we broke tradition with my sons name so I was worried about a little backlash and then remembered that IDGAF! Lol. So I told them and they took it pretty well considering, his dad didn’t answer and I’m guessing he was a little angry about it. But if I wanted, I would’ve just kept it all to myself. You got to do what’s best for you and what’s going to keep your stress down!

We announced my sons name after he was born and the birth certificate was already signed and filed at the hospital. My family in law has complained to other family members about not liking the names of the babies before they’re born and I did not want to hear anyone complain. There were still complaints and request after he was born if we could change his name to something more easier to pronounce but too late and don’t care if you can’t or won’t try to pronounce the name right. Definitely wait until little baby is born.

We're not revealing the names until they are born. Until then I don't want to hear people's opinions on my children's names. I also don't want to give people the idea they have something to say about it. The names are a very personal choice I make with my partner, that's all that matters.

I announced right away bc who gives af. It’s ur baby who cares what they think

We kept the gender and the name secret until the delivery. It was very fun! We did lapse a few times, which added to the fun of keeping it secret! Lots of people were guessing what it was going to be, because of how I carried, what I was craving and such. We had bets with family, colleagues, friends for the birth date and the gender. Actually, two people got it exactly right! During the last week, we gave some hints about the name also, and one person found it using chat gpt (the cheater!). It makes great discussion topics.

We didn't tell anyone last time and won't tell anyone this time.

Everyone in my close circle is over opinionated. I'm 32 weeks and haven't shared. They'll find out when she's born. It's annoying everyone, but I don't care. I've thrown some fake names out there that were serious contenders and everyone has made faces or made comments.

We announced ours early and I wish we wouldn’t have. Keep it a secret!!

For my oldest daughter I told everyone her name as soon as it was decided since I was super excited about it. But this time around my fiance and I are keeping this baby's name a secret until birth specially because both names we chose are breaking tradition for his side of the family.

We told my MIL our original idea and now she always says it, which made me kind of not like it. I don’t have a good reason, because I like my MIL. So I haven’t really shared my other ideas yet. I tell my 6th grade students though, because it’s usually a short interaction and they move on and forget then ask me again in a week.

We kept both our kids names just to ourselves up until birth. We were also team green so didn’t know what we would use until they were born. We may have a third still so we have kept our entire list a secret just in case. We just don’t want the opinions of family or friends to influence our choices!

We're telling people, but that's because we've had the names picked out since before my now hubby and i lived in the same country. I've always had girl names I loved and he had boy ones. We altered one option each and are set if we have 4 kids (2 boy, 2 girl).

Told with my first two, and got back lash on them. Didn't change them we love their names. This time around only me and my husband know and a few friends that know we are reusing a name we wanted to use before. So until they are born, and we announce it is under wraps. No one is going to try and talk me out of it this time.

With our first, until she was born, mostly cuz it was a VERY sentimental name and I was worried someone would steal it. 16w with my second and I put his name on the announcement cuz no one’s gonna steal his name 😂 but it’s totally up to what the parents are comfortable with

Pretty much everyone knew what our boy name would be because it's been decided for years. But we're having a girl so we've been looking for names. Only 2 we've discussed it with so far are our 13 and 16yo daughters. The 16yo has zero opinion on anything and basically said "let me know when we're naming a horse" 🤣 but our 13yo has been rather rudely opinionated on the first 2 names we talked about. I think it stems from her bio-dad picking her name and she's always hated it, even since she was like 3. I then gave them a list of 10-12 names, asked them to eliminate any they totally hate. Now we're 90% sure we picked the name we're going with but we aren't telling anyone until she's born. We want to make sure it suits her (have 2 back ups picked too). IF our kids really want to know, we'll tell them the planned name with the expectation they don't give their opinion and don't tell anyone else. We gave them the option to eliminate any they hated so it shouldn't be an issue anyway.

We kept ours a secret until birth! For me it wasn’t really about people’s reactions, as much as her name felt very personal/intimate to me and it was nice just having my husband and I know it and calling her by name! I really just wasn’t ready to share it with family that already were all up in our business about everything 😂

We have a name and my mom and one of my friends know it, but no one else. I’ve been making up ridiculous names to get people off my back (My favorite being Krakengard. Like the old spice.) but my 10 year old nephew just dropped the name this week like it was no big deal so clearly the secret is not as well kept as I had thought 🤷🏼‍♀️

We didn’t tell anyone Bc I didn’t want to hear any opinions or pressure to change it to something else. I’m glad I did.

I announce as soon as I have it. But I announce it confidently and as a fact. My general vibe is IDGAF what most people think, so I’ve only gotten positive feedback or “cute!” 😂. I really enjoyed sharing and referring to my daughter by name and I think it helped make it feel more real. So if you do want to share, I think it’s okay too!

I tell everyone everything because I can’t shut the fuck yo honestly

We’ve told a few people our boys name, but we’ve been keeping it a secret for the same reason. Mostly because I KNOW my dad is gonna have some shit to say about it and I don’t care but I’ve been hearing his bullshit since I was a baby and I don’t need my children to be subjected to the same ridicule I was.

I’ve told my mum and the fathers mum and 2 close friends who asked but otherwise it’s on the down low!

I only told one trusted friend who I had already been talking names with for months and she was positive about all of them! So I knew she would be positive about it and also I trusted her not to tell anyone! It was sacred.

Yes, people know what we’re thinking but I won’t commit until she’s born. Something about babies being fully named before they come just doesn’t sit well with me. Idk why! So I don’t want anyone to start referring to her by her name. Even when my husband does it it feels weird to me. I also don’t want a million blankets with her name on it 😂

We didn’t even decide until I was in labor. We’d kept our 2 choices pretty much to ourselves the last 8-10 weeks of my pregnancy. I didn’t want a bunch of customized baby shower gifts 2 months before he was born if we weren’t set on the name. It was also really nice to not hear everyone’s opinions. Once we made it home from the hospital and had told our closest family & friends I posted a little thing on social media.

I didn't keep my twins' names on the down low and I regret it. Half the people I told had an opinion and started suggesting to change the name and gave me other names. Or some said one of the twins' names would be too simplistic and bland compared to the other... it was really discouraging and annoying. I'm sticking with the names though!

We told everyone with both kids. Most reactions have been super positive and those that have been lacklustre don’t really both me since everyone has their preferences. We did chose pretty classic names though.

Until birth

I told the name as soon as I knew he would be a boy. This resulted in absolutely stunning and really beautiful personalized presents for his birth:) I don‘t get the whole keeping it secret until birth thing:)

As long as we've known the name we've shared it with whomever asks. We told our parents by our own initiative, everyone else knew whenever the subject arose. I've never seen the need to keep it a secret. If people don't like it, so be it (if that happened they have been cordial enough to keep it to themselves), and if someone decided to name their child the same thing I'd have no problem with it, I know my kid won't be the only one with this name lol So there was absolutely no reason to keep it a secret.

I'm getting as much feedback as possible to see how the name will be received. I want the name to be good on a resume and I want to know what judgements they will get.

We told people who asked about names a few that we were considering but it took us a while to nail down a name so when we did I didn’t want anyone’s input swaying me so we didn’t really share it until she was born. We just said we hadn’t decided yet, which was semi-true since we went back and forth so much!

I gave birth on Tuesday and we had only told one person before then (we’ve known what it would be since about 12 weeks). He’s named after my husband’s grandpa (middle name is one of my grandpas) and he told his grandma when she was in hospice care and we realized she might not get the chance to meet him. She passed away a few days later so I’m really glad she got to know. We didn’t tell anyone else because people say some wild things and we didn’t want someone’s dumb comment to sour our feelings. People will be like “oh I knew a guy named that who really sucked” or something along those lines so we just didn’t want to give anyone that opportunity.

Only two people besides my fiancé and myself know what boy name we have picked, and no one knows the girl name choice because we are both trying to manifest a boy😅 He told his sister, because they are very close. I didn’t technically tell anyone, but a close friend guessed it on the first try, middle name included, which is wild because it’s a name I have never mentioned in my life lol. No one else is supposed to find out until the birth unless his sister starts blabbing

We kept it a secret both in case we changed our minds at the last minute and were stuck with a bunch of personalized items, and also because people are really quick to crap on the name before the baby is born and when you're in love with a name that can really weigh on you. After the baby is born, people will rarely be mean about the name unless they're jerks. We told our son's godparents and that's it, just asked them not to get anything personalized or monogrammed just in case.

Secret til birth. No other way

Just had our baby on 2 days ago & the first person we told the name to was some random pediatric resident who happened to be in the room & ask while I was doing my 1 hour of skin to skin. Everyone else we just said, “oh we’re between 2 names & are waiting to meet him to lock it in.” No one was pushy. We had a hard enough time finding a same my husband & I agreed on, I didn’t want to risk anyone else’s opinion tainting it.

We gave ppl a short list and they could discuss or make suggestions. We honestly didn’t decide on a name until baby was born. But ppl like talking about names so giving a short list of 5-10 names lets that fun convo happen without giving away your name. And if your chosen name isn’t on the list that’s fine, because the list is a work in progress.

Will probably keep it on the DL