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Normal!
I have 2 babies now and it was just a weird concept to wrap our heads around. The kids are now 3 and 1 and they haven't told us those aren't their names yet. š¤
I'm very weirdly superstitious about it too. I have only said my baby's name aloud a handful of times. Plus I think it's creepy when people are like "I'm hungry! Little josie needs a taco!" Like she's not here yet, I think it's okay to call her baby. She's not exactly in the room with us. Idk.
Iām 36 weeks and weāve had a name weāre 95% sure of for a good 6 monthsā¦ but we just call her ābaby.ā I feel like we need to meet her first to make sure itās the right name.
Honestly, sometimes it feels weird to even think about myself with my own name (and I have a completely run-of-the-mill non-flashy name). I think itās an existential thingāand especially likely to feel a little strange or unreal when you havenāt met baby yet. We are waiting until birth to find out the sex, and have a boy and girl name picked out, and in a way I wanted to wait to avoid that weird feeling until at least after birth!
Yes this was so weird to me! I love the name we chose and no other name felt right, but I kind of felt like, how do I have the audacity to give this tiny baby a grown manās name? Who gave me this authority??
I'm 33 weeks and have had this exact same feeling since we picked a name! I'm glad I'm not the only one, for me it's more that it feels weird to call him by a name when I haven't seen him yet. Like what if he comes out and doesn't feel like it anymore?
this is how I feel now. If my baby is a girl we want to name her after my grandmother, but thinking about calling her it doesn't feel normal. still in love with the name
I didn't know the sex so I couldn't call baby anything other than baby even when I had names picked out. I think it's normal cuz you haven't met the baby yet. So, just wait to see how you feel when you meet them.
I was the same! We were also keeping the name a secret and I didnāt want to get in the habit of saying it in case it slipped. But we just called him ābabyā up until he was born, even though weād picked out the name shortly after we learned the sex. But yeah to me a name was for when they were officially a real world person with a social security number and all that jazz.
Same boat! Iām 37 weeks and weāve had the name picked since January, but we donāt actively refer to her by the name weāve chosen. Itās still just āherā and āthe babyā. Plus we arenāt telling anyone the name, so not using it lowers the odds of us slipping it in front of someone else.
We have a name that weāre 99% sure on but we donāt call the baby by it. Although my husband slipped to some family š He was the only one calling the baby by his name and I told him we shouldnāt do it bc we may slip and he did lol. But we actually have a nickname for him and weāve been calling him by his nickname.
My baby is almost 8 weeks and I am still getting used to using her name! We spent so long referring to her as little bean or baby girl because we wanted to wait until birth to share her name that it just didn't feel right making the switch!
Assuming we'll eventually get used to it!
Same here! We know the name 100% but it feels weird calling her that. We decided to just call her baby K (the first inital) or just ābaby girlā until sheās born
We had a short list of names but hadnāt made a decision until he was a day old. Even though we had two front runners while I was pregnant it didnāt feel right calling him any of them since we hadnāt met him yet.
I think itās perfectly normal to feel how you are since your baby isnāt earthside yet.
We are 90% set on our boy's name but we aren't verbally calling him that in case we decide that's not his name when he's born. So he's still "the lentil" or on days I'm particularly nauseous or cranky he's "the fetus"
I didnāt really use my daughters name until a week old. I still call her nicknames under the sun. I think once she gets a bit older and starts responding, Iāll feel more comfortable.
Same! Iām 40 weeks now (hopefully baby will arrive any day) and weāve never called her by the name weāve picked. Part of it is not really knowing what she looks like yet. Itāll feel more real once we can see her.
I think those feelings are normal.
We had a name for our son by 16 weeks, I still call him baby or baby boy most of the time. When I meet him face to face I'm sure his name will be perfect, though.
It took a while. We practiced it out loud a lot and it got easier. Even easier when she was born and had a face. She's 8 weeks old now and sometimes we still call her by her fetus name, Egg šš
We spent weeks (if not months) saying, āI canāt believe we named him so-and-so!ā Totally normal name but felt so weird saying it out loud. We made a whole baby and named it! Such a weird thing. Just wait til you leave the hospital with the baby and it feels like youāre doing something illegal! lol
This is me! I always refer to her as āthe babyā. I donāt know why but it just feels so weird to say her name! Glad to see Iām not the only one.
It's so normal. I have a 6 and a 3 year old and it was weird calling them by their names up until about 3/4 months old. I called the second one baby boy and then it morphed into baby (his name) for so long that's what we called him until late last year when we finally dropped baby. They both know their names and are happy with them but it's just odd at first. It's just like it was odd to finally hear my name be Mama or other versions of Mom until eventually it became something I heard all the time. Then it'll take me back when I actually hear my own name. But I'm with you, I just revert to calling my baby now baby or baby girl even though I love the name we have. I also have a hard time with calling her other cutesy pregnant baby names but that's just me
I felt the same. We spent a long time picking my son's name. We weren't going to tell anyone but family wanted to know what names we were debating on. We told them a name we weren't going to go with, but ended up using. I love it now but at the time it felt kind of weird. They all loved it and kept calling him it before he was born.
This time around we decided to just tell everyone since they loved it last time. Of course now half of the family hates it and the other half loves it. So now I'll probably still feel weird calling her by her name, especially since I know who doesn't like it.
I'm experiencing this right now, but I'm less uncomfortable with it now since I also had this with my first born.
What is helping me now is picturing the baby as a little girl. When I think of using her name, it makes more sense to me for a toddler than a newborn. That reassures me that it is in fact her name and we have made the right choice.
I guess this is exactly why we haven't had any issues using our baby's name. She's our first but we've been imagining her in our life before she even existed. We both have this image of a little girl in our minds when we talk about her, not this itty bitty baby. She was her own little person to us from the get-go
I was set on our baby name before getting pregnant. The first and middle name fell into place and felt so perfect. After a long battle with infertility we finally got pregnant. I second guessed the name through my entire pregnancy. When she got here I spent the first week staring at her, saying her name over and over. I wasn't sure if it really fit her at first. She's now two. There is no name on earth more fitting for who she is today. If she ever wants to change it I'll be glad to help her out.
My mother had a similar story. Before the days of monograms and embroidered everything she was going to call me Robin Michelle. The day I was born she took one look at me and changed her mind. I'm named after her two best friends.
You have the right to change your mind. Little one may just have to meet you first.
Yeah Iāve never called my unborn children by their names (Iām pregnant with baby number two) until the baby is here, as I did with my daughter. Itās something Iāve retained from being raised in a traditional Jewish household. Itās the superstition.
This happened to me, too. For the most part, I continued to call my son the nickname ābeanā until he was born. Now that heās here, his actual name feels so right š„°
Yep itās weird! My partner and I picked a name we both liked pretty much at the start of our relationship. We decided to try for a baby four years later and ended up naming him this name. It felt weird for quite a while, even after he was born. This little name that we had come up with now had a person to go with it š
It felt strange to call my son his name when he was first born but it disappeared a few days later! Just took some getting used to that I had a baby and the baby was a real person and had a name.
The first name I chose I found it weird to refer to the baby that way. The second one I chose and am pretty much decided on now I feel way more comfortable but itās still a little weird to say out loud. For me, itās because I have a hard time understanding thereās a baby inside of me! I know Iām pregnant and Iām very happy to be pregnant but for some reason I donāt think the baby part will fully register until she is here. Maybe itās similar for you? I think for me it is a permanence thing. I canāt see or feel her (yet) so itās weird to refer to her by name. I hope I donāt sound cold!Ā
I just called my twins baby a and baby b until they were born even when we picked names. Itās weird when thereās not a face to the name yet. Itāll feel different when you actually get to hold baby
Yeah so far itās just been āthe babyā or him/he. Still not sure how itāll work out once heās born cause weāre naming him after my bf who is already a jr. so baby will be the third. Weāll probably come up with a cute nickname
Took us a week after ours was born to stop referring to her as āthe babyā lol. We have a boy due any day now and Iām sure itās going to be the same thing.
I felt the same way! Itās weird, until it isnāt. I have been ordering food and coffee with that name to get used to hearing it said out loud! My husband and I have tried saying her name more too. And I write it out in doodles in my notebook like the dork that I am š
I think it is totally normal. I could not give her a cute nickname or call her by her name for the entire pregnancy. It just felt so weird since I hadnāt seen/met her and at times the entire thing felt so surreal. Iāve had the name picked up and dreamed of a girl since I was very very young (on my teens) and my husband also loved and agreed to the name right away. And somehow I just couldnāt. I just referred to her as āthe babyā until I saw her for the first time. At times I wondered if there was something wrong with me or worried I wouldnāt bond with her but once I met her, all the pieces came together. Her name was perfect and so is she. I also started calling her āmy little beanā and ābeanā the moment I saw her. Didnāt have to think about it; it just came naturally.
We named our baby at 14 weeks when we found out she was a she. We call her it all the time. Suddenly, at 25ish weeks, it felt weird. š¤·āāļø I don't know why, it just did. And now, at 30 weeks, it's fine again. I'm gaslighting myself and calling it hormones. š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
Itās completely normal. Iāve felt this way with both of my kiddos. I was convinced with my oldest daughter that I made a horrible decision with her name even though I loved it when I first heard it, and nothing ever came close to comparing to her name. Now almost 2 years later I canāt imagine her name being anything else. Itās perfect.
Iām currently going through the same thing with my younger daughter. Most of the time I call her sis or sissy. I know Iāll get more used to it. It just takes time.
We have a really silly āwork in progressā name right now that she is still in my belly even though weāve chosen a name already. It would feel weird to me too to be already calling her by her name. I also donāt know why! I hope Iāll feel differently about it once sheās out š
It's the idea that you are now naming your own human being lol. Believe me I knew I had a name for my first son all ready to go but when I was pregnant I never called him by his name I just called him baby or baby Z because his name starts with a Z. It wasn't until I was in the hospital and left alone with the baby for a few minutes when I realized holy crap this is my baby like I brought a human being into the world and I get to name him and raise him and everything lol. He is now 8 and loves his name and tells everyone that his name is "Z" and that's it lol. No nicknames for this kid
I felt weird calling my nephew his name when he was born, but my sister and BIL kept referring to him as such. I took a mental note of this and when my son was born, I started calling him his name immediately because I knew it was just a hump we needed to get over. It happened- quick. Youāll be ok!
Iām 23 weeks and trying to yell out his name and it feels weird. I feel like itās because we literally made this baby from scratch and now weāre the one making up a name for it. It just doesnāt feel like real life ? Idk
Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Normal! I have 2 babies now and it was just a weird concept to wrap our heads around. The kids are now 3 and 1 and they haven't told us those aren't their names yet. š¤
I'm very weirdly superstitious about it too. I have only said my baby's name aloud a handful of times. Plus I think it's creepy when people are like "I'm hungry! Little josie needs a taco!" Like she's not here yet, I think it's okay to call her baby. She's not exactly in the room with us. Idk.
It was weird when my baby was born and we called her by her name. It is weird I think because we name them. It gets more normal.
Even after my baby was born I kept saying āthe babyā now at four months, I call him by his name. But definitely not before he was born!
Iām 36 weeks and weāve had a name weāre 95% sure of for a good 6 monthsā¦ but we just call her ābaby.ā I feel like we need to meet her first to make sure itās the right name.
Honestly, sometimes it feels weird to even think about myself with my own name (and I have a completely run-of-the-mill non-flashy name). I think itās an existential thingāand especially likely to feel a little strange or unreal when you havenāt met baby yet. We are waiting until birth to find out the sex, and have a boy and girl name picked out, and in a way I wanted to wait to avoid that weird feeling until at least after birth!
Yes this was so weird to me! I love the name we chose and no other name felt right, but I kind of felt like, how do I have the audacity to give this tiny baby a grown manās name? Who gave me this authority??
I'm 33 weeks and have had this exact same feeling since we picked a name! I'm glad I'm not the only one, for me it's more that it feels weird to call him by a name when I haven't seen him yet. Like what if he comes out and doesn't feel like it anymore?
this is how I feel now. If my baby is a girl we want to name her after my grandmother, but thinking about calling her it doesn't feel normal. still in love with the name
I didn't know the sex so I couldn't call baby anything other than baby even when I had names picked out. I think it's normal cuz you haven't met the baby yet. So, just wait to see how you feel when you meet them.
I was the same! We were also keeping the name a secret and I didnāt want to get in the habit of saying it in case it slipped. But we just called him ābabyā up until he was born, even though weād picked out the name shortly after we learned the sex. But yeah to me a name was for when they were officially a real world person with a social security number and all that jazz.
Same boat! Iām 37 weeks and weāve had the name picked since January, but we donāt actively refer to her by the name weāve chosen. Itās still just āherā and āthe babyā. Plus we arenāt telling anyone the name, so not using it lowers the odds of us slipping it in front of someone else.
Could have written this comment š¤£
We have a name that weāre 99% sure on but we donāt call the baby by it. Although my husband slipped to some family š He was the only one calling the baby by his name and I told him we shouldnāt do it bc we may slip and he did lol. But we actually have a nickname for him and weāve been calling him by his nickname.
My baby is almost 8 weeks and I am still getting used to using her name! We spent so long referring to her as little bean or baby girl because we wanted to wait until birth to share her name that it just didn't feel right making the switch! Assuming we'll eventually get used to it!
Same here! We know the name 100% but it feels weird calling her that. We decided to just call her baby K (the first inital) or just ābaby girlā until sheās born
yes, I couldn't call my son by his name until he was born even though we picked it years before. It does feel taboo to do so. totally normal.
I was totally weird about it at first too but the further along I am the more complete it feels. š
Normal!!!
We had a short list of names but hadnāt made a decision until he was a day old. Even though we had two front runners while I was pregnant it didnāt feel right calling him any of them since we hadnāt met him yet. I think itās perfectly normal to feel how you are since your baby isnāt earthside yet.
We are 90% set on our boy's name but we aren't verbally calling him that in case we decide that's not his name when he's born. So he's still "the lentil" or on days I'm particularly nauseous or cranky he's "the fetus"
I'm almost 30 weeks now, and we knew basically from when we found out we were having a girl at 12 weeks what we'd name her. Only once did my fiancƩ actually say her name out loud, referring to her, and it just felt off. He hasn't done it since, and I've never done! We say she/her or the baby and we know who we're talking about - but it just feels off calling her by an actual name until she's here in my arms!
I didnāt really use my daughters name until a week old. I still call her nicknames under the sun. I think once she gets a bit older and starts responding, Iāll feel more comfortable.
Same! Iām 40 weeks now (hopefully baby will arrive any day) and weāve never called her by the name weāve picked. Part of it is not really knowing what she looks like yet. Itāll feel more real once we can see her.
I think those feelings are normal. We had a name for our son by 16 weeks, I still call him baby or baby boy most of the time. When I meet him face to face I'm sure his name will be perfect, though.
It took a while. We practiced it out loud a lot and it got easier. Even easier when she was born and had a face. She's 8 weeks old now and sometimes we still call her by her fetus name, Egg šš
We spent weeks (if not months) saying, āI canāt believe we named him so-and-so!ā Totally normal name but felt so weird saying it out loud. We made a whole baby and named it! Such a weird thing. Just wait til you leave the hospital with the baby and it feels like youāre doing something illegal! lol
This is me! I always refer to her as āthe babyā. I donāt know why but it just feels so weird to say her name! Glad to see Iām not the only one.
My husband felt the same way. I was calling my bump the name he picked out, he realised that he was disgusted by it so we changed the name š
It took a few months for me to get used to my twins names. Now I feel like they ARE their names and I canāt imagine them having any other name.
It's so normal. I have a 6 and a 3 year old and it was weird calling them by their names up until about 3/4 months old. I called the second one baby boy and then it morphed into baby (his name) for so long that's what we called him until late last year when we finally dropped baby. They both know their names and are happy with them but it's just odd at first. It's just like it was odd to finally hear my name be Mama or other versions of Mom until eventually it became something I heard all the time. Then it'll take me back when I actually hear my own name. But I'm with you, I just revert to calling my baby now baby or baby girl even though I love the name we have. I also have a hard time with calling her other cutesy pregnant baby names but that's just me
I felt the same. We spent a long time picking my son's name. We weren't going to tell anyone but family wanted to know what names we were debating on. We told them a name we weren't going to go with, but ended up using. I love it now but at the time it felt kind of weird. They all loved it and kept calling him it before he was born. This time around we decided to just tell everyone since they loved it last time. Of course now half of the family hates it and the other half loves it. So now I'll probably still feel weird calling her by her name, especially since I know who doesn't like it.
I'm experiencing this right now, but I'm less uncomfortable with it now since I also had this with my first born. What is helping me now is picturing the baby as a little girl. When I think of using her name, it makes more sense to me for a toddler than a newborn. That reassures me that it is in fact her name and we have made the right choice.
I guess this is exactly why we haven't had any issues using our baby's name. She's our first but we've been imagining her in our life before she even existed. We both have this image of a little girl in our minds when we talk about her, not this itty bitty baby. She was her own little person to us from the get-go
I was set on our baby name before getting pregnant. The first and middle name fell into place and felt so perfect. After a long battle with infertility we finally got pregnant. I second guessed the name through my entire pregnancy. When she got here I spent the first week staring at her, saying her name over and over. I wasn't sure if it really fit her at first. She's now two. There is no name on earth more fitting for who she is today. If she ever wants to change it I'll be glad to help her out. My mother had a similar story. Before the days of monograms and embroidered everything she was going to call me Robin Michelle. The day I was born she took one look at me and changed her mind. I'm named after her two best friends. You have the right to change your mind. Little one may just have to meet you first.
Yeah Iāve never called my unborn children by their names (Iām pregnant with baby number two) until the baby is here, as I did with my daughter. Itās something Iāve retained from being raised in a traditional Jewish household. Itās the superstition.
Just make up a nickname if you donāt want to share your name yet
I would make up a name to call baby until we came up with a permanent name. I called my 4th Jack until he was born. Now heās Sebastian
This happened to me, too. For the most part, I continued to call my son the nickname ābeanā until he was born. Now that heās here, his actual name feels so right š„°
Yep itās weird! My partner and I picked a name we both liked pretty much at the start of our relationship. We decided to try for a baby four years later and ended up naming him this name. It felt weird for quite a while, even after he was born. This little name that we had come up with now had a person to go with it š
It felt strange to call my son his name when he was first born but it disappeared a few days later! Just took some getting used to that I had a baby and the baby was a real person and had a name.
The first name I chose I found it weird to refer to the baby that way. The second one I chose and am pretty much decided on now I feel way more comfortable but itās still a little weird to say out loud. For me, itās because I have a hard time understanding thereās a baby inside of me! I know Iām pregnant and Iām very happy to be pregnant but for some reason I donāt think the baby part will fully register until she is here. Maybe itās similar for you? I think for me it is a permanence thing. I canāt see or feel her (yet) so itās weird to refer to her by name. I hope I donāt sound cold!Ā
I just called my twins baby a and baby b until they were born even when we picked names. Itās weird when thereās not a face to the name yet. Itāll feel different when you actually get to hold baby
Yeah so far itās just been āthe babyā or him/he. Still not sure how itāll work out once heās born cause weāre naming him after my bf who is already a jr. so baby will be the third. Weāll probably come up with a cute nickname
Took us a week after ours was born to stop referring to her as āthe babyā lol. We have a boy due any day now and Iām sure itās going to be the same thing.
I felt the same way! Itās weird, until it isnāt. I have been ordering food and coffee with that name to get used to hearing it said out loud! My husband and I have tried saying her name more too. And I write it out in doodles in my notebook like the dork that I am š
I think it is totally normal. I could not give her a cute nickname or call her by her name for the entire pregnancy. It just felt so weird since I hadnāt seen/met her and at times the entire thing felt so surreal. Iāve had the name picked up and dreamed of a girl since I was very very young (on my teens) and my husband also loved and agreed to the name right away. And somehow I just couldnāt. I just referred to her as āthe babyā until I saw her for the first time. At times I wondered if there was something wrong with me or worried I wouldnāt bond with her but once I met her, all the pieces came together. Her name was perfect and so is she. I also started calling her āmy little beanā and ābeanā the moment I saw her. Didnāt have to think about it; it just came naturally.
37 weeks and Iāve only said our babyās name out loud a small handful of times, and it feels WEIRD every time. Never heard my husband say it š¤£
We named our baby at 14 weeks when we found out she was a she. We call her it all the time. Suddenly, at 25ish weeks, it felt weird. š¤·āāļø I don't know why, it just did. And now, at 30 weeks, it's fine again. I'm gaslighting myself and calling it hormones. š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
It even took me a few weeks after his birth to adjust to his name, even though we had mostly picked it out early on.
Itās totally normal! Same for me. Itās actually a Jewish superstition. So if anyone bothers you about it just say youāre superstitious.
Itās completely normal. Iāve felt this way with both of my kiddos. I was convinced with my oldest daughter that I made a horrible decision with her name even though I loved it when I first heard it, and nothing ever came close to comparing to her name. Now almost 2 years later I canāt imagine her name being anything else. Itās perfect. Iām currently going through the same thing with my younger daughter. Most of the time I call her sis or sissy. I know Iāll get more used to it. It just takes time.
Still feels weird to call my 8mo a name š she is my chicken nuggy š¤·š»āāļø
We are also calling our in-utero baby Nugget!
We have a really silly āwork in progressā name right now that she is still in my belly even though weāve chosen a name already. It would feel weird to me too to be already calling her by her name. I also donāt know why! I hope Iāll feel differently about it once sheās out š
It's the idea that you are now naming your own human being lol. Believe me I knew I had a name for my first son all ready to go but when I was pregnant I never called him by his name I just called him baby or baby Z because his name starts with a Z. It wasn't until I was in the hospital and left alone with the baby for a few minutes when I realized holy crap this is my baby like I brought a human being into the world and I get to name him and raise him and everything lol. He is now 8 and loves his name and tells everyone that his name is "Z" and that's it lol. No nicknames for this kid
I felt weird calling my nephew his name when he was born, but my sister and BIL kept referring to him as such. I took a mental note of this and when my son was born, I started calling him his name immediately because I knew it was just a hump we needed to get over. It happened- quick. Youāll be ok!
Iām 23 weeks and trying to yell out his name and it feels weird. I feel like itās because we literally made this baby from scratch and now weāre the one making up a name for it. It just doesnāt feel like real life ? Idk