Older sibling having strong opinions on what to name the new baby?

[Snowflake777]

So a few months back, I made the mistake of asking DD1 which name we should call her baby sister. I wasn't seriously asking for input, just making conversation, not expecting her to actually care in the slightest (she's 3). It never occurred to me that she would have a strong opinion on it.

Well, she instantly latched onto one of the names I listed. Months on, she still remembers it despite us not bringing it up since then, and is insistent that the baby will be called that. The other day I tried asking her what she thought of a different name, and she told me that if we called the baby that then she was not going to love it or hug it and that she was going to go on a plane to live with Grandma.

For the record, I don't think this is a control thing with her - I think she just genuinely really likes this name (which we may or may not use).

Has anyone else experienced this? Did your older child get over it quickly if you didn't use the name they wanted?

To be clear, I know it's not DD's decision, I'm not super worried about it, and ultimately DH & I will call the baby what we want. I'm just interested to hear how this played out with other people.

[galincognito]

dd1 is very head strong and remembers EVERYTHING!  she's been calling the baby in my tummy by a certain name since i was three months pregnant.  we never discussed names with her, she came up with it all on her own.  i would say that maybe we'll name the baby something else and she was adamant that it should be the name that she was using.  in the end, we named our baby what we wanted to (not the name that dd1 wanted) and it has never been an issue.  when dd1 is in a silly mood she'll call dd3 but the "other" name but it has not been an issue at all.

[sapphire_chan]

When I was a kid I told everyone "I'm going to have a little brother and his name is A!"

And my parents kept telling me that we didn't know if the new baby was going to be a brother or a sister.  And I'd insist, "no, he's a BROTHER not a sister." And refused to consider any girl names.

Anyway, my little brother is named A. But that was a name my parents liked.

In your case, if your dd still does actually care after her sister is born, maybe she could get a doll with the name she picked?

[Mosaic]

My almost-4yo was stuck on a name for DD2... it wasn't anything we'd ever mentioned, nor do I know where she got it from: Cholia. She was also convinced I was having 2 babies, and told EVERYONE that we were having 2 babies even though that was never, ever the case.

When the baby came came, it did take DD by surprise that she wasn't named Cholia, and she resisted at first but then decided that the name she loved so much could just be used for the OTHER baby (who had one of a few names assigned to him). Obviously there WAS no other baby, and after a week or two I managed to convince DD that we were happy with the one baby we had and didn't need another one right away.

A year later, she still remembers that DD2 was going to be Cholia and is still pretty sure there's a Cholia out there somewhere waiting to join the family.

[sebandg'smama]

Ds was pretty disappointed when we didn't name dd Wonderwoman OR  Hawkgirl!  

[Snowflake777]

LOL at some of the comments in this thread. I can't believe you guys didn't name your babies Cholia or Wonderwoman - those are awesome names! DD also suggested some random crazy things early on, including "Blina Blina" (not quite sure where that one came from...) and "BabyBorn" (the brand of a doll she has).

I like the idea of giving her a doll she can name. We were thinking of giving her one as a big sister present anyway, and it may well take the edge off things if she's still hung up on the name by then.

[MissMaegie'sMama]

My siblings are twins, and I was about 4 years old when my mom was pregnant with them. My mom made the mistake of asking me what I thought we should name the babies- I really wanted to name them Spot and Fido (we didn't have a dog at that time, but I really, really wanted one). My mom told me those were dog names, and she was having babies, not puppies. I suggested that we trade the babies in for a couple of dogs instead.  No big deal, right?

[mamaofprincesses]

DD1 was four when I was pregnant with DS, and told EVERYONE the name she had picked out. My coworkers called him by that name for the entire pregnancy, and still do sometimes. She got over it quickly though.

(She'd wanted to name him Tarzan, and I just couldn't do that to him!)

When I got pregnant with DC #4, she was SURE it was another boy, and we could name him Jack. When we found out it was a girl, she wanted me to promise to have TWO more boys, to even things out. I suggested we go out to lunch to dodge the question!

[Katwoman]

My 5 yo is insistent that we have a brother for her and his name will be Jesus.  My oldest DD thinks the person that births it should name it, but the youngest says that one that prays for it names it. 

How, exactly, do you argue?  ;-)

She's been on this kick for 1.5 years.