Is it fair to give baby a name I know might cause teasing?

[Julie84]

We don't know whether baby is a boy or girl yet so this isn't a dilemma quite yet!

However, we have had terrible trouble agreeing on names (and we started discussing prospective names years ago ).

The only boys name we truly both like is Harrison. I don't like abbreviating names so within the family I'm pretty sure baby would always be Harrison. However, at school I'd imagine it would probably be shortened to Harry despite how I feel.

Unfortunately, baby's surname will be Bowles. Harry Bowles (as my dear friend at work pointed out!) can quite quickly become Hairy Balls.

I love the name Harrison and this really upset me.

We're not going to try and decide firmly on any names but wait and see what suits baby when he or she arrives. But if baby is a boy and looks like a Harrison, do you think it would be really mean to use it knowing that he might get teased at secondary school? Also, despite how much I love the name, do you think I would feel guilty (especially if he did get teased)?

It feels so silly even thinking about all this but whenever anyone mentions names I can't think of anything else now!

 

[LisaJ1986]

To tell you the truth i didn't even pick up on that! If you like it then go for it!

 

[Julie84]

To tell you the truth i didn't even pick up on that! If you like it then go for it!

I didn't either (and don't think I ever would have!) Friend at work is male which I think says a lot!

 

[maybebaby]

Okay say he gets teased for a couple of years at school - that's a couple of years of his ENTIRE life! Hardly long in the grand scheme of things. It's not like being called Hairy Balls will ruin his life, even if it does come up as a nickname. Kids will find a way to tease if they want to, at least if there's an obvious nickname he can come up with a good comeback.

I wouldn't worry about it, Harrison is a lovely name.

 

[Julie84]

Ooh, thank you. You have made me feel so much better. I think I just needed to have someone put it in context.

And since I appear to be the only convinced this baby is a boy, we may not even have to worry about this!

Thank you!

 

[Hazel]

I will admit that I did pick up on the name straight away. If you're going to call him by the full name Harrison I wouldn't worry, he would probably use Harrison when introducing himself to people so unlikely to have people call him Harry. Even if he does use Harry when he is older it will be something that will make him stand out and no one will forget his name .

 

[Sherlock]

I'd not worry about it.

Harrison is a great name and even if it gets shortened to Harry by some I doubt it will be a major thing with his surname.
As has been said if he introduces himself (or if you do so) as Harrison people will probably call him that.

 

[Cixes]

I like the name and i don't think it would cause a problem
My son is called Charles and although we mainly call him charlie at home his name at school is charles and all his friends and teachers refer to him as this! In fact when he has friends home after school they get a bit annoyed when we call him charlie!!

Our youngest son is called harry and he gets loads of nick names from us such as : harrison, haribo, habo, bo, habs lol the list is endless! and he answers to all of them!

 

[mary70]

they wont shorten it hun if you dont want them to i know a few Harrisons and they never get shortened

 

[Tillytots]

Harrison is a cool name. I did pick up on the Hairy Balls though straight away.

 

[~*Leanne*~]

To tell you the truth i didn't even pick up on that! If you like it then go for it!

I didn't either!! i think its a lovely name - i love the name Harrison!

 

[~*Leanne*~]

To tell you the truth i didn't even pick up on that! If you like it then go for it!

I didn't either!! i think its a lovely name - i love the name Harrison!

 

[Becky]

Children will always find something to tease each other about and you can't possibly prevent all teasing so you might as well go with something you like and wait and see!

 

[abcd1234]

I didnt pick up on it and i wouldnt think it would bother him anyway. People used to think it ws funny to turn my surname in to nipple but it never really bothered me, however baby daddy was called hobnob (cos of his surname) and he still gets really pissed off if called it.

Like the others have said i'd call him Harrison at home, but kids will always shorten names, my sister even manaeged to shorten Tally to Tal cant say it's my favourite nickname for her (that would be Monster )

 

[Alicebabe]

I hate to make this dilemma 10 times worse for you but the first thing I thought of was Haribo............

 

[Minxy]

I hate to make this dilemma 10 times worse for you but the first thing I thought of was Haribo............

I'm sure I've heard Princesss Puddles call her Harrison that, I think it's a mega cute nickname

As someone else said, kids will always take the mick. We had grief about Stanley's name, people saying we were setting him up to be bullied, but it's all bollocks, excuse my language.

Unless you call the poor lad Alison or something, you'll be fine

 

[Beth88]

Harrison is a lovely name, i wouldnt have thought of hairy balls until you said it haha!!

My initials are BJ.. and that caused a bit of, er, shall we say awkwardness at school!!! it was never an issue as such, but a bit weird when i hit my teens. I once said to my parents "i cant believe u gave me the initials BJ" and my mum was like "whys that?" looking all confused... needless to say, i did not go further into it.....

 

[Pompey_Princess]

i never picked up on it either, i love harry, think its a gorgeous name

 

[ASD123456]

I think Harrison is a lovely name, as is Harry- in fact I loved both when pregnant but seeing as LO and OH surname is Harrison I didn't think either would really work- lol.

I didn't pick up on the hairy balls thing either, I say go for it it's a great sounding name. Fwiw I got upset about the name we picked whilst I was PG, the girls on here made me realsie that it didn't matter and in the end we used the name and I'm glad we did and never think of the reason I got upset in the first place.

Alex xxx