Names Names Names!

[Josephine_Beth]

OK, so nearly 4 months in, have enought ime to figure out a name for a boy or a girl. Porblem being is that my fella wants to use the name of his father if baby is a boy. His father's name is Alioup......................my fella is from Liberia in Africa.

Now as much as I love him I REFUSE to use this name as a first name! However, his father died 2yrs ago and he got upset when I said no to it. But I said I wouldn't object to Alioup being a 2nd name, he got moody with me!

If the baby is a girl, he'd like to name her Mary/Mariamme/Marie............After his mum, not a problem.

Am I being over reactive? I know we should chose a name we both like but he ain't budging

 

[Gemma & Jake]

There is no way that I would have a name that I didn't like for a first name. I think that your husband should be happy to use it as a middle name and should understand that when you choose a name you should both love it.

 

[topbird]

Yes I agree.. a first name has to be a joint decision, having it as a middle name is a fair compromise!

 

[NIE]

Oh yes I agree, if you don't want that name then don't have it... It should be a joint decision and you both need to be happy with it.

 

[tots hope]

Tell him you would much prefer it to be a second name and work really hard to find a first name that he will love. Thats all i can suggest really - you still have a few months to choose so don't stress about it at the moment - plenty of time to change his mind.

 

[budge]

OK, so nearly 4 months in, have enought ime to figure out a name for a boy or a girl. Porblem being is that my fella wants to use the name of his father if baby is a boy. His father's name is Alioup......................my fella is from Liberia in Africa.

Now as much as I love him I REFUSE to use this name as a first name! However, his father died 2yrs ago and he got upset when I said no to it. But I said I wouldn't object to Alioup being a 2nd name, he got moody with me!

If the baby is a girl, he'd like to name her Mary/Mariamme/Marie............After his mum, not a problem.

Am I being over reactive? I know we should chose a name we both like but he ain't budging

wait till the baby is born and then see what it looks like!!

 

[OverTheMoon]

What about Louie or Lewis as a compromise seeing as there's a Lou theme in that name? I think both are lovely......

 

[cloud9]

For us it was a joint descision i can't imagine having the name of my child decided for me.

 

[AllieW]

I can totally understand why you wouldn't want to use that name for a first name. In its cultural context, it's fine I'm sure. However, here (and no disrespect to your fella's late father) it doesn't sound so aesthetically pleasing. Your bloke probably won't be able to see that, though, since he's grown up with it and it seems comfortable and usual to him.

The compromise of using it as a middle name seems entirely reasonable to me. Or, did his father have a middle name which you could use instead and might not sound so out of place in a Western context? A further thought might be to find out what it means and then chose a name with the same meaning which could still symbolize his father.