Should you keep your baby name a secret until after the birth?
Tell the world or hatch up a surprise? There are definitely arguments on both sides for this one....
Here at MFM HQ, we've spotted a new pregnant celeb trend for deciding on a baby name and then telling the world about it – before your child is even born.
Take Sallie Axl, for example: the pregnant former Celebrity Big Brother housemate shared a pic of her scan on Instagram and announced to her 107k followers that the baby she was expecting would be called Savannah-Blu.
OK, so most of us don't have mass fans on social media but clearly there's still a decision to be made about how we handle all the baby-naming etiquette – and the MFM team here are pretty divided on this one.
One of us admits she'd decided on a name long before her baby was born but wouldn't dream of telling anyone she knew until the birth. Why? Partly because she didn't want anyone 'nicking' it, and partly because she didn't want to be talked out of it by relatives who might have had other babynames in mind.
But another of us says that she'd definitely tell close friends and family her chosen baby name before the birth – to 'stake her claim' on it in a public 'I chose it first' kind of way.
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Hmmm, 2 totally opposing views, right? So, in a bid to see whose views most clearly reflect the majority of pregnant women, we decided to ask everyone on our Chat forum and Facebook page what they thought...
Right, so Mum's the word..?
In the 'keep it quiet' camp, one of the main reasons for keeping your chosen baby name a secret was the worry that other people would give their opinion when it wasn't wanted or needed.
As Vicky L says: "They will find out when she's born what her name is – mainly because it's no one's business and everyone thinks they have a right to comment."
Claire W agrees that a BIG reason to keep schtum is most definitely to make sure people don't butt in with their thoughts on the matter: "Wanted my choice and wasn't going to be swayed by someone commenting negatively."
Vickyfrank in our forum has another reason for taking the secretive approach: "I think it should be kept a mystery. Everyone knows everything your lives these days with Facebook and Twitter, so keeping something back keeps some of the mystery alive." Oh, we LIKE that!
And shristain confirms that "part of the reason [we didn't tell anyone the name] is that, at the same time, 3 of my friends were pregnant as well and we all were having baby girls lol."
....or get it out there?
On the other hand, a fair few of you say you told people as soon as you had decided on a name.
"[We] told everyone and the world and her name has stuck," reveals Jessica G.
Hayley J agrees: "Had Oliver as a babyname before we even knew he was a boy and told everyone."
Amusingly, a few of you admitted you did reveal all – and then did an about-turn.
"We told people. But then our son's name was changed from Leo to Dominic," says ChelleH83.
Sneaky!
And a couple of our mums, like Lisa T and Manda S, told with their first baby but not with their second. Does that say something, we wonder?
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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