Alba?? This is making me so stressed :-(

[aysmith]

Hey guys! Help!! I'm just so unsure! So both me and hubby like the name Alba for our little girl it's from time travelers wife and means dawn in Italian. But while some of our friends like it some don't and neither our parents like the name. My mum really, really hates it and keeps saying things like "what about calling her..." It's just making me sad she hates it so much and is trying to talk us out of a name we like and she keeps going on and on about it. Also there was an electrical brand over here (UK) in the 80s called Alba which both our parents said, so firstly what would you guys do? Stick with the name you like or change as its a love hate name with people will people just keep associating it with a cheap electrical brand?? And what do you think of the name do you like it or not? Thanks for listening everyone! Xxx

 

[ying423]

i love time travellers wife! i wondered where id heard that before. if it helps i didnt think of Alba electrical until after id read what you wrote and i still think we might have alba products floating around my mum and dads house. but it really didnt come to mind when i saw the name. the name Stella is popular but that makes me think of the beer brand, alot more well known than Alba, and people still use the name. i think there are alot of nice girls names that sound like Alba too. maybe think of some that are similar to see if its the sound of the name you like, and then see if you come back to Alba again. just one thing about our parents generation and name choices, they are all extremely unforgiving and critical. im nervous about telling them my baby's name when hes born just from how cruel ive seen them be over cousins' names in the past. worst case was the name Fleur for my beautiful little cousin, and all the adults said it sounded like the sound you make when you vomit they went on and on about it for a few months at most, but then everyone got over it and never said a thing about it since. point is, your parents generation might refer to the electrical brand for a short time but then they will always think of your beautiful daughter when they hear it after that, and Alba electrical will be forgotten

 

[aysmith]

Thank you so much for your post!!! It really cheered me up to read it as I was starting to feel down about it. LOL Stella gosh your so right the amount of people that have called their children Stella and just how popular brand that is, I never thought of that. Everything you just said cheered me up no end so thank you so much! xxxx

 

[isil]

It's a beautiful name

 

[ying423]

no prob, happy to make you feel better as im stressing over boys names too. if you and your husband like Alba, id go with that because as someone said its rare to find a name both agree on. plus if you do genuinely love the name you are only choosing another name begrudgingly and thats not a good reason! you will always think back to Alba. i am 26 and grew up in england, definitely owned Alba products and still didnt think of it until after you said. even then its a distant memory. all the fuss made over Fleur (and the middle name was actually very ugly) and now everyone just calls her Fleur not "Fleur with the bad-vomit name", and it suits her and shes beautiful. i came back to this post because i had a bit of an idea - stick an h on the end - Albah and then no one can even say anything!

 

[aysmith]

Ahh thanks you have actually made my day saying all this I guess as well it's just people have different tastes in names I actually like the name Fleur without seeing it on anyone infact I'm sure I've heard it means flower before. And it's so funny how they all like it now, Oohh a little boy, is this your first baby? It will be my first so exciting isn't it What are you calling your little boy or is it a firm secret until he is here? How far gone are you? I'm 26 weeks it seems to be going soooo quick I thought it was meant to drag lol

 

[ying423]

your post helped me too because i was stressing too about names and came on the baby name thread to post my stress too! Its my first baby. totally unexpected and im still not sure how he made it through to being! We immediately picked out Noah Louis and we both agreed on it even though i didnt tell my husband that Noah was my favorite boys name, and let him pick one out of the whole list, and he picked out that one. its pretty amazing we agree given that hes Thai and im in Thailand, with the cultural differences and all. we even started referring to the baby by his name which got me really excited for the first time to have and meet my son, as this pregnancy has been one big stress and drama and heartache for me. then i found out how popular it is in the west and it took all the good feelings about his name away
my family are very critical about everything and i know the first thing they will talk about is Noah's ark (half of them are not even speaking to me because im pregnant though so maybe they wont care about his name).
your post helped me because i remembered the times when my family had babies and at the time chose a name i really thought - oh no dont call them that! but now when i think of the child i dont think of the name as being bad, because its their name and its chosen and you call them that and you think of them when you hear that name.

 

[aysmith]

Oh hun Noah Louis is so beautiful!! I can imagine when he is older all the girls chasing after him with a name like that it is just that gorgeous! I'm not sure on the popular thing as I've heard the name before but never met anyone with the name, the only Noah I can actually think of is from a fil.. Have you seen The Notebook (lol look at us picking names from similar sort of films Noah and Alba hehe). Also I work at a nursery and we get a lot of baby's, toddlers and up to 5 years.. Never had a Noah. The names we get a lot are, Lots of names like Hayden, Brayden, Cayden, Aydan and names that sound similar, Elliot, Ethan, Riley, William, Oliver, Archie, Samuel, Harrison, Bobby and Rhys. They are the most popular at our nursery and at our nursery I travel to 3 others in different locations if they are short staff and again these names come up but yet to hear Noah. Popularity is why we recently changed our girls name as well! She was going to be Amelia but that name seems to be everywhere at the moment and it really put me off but Noah really isn't everywhere at all so don't worry about it being to popular. Noah's ark honestly wouldnt even come to my mind at all. And like you say with family and Fleur they love her name now so even if they don't at first they soon will just like you said when you see a beautiful baby somehow their name just fits and they will love it but at the end of the day as long as you and your partner are happy thats the main thing you cant please everyone as everyone has different tastes. I'm sorry to hear you have had a rough time with pregnancy and hope everything is better for you now and sorry that some of your family aren't speaking to you, but you have so much to look forward to Little Noah will soon make you forget all the heartache. And if you ever want a chat or would like to let of some stem or just to discuss random stuff you are always more than welcome to send me a message..I will warn you though I ramble a lot just like I am doing now lol xxx

 

[ying423]

thanks for that aysmith ill send you a PM soon!

just to make everyone feel better about names - i really thought id get some inspiration working as a teacher at a Thai school for some exotic names, only to ask for names during class and get Purse, Pee (that one is really hard not to laugh in their faces about), Cheese, Chalk, Pond.. i just got up off the floor laughing after my hubby told me his ex girlfriend is called Beer, her real name (Thais have both a real name and a common name) is Soda. I had a friend in one town called Wee-shit, and everyone calls him 'Shit'.

so maybe we shouldnt worry so much!

did you make a decision about your girl's name?

 

[LoolaBear]

i think its a beautiful name, it was on our short list for my eldest.
the only i thing i kept getting was 'oh as in jessica alba?'!! lol but if you love it then go for it, its down to you and no one else, family/friends will grow to love it when your LO is here xx

 

[aysmith]

ahh fab will look forward to a pm, I'm a natural born chatterbox I think lol. Haha I would imagine Thai names to be so exotic and unusual..well they certainly are unusual thats so funny would have never imagined anyone using the name cheese, purse, wee and bond haha. HAHA Oh dear her real name is Beer oh that is gooooood lol, haha wish my mum would have called me that (joke) Beer Smith - has a ring to it don't you think lol. Ahh that really puts this name business into perspective doesn't it. Yup I've decided She will definatly be Alba Smith you made me fall in love with the name all over again and if anything I love it even more and am more than determined to have it as a name now and guess what?!? "My mum actually rang me earlier and said "Hmm Alba is growing on me a little bit". I still don't think she loves it or anything but it goes to show people really do get used to name choices as she hated it so much this morning and actually laughed out loud and told me "I hope your joking" lol. Do you think you are going with Noah? I think you should its a gorgeous and you both love it.

 

[Abbypumpkin]

Thought I'd add another vote for alba. You need to choose the name YOU love and not worry about anyone else (which is why we don't tell anyone names beforehand). You are the one who will use the name hundreds of times a day as opposed to friends, family who will only use it so often. People do grow into their names and within a short time I'm sure people wont be able to see her as anything else.
I would also consider re-affirming with your mum that you have definitely decided that it will be alba so if she starts using it now it will fit by the time she arrives.

 

[Elpis_x]

I love the name Alba, it's beautiful. Please choose whichever name you love and don't pick just because it pleases your friends and family, after all, it's your baby! Your family will grow to love it