Experience with Older Kids Coming Around to a Baby Name They Don't Like

His name is what you put on his birth certificate. The girls may nickname him Henry and may call him that his whole life. It's not the end of the world if they do. He's not going to have an identity crisis because of it.

I have a friend whose older brother had always wanted a little borther named Skip. When his little brother was finally born, he called him Skip from day one - never called him by his legal name.

I don't get the whole practice the name thing. When all thr grown ups call the baby Jude then his sisters will follow suit. No need to worry about it at all.

they can insist all they like, but however adamant they are, at some point they're going to get the reality, aren't they?
my older brother and i HATED the name samuel frederick that my folks hung on one of (many) baby brothers. we campaigned hard against it, but had no luck. we finally took our revenge by calling him 'samfred', and it stuck, to my parents' annoyance.
but they still named their baby what they wanted. no one tried to make us 'practice' it, or cajole us out of our distaste. we dealt with it, and didn't come out of it scarred too badly.
khairete
S.

I was thinking they were teenagers, but at 6 & 3 they will adjust.

He is born, call him Jude and they will follow. I would not worry about it.

They will come around. I thought maybe this was older kids and you had picked out a stupid name, in that case they never let it go. But this, I would bet it won't even last a week after the baby is born.

They can be adamant all they want, but it's your baby and you get to pick the name!

When we were expecting our 3rd, we thought for awhile that we'd name him Matthew. The kids starting referring to him as Baby Matthew. We ended up changing it to Brendan Matthew a couple of months before he was born. It took some time for them to get used it, and my daughter (7 at the time) was mad because that was the name of a boy in her grade that she didn't like, but she adjusted. Now, almost four years later, they can't remember that his name was originally going to be Matthew.

You are having the baby, you are the grown ups, you pick the name. He will be Judah on his birth certificate and to most everyone.
However, stubborn 3 and 6 year olds will probably call their darling little brother whatever they feel like, and Henry will probably become their name for him. I think it's cute. They will have a name for their brother no one else ever will. It's a great story as they grow up. It's something cool for them to have.

I think it's more common than you might think. My SIL's mom is named Patricia. Her entire family calls her Robin. I have a friend named Doug. People call him Scott. I used to work in payroll for a company and there was a family of six brothers and cousins who worked there. Every single one went by a completely different first name than was on their paycheck.

Like others have said, they are little and you are the parents - you name him what you name him, and that's that. Honestly, it seems like you are overthinking this one.

Besides, I'm sure as they get older, they will come up with plenty of other names, which will probably be a lot less nice than just Henry.

One of my brother's name is Jonathan. We all call him Herky. Because he was so strong as a toddler, he'd push the living room furniture around, so his alternative became Hercules, then nick named Herky. He sort of hates it now in his 40's and we all try hard to call him Jon or Jonathan. There are many slip ups.

I think if you continue to call your son Jude, it will eventually become Dude. Well, in our house it would. And your girls might eventually come around. And they might not. So best to be a bit flexible about the proper name during the transition of a new baby at home.

They're going to give him a nickname anyways. They will also get used to it eventually.

My sons name is Dylan and my daugher will only call him buddy.. (which is better than what it used to be wich was AYAHH).

My cousin went through this with her kids. Her last one was going to be a different name, when he came out he looked so much different so she changed the name .. it took a while, but the kids finally came around.

It will be fine.

I don't understand why they're getting any sort of choice. You're the parents, you tell them the name of the baby, and that's that.

They can call him what ever they want, keep correcting them. Let everyone know that his name is NOT Henry and to not play into the girls actions. They will get the idea when everyone else calls him Jude.

Name your baby the name you want and the kids will get used to it.

Why do they need to "practice" the name? They're 6 and 3. The issue is that you're the parents and you INFORM them of the name.

Don't discuss it any more with the children until after the baby is born. Just don't bring it up and if the children bring it up, tell them he won't be named until after he's born. At the hospital you introduce him with his chosen name and tell the girls that he loves his name and that's what he wants to be called.

When they test you on it and call him Henry, don't react. Just keep calling the baby by his given name. Period. Full stop. Ignore ignore ignore. They're doing it now because it's fun to tease you about it.

I have an uncle named "Armando" his little sister (my aunt) always has and called him "Herman" no one knows why, but she always has since she began to speak when they were kids. and she is the only one who does this. What about Henry as a middle name?
You'll know the right name when you hear it.

some times the children dont understand that it is not another baby that you are only changing the name. Especially when they are young. They have the idea of baby henry coming and now you are telling them another name. They are wondering what happened to henry. It doesnt make sense to them that you choose what the name is. Do they have a doll they have named? explain with that that the doll (baby) is the same but you want to pick another name.